I often tell my clients that writing a case study is a great way to highlight not just how they work with clients but what they do for them. An opportunity to celebrate a successful working relationship, even. But it’s true that I have never written one for myself. (Until now!)
Why not?
Firstly, I really do empathise with my clients when they say that talking about themselves isn’t easy, and that’s just as true for me. There is a reason why they hire me to do it for them! I think we all have a touch of ‘imposter’ syndrome, or perhaps it’s that British trait of underselling ourselves. (“Oh, well, I didn’t do much really: just rebuilt their website, rewrote their marketing strategy and launched a successful microblog for them – nothing at all!”)
Secondly, as small business owners, I think there is a fear that revealing you work with a marketing professional could be like revealing the man behind the curtain. (You know that scene from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ when Dorothy finds out that the wizard is really just a man operating levers and pulleys to make it look like magic?) I do sympathise with that thought. It was nicely summed up a couple of years ago by another client who said “I really liked that Facebook post you did for me last week. I wished I’d thought of it myself. Then I realised that all my clients will think I did!”
So I’m overcoming my reservations and writing my first case study for Minerva Marketing. I have to confess that this particular client has recently retired so I have no worries about shattering any Wizard-like illusions on her behalf!
How it started…
I was first introduced to Katherine of Eastleigh Sports Massage in April 2020. Her previous marketing person, Emma, was changing direction but wanted to find someone “lovely” (Emma’s word!) to take over Katherine’s marketing for her. Although she had a fairly loyal client base already, Katherine was very aware that she needed to keep her presence up even though she was (at that time) prevented from working by the Lockdown restrictions.
We started with an online chat about what Katherine (and Emma) were currently doing marketing-wise. As well as looking after the website and scheduling regular social media posts on Facebook and Twitter, they had also brought in an SEO specialist to help ensure they would stay at or near the top in the competitive market of search engine rankings.
What I Did
1. Tidied up the collateral
The first job I tackled for Katherine was ‘tidying up’ her exercise sheets. Over the years, she had put together nineteen different collections of exercises that she would typically give to a client to work on at home. There were sheets for all the major muscle groups and joints, as well as a whole-body sheet, all of which included useful tips on warming up etc. Katherine had put these together herself and was conscious that no one had ever proof-read them for her or laid them out in keeping with her branding. During those quieter days with no clients, it was a great opportunity to get them looking good.
I have to say that it was a job that frequently made me chuckle. Working from my small home office, I would follow the instructions for each exercise to make sure I understood what it was asking me to do – as far as my space would allow! There were one or two exercises I just didn’t get so Katherine and I jumped on a video call so she could demonstrate the move for me to see. (If anyone else could have seen us….!) We ended up with a set of freshly spruced sheets that she was confident in handing out to clients but which we could also post as useful content on her website.
2. Took over the social media posting
One of the complaints I often hear is that people just don’t know what to post on social media for their business. This can also be a challenge for some businesses more than others. If you’re a florist, for example, you probably have endless images of gorgeous arrangements that will keep your feed moving colourfully. If you’re in a profession like Katherine’s, sharing photos of what passes through your door presents more of a challenge; I imagine her clients would very much have objected (not to mention social media platforms rules on the amount of flesh visible in photos!). So my challenge was to come up with enough engaging ideas to keep her feeds moving and driving enquiries.
Having over-hauled the exercise sheets, they became a regular feature on her feeds. Every Friday since June 2020, we posted a ‘Friday Stretch’ taken from one of them. It was often themed around a current event (“here’s a stretch anyone doing the London Marathon this weekend will love!”). Posts always included a link back to the website for people to have a go at the full sheet if they wanted.
Of course, we posted much more than that: tips, testimonials, reminders about up-coming sports events that her clients might appreciate. But we established a regular, varied posting schedule that increased her profile, got some steady engagement, grew her following and helped drive traffic to the website. I should add that we also started exploring LinkedIn for her business, as many of her existing clients were professional people. We had built a small but steady presence for the business on there, too.
3. Supported a full website rebuild
Her existing website wasn’t doing Katherine any favours and it was built on a platform that is less often used these days. Quite early on we decided it was time for a rebuild. I started the process by writing a comprehensive brief that we could ask web creators to quote against. I am a great believer in being as precise as possible with these things, in order that you get the ‘tightest’, most realistic quote you can. It clearly worked; of those we asked to quote, all were in the ballpark budget Katherine was prepared to find. One even said it was “the best brief they had ever read, which really helped”.
Once we decided who to work with, it was a collaboration for them to build the pages and me to populate them as we went. An opportunity to refresh both content and images, too. The resulting new site was clear, professional and made it easy for people to get in touch or find all her useful online resources. (Much of it has been disabled now Katherine has retired so you may just have to take my word for that!)
4. A Sounding board…
I know that it can sometimes be a bit lonely as a small business owner so one of the things I enjoy most working with them is the opportunity to share some of their journey. Of course, for all of us, navigating Covid was a one-off and we were all making it up as best we could as we went along. I was only too happy to be a sounding board for Katherine during those challenging times but also well beyond. Questions like “What should I write in my Covid Policy?” were perhaps not strictly marketing ones – although they clearly have a customer focus – but gave me an interesting challenge to get my head around, too.
5. And anything else that needed doing!
During my ‘first’ career as an employed person, I nearly always worked in small organisations were you often need to be flexible and willing to get stuck into whatever job needed doing next. In many ways that has suited me. I often say I have a low “boredom threshold” (if there is such a thing!) so turning my hand to tasks that weren’t always strictly in my job description kept things interesting.
I have the same approach with my clients now. More administrative tasks, like producing the occasional poster or client letter, are jobs that I can do fairly quickly and efficiently and which vary my day, too. And so it was with Katherine. The odd request like “can you make this sign look prettier” gave me the excuse to indulge my arty side for a short while. (I should say there is probably a line I wouldn’t cross. No one has ever asked me to submit their tax return, for example, but that would be one job I would definitely refer to another professional!)
How it ended
Katherine retired at the end of June rather reluctantly; I’m sure she won’t mind me saying so. Her clients really had become part of her life and she knew she would miss them in retirement. We spent time planning her exit strategy, particularly the timing of communications to her clients and more widely, I think because Katherine felt she would be letting them all down. But she was able to retire as the owner of a successful business that had thrived for around 20 years by then, in spite of what the world had thrown at it.
Do I miss having to think up a new ‘Friday Stretch’ every week? I think five years was long enough to have done them, but I do miss Katherine and still find myself coming up with ideas for her posts (which I try to put to good use elsewhere instead!). I feel we did a good job between us and take satisfaction in something Katherine said to me some time back: “I wish I’d met you sooner!”