Despite lockdown, a collective of creative members from Works Social, the coworking space in Nottingham’s Lace Market, have been able to work together to carry out a messaging, web design and branding project to give Cube Construction Consultants a brand boost and secure its future success.

Cube moved into Works Social earlier this year and has enjoyed the benefits of having 24/7 access to the space and its virtual community during lockdown, when it wasn’t always possible to work from home.

Nicola Slater, Director at Cube Construction Consultants, said: “We specialise in strategic business development for organisations within the construction industry, but when it came to marketing our own business, we were finding it difficult to get across our messages and show consistency across our brand.

“It’s been great to be able to bounce ideas off other members and have a community we can call on, when much of the ‘business as usual’ we are used to is anything but. Having a collective of different freelance skills from web design, branding, development and copywriting has really helped us get the results we wanted.”

Virtual member, Matthew King Creative redesigned the website and brand guidelines. Friend to and ambassador of Works Social, Pixelshrink, carried out the technical development and digital designer and co-founder of Works Social, Han van Oudheusden from picturethis.studio delivered iconography and social media assets.

Han said: “This kind of project is exactly the ethos behind Works Social. Bringing different skills, ideas and values together to support each other, promote our different specialisms and forge strong business connections. It’s been a great project to work on and fantastic that our members have been able to access this community throughout this difficult period.”

Specialising in PR, strategic marketing and copywriting, Rachael van Oudheusden from Big Old House, led the project, saying: “It’s been great to be able to help shape the ideas and thinking of Cube. Nicola and Mark have some brilliant ideas, loads of experience and ambitious plans. They just needed a little steer to hone their messaging, develop their website and brand, plus put plans in place for future marketing activity. From the creative connections we’ve made at Works Social we were able to gather the perfect team to get collective benefit from everyone’s ideas and input. Aces in places really.”

The site and refreshed branding was launched in early November and has been well received. There are plans are in place for the first campaigns and the team is planning to collaborate again in the near future.

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While there are positive signs of some businesses emerging and resuming some kind of ‘business as unusual’ and the Prime Minister announcing “Build, build, build” as the mantra to get the economy back on track, there are those less fortunate who have had their industries decimated by this invisible threat, through no fault of their own.

Forever taking the pulse of regional businesses, BusinessDesk.com has been catching up with owner managers,  entrepreneurs and senior managers around the UK to get the lowdown on life in lockdown.  During a short break from crisis comms, social media management and copywriting, Rachael van Oudheusden from Big Old House offered her take on on lockdown life.

Here’s a snippet from the interview…

How has the lockdown and working from home been for you so far?

It’s been a bit of a backwards step to be honest in terms of flexible working. I worked remotely from home for several years when I set up Big Old House and realised that I quite like being around people. That’s why I joined the coworking and event space, Works Social, in Nottingham’s Lace Market to get away from my house! Looking forward to getting back with my desk buddies as soon as possible.

 

What has been the best thing about staying in?

Cooking (and eating!). It’s been really great to spend time making interesting food from some of my favourite places around the world. I’ve started making wiser choices to actively avoid waste – making sure to use what’s already in the cupboards, rather than always popping out for extra things. I now completely ignore best before dates if food still seems edible. If it doesn’t have green fuzz on or smells of booze when it shouldn’t, it’s fine, right?!

Apart from spending April in Colombia, people mainly – family, friends, colleagues and clients. I miss seeing people face to face and miss the productivity of going into a dedicated work environment, as this provides boundaries between work life and home life. The community element is a big part of Works Social too. I’m finding it tough not having the camaraderie of my co-workers to chat with about the crazy times we are all facing and to help spark creative ideas.

 

What previously essential thing have you realised is not actually essential?

Nothing really. In fact, I’ve realised the opposite. Things that I didn’t think were essential are actually so much more important than I gave them credit for in maintaining positive physical and mental well-being. Social interaction, hugs, travel and freedom of choice are all essential to me. It’s been values, or behaviours, rather than stuff mostly though, such as caring, compassion, kindness and generosity that are truly essential.

