In the past few weeks a lot has been said about the importance of focussing, prioritising and having a clear plan of action. As agency leaders you’ll have received suggestions that you should concentrate on clients, new business, employees, financial management, long term strategy – and everything in between. But are you crystal clear on who should really be responsible for what at the top level within your agency? It’s now time to take a good hard look at who’s doing what – and why.
ALL HANDS ON DECK
Many small to medium sized businesses have operated quite happily for many years without defined roles at senior management level, especially where they are a group of founders. The ‘all hands on deck’ approach has created flexibility and spread the load but as the business grows the need to clarify roles has often remained unconsidered or ignored.
In recent weeks, many agencies with clearer role allocations have also lapsed back into the ‘all hands on deck’ approach. But coming through the current challenges and thriving as a winner in the post Covid-19 business environment will require top level responsibilities to be focused like never before.
Without this clarity, there are some risky consequences:
So now is the opportunity to ensure every member of your senior team has a clear remit. You should consider the size of your senior team and define responsibilities where the required clarity has been absent. Or change responsibilities to put you in the best place to succeed in the future.
But don’t expect do this from a management textbook. Recognise the need to play to people’s strengths and to define appropriate roles to which the individual can adapt and in which they can excel.
FINDING THE SWEET SPOT
Very few people are perfectly equipped for all aspects of a senior role, so it’s a question of finding the right balance. One model we use to help do this is the Japanese concept of Ikigai (which translates literally as Life Meaning). Used for many years on a personal level by the Japanese, it’s been increasingly adopted to help define organisational purpose.
The model helps find the balance between four key factors that drive satisfaction and motivation: passion, expertise, demand and value. Let’s take a closer look at how this can be applied to the definition of roles.
1. Passion
For an individual, it’s what they are passionate about, what they just love to do – project work/ client relationship building/exploring new ways of working/ team management/ winning new business/ setting the vision for the company. The tricky bit here is that though there may be many things people love to do, only some of them will also meet the other criteria below.
2. Strength
While an individual might love to do many things, they will only actually be good at some of them. This is where Ikigai departs from the common advice to just “do what you love and love what you do”. In fact, just doing what they love won’t optimise impact. They need to be good at it too.
3. Need
For an individual or a business, if the focus is on something that isn’t really needed a lot of time and effort is going to be wasted. Individual’s roles and responsibilities can’t just be based on the things they are good at and love doing – they need to be focused on the areas that are vital to the success of the business.
4. Value
Many senior team members, often with many years of experience, will have the ability to turn their hand to all kinds of things. And to make a positive contribution. But where do they add the most value to the business?
PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE
Now how do you make it a reality? Once you’ve done the thinking, decided on the shape of your senior team, identified and aligned on the key areas for each person, it’s vital to define things precisely and communicate to everyone in the business. You’ll also need to decide how success will be measured for each role depending on the specific responsibilities.
And finally, as the new world evolves, so will your business and the people within it. Be prepared to monitor and hone your thinking around roles regularly to ensure you’re deploying your talent for maximum impact.
In light of the ongoing uncertainty surround Covid-19, we’re taking all of our events online as part of our webinar series for the foreseeable future. As with our in-person events, our programme of forward-thinking webinars is constructed to provide advertisers across the South West and beyond with the knowledge they need to achieve their growth ambitions in the long term. We hope you find the time to join us!
Below you’ll find all of our currently announced webinars, taking us through until June. But there are a number of additional dates in the pipeline – to keep up with all of our events and webinars as they break, click here >>>
When? 29th April 2020
MicrosoftAdvertisingXADFUTURES is an exclusive opportunity to hear directly from Microsoft Advertising about the future of the platform, why advertisers should be choosing Bing and the importance of diversity and inclusion within the Microsoft Advertising ecosystem.
Register for the webinar today by clicking here >>>
When? 13th May 2020
Hosting the event, digital media buying agency, SearchStar, will support Google, offering their thoughts and expertise about the future of advertising, the opportunities on the horizon and an actionable case study of how advertisers can make the most of advertising on Google today.
Register for the webinar today by clicking here >>>
When? 28th May 2020
This webinar, part of the SearchStar Shorts series, will go intro greater details on the nuances of search engine marketing on Amazon, and the specific strengths offered by paid advertising and organic search on the platform. But more than that, it’ll go beyond the individual strengths and best practices of each approach, and demonstrate how, when working together, they can deliver your business the exposure it needs to thrive in an increasingly competitive environment.
Register for the webinar today by clicking here >>>
Well, we certainly hope so. But for a better idea of what a SearchStar webinar looks like, the recording of last week’s Conversion and Analytics webinar is available below:
Most of us have valued those on the frontline in our society for as long as we can remember, but never more than we do right now. And we’re showing our appreciation loudly and proudly for the people making things happen to keep our country safe and moving forwards during this difficult time.
Quite right too. But our own attitudes and expectations will be different because of the current frontline battles and behaviours – and this applies beyond the here and now. There are some fundamental truths for business leaders to learn in terms of the roles they play and how they motivate others to play theirs. This is especially true for agencies where people are the heart of the business. It’s about attitude and it’s about action.
So, if you’re running a business that you care about and you’ve put a great deal of effort into having the best team around you, you’ll have your own frontline team to inspire and mobilise. Yes, your first priority as a leader may be to keep calm, act rationally and have a plan. This is expected of you. But you will never succeed in the future unless you respect and utilise the skills, efforts and knowledge of those who are delivering the now and next of what gets done.
So, let’s look at what can be adopted from society’s frontline experience and how this will serve you well in the future.
UNDERSTAND LEADERSHIP
Good leadership isn’t exclusively the purview of those with fancy titles. There are informal leaders in every agency who make a difference on a daily basis. Lessons from the frontline tell us that many do so without being asked – but too often go unnoticed. They are present, in touch and dig to solve the complex problems in the way of survival, or success. They are relatable, resourceful and optimistic. And if you haven’t already, recognising the power of these people is your secret weapon.
LOOK AT YOUR OWN FRONTLINE
Look at your own people. Who has stepped up and stepped forward in the current environment? Recognise them but also consider what their new, or more apparent, strengths might mean in a post-Covid era. Start with what your business will need, map that to the skills and strengths of these individuals and give them the support they will need to potentially realign their roles and progress.
MEASURE THE TEMPERATURE
Having an accurate and regular measure of how people feel about what’s ahead, is critical. The heroes on your own frontline are likely to be very well networked and well placed to get a read on sentiment as well as playing back what’s working and not working. They are also a trusted source better able to get messages to the majority of agency and client teams and credibly reinforce them.
STAY CLOSE AND HONEST
One thing we can learn from the here and now is that facts matter and empty promises do not – even if made with the best of hopeful intentions. Don’t let a desire to lead allow you to mislead others to the point where you lose goodwill and momentum. Share what you don’t know alongside what you do – especially on matters of job security and future investment. And take the messages directly to your frontline, don’t rely on antiquated cascade systems. It’s all about stability.
FREEDOM TO ACT
Few businesses will be able to crack on as usual, so leverage the eyes and ears you have to get a closer read on emerging client needs – importantly what will best serve them in the future. Creating a culture that empowers people to improve whilst always delivering is what being frontline is all about. So feed the appetite to innovate and give your people the freedom to make things happen.
POWER UP PURPOSE
The word ‘purpose’ has had a good wash over the last few years and to the point where even the believers doubt its metal. But dressed up words aside, it’s when we’re being tested that who we really are shows up. The trick is not to lose sight of it when the current test is over – because it never will be. Let what you really believe in lead the way and shape your priorities as you move from defence to offense.
So, if you aren’t already, it’s time to get on the front foot. This isn’t about a ‘new normal’ – whatever that really means. It’s about remembering who will really win your battles every day and harnessing these heroes so you can be at your best well into the future.
Whether you’re looking for guidance on your business strategy, 1-2-1 mentoring/coaching sessions, financial tools and advice, or employee communications support from an experienced HR professional, take a look below at the free offers of support for agencies and creative businesses in the South-West.
