"Securing charity rates for business"

Stephen Purdon talks to UK Business Magazine:

ARE you on Facebook or Twitter?

If you answered no, i'm sure you are often given a very strange look as if you are a relic from the stone age.

More importantly, you must consider, is your business in the stone age? Some businesses tend to believe that, “We have been fine without online marketing, why do we need to go in that direction?”

Stephen Purdon, founder at Sektor Communications, who were at last week’s Internet Marketing event hosted by Red Square in Edinburgh, believe that in the UK, businesses are not fully utilising social media/online marketing to develop their business effectively and generate more opportunities globally.

Purdon explained, “We have several clients that are interested in how social media and online marketing will benefit the company, but they are hesitant embarking on this change. Many businesses want to find the right mix that works for their company and products. It is important to be the master of your brand, which means cultivating the entire business, who you hire, brand positioning, how you want to be perceived and most importantly, that you are delivering what you say and reaping profits.”

He suggested, “Businesses need to look at integrating all media; social media is not just Facebook and Twitter. It is important to use social media, but integrating it with the traditional media because you don’t want to alienate your older loyal clients.”

He added, “Online marketing has changed the game in marketing in business. There is a huge opportunity for the UK to be less insular, but we need to think bigger than the UK as an audience because there is a global marketplace we haven’t connected with.

“A lot of the infrastructure for business to succeed online here, specifically E-Commerce, seems difficult to establish and that is a huge problem for young people that want to create their own opportunities.”

He indicated, “The possibilities are endless when you incorporate innovation and technology."

He elaborated, “Some businesses are slow to change their marketing style because they become complacent, it already works well the way it is. However, what we will see unfold in the next five to ten years that the smaller more nimble business will completely disrupt the bigger business by becoming more in tuned with online marketing to compete, this is what we ourselves strive to achieve.

“If the infrastructure was in place, the UK could create winning ideas that any business can compete. An excellent example of a country with no natural resources is Singapore and it is now a major international hub for business; it took time, but they did it with first changing a mindset. In UK, businesses need to change how they view marketing and developing business.”