We’re all familiar with the old adage “You must spend money to make money.” But for many Irish SMEs, a helping hand can be hard to come by.

Despite the recovering economy, small and medium-sized enterprises can still struggle to get the financial support they need from traditional sources.

So what’s an SME to do: wait for the business to grow organically—maybe missing out on potential opportunities in the process—or take a chance with the bank?

Thankfully, there are now other options.

At Linked Finance, we are seeing more and more Irish SMEs gearing up for growth. Here are just some of the reasons you might want to talk to us in 2017:

You need more space.

Business is booming and you’re ready to expand, either by growing your current premises, moving to a larger one or adding another location. But just because people are buying what you’re selling doesn’t mean you have the money to make that expansion happen. Beyond additional rental and utility costs, a bigger space requires more stuff and more staff. To that end, a P2P loan could finance a big move quickly so you can hire new talent, grow your clientele and increase sales.

You want to improve working capital.

Working capital, defined as current assets less current liabilities, is the cash needed to fund a business’ day-to-day operations. In short, a healthy business should have positive working capital. But in many SMEs, money is often tied up in unsold stock, production and accounts receivable, which can’t be used to pay off any of the company’s obligations.

Rather than hound every customer that owes money to the company, put supplier payments on the long finger or hold off on restocking inventory, we can help your small business to increase working capital quickly.

You need new machinery or equipment.

This seems like an obvious one but every business needs certain tools and equipment to function, whether it’s machinery, office furniture, computers or specialised software packages. All of those things cost money and as your business grows, so do your overheads—and those expenses may not be covered by working capital.

While leasing is an option, tapping into P2P lending to buy has its pluses, not least because of capital allowances. In addition, you own the equipment and can even sell it for salvage value at the end of its useful life. 

Your business needs more stock.

There are few things worse in business than missing out on sales because you haven’t got enough stock. For retailers, running out of a popular item during a peak shopping season—such as a must-have toy in the run-up to Christmas—can be a costly blunder. 

You might have a very popular product of your own that you know customers are hungry for or you might have spotted a new product that you’d like to add to your portfolio. If you need finance to increase inventory, we can help.

You Need to Ramp Up Marketing Activity

Once upon a time, an ad in the local Yellow Pages and good old-fashioned word-of-mouth referrals could keep SMEs ticking over. But today, if a business doesn’t appear on the first page of Google search results, it may as well not exist.

Consumers are more plugged-in than ever and most people have access to and regularly use the Internet, as well as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Although social media marketing is an easy way to expand your reach, big businesses are using the same tools and have the resources to drown out your message or poach your potential customers.

Digital marketing may be cheaper than print, TV or radio ads but it still costs time and money to get right. For that reason, many small businesses could benefit from outsourcing their digital marketing strategy to someone who knows the ins and outs of SEO (search engine optimisation) and analytics, and who can turn likes into leads.

Whatever the reason, every SME needs to be nimble to thrive in today’s ever-changing landscape. A quick cash injection from a P2P loan could be just the boost your small business needs to adapt to trends and set it on the path to greatness.

Whatever your plans for growth this year, talk to Linked Finance. You can apply for a business loan here in just 2 minutes.