4 hacks for saving money as a small business

With all the hustle and bustle of running your own small business, it’s easy to overlook secure, straightforward ways of cutting costs and increasing your profits. Below, we’ve assembled a quick comprehensive list of hacks that could save you money in the long term.

1 – Communal and guerilla marketing

These two types of marketing are a good way to help you cut costs. Communal marketing focuses on getting your customers to help your business through the ever-desirable use of word of mouth.

If you’re a business to business or business to consumer company, asking customers that are satisfied with your service or product to leave a glowing testimonial can really lend strength to your marketing strategy. Another tactic is to offer social media giveaways, with users sharing your post in order to generate more views and clicks. Maybe it’ll go viral and your product will kick off the next ALS Ice Bucket Challenge…

Guerilla marketing is a little more out there, with a focus on outside-the-box thinking. You could share email contacts with other business owners; you could invite guest writers for your blog, swapping free content for exposure; you could even take to the streets and use temporary artwork to market your company. Guerilla marketing has proven to be an extremely effective tool for many companies.

2 – Freelancers

It’s good to have all your employees in one place – you can pop over to their desk for a chat at any time and you can manage them directly. However, the business world is changing, and sticking to that “all in-house” mentality could potentially be detrimental to your efforts.

Freelancing is on a meteoric rise, with some freelancers even living very comfortably on six-figures. Many of them find major appeal in the flexibility of working their own hours, at their own rates, for as many clients as they can cope with. They therefore rely heavily on self-started businesses.

Hiring a freelancer can help you save money by not having to provide them with employment benefits or full-time salaries. Though we wouldn’t recommend relying entirely on freelancers, outsourcing a task or two could help cut costs and secure your business’ longevity.

3 – Automated tax and accounting

Filing your taxes each year can be a mind-boggling affair that eats into your time and money. Many businesses also still employ the traditional services of an accountancy company. You may have a good relationship with your accountant, but going digital could be good for the health of your business.

There are a number of automated tax apps out there that help to guide you through the whole tax process, with comprehensive checklists for you to fill out. We advise that you look for software that has a proven track record for 100% accuracy and eases your bookkeeping with customisable reports and digestible visual imagery.

There is a whole plethora of software options available to you, and we recommend that you do some research, but by choosing the right software for your business you could cut back on expenses and increase profit.

4 – Discounts for cash transactions

Another lesser-known method for cutting costs is to stop accepting credit cards the way many businesses do. At the end of the day, fees are fees, and avoiding those additional costs that come with accepting credit can help you minimise your expenses. The amount you lose can vary between 1-3% for in person transactions. Keyed in transactions such as online purchases can often have higher processing fees due to the higher risks involved.

You can help reduce these fees by adopting a cash discount program. The premise is simple: inform your customers that they could be paying less for your services or product if they pay with cash over card. This saves you charging the customer the processing fee and you can market it as a discount on the product or service if they use your preferred method of transaction.  

We hope these valuable tips and tricks have helped and we recommend you try at least one of these money saving hacks – you owe it to yourself for the hard work you put in to running your business.

For information on ways to help streamline your finances, don’t hesitate to get in contact.