Share your Pay it Forward initiatives with us and we’ll add them to this article. Keep checking back as we’ll be updating this page as we hear of more initiatives for the creative community in Bristol, Bath and the South West. Please help us #payitforwardBristol
Are you a Bristol Media member offering free drop-ins for creative businesses? Have you set up a virtual networking event to help people connect? Have some available time to help a young creative with their portfolio? We want to hear it.
Send Alli an email with details of your initiative, including a summary of what you’re offering, who would find it useful, your online link (this can be a LinkedIn post, tweet, blog etc), plus details for how people can get in touch. We’re focussing on support offers from individuals and organisations within the Bristol Media membership community.
We’ll be regularly adding to this blog so keep checking back for updates.
#payitforwardBristol
The above information is being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; it does not constitute an endorsement or an approval by Bristol Media Group CIC of any of the services, products, or opinions of the individuals or organisations mentioned.
(Photo by “My Life Through A Lens” on Unsplash)
Accelerate are proud to present the first in a new series of virtual summits. We will be offering hands-on advice on how to grow tech & SaaS companies, using best practice digital marketing techniques.
SIGN UP HERE https://zoom.us/webinar/register/4015870478686/WN_9rq8GTIwSNWCKatCDAgGtA
Our summits will cover all things digital, as well as talks from scaling and established SaaS/tech companies like Brightpearl and RingCentral.
In our first part of the series, hosted by Kieran Hawker, Commercial Lead at Accelerate, we have Xiaoyun TU, Global Head of Lead Generation at Brightpearl and Sam O’Brien, Senior Website Optimisation & User Experience Manager – EMEA, APAC.
Xiaoyun Tu will be presenting ‘How we achieved a 60% growth in lead gen in a year’
Sam O’Brien will be presenting ‘How We Helped Scale Growth to $1 Billion ARR – with SEO, CRO and Content Marketing for RingCentral’
Accelerates Analytics Director & Co-Founder Phil Pearce will give our attendees insight into ‘Top 10 ways to make money, or save money using Google Analytics for Lead Gen websites’.
Nick Brown Search Director and Co-Founder of Accelerate, will present ‘Scaling your Content Marketing for SEO and Lead Generation’
Finally, Kieran Hawker Commercial Lead and Digital Marketing Freelancer will be showing attendees ‘How To Utilise Linkedin To Drive Lead Generation’
Sign up to get involved in this FREE event.
In this time of crisis, effective CRM will help brands forge stronger bonds with people without any product changing hands.
By Nick Beevors, Senior Strategist at Armadillo
You’re no doubt reading this from home, given that 55% of the UK population have been holed up for the past week (according to the latest figures from Savanta). We’ve changed and the brands we know and love (and those we don’t) have changed. They’re either closed for business, offering a very limited service or are so busy we can’t get hold of them.
The emails from company chief executives definitely had their place at the start of the coronavirus crisis, and they continue to appear in our in-boxes, but there are only so many empathetic well wishes (neutral background, long-form copy) you can send over the course of 12 weeks (at least). So, what next? Well, quite a bit, if brands are tuned into CRM’s shifting but pivotal role. Here are some important areas to consider.
Flip the funnel
We generally spend more time talking in practical terms with our clients, but the theory is important here. The awareness–action funnel, with broadcast channels at the top filtering down to direct-response channels at the bottom, has been flipped. People are still looking to TV and print but, with customer behaviour changing completely, these media don’t have their former roles and, likewise, cinema and outdoor can’t work in the same way.
Meanwhile, we know that email and online are where people are finding their news and information (internet use has doubled in the two weeks, according to Openreach data). Email, in particular, is a key channel, not only because it allows you to talk directly to customers but because you can be relevant and flexible right up until you send. The ultimate response to the pivots we keep hearing about. Those communications at the sharp end of the funnel are now much more vital as people read and digest information. There’s an opportunity to use CRM in broader ways.
