Derby Named The UK's Business "Start-Up Capital"

The hundreds of people laid off by Rolls Royce in 2015 may want to think about starting a business instead of looking for a new job. Why is this? Well, in December 2015, Derby was named the best place in Britain to start a business...

Quality Formations (which helps people register new businesses) ranked the UK's 69 cities based on a verity of factors including commercial rent prices, transport links and quality of life. Derby topped the list thanks to its affordable cost of living, cheap virtual office rates and “sky high wages.” Although the latter could be considered a double edged sword

London, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham were all absent from the top 10. However, cities such as Stoke on Trent, Wolverhampton, Belfast and Sunderland came very close to beating Derby to the top spot, based on some of the eight core factors set out by Quality Formations.

Speaking to an ITV reporter, James Howell of Quality Formations said...

"Derby might not make international headlines as a business powerhouse – but we think that’s about to change. It may not be widely known, but Derby is actually the UK's number one tech city – with 12% of its workforce employed in hi-tech industry. As a point of reference, that’s four times the national average, and double that of other hi-tech cities. More importantly, fresh, young start-ups are finding a huge level of support thanks to Derby’s grassroots enterprise hub, extensive Creative Industries Network and some of the UK’s biggest industrial clusters. When you combine all of these factors, deciding where to start a business in the UK should be a no-brainer – Derby is simply second to none.”

The full top 10 list of the UK's best cities to start a business are as follows:

1. Derby

2. Stoke-on-Trent

3. Belfast

4. Wolverhampton

5. Sunderland

6. Lincoln

7. Coventry

8. Stirling

9. Liverpool

10. Durham

Great news for Derby but this does not, by any means, guarantee success when starting up a business. It takes hard work, determination, investment and probably most importantly - a good marketing strategy!

Starting up is one thing but getting yourself and your business known is quite another.

Every business, large or small, brand new or established, should have a marketing budget and a good marketing plan. After all, you wouldn’t go on a round the world trip without at least a map, would you? Yet there are so many businesses that start up without a plan. Or go year after year without reviewing their plans.

In today’s digital and competitive market place, it is so important to consider the tools and platforms at your disposal. From your website content management system to your SEO and social media marketing strategy - It all needs planning.

At JDR we have been helping businesses for the past 11 + years in all aspects of business and marketing planning as well as offering done for you marketing services, designed to help you get more traffic to your website, more leads and more sales.

Subscribe to our blog to keep yourself up to date, and add your comments below, we would love to hear your thoughts on our home town and the opportunities you think the future of Derby has to offer!