Ride the Wave - Communication: Maximum impact for minimum budget

Claire Potter attended our Ride the Wave workshop Communication: Maximum impact for minimum budget last night. Here is what she had to say about it.

As a small business, it can be hard to get yourself heard in the riot of competition – especially if your marketing budget is not in line with the larger companies within your sector. But, fortunately, there are lots of techniques that can be employed to ensure that you are targeting the right people – and essentially, saying the right thing. Communication is key.

So, the latest workshop in the Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce - Ride the Wave series, which was partnered with Design Brighton focussed on this element – how can we communicate our business and how can we communicate better.

Situated in the Fusebox space in New England House, the workshop was rammed with a huge variety of people, from those just starting out, established sole traders  to others working within small businesses – and notably across a very wide range of sectors.

The workshop, which was expertly led by Steve Bustin, first looked at the actual mechanics of what great marketing and PR can actually gain the business and how success can be measured. This was very different for each person, but despite the variety of attendees, we could all see how relatable the key words were to each of us.

Focussing on different types of press coverage, we then looked at what can create a good story – new products, awards, new events and even new offices could be used to create interest in your business worthy of press coverage. But what sort of coverage is right? Publications that suited one business could be very wrong for the next, and during a bit of partner work we realised how important it was to both speak in the right way about our business and target it to the right media.

Turning our attentions to vast world of social media, Steve spoke about the benefits of each type and how they can be used, focussing on the wonderful world of Twitter with a conversation with Brighton based, international architectural photographer, Jim Stephenson. There is not a ‘set’ way to undertake social media, but it was clear that Jim has grown his own business by creating a rounded personality on Twitter and, perhaps most importantly, engaging with his followers and engaging with those he also would like to talk to. Jim and Steve stressed how this incredibly easy form of communication is available to all, so long as you find your voice and you know what you are trying to achieve.

The workshop was an excellent foundation for those starting out in business and equally, for those of us who have perhaps been going a while and could really benefit from sitting down and reorganising our own marketing and PR strategies.

But all in all, know what you do and how you can help someone with what you do…

Claire Potter is a committee member of Design Brighton and runs the multi-facted interior architecture and design studio, claire potter design in Brighton.

www.clairepotterdesign.com / @clairepotter

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