We met up with Steve Barber (pictured below), Managing Director of Bridging Finance Solutions, an independent finance house providing short term property finance solutions to individuals, investors, property developers, professional advisors and intermediaries for our latest client focus Q&A.
1. What is your business?
Bridging Finance Solutions is a premier independent finance house providing short term property finance solutions to individuals, investors, property developers, professional advisors and intermediaries.
All of our loans are secured on residential property for between 1 and 12 months, from £25,000 to £5m. We are fully regulated by the FCA and we are able to lend to individuals, partnerships and companies throughout England and Wales.
As principal lenders, we lend our own funds, which means we can offer our clients flexibility and a speed of service which we consider that you will rarely find elsewhere. We pride ourselves on fast, consistent decision making and are totally committed to transparency, clarity and the retention of the administration to a necessary minimum.
The company’s ethos is to provide the best possible service. Our success is based on our reputation for speed, flexibility and personal approach delivered with care and courtesy.
We specialise in Short Term Finance for Fast Property Purchase, Refurbishment Funding, Auction Finance, Immediate Capital Raising for all purposes whilst property is sold or refinanced and Development Finance. We often compliment the banks and long term funders to get deals done quickly, often within 7-10 days, whilst long term funding is arranged.
2. Which solicitors do you use at Bermans?
Our principal point of contact is Fergal O’Cleirigh and we have had our cases looked after by Guy Pattison, Andrew Palmer and Melanie Morris. Nicky Benson looks after our HR and we have also been advised on various corporate matters over recent years.
3. What are the biggest challenges you face in growing your business and maintaining profits?
The short term finance sector is very price sensitive sector and our principal drive is to deliver transparency of pricing to all clients which genuinely adds value to projects. Over 40% of our loans are to repeat clients which is testament to this, along with an increasing number of referrals from professional advisors.
4. Tell us about your typical working day?
We are very client focused organisation and by definition need to be ‘fleet of foot’ and react quickly to our client’s requirements so no individual day is typical. One thing that can be assured as typical, however, is that days are long, particularly when working to a deadline which requires co-ordination of several parties …
5. What has been a highlight for your business over the last 12 months?
The growth and development of an extremely professional, client focused and experienced team alongside considerable growth in the size of the business, which has seen turnover double for the past three consecutive years.
6. What are your plans for your business for the year ahead?
Bridging Finance continues to retain an out dated stigma of ‘lender of last resort’ and ‘expensive’. Much of our growth has been based around education of finance brokers and professional advisors who are increasingly seeing the use of bridging as a mainstream and commercially viable solution to clients requirements, often complimenting a long term funding solution. This education process continues to be central to our growth plans for the coming year and we have invested heavily in IT to ensure that we continue to offer the same personal service as the business continues to grow.
7. Is there a sector or industry that you are strong in or looking to develop opportunities?
Whilst we have funded refurbishment and conversion projects for many years, we launched a development finance product this year, specifically aimed at schemes less than £2m in the North West. These schemes often fall under the radar of large financial institutions who perhaps do not have a strong appetite for these smaller schemes, and that often need to be completed very quickly to secure the best available terms for the client. We believe that this product fits into a growth area in which we are seeing considerable demand and hope to develop on.
8. Do you find social media assists your business and if so, how?
We use social media to raise the awareness of our brand and keep clients and advisors up to date on products, case studies and networking events. I think it is difficult to measure the tangible benefits other than the adage of ‘out of sight…out of mind.’
9. If you were chancellor, what single change would you make to help improve the economy and/or your business?
I would stagger corporation tax rates to encourage the growth and development of the SME sector, by way of investment and growth incentives.
10. What are your passions away from business?
I have a 9 year old son whose social activities tend to keep me occupied as a taxi driver, but I am also a keen fell walker and runner and take part in a number of endurance challenge events….slowly. I am also a keen follower of all sports and we are a principle sponsor of Tranmere Rovers FC locally.
11. Do you have any business tips to share with our readers?
Leave enough money in a deal for the next person……
WANT TO BE FEATURED NEXT TIME?
