Digital is currently bigger than ever with both entrepreneurs and investors keener than ever to try and spot the next big thing and our panel of tech trailblazers at this week's Internet Icons event was a great opportunity to get the inside track on how you can turn your business into an online success story and accelerate your growth online.

The Business & IP Centre are committed to help people from all walks of life boost their digital skills and increase their chances of success: in fact, last year we successfully supported over 12,000 business owners to increase their digital know-how as part of the Do It Digital campaign. We achieved this through our regular programme of training, skills and support that runs day-in, day-out at the Centre and includes the following sessions:

 

Get started workshop

Get the knowledge and information you need to successfully launch a business! In this full day workshop we will cover the essentials of what you need to do to set up and launch a business.

14 February 
10am-5pm
Free

 

Tips for better smartphone photography for business

Learn how to optimise your website on a budget by taking top-notch photos armed with just your smartphone and some enthusiasm! You'll leave this workshop with some tips and tricks to take your photography to the next level and ensure your business looks slick and professional online!

14 February 
5.30-7.30pm
£20

 

WEBINAR: Introduction to Lean Start-up

Learn the basics of Lean Start-Up philosophy and practices! Lean Start-Up helps entrepreneurs reduce the cost of developing new products and services by ensuring that they do not waste time and money designing features that customers do not want. Increase your chance of success without large amounts of outside funding and elaborate business plans with our free webinar.  

19 February 
11-12 am
Free

 

Online marketing masterclass

At this one-stop-shop for digital marketing you'll learn about the 9 must-know strategies for getting your business seen online. You'll leave the workshop knowing which online marketing methods will be most effective for your business to generate new clients and raise awareness of your brand.

20 February 
2-6pm
£48 (usually £98 - use discount code onlinemarketing)

 

WEBINAR:Introduction to using social media for business

Covering blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and more, this webinar will teach you the basics about the different types of social media and how to use them effectively for your business to engage your customers to increase sales and brand awareness.

20 February 
1-2pm
Free

 

You can also browse our full programme of events, workshops and webinars here, covering everything from exploring your market to trade mark searching. With all this support available, now's your chance to become an 'Internet Icon' in your own right and take full advantage of the digital work to grow a successful business!

What’s the point of writing if nobody reads your words and nobody takes action? A big part of doing anything great inside an organisation is telling the story. Our partners at Fluxx have created this handy Guide to Persuasive Writing; eighteen tips, many stolen from George Orwell and Umberto Eco.

1. Before doing anything else, write the headline. An article without a great headline isn’t worth writing. Far more people (often 100x more) will see the headline than read the whole article, so it’s sensible to spend significantly more time writing the headline than writing the article. Clickbait gurus Upworthy suggest writing 25 headlines for every story, which is an interesting and exhausting process. 

2. Never write ‘I’ in an article.

3. One lazy cliché can kill an argument. Familiar words and arguments have lost the power to surprise. As George Orwell puts it: “every such phrase anaesthetises a portion of one’s brain”. Scriptwriter Robert McKee writes “Cliché is at the root of audience dissatisfaction, and like a plague spread through ignorance, it now infects all story media.” In the listicle at the end of Politics and the English Language, Orwell writes “Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.”

4. When you get stuck, stop trying to write. Do one of two things. First, read a good article. Try a ‘Talk of the Town’ piece from the New Yorker, a long read in Bloomberg Businessweek, or a GDS blog post. Then… 

5. Do more research. It’s very hard to tell a compelling story without the memorable fact, detail or anecdote that brings it to life. Visit the call centre, talk to another customer, run the numbers again and again to find an image as memorable as the black thumb-print on Page 3 of Road to Wigan Pier.

6. Don’t try to write like a writer. Umberto Eco, in How to Write a Thesis, writes “Are you a poet? Then do not pursue a university degree.” Words are a precision tool. Their job is to persuade readers that your argument is correct, win them over, and probably sell them something*. Inexperienced writers try to be writerly — adopting a weird, mannered style. Confident writers write like they talk, but with the luxury of fixing every ‘um’ and ‘er’. On a recent Fluxx project, we transcribed call-centre tapes to learn how sales people explained a really complex set of products (a technique we learned from Conversion Rate Experts)

7. Has someone already written this article? Google makes it dispiritingly easy to find out. At the moment, it’s really hard to find a fresh headline for an article about blockchain, VR, AR, autonomous cars, Uber or Pokemon Go. If the article is already written, don’t write it again.

8. Use short paragraphs. Umberto Eco writes: “Begin new paragraphs often. Do so when logically necessary, and when the pace of the text requires it, but the more you do it, the better.”

9. Use short sentences. Umberto Eco again: “You are not Proust. Do not write long sentences. If they come into your head, write them, but then break them down. Do not be afraid to repeat the subject twice, and stay away from too many pronouns and subordinate clauses.”

10. Use short words and not many of them. George Orwell again: “Never use a long word where a short one will do. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.”

11. Give the reader something to do next. Good writing inspires action. George Steer’s 1937 report in The Times inspired Picasso to paint Guernica. Half way through Paul Ford’s epic essay What Is Code? the reader is taught to fire up the Terminal on their mac and start coding C. What is your reader supposed to do next? It might be as simple as following a link or buying a book, but make it explicit and easy.

