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Welcome to this February edition of our newsletter for 2009.
This year looks like it's going to be an interesting one as we have already seen
a pattern appearing on how the recession and slowdown may be impacting new and
existing businesses in our industry. As we cover a variety of event businesses
from mobile caterers, amusement operators to traders and entertainers it's
difficult to put every business type into the same feedback pot. But generally
speaking we have seen a big increase this year in individuals looking at
starting a new event business. Existing businesses are being slightly more cautious about
upgrading equipment and are holding off to see how things go before placing
orders. As a result trailers and vans are not being placed for sale
forcing many would be buyers to purchase new.
Will our industry notice a slowdown
Surprisingly we are not really hearing of many businesses closing, some are of course closing but no more noticeable than last year or the year
before. We hear daily of this store closing or that bank in bigger trouble and every
business in every industry sector is instantly put in the same category and
everybody assumes every business will experience the same things. Wrong,
businesses in our industry are far more robust, far more resilient and are far
more used to fluctuations in the availability of work which should providing the
sun shines mean little impact of the recession should be felt. However those
businesses that focus solely on large corporate events will need to monitor
bookings and feed back from companies over the coming year. |
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Business loans and funding
Although we have all heard the negative news about high street banks and the
availability of lending funds there are some great government backed business
loan deals being made available to small businesses. With interest rates at rock
bottom this may be a good time to take out a business loan but remember as we
come out of recession those interest rates will start to rise to help keep
inflation under control as consumers start spending again.
Keep advertising even in a recession
One of the things that gets reduced in a recession is the advertising budget
which for very large companies is an obvious way to reduce outgoings. But for
small businesses this can have a serious negative effect on the ability of the
business to attract customers. Why would any business owner who thinks that it's
going to get quieter stop advertising to attract new business? Surely that will
only ensure that business will get quieter, you've effectively just shot
yourself in the foot. In a recession small businesses need to be seen and need
to be out there promoting to reduce the impact of any slowdown. Always look at
the cost, always look at the advert effectiveness but importantly always ensure
that organisers or customers can find and book your services.
Website plans and office news
We have a variety of projects in the pipeline for the website over the next 12 months
leading up to our tenth anniversary in 2010. A major addition to the website
will be our new Classified Ads area which we are currently working on and should
be ready hopefully by the end of the spring. This should bring our items for
sale area up to date with new tools and self admin for sellers plus much better
looking adverts for viewers. A long awaited update! With the addition of new
staff members and a new phone system our office team is growing. Gorden Brown may
be having a slowdown but here at Villagefetes its full steam ahead, there
still is not enough hours in the day. |
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