 

What is the first thing you will do when isolation ends?

As a card carrying CAMRA member, I’m going to dust off my Nottingham City Transport bus pass (who’ve been spectacular in keeping essential services running for key workers, thank you) and jump on a bus into town to support as many local independent pubs as I can get round during opening hours. I would wholeheartedly encourage everyone to join in me in supporting their local pubs too. Give me a shout if you fancy a pint!

 

You can read the full article on BusinessDesk.com…

Meanwhile, the resilience, innovation and adaptability shown by UK businesses has been incredible. We hope that our friends in the leisure, hospitality and retail sectors can hold on and potentially come back stronger than before. The door to Big Old House is always open if we can support you in any way with that. Stay safe out there folks.

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With a stellar line up of the region’s top social experts including Closer Marketing’s, Emma Bradshaw, specialist LinkedIn trainer, Charlie Whyman and Status Social’s Head of Social Media Management, Jamie Cernick, it promised to be an insightful evening.

Introduced by BMC co-founder Jason Neale and the evening’s regional BMC organiser Robin Bodicoat, we questioned whether social media was really working in a B2B world. Businesses need to get involved, but are not really sure why, how or what their social strategy is. Is it Lead Generation? Thought leadership? Brand awareness? Do people really have a clue?

The reality is, for real results every post should have a purpose.

Enter our experts.

Getting you closer to your B2B audience

Emma Bradshaw, a freelance marketer at Closer Marketing, graduate of the Digital Mums Academy, marketing lecturer at NTU and previously EON’s resident expert in digital optimisation and customer experience talked trends, top tips and setting social strategy.

Which channel is which?

Referencing the recent #DollyPartonChallenge, Emma highlighted the importance of a channel’s personality and how customers expect to be engaged with in the appropriate way. The Street Party, The Art Gallery, The Networking Event, The Water Cooler – where do you want your business to be and for what?

Key trends for 2020 – Trust and transparency

“It’s time to take Tik Tok seriously” advocates Emma, after watching first-hand how digital natives interact online in her role as university lecturer. The short-form mobile video networking platform (formerly known as musical.ly) is taking people by storm with everything from lip syncs to life hacks with its raw and unedited format. Video is winning. The filtered Instagram look is old hat.

Credibly moving conversation into the private space is essential. Tools such as chatbots seamlessly move people into a private conversation around specific topics, building direct engagement with your customer.

“Getting behind the curtain is going to be the most important thing for the next decade. Broadcast ‘spray and pray’ tactics are over, there is a move toward intimacy. You can’t ignore the private conversation. For B2B audiences it is important to focus on how you get invited to the House Party. That takes time and investment.”commented Emma.

Embedding engagement

Emma added: “Get good at stories – advertising in stories is on the rise, look at the way you are creating content and if it is fit for purpose. Rather than broadcasting, make sure your content strategy has engagement embedded within it, making use of polls, encouraging user generated content, Twitter chats, competitions and useful longer form content – such as webinars, videos, subscription models for specific subject themes.”

What can social do for B2B marketing?

With an estimated 20-500 digital touchpoints encountered before a buying decision is made, this presents a huge opportunity, as well as challenges for B2B marketers.

Opportunities exist in social listening, competitor analysis, influencing buying decisions and reinforcing your ‘Why?’ through brand awareness, not to mention benefits of enhancing SEO and attracting and retaining talent to your business.

The challenge is creating a genuine and authentic connection with your audience, where Emma walked through her CLOSER model which helps businesses do just that.

CORE, LISTEN, OBSERVE, SELECT, ENGAGE, REVIEW – Visit Closer Marketing for more details.

Emma left us with a final thought from Seth Godin: “Our job is to connect to people, to interact with people in a way that leaves them better than we found them.”  Simples!

Starting conversations which lead to sales

Charlie Whyman, LinkedIn strategist, influencer and former international sales and marketing manager for global businesses was up next. Agreeing about creating engagement, saying: “It is not about leads, it’s about starting a conversation with your market. Your potential customers need to know, like and trust you. And, you need to stand out from the crowd in a meaningful way – that is difficult.”