12. Writing an article is like launching a product. Use ethnographic research to find a story. The headline is the value proposition. The reader is the customer, and the writer needs to understand and map the customer’s journey through the article. At Fluxx we’re experimenting with a Story Generation Canvas based on the Business Model Canvas — get in touch if you want to take a look.

13. Share your work Having someone read your work is helpful twice. The reader may spot a mistake or suggest something useful. But more importantly, it lets you look at your words through their eyes. That often opens up ways to make it clearer or simpler, or simply reveals the boring bits. If there’s nobody around, reading the piece out loud to yourself can also help. There’s something about talking the words into an empty room that can loosen an idea that’s become stuck.

14. Create a banned words list for yourself or your organisation. Update it regularly. The GDS ‘Words to Avoid’ list includes robust, streamline, incentivise, disincentivise and “foster (unless it’s children)”. The BBC Academy warns against ecosystem, exponential, step change, synergy and raft (“When was the last time you heard someone say ‘I must get home. I’ve got a raft of ironing to do’?).

15. Write for the narrowest audience possible, people who really care about what you have to say. The internet is huge, so you’ll find plenty of people. Trying to write for an imaginary wider audience risks patronising those readers who might care.

16. One idea in each article. If an article contains two big ideas but only one can fit into the headline, the other is wasted. Consider splitting the article in two.

17. Make it long or make it short. A normal newspaper article tends to be 500–800 words long. It’s very hard to make that work online. Very short bits like tweets or tabloid-length stories under 500 words work because they’re fast, focussed, shareable. Very long articles — chunky features or Medium posts, over 1,500 words, can also be very shareable if they provide a real pay-off for readers who take the time. This idea is called the Quartz Curve, after the business news site.

18. If in doubt, write a list.

 

Fluxx is an innovation company on a mission to unlock potential in organisations, helping them to change and innovate at pace. Find out what they can do to transform your business here.

If you’ve returned from the Christmas break resolving this will be the year to become your own boss, you may be questioning whether now is the right time to take the leap into entrepreneurship? With concerns about Brexit looming large, an uncertain economy to contend with, increasing costs and political shifts, there are plenty of factors that might prevent new businesses from launching. However, with great change comes great opportunity and we’ve spoken to small business expert Emma Jones – founder Enterprise Nation – on why, when it comes to being your own boss, there’s no time like the present.

In fact, over the past five years, the UK has witnessed a start-up boom as over half a million people from all walks of life turn their business ideas into realities each year. If this is something you’re considering, here are 5 good reasons why you should give it a go and keep the resolution:

1. You can start without quitting the day job

Don’t feel you have to dive into self-employment on a risk-it-all basis. Most people start a business whilst holding onto the day job, meaning you keep the security of a regular salary whilst giving yourself time to build confidence and cashflow in the business and get your brand ‘out there’ into the market. Often referred to as having a ‘side hustle’ or ‘working 5 to 9’, this really can be the best way to start. Providing you’re not launching a business to compete with your employer, bosses can be often be very receptive to this way of working too as it means you’re picking up new and enterprising skills without the company having to pay for it!

2. Gaps in the market still remain

You may be put off starting a business because you think that all the good ideas have been taken, people come up with all sort of amazing new and niche ideas every single day so think outside the box! From indestructible laptops for boat owners, to HR services for award-giving bodies, to new food products that respond to market trends – so many gaps in the market remain, meaning there are plenty of opportunities to sell a specific product or service to a particular audience. If you want to set up a business, it’s your job to fill that gap!

Emma Jones, Founder of Enterprise Nation

3. Technology has opened up a world of opportunity

With idea in hand, you need a route to market and there’s never been a better time to embrace technology as that route. Turn to the likes of Amazon marketplace, Etsy and Trouva for selling products online, or Kindle, iTunes iStock for selling services. It’s also never been easier to engage with your target community thanks to social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so use these opportunities to drive traffic to your own website, encouraging browsers to sign up for newsletters and special offers so you have permission to contact them again. With a basic understanding of these powerful platforms, the world is quite literally your trading oyster.

 4. Support is in abundance

Whether you’re starting a snack or app business, you’ll find there’s plenty of support available. This ranges from incentives for people to invest in your start-up (EIS relief) through to accelerators, local Growth Hubs and mentor programmes, not to mention all of the incredible resources that you can access for free here at the Business & IP Centre. It’s not difficult to access support as a start-up, you just have to know what’s available and then make the most of it! 

Our partners at Enterprise Nation are on a mission to create a more entrepreneurial society in the UK

5. Freedom and flexibility is yours

The benefit of self-employment cited most often amongst those who’ve taken the plunge is the freedom and flexibility that comes with working for yourself. You can decide where, how and with whom you work, which gives meaning and purpose to your everyday life and a much greater sense of achievement and satisfaction when you see great results. If these are the benefits you’re after in 2018, it’s time to get started!

If you are looking for some inspiration, advice and support to get your business idea off the ground, there is plenty out there to take advantage off. Innovating for Growth - Start-ups is a fully funded two-day course designed to give you all the information you need to take the first steps on your business journey, and is delivered regularly both at the Library and at satellite libraries across London.