Usually in CRM we talk about balancing lifetime brand loyalty with next-time brand loyalty, with the weight stacked in favour of the latter. We now need to reverse this, with either no or fewer occasions to trigger the next-time purchase. Every communication needs to create and build brand affinity.
What to say?
This shouldn’t be the time to scrabble around for content or look for hooks. The starting point should be the essence of the brand. What does it stand for? Establish what this means if the product is taken out of the equation. How can the brand deliver its message to the customer, over and above putting product in their hands or allowing them to experience it in the normal way? Be creative and ensure the answer is relevant to channel, brand, and customer. There’s a big opportunity here to do this right.
How to communicate and how often?
The power of our channels lies in personalisation and relevance. Generic welcome messages on apps and in email programmes should have been the first thing to change as they will most likely not work at the moment, and certain types of communications need to be mothballed completely. We’ve seen a general shift to weekly communications that resonate.
Also, think about the level of personalisation now – if you’ve built good brand affinity then keep everything human and personalised (and if you haven’t built a good brand affinity, should you even be emailing this audience in the first place?). Everyone’s craving human interaction in our new socially distanced world. When before have you even considered getting together with your old uni mates for a game of Quick Draw? Meanwhile, the official notices are still needed and need to be in news style and centred on hard facts.
Tangible examples
We’ve reviewed a lot of recent communications from our makeshift desks. The ones not working are the ones that carry on regardless, for example, the travel brand giving us ‘a bit of travel inspiration’. Not what we want or need to see at the moment.
The winners, meanwhile, are those doing things a bit differently. For example, in the same category, the brand sending older travellers a quiz or a puzzle to do. It might not be right for all but the company has adapted, its being more relevant to its customers and their new home-based lifestyle.
How is your business responding?
More than a million of us came out on to our doorsteps to applaud NHS workers. Burberry is making masks. Dyson is producing ventilators. This is all great news and brilliant to know. There’s extra visibility for these kind of initiatives at the moment. Think about your customers, your brand but also the wider world, which is increasingly relevant.
On the flipside, don’t make the mistake of navel gazing. I’ve seen communications from luxury brands asking their customers to buy vouchers to support them in the future. We all like paying it forward for a local business we love and have an affinity with, not so much for a multi-million-pound luxury retailer.
Build new routines
A change from “life as we know it” also give us the opportunity to build new routines. I used to be a hardened smoker and starting a new job was a good excuse to quit once and for all. CRM also has an important role to play in triggering these new routines.
Done right, companies have a part to play in the overall recovery and CRM during this time could actually help brands forge stronger, longer-term bonds with people, without any product changing hands.
This article first appeared in Campaign.
Nick Beevors is a Senior Strategist at Armadillo.
It continues to be an uncertain and worrying time for many – but we’re always here to help if we can.
In this edition we’ve shared some perspectives on business development and prompted you to take action in two areas to help you get ahead. We hope these points will guide your own thinking and help shape your plans and actions. But if you’d like to talk more about any of your own specific issues, we’re available and more than happy to talk.
When faced with a crisis, it’s normal to react to the immediate priorities – often the unavoidable practical issues. As an agency leader you’ll have spent the last weeks ensuring everyone is set up and working remotely, examining cash flow with a fine tooth-comb, talking to clients about current projects and new ways of working, and maybe making tough decisions about head-count and other overhead costs.
Now it’s time to get on the front foot and be proactive. To ensure your business can survive beyond any recent ‘damage limitation’ steps you’ll need to focus on your pipeline through a new and very different lens.
Many agencies will be in the fortunate position of having long-term clients with whom they’ve built trust and loyalty. Others won’t be so lucky. But with all clients thinking and acting differently, all agencies will need to adapt to maintain the lifeblood of new business they require.
The underlying business development principles are still valid, but the starting position is different now. The mindset needs to be about really helping clients deal with their own challenges. It’s now about engaging on their most important short and long-term issues. Genuinely solving the problems that really matter to them – not trying to sell in predictable proposals for mundane projects.
Many clients will need help to change their business models, strategies, categories, products, services, channels, geographies. They’ll need help to get through the short-term and to understand their longer-term opportunities. In this different world, they’re likely to be open to new and different agency partners, creating new opportunities, and threats, for agencies.