B2B or B2C it’s is still H2H

“The goal of marketing is to start conversations which lead to sales. Now is the time to talk with the people in your market, not just talk at them – invite them into the conversation. Negotiating and getting a response through LinkedIn gives a more human response,” says Charlie.

Citing a case study of a global laser measurement company, RIEGL, Charlie walked though their success on LinkedIn, talking about how social proof is the biggest motivator as their clients love their products and data, so will share, like, discuss them on line, ultimately giving them “free marketing”.

How to win on LinkedIn

“RIEGL took advantage of their fan loyalty and created a community of fans and advocates. They also empowered employees to showcase their skills, knowledge and brilliance – playing into their zone of genius. Lastly, they create content people really want to engage with, achieving 40-50.0000 impression per month with no advertising, but getting people to buy into the products and services. This proves the power of LinkedIn as the place to be for business development.“added Charlie.

Free marketing – Top tips for LinkedIn

Charlie shared a number of top tips for making LinkedIn work harder for businesses:

• Ensure content is within “The Zone of Relevance” for your audience, make people understand how it will help them with their job.
• Don’t assume – learn about your audience, take that knowledge into your audience, your pipeline and your social media content.
• EVERYONE needs a LinkedIn company page – It gives you the ability to get in front of people you wouldn’t normally. Make it accurate, representative and honest – (Spend about 10% of your time as a small biz, 20-30% if larger business and the rest on your personal profiles).
• Quality over quantity – It is not about the number of followers; it is about the quality of the content that you post and level of engagement you create.
• Amplify your personal profile – You are 19 X more likely to attract new leads from your personal profile because you are communicating with people.

In summary, Charlie shared: “LinkedIn is not a thing that you should fear, it should support you to create a dialogue with your market, social listening, build authority and credibility, create a community of fans and advocates. Magic is in the follow up, nurture, creating a community.”

Winning over your B2B audience

Head of Social Media Management, at Status Social, Jamie Cernik echoed earlier sentiments and warned against “digital leafleting” and forgetting the “social” part of social media.

Hailing from one of the first social agencies in the UK and having generated in excess of £2million of business through social media, Jamie ran through some practical examples of customer interactions that deliver results.

Jamie said: “If you want to sell, you need to inspire and create an emotional response. If you don’t prove that in social media content, you are not giving a reason to buy.” Citing two extremes “The Hard Sell” or “The Friend Zone” he suggested the sweet spot, the normal social selling space was somewhere in the middle.

Finding common ground

According to Jamie: “Everyone is hustling on LinkedIn, predominantly trying to achieve core objectives – lead generation or recruitment.  The advantage of advanced filters on LinkedIn enables you to use the “The Sherlock Homes” technique. People reveal social signals about themselves which you can capitalise on to avoid being stuck in the ‘friend zone’. You can use these signals to connect on a human level – flatter an alumni, find a human connection of the same school, university or football team of choice.”

Understand your audience…

…is the key to starting a conversation.

Giving examples of what was essentially social stalking, Jamie presented a no-bullsh*t approach to winning a social security and global hacking consultant as a client. He also shared examples of sharing blog posts via Twitter which led to a Blind Sports Equipment retailer making contact with the core decision makers via Twitter and subsequently getting into 11 premiership football clubs by getting out of the friend zone and being part of the buying discussion.

We have no content!

Many of Jamie’s clients feel that they have no content, but this doesn’t mean that they have nothing to say. Everyone is able to meet people at their level, chat informally on Twitter. By understanding who you are talking to you can match their tone of voice and generate authentic conversations.

Tips to generate content

Jamie concluded with some content creation pointers, make it:

• Entertaining – create a response in people, entertain them.
• Inspirational – emotive, life changing, give people a reason to champion it, can people get behind it?
• Add value – what can you give away for free? Are there tips, information, advice within your area of expertise you can share?

To summarise the whole session in a nutshell, “Humanise your content and you’ll go far.”

Any thoughts you would like to add on social media success for B2B marketers?