So here’s to making 2018 the year you become your own boss!

The Business & IP Centre Team are spending this week getting ready for a busy and prosperous 2018, supporting more entrepreneurs from all walks of life to start, protect and scale successful businesses both in London and around the UK. However, whilst there is a lot to look forward to, we’re also taking this opportunity to pause, reflect and look back at some of the successes and key achievements both for the Centre itself and amongst our network of users, supporters and partners too. Here’s a look back on some of the Business & IP Centre highlights of 2017:

Record-breaking Inspiring Entrepreneurs 

The year got off to a great start back in February when we delivered our first Inspiring Entrepreneurs of 2017 and welcomed Ella Mills (Deliciously Ella), Aron Gelbard (Bloom and Wild), Sarah Wood (Unruly) and Rupert Hunt (Spare Room) for a lively discussion on how to exploit the power of the digital world in your business. Of course our Inspiring Entrepreneurs events are always a highlight, but Internet Icons in 2017 was particularly special as we delivered live webcasts to a record-breaking eleven partner libraries across our National Network, meaning businesses right across the UK could participate. The event was so successful we’re even running it again next month with a great line-up of expert panelists. Just click here for further information, or visit our YouTube channel BIPCTV to catch-up with highlights from last year’s event.

Ella Mills (Deliciously Ella) and Aron Gelbard (Bloom and Wild) answering questions at Inspiring Entrepreneurs - Internet Icons

Innovating for Growth graduate successes 

We were thrilled to see so many of our Innovating for Growth graduates go from strength-to-strength this year too. The talent agency Young Guns Group hit the headlines in June when one of the acts that they represent (Tokio Myers) won ITV’s prestigious Britain’s Got Talent competition. Co-founder Dominic Lyons also participated in a Start-up Stars event at the Centre in July and said that the win was definitely keeping the company busy and had given the business a real boost. Boutique confectionary company Lavolio featured in a high profile article on the BBC about online business. We were also delighted for Arit Eminue, founder of DiVA Apprenticeships, when she was awarded the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ accolade at the prestigious PRECIOUS Awards in September. And 2018 has already gotten off to a great start for Innovating for Growth graduate Anthony Impey (CEO of Optimity) with the announcement that he was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours List for services to small business.

Arit Eminue celebrating her PRECIOUS Awards win with the judging panel

Endorsements for our Scale-up Summit and Start-up Day 

In July we delivered the first ever British Library Scale-up Summit, designed to support small businesses to scale-up and achieve their potential. The schedule featured an incredible line-up of over 20 successful entrepreneurs and business experts sharing insight and guidance on key topics including branding, raising finance, export and leadership with an audience of 150 ambitious small businesses. We were especially thrilled to welcome Deputy London Mayor for Business Rajesh Agrawal to the event, held in partnership with the Mayor’s Office and the London LEAP. In an article published on LinkedIn Rajesh described the event as ‘a fantastic opportunity to hear from some household names and brands’ and a great way to inform the London Growth Hub’s support strategy for scaling businesses.

Rajesh Agrawal delivering the closing address at Scale-up Summit 2017

Moving into September we also held our biggest ever Start-up Day – a nationwide event delivered across our network of UK libraries designed to give aspiring entrepreneurs all the information and inspiration they need to take the first steps on their business journey. Over 1600 people took part in this event and we were especially pleased that Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Corporate Responsibility participated in our London programme to speak about the importance of new business to the UK economy. You can catch the Minister’s speech in full, as well as our other keynote presentations on BIPCTV.

Margot James speaking at Start-up Day in September

Accolades for our case studies and Ambassadors 

At the Business & IP Centre we feel fortunate to enjoy close relationships with past users of our resources who have gone on to start and grow successful brands. One such user is Paul Lindley who used the valuable resources available in the Centre to research and launch the Ella's Kitchen organic baby food brand. Paul frequently generously ‘gives back’ time and expertise to the Centre in his role as an Ambassador and we were thrilled that he was named as Director of the Year by Director Magazine in December. Jane ni Dhulchaointigh, investor and founder of Sugru was also pinpointed by NESTA as ‘one of 5 female inventors that changed our lives’ for her mouldable glue product that has been described as ‘the most exciting product since sellotape.’ Congratulations are due to both Paul and Jane on their success.

A growing network of Corporate Partners

We are committed to working with a network of professional corporate partners and to sharing information on their relevant services and support with our network. We were delighted to welcome London based IT support company Lucidica as a Business & IP Centre Corporate Partner this year. Lucidica have been working with us to advise small businesses on a wide range of IT issues, providing their expertise in technology to help businesses succeed. Lucidica will be joining us in the Centre again this month to deliver a workshop helping small businesses avoid cybercrimes and there are still some places available.

The Lucidica team

Of course this just gives a brief flavour of what we’ve been getting up to this year and there’s much more to celebrate, not to mention expanding our National Network of Business & IP Centres by officially launching services in Northamptonshire and Hull during 2017 too. We’d like to wish a Happy New Year to all of our users that launched their business or continued to expand it in 2017, and to our partners and speakers who supported them in their achievements. We look forward to working with you all in the year ahead to help your business go from strength to strength.

Rowena in front of the Revival Retro London boutique

Have you ever struggled to find a stunning retro outfit that looks great, but won’t fall apart when you wear it? Do you often feel like all that gorgeous vintage clothing is just a size too small? Fear not, because Revival Retro, a London-based vintage boutique shares your frustrations... and stocks the very best in modern day reproductions or reinterpretations of original 1920’s, 1930’s and 1940’s designs sourced from all over the globe. The outstanding service Revival offers in their central London boutique has won them not one, but two Time Out London awards!

We caught up with the owner of the company and past Innovating for Growth participant, Rowena Howie, to learn more about her entrepreneurial journey and hear her top 3 business resolutions for 2018.

Hi Rowena! Can you tell us a little more about the Revival Retro business?

For the discerning woman who despairs with the trend led, throw away fashion available on the high street Revival Retro is the place to go to for high quality clothing designed for women with curves. We all want to feel confident, comfortable and stylish and our staff care about finding you the outfit that fits and flatters your figure. That’s why a trip to our London boutique is such a special experience, the team’s genuine passion and expert knowledge often inspires customer’s to give us glowing reviews and recommend us to others.

What inspired the creation of your award-winning boutique?

An attempt to buy specialist swing dance shoes from America gave me the idea. I bought three pairs not knowing that the US has different shoe sizes , unaware I would pay additional import taxes and fees and not realising that by the time the order arrived in the UK the returns period would have already elapsed. My frustration led me to ask why are these products not available in London or at least the UK. I hated internet shopping, and could see the demand from fellow dancers so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I purchased £500 worth of stock on a credit card and sold the shoes to friends and acquaintances in dance class. Once I was known as the ‘shoe girl’, people started asking me if I knew where to find suitable vintage clothing. As swing era originals were hard to find, I researched reproduction vintage clothing which had significant benefits: it could be washed and worn repeatedly by dancers. When (non dance) friends saw what I was wearing and liked it I knew that I had a business that could take me beyond my niche!

How did the Business & IP Centre and our Innovating for Growth programme help you along the way?

From the very beginning I used workshops at the British Library to further my knowledge about running my own business. Long before I ever opened the bricks and mortar store I was examining the viability, profitability and likelihood of scale for the venture. I started the business because I was thirty something and couldn’t envisage ever owning my own home on the salary I was earning. The drive for me to learn and grow was fundamental to commercial success of the business, helping me achieve my personal goals.

What are your tips for the perfect vintage party dress?

Feel fabulous! Don’t get too hung up on a theme, dress code or what everyone else is doing. If you feel good and have a smile on your face, everyone will compliment you on how amazing you look.

 

The Bombshell Sequin Gown is a staff recommendation for a show-stopping party dress

And finally, as we look ahead to a new year full of opportunities, what are your top 3 business resolutions for 2018?

It’s all about content not keywords for the website in 2018! We well be reviewing our messaging to make sure viewers better understand the what, where and why.

For marketing we are going to use our best assets (our staff and our products) to convince new audiences they should visit the boutique: we will be popping up in selected spots all around Greater London.

Last but not least, we will develop our own range of clothing further. Greater control of our product range, delivery dates and pricing without competing with other online retailers of the same goods gives us an advantage especially if we continue to listen to feedback of what our customers expect.

 

Ewa Domaradzka, Commercial Marketing Manager 

 

* Innovating for Growth is a free three-month programme to help you turn your growth idea into a reality. Find out more here.

This programme is fully-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the British Library.

For many people, Christmas simply isn’t Christmas without the traditional festive cheeseboard. So what better time to catch up with Eleonore Deneuve, owner of the British Library’s local neighbourhood cheesemonger, delicatessen and café situated on Chalton Street?

Over the last year, Eleonore has worked with the Library’s Business & IP Centre to start and grow the business, and joined us to tell us how she’s benefitted from the Centre’s services, as well as to share some of her hints and tips for the perfect Christmas cheeseboard.

Tell us a little more about the Cheezelo business.

Cheezelo is a cheese retailer offering products to end consumers and catering services to small and medium businesses. The business officially started trading in December 2016 when it was renting renting a commercial kitchen in East London and focusing on online sales, both via our own website) and online delivery platforms. We also had a regular presence at weekends markets such as Roan Road, Brick Lance and Columbia Road. We really wanted the business to have its own physical presence and I acquired a shop lease in April 2017 which allowed me to offer my products and services face-to-face to end consumers in the Kings Cross area (on Chalton Street). The shop itself has now been open since mid June 2017. We offer a wide range of 70+ artisan cheeses from all over Europe, British, French, Spanish, Italian, Swiss, ad are constantly increasing our range to satisfy the multiculturality of London. Cheezelo also specialises in regional and bespoke ready-to-eat cheese platters, composed of a variety of cheeses, seasonal fruits, chutney and crackers. Those are available to consume at the shop, take away or for online delivery.

 

Eleonore Deneuve, owner of Cheezelo cheesemongers and deli

What inspired the creation of the business? Did you have a ‘Eureka’ moment that convinced you that this was a good idea?

Well really, like all good business ideas it started with a personal passion, that being my own love of cheeses and wine and hosting dinner parties with friends, just generally preparing cheese platters and sharing a good time and quality food with the people I love. I had also observed that tapas, aperitivo and shared food platters were more and more popular in the UK, and I wanted Ceezelo to respond to those trends by specialising in ready to eat cheese platters.

Did you use the resources and training available through the Business & IP Centre to research and launch the business? If so, how have you benefitted from this?

Indeed, I actually prepared the business plan and did all my market research with the help of the amazing resources at the Business & IP Centre. I alsa participated in various workshops and classes too which really helped me understand my market, develop my idea, structure my research and write my business plan, and ultimately to launch of my company. The amount of resources available in the Library for businesses to use is incredible, and I benefited a lot speaking to experts and entrepreneurs at the Centre and gaining their insight. Once I had actually opened the shop, I was also really lucky to be selected to have a business mentor for 6-month period which has been really key to the recent development and growth of the company. I am so grateful at the amount of resources and support available at the Centre. Aside from gaining practical information, coming to workshop also allowed me to network with various other small business owners and really increased my confidence to start the shop.

You recently took part in a Christmas market at the British Library – tell us more about that?

I was glad to be part of this year Christmas Market at the British Library, It is where it all started in some ways, being there and presenting a range of my cheeses and delicatessens products was ideal, also given that my shop is located only 2 min walk away, It was also a way to promote my shop and products to the members of the british library and their visitors.

What makes your business unique from other cheese retailers in London?

 

I think I am different from the competition in the sense that I offer a really wide range of European cheeses, so there’s always something to meet your tastes. Whereas a lot of other cheese retailers are focused specifically on specializing in either British French cheeses, I source Spanish, Italian, Swiss and Dutch cheeses so the range is really diverse. The shop currently offers about 75 different cheeses from all over Europe and I am aiming to extend the range even further in the new year. I also offer a very popular range of homemade vegan cheeses to serve the dairy free community, and am passionate about sourcing locally made products such as fresh bread made on Caledonian Road, vegan crackers and houmous made locally in Hackney and so on. My little shop is on a quiet street in a central location but still with quite a residential atmosphere. It was really important to me to be remain close to the community and offer fresh, excellent quality and affordable food to people from all walks of life, and I think that community engagement is something that also sets the business apart from other competitors.

Being close to the community is obviously very important to you, but what factors affected your decision to base the business in the Somers Town / St Pancras area?

Since I moved to London, I always lived in Kings Cross and Camden area and I have seen this part of London developed and improve significantly over the past 6 years. When started my research for setting up Cheezelo, I realised that a cheese monger was a service that was currently missing in the area, and with the continuous development of the area bringing in diverse new groups of people who live and work nearby, I decided this market gap was the perfect opportunity to start my company. When it came to choosing a location, I visited many vacant retail units and ultimately settled on the Chalton Street location for two reasons.  Firstly, the location is directly between King’s Cross and Euston stations and so there is lots of passing traffic. But secondly, being located in Somers Town meant that the rent was more affordable than being on the High Street, so it was a more feasible location for a start-up business like mine.

What is the vision for the future of the company? Where will Cheezelo be five years from now?

Well the first priority of course is to concentrate on making Cheezelo on Chalton Street a great success. After that, I would eventually like to open another shop in East London and possibly also in another UK city one day too, so watch this space!

Finally, we all love a nice bit of cheese at Christmas, but what are your expert tips for creating the perfect festive cheeseboard?

Ohhhh my favourite question – I could talk about cheese all day! For the perfect cheeseboard you need a good variety of textures and flavor intensity. I would recommend the following: start with a soft cheese like brie de meaux, camembert or pont l'eveque. Then add a semi-soft cheese with some strong flavours like a cornish yarg, Saint Nectaire or a cider Normandy cheese (la bonne cauchoise is a cider cheese which I import directly from Upper Normandy that’s always very popular!) Of course a blue cheese is also essential: stilton is traditional at Christmas, but bleu d auvergne or Roquefort also work really well. You then need a good strong hard cheese to complete the board, something like manchego curado, farmhouse cheddar like Wookey Cave aged, comté mature or gruyere alpage 24 months. You could finalise the perfect platter some goat cheese like a rosary goat, or selles sur cher type soft goat, and if you want to really be extravagant maybe something with some flavours of truffle for extra Christmas indulgence. I think it is important to have a minimum of 3 cheeses for enough variety, and also garnish with some seasonal fruits like grapes, apples, pears, strawberries, chutney. Don’t forget some good quality fresh bread and mixed crackers too. My final big tip is to say don’t hesitate to mix the cheeses from different countries. There is so much variety to choose from and mixing up cheese from British, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch or Swiss producers really adds some diversity to your selection and ensures that you’ll be getting a great mix of flavor profiles and textures to enjoy with friends and family over the festive season.

Cheezelo is open at 46 Chalton right up until Christmas Eve to meet all your last minute festive cheese needs.

And don’t forget, if your New Year’s resolution is to finally take the plunge and set up your own business, the Innovating for Growth: Start-ups programme can give you all the essential information you need to get started on your business journey in 2018.