To feature your company in the next issue please contact our Marketing Assistant, Emma Bartram on 0151 224 0506 or email emma.bartram@bermans.co.uk
We met up with Jack Barmby (pictured below), Founder & CEO of multichannel customer interaction company, Gnatta, to find out about his typical working day, business challenges, and what he would do if he was chancellor.
Jack graduated in 2014 and has been focused on learning the keys to disruptive growth. His background comes in the form of social media consultancy during his University studies, and since has paved the way to re-imagine and reshape the way businesses and customers talk to each other through the use of Gnatta. This, as well as growing an outsourcing customer service team of 350, FM Outsource and Gnatta give businesses all around the UK and the world the ability to connect with their customers more effectively than ever.
1. What is your business?
Gnatta is a web based application that let’s businesses deliver a more intelligent customer service solution. We act as a thin layer between the customer and the customer service team to help ensure the business is answering the right customers at the right time. Focused on large scale customer service operations, Gnatta will automate a large part of the information gathering and routing that teams would otherwise have to facilitate, letting the advisors focus wholly on the customer query, helping provide a service that works for the customer and the business.
2. Which solicitors do you use at Bermans and how do we compare to other firms?
We’ve been working with Jon Davage as part of our demerger. Jon and the team have been phenomenal with quick turnaround and a really high standard of work.
3. What are the biggest challenges you face in growing your business and maintaining profits?
For us it’s all about sales. From day one we’ve been a product first business focused on delivering a product that is ahead of the market, fit for purpose and can wow our clients. Where we’ve spent a lot less time is in developing our sales pipeline; profits have been invested back into product development but our sales strategy as yet, hasn’t matured. We’re profitable and are making a product fit for the market and a leader in its sector, but to continue to grow we need to find the right people that need the solution we provide.
4. Tell us about your typical working day?
It’s a mix of helping resolve BAU issues with clients, speaking with new prospects and thinking about the strategic direction going forward. As a quick developing team, most of my time is taken up in helping keep everybody focussed and keep the team working synchronously as we continue to grow.
5. What has been a highlight for Gnatta over the last 12 months?
As a product first team, it’s got to be some of the features we’ve implemented. We’ve had some great clients wins including Missguided and ASOS, but we’ve been really excited about our AI functionality that we can start rolling out to our customers. AI is a new endeavour for businesses, and our take on it is going to be a real game changer; we can implement AI to get involved in the customer journey only in very specific scenarios to make the customer journey slicker. For example, let’s say you want to know where your order is, the bot will ask you for DPA information instantly, and once it has it (or can’t get it) it’ll pass that to a team member to give you the personalised service. Customer wins, business wins.
6. What are your plans for Gnatta for the year ahead?
We’ve got a great product, but we’re never as far ahead as we’d like to think and so the answer must come in two parts. Firstly, we need to keep developing new, exciting things that wow people, because if we’re not doing it, someone else out there is. Secondly we need to mature our sales process and get some new clients involved and on board; we know we can provide something truly innovative and we’d love the opportunity to show what we can do to more businesses.
7. Is there a sector or industry that you are strong in or looking to develop opportunities?
We’ve had great success in fashion retail and would love to develop into other retail sectors. Any business who has a strong digital presence on multiple channels would benefit from using Gnatta.
8. Do you find social media assists your business and if so, how?
Certainly! A big arm of what we provide is a platform for businesses to speak to their customer via social. One of our focuses is the impact of social for businesses. As a medium to let a customer vent, compliment, berate or otherwise a business or product with no barriers or say from the business, it impacts everyone in a massive way.
9. If you were chancellor, what single change would you make to help improve the economy and/or your business?
I’d love to implement a system where startups had access to development resource. Big businesses would be obliged to contribute a small portion of their development resource to small start ups (validated by the system first, of course) to give them chance to get their ideas off the ground. How many people do you know with a great idea that will never have the capital of attraction to get the right talent to get a prototype? Imagine the number great ideas would crop up if the barriers to entry in terms of development resource were lowered.
10. What are your passions away from business?
I’ve always had a big swimming background, so I like keeping fit. That aside, I yoyo between reading socioeconomic behavioural books and epic fantasties (not the classic combo), spending time with friends and family and networking with like minded guys and girls.