Business Marketing Club (BMC) events offer a great opportunity for both client-side and agency side to come together, share ideas and meet like-minded marketers, while socialising with a drink and bite to eat, in an enjoyable and informative environment.

To join the next East Midlands event visit: http://bit.ly/2Hwoc9s.

The post B2B social media – Posts with purpose appeared first on Big Old House.

The Collaborative Future work experience pilot scheme ran for three weeks in October at our home, contemporary coworking, shared office and event space, Works Social after raising over £3,400 through crowdfunding earlier this year.

Six (18-24 year olds) not in full-time education and employment took on flexible, paid work placements hosted by Works Social’s community of freelancers and small businesses. They were partnered up with 12 businesses including photographer, The Picture Whole, zero waste shop, Shop Zero, us, marketing and PR consultancy, Big Old House, Skate Nottingham, wellness and life coaches Impact People and Change and Bespoke Life Coaching, film experience and events freelancer, Based on a True Story Cinema and student opportunities firm, Organised Fun.

With career aspirations in retail, social media and PR, personal training and other freelance entrepreneurial endeavours, the work experience provided a variety of skills they could use in their future careers.

Hosted at Works Social, which provided a safe base for everyone and removed any barriers for freelancers or businesses based out of their own homes. Han van Oudheusden, co-founder of Works Social said:

“We’re all about collaboration, bringing together like-minded people and helping people follow their passions. It’s great to see so many of our members being involved in a scheme that helps them minimise any potential risks and overheads of employing interns/apprentices, while also gaining benefits of the skills and fresh perspective that young people can provide.”

At Big Old House we welcomed Shanai, a recent media graduate to support us with our own marketing, carry out research for social media content and to complete a review of our clients’ digital profiles. Here’s a little snippet from Shanai’s experience with us:

“For the pilot of the collaborative futures programme I have been working with Rach from Big Old House, a PR and marketing consultant. Some of Big Old House services include, marketing, PR, copywriting, content and social media. Rach has been amazing throughout my time at Big Old House she made me feel very comfortable to talk to her about any questions I had and she was very approachable, and as someone who likes to ask a lot of questions that was a great thing to have.

I am very passionate about magazine writing and social media, which is one of the reasons that I chose to take part in this scheme as I thought it’d be a great opportunity to learn new skills and develop old ones. Since taking part in this scheme I have done a lot of exciting things such as going to a design meeting, which was a great opportunity to get to see inside of an actual office within the field that I would like to go into, and see first hand what happens in design meetings. I have also been doing social media reviews for clients that Big Old House work with, I hopefully want to get into either digital marketing, social media or magazine editing so this has been a great opportunity to get a glimpse into the sort of things I would like to get into the future.

My only downside is that it’s not for longer. I would of loved to work with Big Old House for a while longer to develop more skills and get a better understanding of how the social media sector works. I guess overtime, with more funding that would hopefully be possible. Overall I have  really enjoyed this experience and I think it is a great idea, as a lot of companies don’t like to take you on without any experience, which makes it difficult to get a job. However with this scheme, it is a great opportunity to get that experience that you can put on your CV.”

We were sad to see Shanai go too, but wish her all the best in the future and are really pleased that she’s got some freelance marketing work with one of the life coaches on the pilot.

Tessa Cooper, Founder of Collaborative Future and the organiser behind the scheme said:

“I can’t quite believe that only in April this was an idea fizzing around in my head and now, thanks to a successful crowdfunder and some amazing support we’ve had six young people at Works Social on paid placements. It’s been great to see so many people building connections, learning about different ways of doing business and developing their skills to make work work for them!”

The Collaborative Future scheme was made possible thanks to official supporters Works Social, Cleo., Armakuni and Tech Nottingham and the many other supporters of the crowdfunding campaign. The ambition is repeat this scheme all year round and make it possible for other people to replicate the work placement model in other cities.

If you’re a freelancer or small business who wants help with taking the hassle out of finding suitable work experience candidate or want to help share your skills with a young person to further their career prospects, contact Collaborative Future.

The post Creating Collaborative Futures for Young People appeared first on Big Old House.