Smartify user scanning Paul Emsley’s portrait of HRH The Duchess of Cambridge (2012)

 

Whether you're an art aficionado, or just an occasional culture buff, we have just the app for you. Smartify is a free gallery guide that launched earlier this year at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and is already in use in over 30 major galleries and museums around the world. It lets you scan a work of art with your smartphone and uncover the story behind it, revealing the title, artist and background to the piece you're looking at. You can save a digital copy of the painting and create your own library, just like you would on Spotify for your favourite songs. The app will also recommend similar works at a nearby venue. 

The company hope their product will turn the perception of smartphones in galleries as an object of disruption on its head, and enable users to engage with artwork in a more meaningful way instead.

We caught up with Anna Lowe, Director of Partnerships and co-founder of Smartify, to find out a bit more about their journey and hear how the Innovating for Growth programme helped Smartify scale up.

 

How did the idea for Smartify come about and did it take long to develop the app?

The Smartify co-founders have always loved visiting museums and seeing art. We also found that we developed a much deeper understanding and connection with an artwork when we learned about its context while looking at it. Imagine having an enthusiastic and knowledgeable friend telling you more about a work of art, and the extra enjoyment or connection that it brings. Finally, we were aware that there is disagreement around the etiquette of using digital devices in art galleries and wanted to reframe the use of mobile phones as engagement rather than distraction.

The development of the app is a constant process of user-centered design and improvement.

Smartify app demonstration

  

Smartify is now with some major galleries around the world. How easy (or hard) was it to have them buy into the concept?

Working with museums can be slow moving as it is a notoriously conservative sector with lots of internal stakeholders. However, as a social enterprise, part of Smartify's mission is to support public arts organisations with audience reach and financial resilience. Our ambition therefore, is to build the platform in collaboration with museums and to evolve the arts sector for our digital economy and new cultural consumers.

 

What has been the businesses biggest achievement so far?

Apollo International Art Magazine selected Smartify as winner of the Digital Innovation Award 2017. After a really busy year it was a massive honour for the team and an indication of the impact we are starting to have in the sector.

 

Visitor scanning Rembrandt’s portrait of Herman Doomer (c.1595) with Open Access at The Met, New York

 

What are your future plans for growth?

We are working to scale up our team to meet demand, to include more and more museums on the app, and to build new product features our users want!

When thinking of innovation in any sector, it is useful to consider the entire value chain and all the services, teams, people that might be impacted by the disruption. This approach has lead to what is called full-stack startups that look across all the different parts of the industry's/organisation's value chain and collaborate with partners and clients to identify solutions together.

Smartify user scanning Frans Hals’s The Laughing Cavalier (1624) at The Wallace Collection, London

 

How did Innovating for Growth help with Smartify?

The programme helped in lots of ways! It gave us the space to think about our company purpose and how to translate that into a sustainable business model. For example, when bringing ‘positive disruption’ into any sector is useful to consider the entire value chain and all the services, teams, people that might be impacted by the disruption. This approach has lead to what is called full-stack startups that look across all the different parts of the industry's/organisation's value chain and collaborate with partners and clients to identify solutions together. This model helps reframe some common obstacles as opportunities to differentiate yourself.

It was also brilliant to have access to the British Library’s extensive Business and IP library. It is an amazing resource for market research and ideas!

Finally, we made a few good friends on the Innovating for Growth* programme who are going through the same scale up challenges and who have been great people to bounce ideas off.

 

Ewa Domaradzka, Commercial Marketing Manager 

 

* Innovating for Growth is a free three-month programme to help you turn your growth idea into a reality. Find out more about the programme here.

This programme is fully-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the British Library.

Some companies seem to run their Facebook pages with so much ease. You know the ones; thousands of likes, fans tripping over themselves to be a part of the hot conversation…

… it makes you wonder what they are doing right, and what you are doing so terribly wrong!

Certain businesses are simply lazy when it comes to Facebook marketing. Perhaps they try a few posts, maybe no one replies and then they just give up.

Some business pages go totally the other way. Often sharing post after post with little thought as to what their audience is actually looking for. 

Perhaps it’s the familiarity of Facebook that makes it difficult to grasp. Many business owners use Facebook personally so it can be tempting to try the same approach on your business page that you use for your personal page.

Whatever the problem may be, we see countless examples of businesses with bad Facebook marketing strategies.

Despite Facebook feeling like second nature to some, there is still a large knowledge gap for small business owners when it comes to Facebook marketing. Often, they simply aren't aware of how much they could achieve with the platform - or how to use it effectively.

With 1.32 billion daily active users, Facebook is a channel you simply cannot afford to miss.

We’re going to talk you through some simple steps to get you up to speed with using Facebook for business. If you don’t already have a Facebook page, you will want to set one up first

1. It all starts with a plan

You may have already adopted a haphazard approach when it comes to managing your business page: we’re here to put an end to this. By defining what you want to achieve, you have a greater chance of achieving success.

Goals

For someone who is new to Facebook marketing, it’s easy to get caught up in collecting likes and focusing on this as the primary measurement of your success. As exciting as it may be to gain new followers, this alone will not do a great deal for your business.