Whether you’re looking to better understand and listen to your customers, improve your customer experiences across all channels, seeking a third party customer service provider or planning a social engagement campaign, contact Gnatta:
In the recent case of CRJ Services Limited v Lanstar Limited [2011] EWHC 972 (TCC) the lessee disputed liability under 3 Lease Agreements on the grounds that the signatory did not have authority to enter into the Agreements.
The problem for the lessee was that although the signatory was not an employee, he was engaged as a consultant and given the title “Landfill Manager” to run a landfill site operated by the lessee. It was common ground that in this capacity he had actual authority to enter into short term Hire Agreements with the Financier for various items of plant, but it was the lessee’s case that he had no actual or implied authority to enter into long term hire contracts. Nevertheless the signatory entered into two 3 year contracts and a 2 year contract for the hire of plant all of which contained terms that if the lessee terminated the arrangement before the expiry of the fixed period of hire it would be liable to pay 60% of the agreed hire rates for the remaining periods of hire.
The lessee claimed that it had no knowledge that these 3 long term contracts had been signed, and had effected payments on the assumption that as with the short term hire contracts rentals were payable on a monthly basis but without any long term commitment.
When the signatory left his engagement with the lessee as a result of an acrimonious dispute the lessee’s solicitors did not improve the lessee’s prospects of being able to avoid liability by writing to the Financier and stating inter alia that the signatory “…was the Landfill Materials and Recycling Facilities Manager…[and] was required to “run things by” the Finance and Managing Directors”.
The court had little difficulty in rejecting the lessee’s arguments that the signatory to the Hire Agreements lacked the necessary authority to bind the lessee. There was no suggestion that the lessee had taken any steps to inform the Financier that there were limits on the signatory’s authority, and at no stage had the lessee protested or withheld any payments during the periods of hire before termination. Thus although the signatory had no actual authority to contract for long term hire, he clearly had apparent authority on the principles set out by the Court of Appeal in Freeman & Lockyer v Buckhurst Park Properties (Mangal) Ltd [1964] 2 QB 480:-
“An “apparent” or “ostensible” authority…is a legal relationship between the principal and the contractor created by a representation, made by the principal to the contractor, intended to be and in fact acted upon by the contractor, that the agent has authority to enter on behalf of the principal into a contract of a kind within the scope of the “apparent” authority, so as to render the principal liable to perform any obligations imposed upon him by such contract…
The representation which creates “apparent” authority may take a variety of forms of which the commonest is representation by conduct, that is by permitting the agent to act in some way in the conduct of the principal’s business with other persons. By so doing the principal represents to anyone who becomes aware that the agent is so acting that the agent has authority to enter on behalf of the principal into contracts with other persons of the kind which an agent so acting in the conduct of his principal business has usually “actual” authority to enter into.”
Comment
The key point in this case is that the lessee by its conduct in allowing the signatory to enter into short term hire contracts effectively clothed him with apparent or ostensible authority to enter into long term hire contracts as well. It would have been different if the signatory had no actual authority to enter into short term contracts either.
An agent or employee cannot clothe himself or herself with authority: the essential point is that it must be the lessee itself which has done some act or made some statement which has the effect of clothing the agent or employee with apparent or ostensible authority.
Thus it is good practice to ensure that in any case of doubt as to the actual authority of a signatory to a Hire Agreement there should be some communication with the Directors or others with senior management responsibility to confirm that the proposed signatory has indeed authority to contract on behalf of the lessee.
Even in cases where actual or ostensible authority in the signatory is lacking it may still be possible to establish liability if the lessee subsequently ratifies its involvement in an Agreement, for example by using the equipment and making payments with knowledge of the lack of authority in the signatory.
We met up with Gemma McGowan (pictured below), Managing Director of The Isla Gladstone, a popular wedding and events venue in Liverpool to chat with her about her typical working day, business challenges as an SME, and exciting plans for the future.
1. What is your business?
I am the owner of the business that operates the Isla Gladstone Conservatory and Kemps Bistro in Stanley Park Liverpool. We have over 100 weddings per year and look after the official off-site Hospitality for Liverpool FC.
