The Halston Network Shares Their B2B Marketing Tips
The Data Shed
The Data Shed are a unique bunch who create simple, innovative tools to solve the data problems of businesses all around the world. We spoke to CEO Anna Sutton to find out what they’ve been up to to keep the marketing fires burning.
“The transition to digital hasn’t hindered us!”
The move to remote working isn’t without its obstacles, for any company but we’ve had a relatively seamless transition and we’re still big on networking! We’ve built a really strong network of hardworking, helpful and resilient business leaders, all of whom are pulling together to show a united front at the moment and I couldn’t be more proud to see that. I’m still receiving some great introductions and booking in loads of virtual coffees with new connections.
Our PR machine hasn’t stopped either, in fact, CTO, Ed Thewlis has recently penned an article on how the world has changed and will continue to do so in a post-COVID world.
Our team are taking this time to really focus on and refine our products, while we’re still holding new business meetings and remote workshops. Wellbeing is at the top of the list of priorities for the Shedders (Shedder; noun, def. a devoted member of The Data Shed team) and one of our mental health first aiders has been hosting well-attended wellbeing learning lunches.
We’ve also found that shorter contact but with more frequency works best for internal comms. Every senior team member has a ‘keeping in touch group’ of around six or seven people and we’re making sure to stick to our core values which includes being entirely transparent on the business status and new business pipeline.
We’re also making sure to stay in touch with the tech community! We’re sharing notes, advice and just keeping each other inspired, and with all of the events happening around Leeds Digital Festival, there’s loads of inspiration out there!
Thrive Law
Thrive are a law firm in Leeds specialising in employment law, HR and mental health. We caught up with Jodie Hill, the firm’s founder to find out what inspiring strategies they’ve employed in the past month.
“We’re working harder than ever to spread positivity and promote wellness in the workplace – even if it’s not your usual!
From the outset, Thrive reacted to the crisis by launching their free coronavirus helpline – “As well as helping those who need access to the law and need to understand it, we’ve asked those we’ve helped to give us reviews on Google, Facebook and LinkedIn to try and increase our ratings. It’s also doubled our database!”
Jodie’s team created email bulletins with constant updates on Covid-19. At the height of the new information, these were being issued daily. But she’s not stopped there, Jodie’s message to ‘Thrive’ has been seen across TV and radio, following engagement from blogs or social media posts. Video content has been at the core of their strategy with consistent posting across IGTV, YouTube and Facebook with helpful information.
The tHRive club for HR professionals was set up on Facebook to share information – “This was already on the cards but we’ve brought it forward to help people at this time. In the long term, there will be webinars and seminars held here”.
As a steadfast theme within the Thrive brand, they’ve carried on with content around good mental health especially in relation to lockdown and like Anna, Jodie and her team are still networking and booking virtual meetings!
Instagram has been working well for the brand with staff takeovers and competitions and in May, we have the brand new Thrive Wellbeing Platform to look forward to! – “The Wellbeing Platform will host an array of content including mental health champion training and easy to use guides, downloadable documents and toolkits for managers and employees – helping people working from home, on furlough and back into the workplace”.
Dine
Dine are a Leeds-based, award winning catering & event management company who provide a total event planning & management services for corporates, parties and weddings. Sales Manager Ben Askham explains some of their recent B2B marketing strategies:
“It’s been a really strange time to do business in recent weeks!”
As we are a Catering & Events company, we have been rescheduling a lot of our booked events and helping clients in every way possible. In terms of Marketing – our Marketing team have been doing a lot of social posts that are content led, explaining how we are adapting to the changes, for example – our new terms of business. We have also had a few special offers on during lockdown – including free postponement and date changes for any new booked events, allowing date changes up to December 2021! We’ve done a few email campaigns collectively as a team and as our delivered catering service ‘Dine Delivered’ is still operating – we are plugging that as much as possible! ‘Lockdown Celebratory Meals’ all to a restaurant standard, prepared by our chef team.
Personally I’ve just tried to keep in touch with my regular clients, checking in on how they are doing during this isolation period etc, posting some positive posts through my own social feeds and spots of online networking, a few catch up calls with clients and contacts but especially with suppliers and other event companies. We are now dealing with fresh enquires for corporate events and have already taken new wedding bookings for next year, so things are starting to look positive and promising!”
If you’d like to share your marketing strategies with us and contribute to next week’s post, email info@halston.marketing!