When you think about goals, extend your thoughts beyond Facebook. After all, the purpose of having a platform is to generate more interest in your business and drive traffic back to your website.

Here are some common goals for Facebook business pages:

• Generating Leads
• Increasing blog or website traffic
• Building brand awareness
• Providing customer service

Audience

Once you know what you want to achieve, begin getting to know your audience better. Use Grow’s buyer persona guide to help identify your audience. What excites them, what makes them share posts, what encourages them to get involved?

If you already have a business page, your Facebook analytics will help you get a good idea of which types of posts perform best. If you are new to Facebook, take a look at your competitor’s pages. What areas are they having success in? Find out what posts resonate with your chosen audience and you are already one step ahead.

2. Share great content

Once you’ve set some solid goals and defined your audience, you can start planning what exactly you are going to share.

If your goal is to increase product sales, you may think that you’re Facebook page is going to be full of lovely product photos. Wrong. This kind of sales oriented page isn’t going to cut it on Facebook.

Yes, you want your audience to be wowed by your amazing products but you also need to give them a reason to follow you and trust you. Think about what else you have you got to offer them besides a great product?

Creating a broad mix of content is the best way to do this, mix your own content with other peoples, share a range of photos and videos as well as just blogs. This way you can then look at what works and what doesn’t and create a strategy that is targeted specifically at your audience.

 You want to be seen as an expert in your industry, someone who keeps their finger on the pulse.

And don’t forget: everything shared on your page should show your brand personality. (If you haven’t already set the tone for your brand, you should get that together immediately.)

3. Get talking

It’s a good idea to focus on increasing engagement as part of your Facebook strategy.

Engagement constitutes the number of individuals sharing, liking and commenting on your posts. Their doing so vastly increases the visibility of your posts and the visibility of your business on Facebook, as the platform prioritises valuable and engaging content.

Putting your content out there is only half the work. It’s a social network, the whole point is to get people talking. People need to be prompted and you may need to draw attention to yourself in order to be heard.

Ask questions about trending topics, share photos that spark a conversation, share customer stories and make sure that when people do engage with you, they get a reply. The buzz will soon die down if people’s comments are ignored.

This may be a slow process at first, but working out what does and doesn’t work for your audience, is the only way you will create that buzz and keep people engaged.

This leads me on to my next point.

4. Track it, measure it, tweak it.

A lot of the initial work with Facebook is trial and error. Your audience is unique to your brand and as such, you need to work out what works for you.

Facebook makes it easy for us marketers to analyse what is working and what isn’t with its own dedicated analytics suite, Facebook Audience Insights.

Here, you can see exactly what is working on Facebook and what isn't. Are people getting fed up with all those news updates you thought were interesting? Do you receive a higher engagement with your blog shares than your product images?

Facebook Insights also gives you a breakdown of the specific times at which you get the most activity, this can help you figure out the optimal time to post for your audience.

When you work out what people are looking for, you can tweak what you share to increase engagement and increase the number of people taking actions.

This is an iterative process which can be made simpler by following the earlier steps. Defining what works early on can ensure you find your perfect content mix quickly

5.Give it a boost!

Following the previous steps will help you get everything right in terms of what to share and how to encourage engagement. This gives you a better chance of getting seen - but it's by no means foolproof.

The problem we all face is a lack of visibility. Facebook estimates that only 16% of your fans see any one of your posts organically.

So how can you further increase your chances of being spotted? Facebooks's paid promotion is the key.

You don't need a huge budget to start promoting your posts. A modest outlay can ensure your important posts are being given greater visibility.  Facebook even allows you to target certain demographics, set your daily budget and length of a campaign.

Promoted posts are a quick, targeted and effective way to reach more of your target audience.

However, if you want promoted posts you work, you will need to keep on top of them. Tracking and tweaking are vital to success.

If you follow the steps above and dedicate the time to tweaking and testing, it will help you increase traffic to your website and help to achieve your other goals, whether that be the sale of a product or even just collecting emails addresses for your mailing list.

If, like many, you are new to Facebook marketing following this simple and effective plan will get you started on your first campaign. Good luck and remember to keep at it!

Alasdair is a top marketing consultant who also runs workshops at The British Library.  For more advice, join us for a array of events and workshops at The British Library Business & IP Centre?

 

Cybercrime is on the rise, and small businesses are increasingly being targeted. Whilst it can be easy to imagine that only large corporations fall prey to cyber attacks, do not be fooled. A small business is just a likely as a large multi-national enterprise to be the victim of cybercrime, but because these incidents do not receive as much media coverage they can easily go unnoticed. In fact, recent data shows that more than 50% of small businesses have experienced a cyber attack. Whatever size your business is, a cyber attack is like a wildfire that can spread through your system rapidly if you aren’t vigilant enough. The consequences of cybercrime can also severely affect your businesses reputation, finance and productivity, as well as putting you and your customers at risk. 

We want to help small businesses to be informed about the risks of cybercrime, and what they can do minimise the threat to their business. That’s why we’ve teamed up with top IT support company Lucidica to deliver a new series of cybersecurity seminars giving you the lowdown on how to identify, protect and prevent an attack. 