Each year we host on average 200 events and provide outside catering for small and large events.
I am also the founder of HESTIA CAREERS, an Apprenticeship program for young people wishing to have a career in hospitality. I founded this after I saw how many young people had the potential for a career in this growing market – but didn’t have the understanding of what the industry actually was. Our young people have travelled to London for silver service and butler training and even to Dubai to work with the Emirates Training Academy.
2. Which solicitors do you use at Bermans and how do we compare to other firms?
Fergal O’Cleirigh (Partner and Head of Property) is my point of contact at Bermans.
I have known Fergal now for a number of years and would not choose to work with anyone else. Not only is he excellent with his knowledge – he cares. He cares enough to take late night calls from me and have my best interests at heart. This type of relationship is priceless and I trust him implicitly – if I had a circle of trust he would be the ring leader!
3. What are the biggest challenges you face in growing your business and maintaining profits?
As I am an SME risk is always seen as the biggest challenge. I personally don’t ever worry about risk – but sometimes to enable yourself to grow you need to take risks that some financial institutions might not be able to place a tick in a box next to. Through Fergal I have met a Bank now that I can work with and who want to grow with me.
The ever increasing utility charges, living wage and business rates have always been an issue when trying to maintain profits. The industry I work in is seen as not a necessity in everyday life. You can choose how much you spend on a wedding or a corporate event – it is not a ‘must’ in your life. Therefore when times are hard these are the first things people stop spending money on. Thankfully for us we work with our customers to ensure value for money and also for us to make a profit.
Also not many people will admit this – but being a woman in a man’s world is still an issue – as I have got older its not as apparent – maybe because I have proven a point – that I am equal to any man – but it still happens and it drives me insane!
4. Tell us about your typical working day?
The school run for the school bus at 7.30am is really the only typical part to my day.
For the rest of the day it can either be spent working with the team at the Isla Gladstone, meeting with my team who are overseeing the Hotel development in Anfield or developing the CIC we have set up for Stanley Park to animate the park and bring more park users to north Liverpool. My day is never dull – and I always go to bed exhausted!
I like to be hands on and know everything that is going on!
5. What has been a highlight for The Isla Gladstone over the last 12 months?
Year on year our business has continued to grow. Particularly with the new hotels and venues opening in the city – this makes me proud that we have been able to continue the growth.
6. What are your plans for The Isla Gladstone for the year ahead?
We have just appointed a new head chef – so I am excited about the new menus and events that we will be catering for. Our demand for corporate and private outside hospitality is also growing. It’s good to see that our brand is being recognised and people chose to work with us.
With the Stanley Park CIC – we will also have lots of exciting weekly community and large scale events being brought to the park that we will be working with.
7. Is there are sector or industry that you are strong in or looking to develop opportunities?
For the past five years I have been working with Your Housing Group, Liverpool City Council and LFC to bring a training hotel to Anfield. We have finally got to a position where we will be signing a franchise agreement with a major brand to bring a 150 bedroomed training hotel to Anfield.
The community of north Liverpool will be able to work and train in the hospitality industry whilst gaining qualifications. This is something I am very proud and excited about. I understand that in this industry people like to learn by working and not by attending college. The way we teach will cater for this. I know first-hand how this feels, I went to University for half a day and I left at dinner time as I didn’t want to read 50 books – I wanted to learn… so I went to work instead!
Bringing a branded training hotel to a regeneration area in Liverpool will be my proudest moment to date – I just can’t wait to get the spade in the ground!
8. Do you find social media assists your business and if so, how?
Our customers love to see new ideas and keep up to date with different trends. This is a major part of our business. In fact I have just employed someone to start looking after this for us as I realise how important it is. We need to have a regular presence and ensure we are always in our customers minds – but without being boring!
9. If you were chancellor, what single change would you make to help improve the economy and/or your business?
If I can be allowed two changes, reducing the burden on business of corporation tax/business rates and increased investment in providing employment opportunities for young people.
10. What are your passions away from business?
Whenever I can I jump on a plane to Portugal with my family – it’s my happy place and I love spending time with my husband and 2 children watching them grow up and enjoy life!