So, whether your focus is on maximising business from your existing clients or finding new ones, this is a time to revisit your business development approach to compete strongly on this tougher playing field.
Here we offer some practical suggestions to help you maintain and adapt to the new S word.
Get even closer. Get deep under the skin of what’s happening in your clients’ organisations – what’s changed, has the strategy shifted, what are their real pain points? Use your contacts well to gain all information and insight that might help you. Ask your ‘referral champions’ for introductions to any new areas where you might be able to help.
Look for work, not briefs. Don’t expect formal project briefs. Think about anywhere you could really add value, right now. Go beyond your normal services to consider how your expert skills could help solve any of your client’s business problems. Be proactive in talking to clients about how you could help – but don’t pursue anything you can’t deliver exceptionally well.
Deepen connections. Working remotely may mean there’s more time and headspace for clients to talk, consider and reflect. One-to-one connections are replacing large meetings. This is a real opportunity to strengthen and build relationships and, as with all relationships, those that survive a crisis will be even stronger in the future.
Have a plan and deliver. Get the client team involved in the plans, make sure everyone is clear on the objectives and their individual responsibility. Track progress – and be prepared to change, agility is key. Make sure every aspect of your project delivery is faultless – this is no time to be dropping the ball.
Get your house in order. Get skilled up and get your tools in good shape so you’ll be able to do new things not just think about them. Make sure you have information tools, such as Canvas8 or Winmo, and learn how to use them. If you don’t have a CMS, now’s the time. And when you’re sure about your targeting, build the database to stand you in good stead for the future.
Think beyond normal sectors and services. Think about the challenges you’ve solved for clients and which brands might now be facing those challenges. Don’t be limited by traditional sectors or products. Consider who is doing well – or might in the future. Be brave, think differently about the work you want and could win. But don’t just jump on any opportunity, it may not be the right one and could drain your resource and energy.
Cut through the noise. Standing out will be more important than ever. Make sure your proposition, core messages and values are relevant for the current environment. And be sure they are authentic, clear and communicated consistently through all channels and materials.
Don’t hunker down. Be the voice that remains. Continue to create relevant, original and engaging content. Ladder up to your proposition and open up broad based discussions to build long term relationships. Maintain visibility, using your owned media and continue with PR and awards. Pick up the phone and talk to ‘warm’ prospects – you’ll be surprised by their response. And if using e-mail – keep things short, with no strings attached – don’t create barriers.
This is a time for solving not selling. Be sure you’re really focused on helping your existing and prospective clients navigate their best route through the crisis. And in turn, doing the best for your business.
You’re probably relieved to have found some cost savings, deferred some payments and put your staffing strategy in place. And now you just want to focus on producing great work for your live clients. But there is an opportunity to achieve so much more.
With some staff having been furloughed and everyone working from home, it may be hard to consider new ideas and initiatives. Motivation can be low at all levels, making it easy to slip into a passive mode, just waiting for things to get back to normal.
But the best led agencies will recognise the opportunity that exists during this period. The chance to get ahead and have an extra edge for the future. The chance to improve the way things have been done in the past. It’s these agencies that will emerge as the new leaders – don’t be one of those left behind.
Some things to think about:
It’s hard to underestimate the challenges facing businesses right now and survival mode is in full swing. However, with promotions and pay rises on pause, motivating and retaining the talented teams and individuals holding it together should be a top priority if you want to be in a position to thrive on the other side.
Focusing on learning is one such way – continuing to build business capability whilst nurturing career ambitions (the latter feeling a lot more than two metres away right now).
So, with the harder shift to remote working already tackled it makes sense to leverage your new virtual community to connect people to the content, tools and techniques that will give them more control over what happens next.
Some things to think about:
For the last two years, Scope’s services team have been developing new help and support content for disabled people and we’ve been running integrated rounds of user research.
Scope’s content needs to work hard:
Scope also know that it’s not just a case of knowing your subject well and writing about it. When you have a deep knowledge of a subject, you are often too close to that subject to be able to communicate it in a way that will be clear to all users.