The first seminar takes place on January 25th, 2018 and we’ve caught up with Josh Evans – one of Lucidica’s top tech engineers – to tell us more about the murky world of cybercrime and give you a sneak peek of what you can expect from the session.

1. Josh, thanks for partnering with us to guide small businesses through the world of cybercrime. Could you explain more about what actually happens during a cybercrime event?

Basically, there are essentially six keys steps to a cyber attack that business owners should know about. It’s vital that small business owners understand how hackers are spying into their systems to help them identify potential breaches. These six steps are:

1. Information Gathering: this is where your potential hacker is spying on you and exploring what sort of data you are likely to hold.
2. Network Mapping: at this stage, the hacker begins studying your connectivity online to paint a fuller picture of your network and reach; this might include looking into partner organisations or collaborators.
3. Vulnerability Identification: hackers are super skilled at finding the unprotected spots in your network and exploiting these.
4. Penetration: once a hacker has identified a definite weakness in your system, the initial attack commences.
5. Privilege Escalation: once the hacker has penetrated your system, the virus or bug can begin replicating and spreads, compromising more and more of your precious data as it grows.
6. Maintaining Access: as soon as the bug is in your system, it’s too late and resolving the issue is likely to be costly in terms of times, money and resources. The key thing to remember is that prevention is always better than cure, so it’s essential that small businesses understand how to protect themselves from the risks, especially at the earlier stages. 

2. So how can a small business actually identify where the weaknesses in their system are?

This does differ depending on the type of business as well as the IT set-up and the way that business processes data and information. In addition, attackers are constantly evolving and advancing to find more sophisticated and discrete ways to breach into IT systems, so even if you have taken steps to protect yourself it’s really important to stay up-to-date. That said, the key areas of any IT system which tend to be the most vulnerable to attack are:

• Configuration issues
• Cross-site scripting
• Information disclosure

In the seminar we explore these areas in more detail, including how they might apply to individual businesses and systems, as well as discuss strategies to mitigate risks and stay safe.

3. What kind of threats are currently on the internet that small businesses should know about?

Again, this is evolving all the time as hackers become more sophisticated and skilled, but the main current threats include:

Ransomware – this is a type of malicious software that steals your data and holds it hostage, usually on the threat of publishing it or perpetually blocking access unless a payment is made. Ramsomware has been in existence since 2005 and continues to be a major threat, especially to companies that hold sensitive data.

 Wannacry – this well-known attack case study affected 230k computers in over 150 countries. Wannacry works by bypassing the firewall as a trojan, most likely as a phishing or spear phishing attack. It then exploits gaps in the system to spread inside the network like a worm, meaning any unpatched systems can be affected without user action and prompts, which makes it especially difficult to detect.

Social Engineering – Social Engineering modes of attack rely on human interaction and essentially ‘trick’ people into breaking normal security procedures. They use techniques that appeal to vanity, authority and greed and include various subcategories such as baiting, phishing, spear phishing, pretexting and spam.

At the seminar we share hints, tips and strategies to help you stay aware and spot the tell-tale signs of various types of cyberattack, and what to do next if you suspect you have been hacked. We will also look in more detail at how baiting and phishing scams work as well, as how future tech and IT developments (such as Bitcoin) might affect cyber risks to your business.

Being aware of how cybercrime works is the start of keeping yourself and your business protected online. The key to keeping your data and assets safe in the digital world is to stay one step ahead of the game so that you can treat any vulnerabilities in good time to prevent attacks taking place, or act quickly when they do.

You can book your place at our ‘How to stop online hacks’ seminar here for just £15. With the average cost of a cyber attack on a small firm now standing at over £400,000, it could be the best £15 you’ve ever spent!

Come and join us on January 25th, 2018 and let’s fight these online attackers together.

The Lucidica Team - helping you protect your business from cybercrime

 

 

How to use events to market your business

Contemporary marketing talk is all about marketing automation, content and sales funnels. There’s a significant amount of value to be gained from streamlining your marketing and sales processes – but there’s one thing all these marketing tactics and strategies are aiming for: to get you in front of your potential customer/partner/lead.

Marketing is about relationships, and however fabulous your website and digital marketing are, you’re ultimately aiming to have a personal conversation with the right person to buy your product or service or build a partnership.

And that happens in person.

In-person marketing is the future (as well as the past). As people increasingly hide behind their multiple work communication channels – email, slack, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram – it seems like it’s hard enough to get someone on the phone, let alone meet in person.

And that’s why events are the heart and soul of building an effective sales and marketing strategy.

You’re either at someone else’s event – as a speaker, sponsor, exhibitor or just plain participant – and if you’ve selected the right event they’ve brought your market to you. Or you host your own events – which needs careful and targeted marketing – and position yourself in the middle of your market sector and the business potentially comes to you.

Sasha Frieze, a visiting lecturer in Event Management at Westminster University, is leading a 3-hour Masterclass: How to use events to market your business at 10am on Thursday 30^th November at the British Library Business and IP Centre in Kings Cross, where she will leverage her 25+ years’ experience in the events industry to walk you through 8 strategies to help you harness the power of events to market your business.

 

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