Marketing your business costs less than you think

Hana Dickinson, MD of The Bridge – strategic marketing & PR specialists – and creator of SuffolkWire says it’s time for Suffolk businesses to communicate with each other more often and more effectively for two important reasons. Here she explains:

There are tons of businesses in Suffolk doing great things, who struggle to spread the word. Some feel they can’t afford it, some don’t think they need it as their clients are not Suffolk-based, and some just don’t know where to start – for whatever reason these fabulous businesses are missing two huge opportunities.

Opportunity 1 – To harness the power of Suffolk pride

Suffolk people like to support Suffolk businesses. We’re proud of our home grown produce, our exceptional entrepreneurs and the businesses that have chosen Suffolk as their base. The majority of Suffolk businesses will buy local where possible and from people they know and trust. So, if we want to harness the buying power of this supportive community, we need to be an active and visible member of it.

We created SuffolkWire to help solve this problem. It provides a way for businesses of all shapes and sizes to become more visible, tell their story and build trust through familiarity.

Opportunity 2 – To tempt top talent

I’ll grant you I didn’t grow up here. I’m a blow in who’s only been here seven years but, since running SuffolkWire, I’ve learnt about a lot of significant businesses based here that I never knew about before – and I can’t be the only one. These businesses are big global players, cutting edge SMEs that are disrupting the market in a number of sectors and small artisan food producers winning awards and getting contracts with major retailers – to name just a few!

And yet there’s a prevalent sense amongst our young people that there’s nothing for the ambitious and talented school leaver or graduate here. That a move to London or even Colchester, Norwich or Cambridge is necessary if you want to build a fulfilling and exciting career.

This is quite simply not true.

We can’t change this perception without communicating better and more regularly the opportunities and inspirational success stories from this county. Unless we start waving our flags to let everyone know we’re here and what we’re up to, our talented youngsters will migrate to other places where far greater perceived opportunities lay waiting. We can stop this. With better communication, we can inspire our young people to stay and build a bright future right here.

“It’s too expensive and too blinking hard”

89% of the 34,500 or so businesses in Suffolk have nine or less employees. Many of these don’t have the budget to buy regular advertising space, or employ a PR professional to identify angles and place articles on their behalf. Ultimately, it’s far harder for these businesses to thrive and survive without effective communication….

The great news is that it doesn’t have to be that way, and that’s where www.suffolkwire.co.uk comes in. It’s easy and affordable.

We’ve built SuffolkWire to be an online communications framework – encompassing a fully-optimised responsive website, regular news emails and social media. By contributing their news to SuffolkWire, businesses can build their brand, raise their profile and tell their story through regular, reliable and affordable coverage. Easy!

How affordable is affordable?

SuffolkWire costs just £40 per month or £400 per year. Businesses can submit up to two articles a month to appear on the website, email newsletter and social media.

Each article reaches around 5000 people via the website (as at Dec 2017), and the numbers are going up by around 30% month on month. The email list is growing too, and a single Tweet from our account will regularly reach over 100,000 people.

The type of content that can be shared is flexible. The only stipulation is that it must be an article NOT an advert. People profiles, interviews and thought leadership pieces do very well, as well as details of events, job vacancies and new hires and of course news of successes, new products or services.

Copywriting & Planning Support

There’s even copywriting and planning support available to ensure our clients get the most out of their subscription.

We’re on hand to offer content planning sessions to help the business to plan content that will underpin their business objectives, set out their stall, build their brand, and connect with customers. We have years of experience in turning what a business wants to say into something the intended audience wants to know about.

What’s next for SuffolkWire?

Having come so far in only a few months (It only went live at the end of May), the future means building on the foundations we’ve laid. Ultimately, we want to improve the way communication happens across the county, stimulate business growth through effective marketing, and inspire young talent to stick around by shining the spotlight on opportunities that exist right here.

We’re working hard to make SuffolkWire the number one website for business news in Suffolk. We want it to be the obvious first step for businesses looking to build their brand, raise awareness, drive sales and recruit talent. We’re bringing on board lots of new businesses to share their stories but there’s room for many more. We hope to support Suffolk businesses from all sectors so SuffolkWire accurately represents the diversity, creativity, successes and opportunities that make up the vibrant Suffolk business scene.

To join us in painting a full and inspiring picture of Suffolk for business and career opportunities – and turbocharge your marketing while you’re at it – please get in touch.