Then there’s the added complication that people’s real-life experiences, interpretation of language and levels of comprehension all vary greatly. So while you may think you have the information to answer a user need, there are a multitude of unknowns that will affect how this information is received by your users.
Scope navigate this complexity with a rigorous content design process. Input from their subject experts is still critical, but it’s only one of several key factors.
Taking the content to the people it’s designed to support, listening to their views and experiences, and iterating the articles in line with user input is fundamental to creating effective content.
How things are supposed to work versus what people experience in real life has been a recurring theme in the testing we’ve carried out for Scope.
A subject expert can have inside out knowledge of how a service or process is designed to work. But while they may know the official or ideal scenario, they may be unaware of the ways that service may fail a user in real life. This is knowledge that can only be gained from users themselves.
If Scope describe a process such as applying for a benefit as straightforward when the reality is everything but, they miss an opportunity to meet the user where they are, be credible and provide essential emotional support.
Each of Scope’s support articles aims to answer a specific user need and the testing allows us to check whether that need has been met. Sometimes the testing reveals that the user has been left with further questions. Or that their question has been answered, but without the human support they need in that situation.
For example, an article around applying for an EHCP plan was felt to have all the correct information, but without acknowledging how stressful this process could be. A simple tweak could allow Scope to validate their users’ experience of the process and demonstrate empathy.
Other users highlighted that their anxiety had been triggered when an important topic had been touched on too lightly. Had Scope published this content without testing with users, it could have caused distress; the exact opposite to Scope’s desired effect!
Although you may think you’ve answered a user need, you won’t know for sure how useful your information actually is without consulting the people who are going to use it. In our Scope testing, an article advised applying for an educational psychologist via the school.
However, several users flagged that this wasn’t helpful advice. In their own experience, they’d had much more success by contacting their local authority directly.
In our research, some participants found the tone of a particular article to be too cold and formal. This insight gives Scope an opportunity to adapt that article to a warmer tone and in doing so, provide more of the human support that is such a key part of their service provision.
At the other end of the spectrum, the tone of another article was felt to be overly familiar and patronising. Pitching your tone is a complex task, and particularly so when discussing an emotive subject. Involving your users in the process is a really effective way of helping to get this as right as possible.
For your users to feel like your content is speaking to them, it needs to be written in the language they use. People don’t necessarily use the official terms for things; there might be other vocabulary they use to describe the same thing. Taking your content to the people it’s written to support will give you an opportunity to use the words that resonate with them.
You may have the information to answer a user need, but how you organise it is just as key. Your users need to be able to easily scan the page to find the information that is relevant to them.
In one session our research revealed that users hadn’t understood that the steps within a three step process were connected. The way you’ve broken your information down may appear to be helpful but you need to be sure it makes absolute sense to your users.
Accessibility is all about making an experience as inclusive as possible. In the context of content, it also means making sure your information can be easily understood by anybody who needs to read it. Sentences need to be clear, concise and jargon free. For Scope, making their information accessible is even more important.
Our testing has allowed Scope to find out what terms people are already familiar with, and what they don’t understand. Users flagged complicated sentences which could then be rewritten more simply.
In each of their support articles, Scope are responding to a specific user need, within a specific context. Through user testing, we often discover a piece of content may answer multiple user needs, suiting a wider audience than initially thought.
For example, an article about starting to travel with a disability was written for young disabled people travelling on public transport for the first time. Our testing identified that the information would also be relevant to any newly disabled person of any age, since they would have to re-learn to travel with their new condition.
Likewise, an article about SEN or mainstream education for a disabled child was aimed at parents of pre-school children choosing their child’s first school. Our testing highlighted that this information need wasn’t exclusive to parents of preschool children. Actually, a child’s condition and therefore their educational needs may change at any point in their schooling.
Acknowledging additional situations a reader might be in when accessing information is so important. Getting this right tells the reader that Scope understands and is there to support them in their specific situation.
