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Free Business Information Sessions January, February and March 2016

Please find below a list of upcoming expert delivered business information sessions from Business Sheffield. All events are free of charge. For further information or to reserve yourself a place simply call the Gateway on 0800 043 55 22 or 0114 224 5000.

 

8th January, 5th February, 4th March How to Safely Produce Food

Hosted by an Environmental Health Officer from the Council’s Food Hygiene team, this interactive information session will cover the main elements of safely producing food in a commercial environment, including implementing a suitable food management system.

 
13th January Creating a Brand

This session looks at the importance and advantages of having a strong brand. The workshop will take you through what constitutes a brand, how to understand your own brand, its identity, style and tone of voice, and includes several thought provoking branding exercises.  It includes a case study to explain some of the principles discussed and finally shows you how to use your brand.

 
15th January, 18th February, 21st March Social Media

The session covers how mainstream social media platforms can be used as a way to promote your business. The session focuses on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and covers top tips, tricks and strategies on how to grow your social media presence.

 
19th January How to Run a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign

As the crowdfunding sector has grown over the past 5 years with companies and groups seeking alternative finance, so has the need for a considered strategy to support a successful campaign. The session will cover all the main areas and considerations when looking to achieve a successful crowdfunding campaign.

 
20th January Winning New Customers via the Telephone

This workshop is aimed at businesses that sell to other businesses (as opposed to consumers) and is ideal for anyone wanting to learn how to approach prospects and gain new business using the phone. It looks at why so many of us are nervous of using the phone, dispels some of the myths and fears associated with cold calling and gives advice and tips on all aspects of running a successful telephone campaign.  

The session culminates with the presenter making live cold calls to prospects, which delegates listen to via headsets, with analysis and discussion of the outcomes.


21st January Maximising your website

This session is designed to help organisations and individuals to gain more business from their web presence. It covers driving traffic to your website via SEO including long-tail keywords, click bait, backlinks, internal links and using Google Webmaster and Analytics. It also looks at using social media to attract visitors.

It will show you how to convert website traffic into leads and sales, with advice on influencing your visitors actions, creating urgency, the art of writing good text, the power of FAQ’s and customer reviews and ways to capture visitor details.

27th January How to Sell Face to Face

A workshop aimed at anyone whose business success depends on face-to-face selling and who wants to improve their success rate from appointments. The session will cover pre-appointment preparation, creating a good first impression, opening and keeping control of the meeting, questioning techniques, features and benefits, objection handling, recognising buying signals, closing/agreeing the next step and more.


2nd February Retail Insights Course 1, Marketing, Media and Customers

Delivered by a retail expert with many years’ experience of working for some of the largest retailers.  Topics include -

·        Discover fascinating facts and metrics about the retail industry in general

·        Understand the relationships between your product, market and customer before you commit to marketing strategies

·        Learn how to market your business more effectively to the right people, in the right place at the right time at the lowest cost

·        Gain an understanding of how to interface and use media to your advantage as part of your overall marketing strategy


16th February AdWords  Traffic That Converts To Business

Google AdWords is just one of the options available for pay per click advertising, but in our experience it is by far the best. In terms of traffic and the ability to be able to convert that traffic into business, AdWords is unmatched. It gives you complete control of budgets and is very transparent to establish return on investment, so is particularly effective at supporting business growth for start-ups and SMEs.

In this session we will demonstrate the benefits of AdWords, as well as, how you can optimise your own AdWords account.

·        The benefits of AdWords

·        Common Objections

·        How To Plan Your AdWords Strategy

·        The Tools Available With AdWords

·        Measuring Your Return

·        Advanced AdWords Techniques

·        Websites Do’s & Don’ts


24th February Employing People for the First Time

There are many things to think about when you are employing people for the first time. If you don’t have a full understanding of the requirements this could result in penalties and interest.

We aim to highlight the main questions that a business needs to ask itself when employing people for the first time.  Topics include - 

·        When do I need to tell HMRC I am employing people

·        What do I have to tell HMRC

·        What are my ongoing reporting requirements

·        Do I need an accountant to prepare my payroll

·        How do I pay my staff

·        What is the national minimum wage

·        Can I pay my employees expenses and benefits

·        What is Real Time Information

·        What is Auto enrolment


2nd March De-Mystifying SEO

Search Engine Optimisation is surrounded in mystery and more often than not, misinformation and with Google actively penalising harmful tactics it is more important than ever to understand what is both good and bad for your site.

If SEO is carried out correctly and ethically, websites can enjoy years of great traffic that can potentially turn into business. The session will explain how Google operates, the latest updates and how to create a long lasting SEO strategy. It will also show why some strategies have failed and how to avoid a dreaded Google penalty.

Session topic include:

·        Introduction to SEO

·        Why SEO strategies fail

·        How Google works

·        How Google monitors spam & malpractice

·        Basic building blocks of a solid SEO strategy

·        The secrets to quality content for search engines


3rd March Retail Insights Course 2

The course provides essential awareness for a supplier, wholesaler or small retailer considering pitching their product to a large retailer.  Discover the complex structures of large retailers and how these interact and affect your potential pitch to them.  Gain an understanding of how the major retailers think, strategise and conduct their procurement requirements.

Learn how to approach negotiations with a major retailer and how to combat some of their more onerous terms. Understand some lateral strategies for approaching or gaining entry to a large-scale retailer.  Topics include -

·        Retailer structure & complexity

·        Procurement & Product to Market understanding

·        Negotiations

·        How to get in/Tactical entry 

 
8th March Basic Book Keeping

Aimed at new start and young businesses who are undertaking their bookkeeping and accounts by themselves.

Topics include - 

·       How to keep a sales ledger

·       How to keep a purchase ledger

·       How to keep a cash book

·       How to reconcile the business cash and bank accounts

·       Tips and hints on bookkeeping

·       How to prepare and understand your profit and loss account

·       Computerised and cloud accounting

 
15th March How to get low cost, positive and effective PR and media exposure for your business

 Using examples this session will demonstrate how positive PR can help to grow your business. Topics include -

·       PR strategy - deciding how to get the word out and why

·       PR content - what to say and how and when to say it

·       What do journalists want/not want?

·       How to liaise with mainstream media outlets.

·       Main elements of a good press release

·       Using social media to court positive PR

·       Selling your USP and effective story telling

·       News jacking/piggybacking off other topical stories

22nd March Landing Pages – The Cheaper & More Effective Alternative To A New Website

A landing page is a standalone page that provides the opportunity to focus on a single objective, which is normally to sell, whereas a website normally has more of a general purpose. Therefore Landing Pages, if done correctly, will generate you more business from the traffic that is sent there. 

The session will demonstrate how landing pages are a great alternative to a new website build and how they can be used to test different elements on your website to ultimately improve your conversion rate. Landing Pages are great for start-up businesses because they offer a cheaper alternative to a website whilst still being really effective. SMEs can use landing pages to optimise their website and PPC traffic.

 The session will cover:

·        Current client observations

·        What is a Landing Page?

·        How do Landing Pages fit into your strategy?

·        What is Conversion Rate Optimisation?

·        Why are Landing Pages so effective?

·        Things to consider before a new website build

 
SheffieldEnterprise
Business Sheffield
Freephone: 0800 043 55 22
Office Number: 0114 224 5000
Email: businesssheffield@sheffield.gov.uk
Website: http://www.welcometosheffield.co.uk/business
Follow us @Sheffbusiness
Address: City Growth Department, 11 Broad Street West, Sheffield S1 2BQ Tel: +44 (0) 114 224 5000 Email: businesssheffield@sheffield.gov.uk

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