To get in touch with Gemma at Isla Gladstone:
e: gemma@theisla.co.uk
t: 0151 263 0363
WANT TO BE FEATURED NEXT TIME?
To feature your company in the next issue please contact our Marketing Assistant, Emma Bartram 0151 224 0506 or emma.bartram@bermans.co.uk
Article by Chris Maguire, editor and co-owner of the UK’s newest tech magazine BusinessCloud.
“What do you know about tech?” asked an unnamed family member.
As ringing endorsements go this was hardly what I was looking for when I announced I was leaving my safe job as editor of the North West Business Insider for a leap into the unknown.
I’m the first one to admit that I’m not a ‘techy’ person. I don’t sit at my laptop in my underpants at 3am in my bedroom coding. I know very little nothing about HTML but throughout my 25-year career as a journalist I’ve realised there isn’t a single tech sector any more – every sector is tech.
Think about it for a second. From calling an Uber; booking a holiday; ordering the weekly shopping; staying in touch with friends; and downloading flight tickets, everything involves technology in one form or another.
Retail, healthcare, sport, property, finance, travel, education, manufacturing etc are all underpinned by tech. If you want to scale your business you need tech.
However, when I was the editor of Insider, I spoke to more than 1,200 businessmen and women and I was struck by how many chief executives, managing directors and business owners paid lip service to tech. “I’ve got a chief technology officer who takes care of that for me,” they would say. Ask them about their social media and a common reply was: “I’ve got someone who tweets for me.”
This struck me as odd. How can you shape the direction of a business if you don’t understand the benefits that technology can bring? And that’s how BusinessCloud was born with the simple aim being to demystify tech.
Of course I couldn’t launch BusinessCloud without a partner and I’m lucky to have Lawrence Jones in my corner. Lawrence is the co-founder and CEO of fast-growing Manchester headquartered tech firm UKFast. One of the country’s highest profile tech entrepreneurs he and I are committed to making a difference.
And that’s exactly what’s happened. So far we’ve produced five editions of BusinessCloud; hosted 40+ events; overseen a growing website; and launched a weekly newsletter. Our social media following is flourishing and the feedback has been brilliant.
From artificial intelligence to virtual reality; from automation to holograms; from bots to big data; from algorithms to social media; from cloud to cyber security; the list goes on.
We’ve held events in Manchester, Liverpool, Lancashire, Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham, Bristol and Belfast. We’ve interviewed start-ups to unicorns.
Because we’re a tech company we’ve embraced tech. We film our roundtables, breakfast events and conferences and upload the videos and podcasts onto our YouTube channel. Some people like to read stories; some like to watch videos; and some like to listen to interviews. In this day and age you have to be omni-channel.
So how can Bermans clients and contacts benefit?
To learn about all that is going on in tech in the North West I suggest that you sign up to our quarterly magazine, which is the bedrock of BusinessCloud. It’s 80 pages and is completely FREE. If you want to subscribe just email subscriptions@businesscloud.co.uk or complete the form on our website – http://www.businesscloud.co.uk/subscribe.
Every quarter we like to get out and visit businesses in the region and help promote the interesting things they are doing. We’re gaining real momentum and working with some big name clients like KPMG; NorthEdge; Peel Ports; recruitment experts Search; Jumpstart; Watch This Space; and OBI Property. We have also recently featured Bermans clients, SRO Solutions Ltd and Smartlife Inc. If you are doing interesting things in tech we would be delighted to hear from you and feature you in the magazine.
We also host events for the business community to get involved. Some of these have been joint events with Pro-Manchester and Business Growth Hub. I have listed below details of our calendar of events that you might want to consider attending and if you have an idea for an event in your particular industry then get in touch and we will see if we can work together.
If you haven’t seen BusinessCloud then you don’t know what you’re missing. Let us demystify tech for you.
About Chris Maguire
Chris Maguire is the editor and co-owner of BusinessCloud and was previously Editor at Insider Media’s North West Business Insider magazine from January 2012 to March 2016. Over the course of a 25-year career he’s also worked for the Daily Mail, Gloucestershire Echo, Yorkshire Evening Post and his career started at Chorley and Leyland Guardian.