This isn’t an exhaustive list of the areas you can explore through content testing but it gives you a flavour of just how impactful this type of research can be. If you skip this important step of the content design process, you miss opportunities to further your understanding of your users and create really effective content.
Whether or not you are already working with your users to co-design your services, think about how you can involve them in shaping your content too, because content is experience.
If you’d like more advice on how to do this, please get in touch!
Armadillo joined the IPA
Some good news – we’re pleased to announce we’re joining The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. This gives us the opportunity to connect with 266 agency members, who are responsible for over 85% of all UK advertising spend.
With 25 years of industry experience, our IPA membership acts as a further indicator of our standing within the marketing and advertising space, and demonstrates our commitment and professionalism within the sector.
We’re seeking to support staff development with the industry-recognised CPD and training available through the IPA, therefore enabling our 45-strong team to develop their skills and progress in their careers, whatever their level.
Patrick Mills, IPA Director of Membership and Professional Development, comments “We’re thrilled to have Armadillo back in IPA membership, and joining our thriving South West and Wales community. We very much look forward to working with them.”
James Ray, CEO at Armadillo, comments “Once the preserve of a select type of agency, the term advertising is wide-reaching today and reflects great work that resonates and has an impact on its audience. We’re extremely pleased to be joining an organisation that supports and celebrates the best in the industry, and are keen to aid and enable our team to develop themselves professionally and personally through our membership with the IPA.”
We want to let our members and the community know that we are still very much in operation during this challenging period. Whilst our keynotes, member lunches, workshops, and initiatives are currently on pause, we will continue to deliver value and support the local creative community by sharing advice and positive stories via our digital network.
We recognise that this will be a very difficult time for most of us and to get through it we all need to support each other. Remote working can be challenging but it’s been heart-warming to see some brilliant initiatives appearing within the network.
We’ve already come across some great examples of ideas to help creative businesses get through these turbulent times. For instance, ‘Digital Guzzle’ Friday’s from the Noisy Little Monkey clan, Virtual Book Clubs with Armadillo, and members offering free services such as copywriting, tips for remote working and how to manage your finances.
Our region is known for its unique collaborative spirit, so, we have an ask: share your initiatives and offers of support with us and we’ll add them to this blog page where we’re compiling positive news and stories to keep you going.
Are you offering free drop-ins for creative businesses? Have you set up a virtual networking event to help people connect? Written a blog about weathering the storm? We want to hear it!
Let us know by emailing Kirsty with details of your initiative, including a summary of what you’re offering, who it’s for, your online link (this can be a LinkedIn post, tweet, blog etc), plus details for how people can get in touch. We’ll be regularly adding to the blog so keep checking back for updates.
If you’re a member, we’d encourage you to self-publish your own articles and share the positive activity and good news with the network. Please also continue to post your job opportunities and virtual events to our website over the coming months. The more positivity we can circulate the better.
To kick things off, Chris Thurling (our Chair, business coach, mentor and serial networker!) is opening a virtual drop-in where members can book a free 20-minute coaching and mentoring session. Chris has earned multiple battle scars through surviving three periods of recession, so can provide useful advice and words of wisdom he’s learned throughout his journey.
Slots are available on Wednesday afternoons (between 2pm – 4pm) on 25th March, 1st April and 8th April. If you’re a Bristol Media member and would like to book, please email Chris.
If you’re a local business offering a short-term or freelance role for people working within the creative industries, please get in touch. You can advertise the vacancy for free on our Jobs board until the end of April.
We appreciate that for the smaller businesses and self-employed amongst you, it’s going to be a particularly testing time. The environment is changing at a rapid rate, so we’ve created a Slack channel for our freelance members to share info, resources, opportunities, and anything that will help support the local gig economy through the current situation. If you’d like an invite, please email Alli.
We will continue to work with local businesses and networks to ensure we are all actively supporting the creative industries in our region. If you are an organisation who can offer your services to support creative businesses in Bristol, Bath and the South West, please let us know.
If you have any questions or would like to speak to one of the team, please get in touch.
Together, we are greater than the sum of our parts.