Expanding your business to the UK — how to set up and promote a business on the British market.
First steps towards doing business in the UK.
Are you planning to expand your business to the United Kingdom? Are you alone in this? Does your business stand a chance on the British market? Are you worried it will be too hard, that you won't cope — or perhaps you fear excessive red tape from British authorities?
Nothing could be further from the truth. Foreign entrepreneurs thrive in the UK: Polish founders alone run around 30,000 registered companies there, plus roughly 80,000 more Poles operate as self-employed sole traders (many of them employing staff and growing dynamically on the market). The UK is genuinely open to businesses from abroad.
Why the UK? What attracts international entrepreneurs to the British market?
The answer comes down to a few key factors:
- Lower taxes and favourable tax-free allowances (updated allowances came into force on 6 April 2017 for the 2017/2018 tax year)
- The British tax system is considered one of the most stable and business-friendly in the world
- Clearly defined rules for doing business
- Greater stability of legal regulations
- The opportunity to build your brand on the most dynamic e-commerce market in Europe — and one of the biggest in the world
Before we move on to the question most interesting from an entrepreneur's point of view — promoting and advertising your business on the British market — here is a quick summary of the steps everyone setting up a company in the UK should take:
- Choose a name for your company (ideally one that reflects the type of business and doesn't cause Brits any trouble with pronunciation)
- All registration procedures can be completed online. To register as a sole trader, a phone call to the authorities stating that you have started working for yourself is enough
- Start trading
Only around 24 hours – and all the formalities are completed electronically. No wonder entrepreneurs around the globe consider the United Kingdom one of the friendliest places to do business.
How to promote your business in the UK?
Once your business is up and running, what should you focus on — what should you pay attention to so that what you do attracts customers and generates profit? The old saying advertising is the engine of trade is as true as ever. But which form of advertising should you choose? There is only one answer: an effective one.
Why is an online presence worth it?
As we mentioned earlier, the UK e-commerce sector is the most dynamic and the largest in Europe. Over 76% of British adults actively use the internet, and 74% choose to shop online. Harnessing the potential of an online presence is the foundation of the advertising approach we recommend. To exist in the virtual world, you first need a website. Your business in the UK should have a professional website — and if you plan to sell online, it is worth investing in an online store integrated with it.
This is a task worth entrusting to specialists. Your website and store are the calling card of your business. They should be clear, user-friendly and easy to navigate. Yet what turns out to be most important is this: your site must be responsive. As the Daily Mail reported (article from 16.08.2017):
95% of Brits shop via the internet,
1 in 4 people shop online at least once a week,
1 in 5 uses a tablet to do so, and 1 in 10 a smartphone,
£91 billion was spent on online shopping in 2015.
Once you can boast a professional website and a smoothly running online store, you can start promoting your business online. There are many different ways to do it.
The most popular British classified ad sites
It is worth marking your presence on the market by placing listings in online business directories such as Gumtree, UK Classifieds, Freeads, Vivastreet, London.craigslist, Ad-mart, Ukfreeads and similar.
All of the portals (directories) listed above rank in the Top 10 free classified ad services. They offer free listings for companies operating in the UK. Registration and the process of posting an ad for your services is quick and uncomplicated. Within seconds you become visible to a huge number of potential customers. For example:
Gumtree UK: 4 million visitors per month, 33% reach of the UK population, 6 million site visitors respond to ads.
Community and diaspora portals in the UK.
If your expansion also targets a specific community living in the UK, don't overlook dedicated diaspora portals. A good example is the Polish community: many Poles living in the UK don't feel confident enough to operate freely in a purely British environment and, for various reasons, prefer to use the services of companies from their home country, read familiar news portals and buy familiar products. Bear in mind that each of the 913,000 Poles living in the United Kingdom could be your customer. The same logic applies to other large communities — your business in the UK has to be visible where your audience actually spends time.
Below are the most-visited Polish portals in the UK:
- londynek.net – 1.6M visits in the last month*
- emito.net – 810K visits in the last month*
- polemi.co.uk– 700K visits in the last month*
- mojawyspa.co.uk – 510K visits in the last month*
* data from moneygrabbing.co.uk, 26.08.2016
Apart from the above, the following also deserve attention:
- naszlondyn.co.uk
- goniec.com
- twojeuk.pl
- anglia.today
- ogloszenia.anonse.co.uk
The marketplaces leading among British internet users.
The remaining statistics are impressive and deserve a closer look. Namely:
- 80% of new products listed were sold,
- 93% of small businesses sold their products beyond the UK, and
- 57% of sales were completed on mobile devices!
Which platform should you choose? Do you have to choose at all? Not really. Nothing stops you from selling on both.
Advertising on social media.
When writing about promoting your own business, social media advertising deserves a mention.
Facebook is a platform offering immeasurable possibilities. The mere fact that your ad will be visible to thousands of internet users is a serious argument in itself. Advertising campaigns on Facebook let you target your audience precisely and, thanks to the variety of ad formats (banners, contests and more), guarantee high effectiveness.
YouTube – around 85,000 new videos appear on it every day, uploaded by private individuals as well as companies and institutions. Thanks to its very large reach, YouTube is an increasingly popular advertising channel. You can run banner ads on it as well as video ad campaigns.
Has what we've written caught your interest? Would you like more information? Have you decided you need professional help with online advertising?
Get in touch with us!