My name is Sam Jones and I am the managing director of Tunafish Media, a business I founded with Richard Brooks and James McDonald at the age of 22. We are a Manchester based content marketing and media production agency that work for a variety of clients across a wide range of sectors including CarFinance247, The Royal Society of the Arts and Barber Barber UK.
Along the way we’ve been named ‘Team of the Year’ by Insider Business Magazine, ‘Creative agency of the year 2015’ by Downtown in Business and won the Grand Prix for Campaign of the Year at the 2014 PR Moment Awards.
2. Which solicitors do you use at Bermans and how do we compare to other firms?
If I am perfectly honest, I do not have a great deal of experience in dealing with other firms however since our formation we have worked with Berman’s Steve Kuncewicz for our IP matters and contracts and could not be happier with the level of advice and service we have received.
3. What are the biggest challenges you face in growing your business and maintaining profits?
We’re growing quite rapidly at the minute and there are of course going to be growing pains as we start to scale. It is obviously a nice problem to have but managing that growth is the biggest challenge for me at the minute. The one thing I would say is that there is never a shortage or support available for young or first-time business owners and thankfully I am getting advice from a lot of people with more experience than I have.
4. Tell us about your typical working day?
I tend to get into the office between 7 & 7.30 and start the day by catching up on my emails and reading the local business news. The rest of my day will then be made-up of a combination of client or prospecting meetings and working on client accounts. I then try to spend the last hour catching up on emails again before finishing between 6 and 7.
5. What has been a highlight for Tunafish over the last 12 months?
There have been many but I get know greater satisfaction than helping our clients grow their businesses and brands. For example when we started working with Barber Barber eighteen months ago, they had a single barber shop in Manchester and big plans for the future, now they’re in five cities with a multi-million pound turn-over. Being there as they opened their flagship London shop in Spitalfield’s market was a great moment and I am very proud that we have had a part to play in their success.
6. What are your plans for Tunafish for the year ahead?
It’s exciting times at the moment and I’m just looking forward to building on the solid foundations we have built over the last couple of years. In the past 6 weeks we have doubled in size from 6 to 12 staff and with further growth expected, I am looking forward to getting the new people settled in and seeing the ideas they have and the creative work they bring to the table.
7. Is there are sector or industry that you are strong in or looking to develop opportunities?
We have never really been sector specific however have done completed some great work in the property sector recently and I think there are big opportunities there. The north-west property sector is booming but I still don’t think it is a sector that has particularly embraced video, creative or social media as much as it could.
8. Do you find social media assists your business and if so, how?
Social media is a vital part of my business for a number of reasons. First of all it is a service we offer and we manage the social media accounts for a wide range of businesses. Secondly, we have used it as a business development tool and have won a large amount of work through it too and as a creative business it is also a great outlet to showcase our work and expertise.
I do think that it is becoming a vital tool for all businesses. At the moment, I only think that about 30-40% of businesses are using it correctly but industries like professional services are beginning to wake up to it and I think that number will be closer to 80% in a couple of year time.
9. If you were chancellor, what single change would you make to help improve the economy and/or your business?
If there was one job in the UK that I wouldn’t want right now it would probably be that one. I’m currently hoping that the big investment and plans that have been discussed for the North-West over the last couple of years are still seen through.
10. What are your passions away from business?
Last year I started a homeless support network called Not Just Soup http://notjustsoupkitchen.co.uk/ which see’s local Manchester restaurants provide food to the city’s homeless. At the minute it is one-day a week but that is about to roll-out into two days, so if you’re a restaurant who would like to get involved then please give me a shout.
I love watching football or films and I try to read as much as possible. I’m currently trying to teach myself various DIY activities but if I’m honest I’ve been more destructive than productive so far.
There continues to be a huge buzz around content marketing, due to its potential for raising awareness and winning new customers. However, what makes it really powerful is understanding your customer’s journey, and saying the right thing at the right time and in the right place.
