CIM event considers SME support networks

A The Chartered Institute of Marketing product story

Edited by the Marketingweek Marketplace editorial team Feb 24, 2010

The Chartered Institute of Marketing has announced that its Shape the Agenda event set for Bournemouth on 27 April will focus on the existing support network for small- to medium-sized businesses.

The event is aimed at marketers, business owners and managers and will highlight the challenges and successes that small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in and around Bournemouth experience in accessing business advice and support.

The UK government increasingly refers to SMEs as the powerhouse of our future economy.

In Bournemouth alone, the economy is dependent upon its SMEs, with more than 5,600 SMEs registered for VAT and/or PAYE, compared with 20 large businesses.

The definition for an SME is a business that employs less than 250 and the official figures excludes many self-employed people who earn under the VAT threshold or do not employ.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing's (CIM) event identifies what the government is doing to support SMEs and the role of marketing within this.

A discussion whitepaper - 'Access All Areas?' - was published by the CIM at the end of last year to promote discussion on how the role of government might best evolve to suit the disparate requirements of SMEs and makes the case for effective marketing support being central to SME business development.

Mark Stuart, head of research at the CIM, will present the key themes at the discussion evening.

Stuart will be joined by Julie Leigh, an adviser at White Egret, who has 30 years' experience working with SMEs in the banking sector and more than five years' experience working within Business Link before becoming an independent business consultant.

Stuart and Leigh will be joined by two local business people: Declan O'Toole, director of Forerunner Personal Catering, and Justine Wyness, managing director of BeCheeky.

O'Toole will discuss how marketing has been central to the development of his business, and the key role Business Link has played in providing information and advice on a whole range of business issues.

Wyness is a studying member of the CIM and she will talk about some of the marketing challenges her online consumer business has encountered, and how she has addressed them.