For many business owners across Australia, operational expenses have been climbing ever higher. This can be attributed to a few factors, including an increase in importation rates for supplies, lease rate increases, and the nation’s ongoing cost of living crisis in general.

Despite these ballooning expenses, however, Australia’s regional economy continues to grow from strength to strength. So how are regional business owners adapting to changing economic conditions and ensuring that their overhead and operational costs stay in ideal proportion with their profit margins? 

Here are just some of the spend-savvy trends we’ve been seeing across our community of business owners in Sunraysia.

Optimising printing costs

Printing paper and printer ink are amongst the most expensive office supplies that Australian business owners are buying on a routine basis. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the cost of printing globally has skyrocketed, which has in turn prompted many of Australia’s regional news publications to transition from print into digital – us included.

Thankfully, business owners can enjoy more flexibility and control over their printing costs, with modern printer manufacturers offering consumers the option to invest in standard, high yield, and ultra high yield ink and toner cartridges.

For example, the Brother TN-441 toner cartridges are actually compatible with the same office printers as the TN-443 and TN-446 cartridge variants. The only difference between these cartridges is their differing capacities, with the latter being the cheapest. Being able to select between standard to ultra high yield cartridges allows business owners to invest in printing supplies that align with their printing volume.

Agile and adaptable advertising

Alongside optimising investments in printer supplies, business owners are also revisiting their printing habits, implementing sustainability initiatives that aid in conserving office supplies without inhibiting their business’ operational or promotional processes. Digital platforms like business websites, email, and social media have all played a major role in allowing regional business owners to promote their business without having to rely as heavily on print media or physical advertising.

However, it can also be easy for small business owners to overspend on digital advertising and social media promotion. Business owners are advised to keep in mind that when it comes to marketing budgets, strategy is just as important as cost investment. With a well-optimised campaign, even a modest marketing budget can provide a good return.

And the key to a well-optimised marketing strategy is simple: research. With a solid understanding of their target market, small business owners can run tailored ad campaigns that have a greater chance of making an impact on leads and turning them into new customers.

Strategic commercial leasing

Just as you’d want to be strategic with your marketing efforts, so too should you seek to stay strategic with your overhead costs. After all, why pay for things your company just isn’t using?

By extension, if you’re not using all the space in your commercial lease, then you could consider scaling down and potentially saving hundreds to thousands of dollars annually without impacting your company sales. 

Thankfully, if you are looking into securing commercial space in Sunraysia, now is the perfect time, as our local commercial real estate market is experiencing a bit of a boom. Local estate agents specialising in commercial real estate are advising business owners in Sunraysia to start looking into listings now so they can find an ideal space for their small business to begin operating in the new year.

Local supplier contracts

Sunraysia residents love to shop local, and as a result, Mildura’s local economic growth has been comparable to other larger regional Victorian townships. Mildura’s small business landscape also happens to attract plenty of domestic and international tourists annually, ensuring that our local community of small business owners maintain ample opportunity to sell their wares to the world.

For Mildura manufacturers and wholesalers, there are additional opportunities to maintain supplier contracts with not only their fellow local business owners, but also small business owners across the country. In other words, Aussie business owners can ‘shop local’ themselves by establishing contracts with local suppliers rather than shelling out for imported supplies from international providers. By doing business with local suppliers, business owners can ensure their products are fully Australian-made, avoid international trade tariffs, and perhaps even enjoy lower supply costs by consolidating their business supplies with the same suppliers.

Insurance and compliance investments

Another vital yet often overlooked avenue for balancing business expenses is simply ensuring that you’ve ticked all your regulatory compliance obligations and have fully accounted for your company’s insurance needs. In the event that your business is found liable for an act of negligence, breaches of contract, privacy breaches, workplace accidents, or even non-compliance, ensuring you have the right business insurance cover can naturally help reduce your risks of experiencing a financial loss as a direct result of claims made against you.

In this regard, investing in business insurance cover and other trust signals like industry certification, can help present your regional business as a reputable enterprise with higher quality, more reliable products and/or services

Thankfully, regional business owners in Australia have the option to partner with local insurance providers or even to tender their insurance and secure cover from a range of suitable providers. This added flexibility and the opportunity to work with local brokers and insurance companies makes these foundational investments both highly accessible and cost-effective for regional business owners.

So don’t skimp on your business insurance or your compliance investments! Not only are these arrangements increasingly easy to organise, but the peace of mind they provide can also help keep you focused on growing your enterprise, and not on what impact unforeseen contingencies may bring.

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With these cost-saving measures, regional business owners are continuing to build up local economies across not only Victoria but also nationwide. Australia’s regional boom will only continue to strengthen country populations, providing more job opportunities, business partnership opportunities, and also ensuring that regional property owners can see the value of their own assets grow as a result of flourishing local markets. And it all starts with you!