Daniel Nolan, Managing Director
1. Awareness
How do you make your product or service visible to people who don’t even know they need it? The key to the awareness stage is providing content that is useful and interesting to your prospects – such as answering a problem or question they may have. It could be an infographic, tweet, blog, press release, stats piece or calculator; however you provide the answer, it needs to be easy to digest, highly shareable and optimised for search engines if possible. Your prospects can then stumble across your brand name while researching their problem or question.
2. Consideration
At this stage, your prospect is aware they need a product or service similar to the ones you offer; now, you need to be as helpful and authoritative as possible. Content marketing at this stage uses powerful storytelling to explore your product or service in more detail. Think downloadable guides, whitepapers, case studies, unique research, webinars and FAQs – whatever will demonstrate your value to the prospect. This content should ideally be of interest to authority websites in your niche which your prospect may be consulting, potentially leading to a link, share or guest article.
3. Decision
At this final hurdle, standing out from your competitors is the difference between winning and losing. You have that prospect on your website one last time, so ensure your content is persuasive – and make it easy for them to convert, by including clear contact details. In addition, client testimonials, reviews and videos can really bring your brand to life and inspire trust, so make sure they’re prominent on your website.
Social media should be part of your campaign, not an afterthought.
There’s more to content marketing than just producing a great piece – you have to give it a helping hand with social media to get it seen by the right people. As well as existing followers who may be in the consideration stage, there’s huge potential to expand your reach through the social ripple effect and get your awareness content seen – if you promote it correctly.
What’s more, Global Web Index found that between 17% and 35% of people (depending on their age group) use social media to research products and services; for B2B buying decisions it’s even higher, reportedly between 50 and 80%. So it’s vital you use your social channels to make a great first impression, be real, be engaging and be helpful – it’s far too important to see as an afterthought or leave in the hands of the wrong person, as we all know the implications of managing it poorly.
Need to upskill your team?
theEword is a digital marketing agency in Manchester and we’d like to extend a very special offer to Bermans clients – a half price social media training session.
Our social media and content marketing experts will take an in-depth look at your social channels and provide bespoke recommendations and practical tips on how to make the most of your online marketing.
We’re offering this half-day, in-house session for £500 (normally £999) for up to 8 members of your team.
Are you a Facebook Fanatic, Tweetaholic or Instagram addict?
Well, imagine getting paid for doing the stuff you love.
Bermans is looking for a bright, creative and enthusiastic social media apprentice to join its team in Liverpool while studying for a City and Guilds social media apprenticeship from The Juice Academy.
Note: The Juice Academy will recruit a number of apprentices to start in April and while you’re applying for the Bermans job, you may be placed in another, equally exciting role in a different company as part of the programme.
Independent, proactive and creative – law doesn’t have to be boring! Founded in 1970, Bermans is a niche practice of commercial, forward¬ thinking lawyers with offices in Liverpool and Manchester. It prides itself on its expertise and distinctive culture, you’ll be involved in all areas of the marketing mix from events to data capture for this well-rounded role! If you feel you could spice up the social for this leading law firm then what are you waiting for?
This is a great opportunity to get some real on-the-job training, a recognised qualification and be job-ready at the end of it all. Oh, and did we mention you get paid £11,500 for all your hard work?
Digital marketing is one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK, so prospects upon completion are very promising.
If you have 5 A-Cs at GCSE including English and Maths or equivalent we want to hear from you.
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend a selection day on 14th April where the lucky apprentices will be chosen. If you are selected you will be expected to start your apprenticeship on the 18th April, please mark clearly on your application if you will be unavailable to start on this date and we will consider you for future selection days.
We met up with Colin Watson (pictured below), co-founder and Commercial Director of Wallsauce.com, who from their base in Lancashire provides inspiring wallpaper, removable wall murals and giant wall graphics to enable you to create a home or office environment just for you!
1. What is your business?
We’re a worldwide producer of bespoke wall murals, our main channel to market being our website www.wallsauce.com. We also have a growing B2B customer base who deal with us directly, sectors covered being almost limitless. We’re particularly active in the leisure, care home/hospital, education and serviced office sectors. Prices for the murals start from around £22 + VAT per square metre and the permutations are almost endless. Just find an image already licenced to us, or supply your own, then give us the dimensions of your wall. A maximum of 7 working days later we’ll deliver your made-to-measure mural.
