All the endless news articles and media covering the rising cost of living make it almost impossible to avoid talking about. This is why instead of leaving our Crunch clients worried and stressed thinking about their finances in 2023, we’ve put together 6 ways that you can help your business this year.

Inexpensive marketing techniques

Everyone knows that a business needs marketing to create brand awareness and therefore bring in leads and sales. You don’t need to stop your business’s marketing just because times are getting difficult. Just make use of the most cost-effective methods.

Ensure all content you’re releasing into the world has your branding and logo. You want people to remember your business and associate colours or designs with you. This also relates to social media. Social platforms are mostly free when done organically. Make sure you have included your brand style in your posts and keep it consistent. Research your industry and trends on social media and see what you can replicate on a budget.

Use the people around you. Get your friends, family, and employees to interact on social media, and share your business with people they know. Recommendations from your loved ones cost nothing. You could consider a refer a friend scheme so any of your loyal customers and their friends can benefit from using your business. Rewards can range from cheaper services to vouchers. You don’t need to give them the world!

Attending local events can also be a great way to showcase your business. Although sometimes these can be costly, more local charity events or fairs should be on the cheaper side. Gain the trust of your local community.

Financial forecasting

Financial forecasting tools can be super handy to help you schedule your finances and predict your business’s financial future. Creating reports or charts on your bills, expenses, and profits gives a clear overview of your business’s financial performance and presents ways to improve. During the cost of living crisis, this can be an excellent way for you to prepare your business and look at ways of saving.

Crunch’s integration with Brixx means that all Crunch clients can forecast their finances, report, and plan for free. We always want to support our clients and offer the best service possible to make your accounting and finances easy to handle. Our financial forecasting integration is there to help you. Why not make the most of this free tool and get your finances in order?

Getting paid

When hard times hit, ensuring you’re getting paid for all your services is vital. Any delay in payment or even no payment at all can be frustrating and lead to a loss in revenue. Making sure you send any invoices as soon as possible, scheduling regular chasers, and perfecting the tone of voice are crucial.

Crunch provides free invoice reminders/chaser templates so our clients get paid faster.

Each chaser template gets more persistent and more urgent while continuing a friendly tone. Take a look for yourself.

Be prepared

The changes announced by Jeremy Hunt in the Autumn Statement will impact your business and your individual finances. Making sure you’re aware of the changes and preparing for them now will avoid any nasty surprises when they come into effect. For example, company car tax rates are increasing, but dividend tax allowance is falling.

Budgeting for these changes and using financial planning tools, like Brixx, can help you be better prepared for what's to come. You can look at your worst-case scenario and then find other areas where you can save extra money to compensate for this.

We’ve provided a breakdown of how the Autumn statement could affect you.

Energy bill support

The government is offering an energy support scheme for all households with a domestic electricity connection in England, Scotland, and Wales. You’ll get a £400 discount on your energy bills split over 6 months starting from October 2022. This is automatically paid into your account by your energy provider.

Although this will not impact your business directly, for the self-employed or business owners, it’s one less cost to worry about as bills start to rise. It’ll allow your home energy bills to be just that bit easier so you can focus your financial organisation on your business and not your personal bills.

Saving money on your accounting

Handling your accounting throughout the year can be very costly. But it doesn’t need to be when you use online accounting software, like Crunch. You can pay monthly or yearly and get all you desire to complete your accounting at lower costs. Whether you need your Self Assessment filing, or bookkeeping, or want to ask a question directly to a qualified accountant, we have you covered. All at prices that won’t break the bank.

Save all the pennies you can to keep your business safely running during these hard times and trust that Crunch has you covered.