An integral part of our Cofinitive ethos is being part of the ‘Pay it Forward’ community and giving back to society. One of the ways in which we do this is by taking people on for work experience and internships, because for anyone looking at joining or changing their world of work, hands on experience is vital. As such, we encourage all of our work experience participants to produce a blog inspired by their time with us, to help refine their skills and ultimately help get their voice heard. After spending a week with us, this is what Grace Morris produced.

What goes into making a successful business?

Many elements go into what makes a business great. There’s the branding, marketing, web-design, communications and the actual product/service itself. You may think that it’s all a breeze and that the only aspect that matters is the product/service. However, each ‘ingredient’ plays their own crucial part into getting the best possible result (a successful business).

Branding vs Marketing

Before I spent time at Cofinitive, I thought that branding and marketing was the same thing. I was wrong. The ‘brand’ guides the message you want to get across, what you want to do, and how you want to do it. If you don’t have a clear identity, then customers won’t know what you want to achieve as a company, and how you can contribute to the world.

Marketing is the way you want to present your product/service. Do you want to aim for women? Men? Youths? Elderly? What I have learned at Cofinitive is that if you’re marketing to everyone, then you’re marketing to no-one! This clearly demonstrates that you must have a vision, and it is fundamental for going from concept to consumer. It is essential to spend time on good marketing for your business, because it ensures a firm strategy to promote your work to the outside world.

Online accessibility

Many will say that to have an excellent website, it must look good. This is very true as each section of the website must complement each other and be cohesive. Nevertheless, time and effort are crucial for not only the way it looks, but also how it works. If a company has a pretty website but it isn’t organised, simple to understand or easily accessible, the user/customer will not be able to (discover that it is very hard to) find the information they were trying to retrieve in the first place. Eventually, they will just give up and move on!

Having all the companies details in one place allows for a potential customer to understand what you do as a company, why and how you do it, and gives them any essential contact details to use in case of any queries.

Build a platform for your company. Build an empire of cheerleaders. Build communications. This element of business is key, because without communications, how are you going to get your company/name out there? How are you going to get people talking about you? How will it be successful? So, the step needed to ensure a strong platform is social media. Social media allows for you to get additional information across to your clients/customers and to interact with them efficiently.

Last but not least

As you might have expected, the final component that is needed to guarantee a blossoming business is: the product/service. You need to bring something to the table that is inventive, shows initiative, and what you think that the public will like. You could do a personal twist on an existing product/service or produce something completely new! Just remember: there are gaps in the market, but is there a market in the gap?

This blog was written by Grace Morris while completing work experience at Cofinitive.

So what do you think?? Tell us on Twitter @Cofinitive and for anyone interested in business communications, apply for work experience or internships on our website to find out more about how a business works!