2. Which solicitors do you use at Bermans and how do we compare to other firms?
We use Jon Davage for corporate work and Steve Kuncewicz for our IP and licencing requirements. Both these guys really know their stuff but the main reason we use them is personality fit. Both Jon and Steve have taken the time to get to know our business, and are a pleasure to deal with. It’s mostly about people at the end of the day.
3. What are the biggest challenges you face in growing your business and maintaining profits?
Probably the same answer that most business people would give – availability of funding! Just over 3 years ago we entered a market which, even now, isn’t that well understood. Getting banks/investors to back us was a big challenge but we’ve managed to fund our growth thus far. We could probably raise substantial funds to now fast-track that growth, particularly in foreign markets, but we’re content (for now) growing modestly using the cash we generate from trading activity.
4. Tell us about your typical working day?
My typical working day starts with me dropping my 5-year old daughter at school. I absolutely love being able to do that as it was not something I was able to do with my now grown up son. That’s one of the main benefits of being my own boss. One of the others is the fact my office is only a 5 minute drive from the school so I’m at my desk by 9am. Thereafter, every day is different and it’s certainly not boring. My role covers all things financial, administration and commercial. The bits I really thrive on are developing new relationships with B2B customers and generally helping to get the Wallsauce brand out there.
5. What has been a highlight for Wallsauce.com over the last 12 months?
There have been a few and I couldn’t pick just one. I’d say the rapid recent growth in orders from foreign markets (particularly USA) is a big one. Getting to the top of the organic listings for practically every key term for our products is another. And I wouldn’t want to leave out the development of some great B2B relationships where repeat business opportunities are impressive. The most high profile of these would have to be the relationship we’ve now got with Tesco Plc.
6. What are your plans for Wallsauce.com for the year ahead?
Just to keep developing the business and improving the offering on every level. We’re about to launch a series of new website variants, for example, which will allow numerous foreign countries to purchase products from us using their own currencies. At some point soon we’ll also be offering foreign language versions of the site. All these types of developments will, we’re sure, significantly improve our conversion levels. At a much higher strategic level, the aim for the year ahead is to keep building the brand and increasing profitable turnover. Right now, we’re tracking at a trebling of monthly turnover compared to the prior year. If we keep doing that, we’ll be a pretty big business in the not too distant future!
7. Is there are sector or industry that you are strong in or looking to develop opportunities?
We’re particularly strong in the care home sector. They love our products and typically go for bygone era and local interest imagery. What makes this sector even better for us is the pile of research evidence showing how beneficial this type of imagery can be for residents suffering from dementia.
8. Do you find social media assists your business and if so, how?
Social media is hugely important to Wallsauce. Thus far we’ve mainly concentrated on Facebook and Twitter and have got some great customer engagement. Our offering is so visual, you don’t really have to say too much – just show the audience a picture and let them like/share/comment! Only a few weeks ago we got some nice Twitter exposure when a client of ours, Climb Online, tweeted some photos (See below)and a Wallsauce link – it helped that Climb Online is part owned by Lord Sugar and his tweets were exposed to a following of over 5 million people.
We’re about to do a lot more with Pinterest and Instagram so that should prove interesting.
9. If you were chancellor, what single change would you make to help improve the economy and/or your business?
Do something to make it easier for new businesses to secure debt funding, without the requirement to give PG’s and/or personal security. Obviously there would need to be safeguards but we have to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start new businesses.
10. What are your passions away from business?
Sport used to feature quite significantly, both spectator and participant, but now it’s all about family. Just love spending time with my wife and little girl. One day I’ll even break the habit of looking at Google Analytics on my mobile phone – I hope!
SPECIAL OFFER! FOR BERMANS CONTACTS
As a gesture to all Bermans clients and contacts, Colin will offer a 10% discount on all enquirers mentioning this article.
To get in touch with Colin at Wallsauce:
e: colin@wallsuace.com
t: 01772 284110
WANT TO BE FEATURED NEXT TIME?
To feature your company in the next issue please contact our Business Development Manager, Colin Dean 0151 224 0555 or colin.dean@bermans.co.uk
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