From the Swamp to the Sea

It’s hard to be the new person in town. The new person doesn’t know the best spots for coffee, can’t ever find a parking space, and doesn’t have friends to nudge her in the right direction. I’ve always been up for a challenge, but when my husband and I made the decision to uproot our family, leave my marketing and web design business, and move back to England from the States, I knew this challenge would be next level.

I set up Swamped Media a year ago, so I’m still a newbie to the Sussex business community, but I hope the lessons I’ve learned can help Brighton’s newest transplants in their first months by the seaside.

Fear delayed me from signing up for my first Brighton networking event for way too long. Despite being a naturally gregarious person who tended to like networking in the past, walking into a room full of strangers paralized me. I fantasized that the reputation I’d built back in New Orleans would follow me, and I begrudged having to start again.

Eventually, I had to get over myself! Being a web design and marketing pro, my first step was to attend a Wired Sussex event. A contact at Wired invited me along to a Gatwick Diamond Business lunch, where I met another person who suggested the Brighton Chamber breakfast. Suddenly my networking calendar was full.

From then on, I made it a point to say yes. I went to every event that fit my schedule, had as many coffee meetups as I could, and always followed up. Before too long, there were familiar faces at every event I attended, and I started to feel more at home.

Working from my kitchen table wasn’t winning me any new friends, so I joined PLATF9RM in Hove. That gave me a cool and inspiring place to work and came with a built-in community. I started going to their member events, and it wasn’t long before a fellow member became my very first client.

Next, I had to re-evaluate my expectations. I wrote a realistic business plan that reflected my new “start-up” status. Once I set measurable goals for myself, it was easier to celebrate the small successes rather than constantly stress about the next sale.

Word of mouth marketing had been great for me before, but now that I was in a place where no one could vouch for me, I needed to find new cheerleaders. Since marketing and web design aren’t cheap one-off services, I needed a low-risk way for potential clients to understand the value Swamped could bring. We started offering one-hour strategy sessions for website and digital marketing as a way to provide a high-value service with a low barrier to entry. Some of those customers went on to become full-scale clients and the rest became advocates.

I also looked for low-cost marketing opportunities. I updated membership profiles with various professional organizations, submitted info to their newsletters, and signed up to speak at events.

Brighton is full to the brim with creative talent, and one of the best ways to build community is to share the love! It's tempting to want to keep every pound earned in your own bank account, but knowing your strengths and outsourcing the rest is better for your business and your customers. As soon as I started landing new clients, I started collaborating with other local professionals, and they did the same for me.

I hope you’ll find these tips helpful as you learn your way around Brighton’s business scene. If you ever want to chat in person, reach out and we’ll grab a coffee or hit up a networking event together.

Wendy Dolan is Founder of Swamped Media and is leading a Brighton Chamber Bite-sized Learning: How to make your website work harder for your business on 4 February. Book your place here.

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk