7 Questions Ethical Businesses Should Ask Before Hiring An SEO Agency

7 Questions Ethical Businesses Should Ask Before Hiring An SEO Agency

Hiring a search agency is a big commitment, that’s for sure. Some people will tell you it’s a complicated process and there are risks involved - but if you ask the right questions, and look out for the red flags, it doesn’t have to be all that scary.

The next 7 questions will help you navigate the world of SEO agencies, consultants and freelancers. Make sure you aren’t bamboozled by smoke and mirrors and get you the results your purpose-led business deserves.

Are you ready? Let’s Go…

1. Do Our Values Match?

If your purpose of being is for the planet and its people, rather than making money from it then you need to work with an Agency who live and breathe those same values. By being on the same page the sum of parts will be a far more powerful thing.

There can be a lot of bluster out there which can leave you wondering - are they who they really say they are? Check out their client roster, social media, and the things they do outside of working with clients to see if you really align.

2. What Do You Do Exactly?

In other words, what’s your process and methodology for SEO?

Competent search specialists will not only have a clear process to follow, but they will also be able to explain it to you in clear terms. The overuse of jargon and buzzwords is an immediate red flag, as genuinely skilled SEO practitioners should be able to educate you on their methodology and empower you to understand how your business is performing on a deeper level.

This is also your chance to step away and sensor check their methodologies to ensure the way they work is up to date and ethical practice.

3. How Customised Will the SEO Service Be?

The thing is, there is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to search marketing. Any impactful SEO agency should take a good amount of time upfront to understand your business goals and collaborate with you to plan their search strategy.

Take notice of how many questions an agency is asking about your business, what your goals are, what does the team look like, what are you doing really well, what do you wish you could do better, who are you competing against and so the list continues.

The more questions they ask - the more invested they are in your success, and it means they are thinking strategically.

4. Who Else Thinks You’re Great At What You Do?

If they’re smart, the agency will be shouting about the amazing results they’ve achieved with clients. Checking out case studies on the agencies website and google reviews is a good place to start, if you can’t find anything here, you guessed it, red flag!

Don’t be afraid to ask for specifics. Say you’re a green tech company or a local community scheme, ask who the SEO agency have worked with previously that align with your purpose or goals, find out exactly what results they delivered and how.

Whilst direct experience isn’t essential, alignment in values is super powerful when it comes to working with any type of digital marketing agency.

5. How Do We Know Our SEO Is Working?

It’s really important you know whether the efforts of your chosen agency are actually working. Sure, seeing green figures where search rankings have improved looks good, but is that what you wanted to get out of your SEO investment? How has it contributed to moving the dial towards your goals?

Now think, do you want to increase sales, onboard volunteers or maybe share more resources? If you have to ask how the agency plan to connect the dots and report on how their actions have directly impacted your businesses metrics then say thank you very much and go find another.

6. Are We Going To Get Along?

In our experience, having a friendly and authentic relationship with our clients makes a world of difference to the results we see. Communication becomes effortless and we find getting to know each other beyond the metrics boosts motivation all around (it’s also just nice to get to know you).

As a purpose-led business, it’s worthwhile asking to be introduced to the team you’ll be in contact with and getting a feel for how you will work together.

For example, when working on SEO with Creative Bloom, you would meet:

Stu & Ollie

7. Why Would You Want To Work With Us?

We know that ethical businesses and non-profit organisations care immensely about what they do, who they serve and the causes they’re championing. The SEO agency you choose to work with should be just as passionate about helping you have the biggest impact possible.

Ask, what about your own company makes you an ideal client for the agency? What excites them and what potential can they see in your relationship.

Bringing It All Together

By enquiring into these 6 areas, keeping a discerning eye out for red flags and connecting over a common cause, you’re likely to have a great relationship with your chosen SEO agency and see amazing results.

We’re an ethically driven digital agency specialising in marketing strategy, SEO, PPC and digital marketing training. If you want to put these questions to the test and see if we’re a good fit, why not book a consultation?

Why Are Keywords So Important to SEO?

Why Are Keywords So Important to SEO?

What is a Keyword in Digital Marketing?

A keyword refers to a group of words that are used by a user to search for a product or service that they need in search engines. 

Having these keywords in the right places on your website means you can show up in search results when these keywords are searched.

If your website says “Pet Supplies in Brighton” and someone searches for that keyword, you can show up in the search results.

Why are Keywords Important for Digital Marketing?

A keyword’s job is to connect information you provide with the person searching for that information - they’re the tether between you and your customers.

Every time someone searches for your brand the keyword they search is linked to the keyword on your website; without them, you can’t be found.

You likely already have keywords on your website, but by placing them purposefully in H1s and H2s you turn them into a strategy - and remember, there’s a difference between your website being “keyword rich” and “keyword stuffed,” if you use too many keywords close to each other, Google can lower your ranking.

Knowing all that, it’s time to go over exactly HOW you turn keywords into a strategy, and the different kinds of keywords you need to be aware of.

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How Keywords and User Journey Connect:

What is A User Journey?

Put yourself in the shoes of your customer; when you’re looking for a product or service, you go through different stages before deciding which to purchase. 

The stages are:
Awareness, Consideration, Conversion, and Retention.

(We’ll go into more detail on them later on, don’t worry!)

Depending on what you’re trying to achieve and where your audience is on their journey relevant to that, the keywords you use can change entirely.

It’s best to have your user journey in mind when thinking about the keywords you want to rank for and include on your website.

Targeting Audiences with Keywords

If you know your audience and the journey they go through before making a purchase from you, you can reach them at multiple points on that journey, making them more likely to choose you over competitors. 

Your audience may have a segment of 25-35 year old women on a good income who own cats; knowing that you can think about what kind of searches they would make at different stages of their journey, and target them directly.

For example, someone searching for “cat collars” isn’t looking for a specific brand, they’re just trying to see what kind of collars are available to purchase - they are at the “awareness” stage. Now is your chance to attract them and make your brand stand out among others, and if you know what segment of your audience you’re targeting, you can use keywords that are relevant specifically to them.

Explicit vs Implicit Searcher Intent:

An “Explicit Searcher” is looking for up to date, relevant information, has specific concerns and specific searches, and is likely about to make a purchasing decision - they know what they want to find. 

These searchers are at the consideration/conversion stage of the user journey, they know what they want to find and mostly know where to go to purchase that product or service already.

An example of explicit search intent is: “Breakaway cat collar for kittens.”

The searcher is looking for a specific product, but they are still deciding where to purchase that from.

An “Implicit Searcher” doesn’t really know what they’re looking for. They’re getting a feel for the market and the brands within it, but aren’t about to make a purchase yet. 

These searchers are at the awareness stage of the user journey, simply investigating options and deciding whether a purchase is necessary or not. 

An example of implicit search intent is: “do I need a breakaway collar for my cat?” 

The searcher is simply investigating a topic, but may still make a purchase once they’ve done more research.

Implicit and explicit searcher intent can be determined by a lot of variables, including the location and device they’re searching from, and the same search can change between the two depending on those variables - that’s why it’s important to know your user journey ahead of time.

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What Kind of Keywords Can You Use in Digital Marketing?

Primary and Secondary Keywords

Primary keywords can also be referred to as focus or target keywords - these are the most important keywords for your website that describe your business, products or services.

Secondary keywords can also be referred to as tertiary or supporting keywords - these include all other keywords that you’re targeting.

For example, a primary keyword could be “cat collar,” and secondary keywords that associate with that could be “green,” “safety,” or “bell.”

Branded and Unbranded Keywords

Branded keywords, shockingly, include your brand name in the search. It can also include misspellings, branded acronyms, or even campaign taglines if that’s something relevant to you.

For example, “Pets At Home” is a branded keyword.

Unbranded keywords pretty much include everything else - like a problem the customer is facing, or a business service or offer.

For example, “cat supplies” is an unbranded keyword.

User Journey Phase Keywords

These keywords target customers at pivotal points in the user journey, and can make the difference between a lead turning into a conversion or not - these are really important, as they create a funnel that you can track and adjust as you go.

They may be action orientated, like providing extra information or expert content that builds awareness and trust between your business and a user, or they may simply be placed in copy on pages with relevant products or services.

To connect these to the user journey, let’s look at some examples:

Awareness: “What’s the difference between a normal cat collar and a breakaway collar?”

Consideration: “Do I need a breakaway collar?” or “breakaway cat collar reviews.”

Conversion: “Breakaway cat collar with bell.”

Retention: “Pets At Home cat collars.”

Global and Local Keywords

A local search term can mean that either the searcher is looking for something in their immediate area, like “pet supplies store near me,” or that they are likely to visit a specific location, like “pet supplies store Brighton.” 

Global keywords refer to any keywords with no location attached, like “pet supplies store.”

Local keywords are incredibly important if you run a business with a physical location or that operates in a specific geographic region - they help you reach customers who can actually use your services. They can help you appear on the Map Pack on Google, and make you more likely to appear on a search results page than a large franchised corporation; that’s something you want to take advantage of!

Seed and Page-Specific Keywords

Seed keywords are the basic batch of keywords that you start with. 

You can come up with these yourself based off of user journey, or use something like Google Keyword Planner to find them. These keywords branch off and allow you to find other, more specific keywords later down the line.

Page-Specific keywords are more drilled down and niche; they’re relevant to an individual page of your website, but wouldn’t necessarily describe your website as a whole. You’ll likely have a few of these to start with, and then you’ll find more throughout your research and by using seed keywords.

An example of a seed keyword: “pet supplies store.”
A page-specific example: “cat collars,” “dog collars,” or “pet beds.”

Head and Long-Tail Keywords

The easiest way to remember these names is that a head keyword will have high search volumes, and long-tail keywords have low search volumes.

The names actually come from the shape of the graph, with a small number of high searches and a huge number of low searches - thinking about these graphs might be intimidating, but the more you use and research keywords the more used to them you get.

The majority of searches are considered “long-tail,” due to how many new searches are made on Google everyday. You’re more likely to be the first person to search for something than you think!

Head keywords come with high search volumes which means lots of eyes, but it also means lots of competition and less clear intent - aiming for the right long-tail keywords can get you far more conversions even though it’s reaching fewer people. 

The more specific a search, the more specific it’s intent, the easier it is to create content that’s exactly what they’re searching for.

For example, someone searching “pets” could be looking for a bunch of different things, so aiming your keywords to rank for that isn’t a great idea, even without the enormous competition. Trying to rank for “where can I buy cat collars?” may seem really specific, but in reality your pet supply store is answering that long-tail search far more accurately.

Application

To get an idea of the best way to apply the different keywords, take a look at our On-Page SEO Guide.

Otherwise, we’ve covered it all! You should now have a better understanding of how keywords affect SEO and how to use them to your advantage.

If you’re still struggling to get your head around it all, why not reach out for a consultation?

Why Audits are Your Best Friend When it Comes to Digital Marketing

Why Audits are Your Best Friend When it Comes to Digital Marketing

Over time, websites lose their structure, pages are left on Google that perhaps shouldn’t be, huge images are posted all over the place, and mobile UX always seems to suffer. When your website drives new business, it’s vital that a health check is performed - otherwise it can tangle pretty quickly.

This guide will cover all the different types of Digital Marketing Audit and what makes them valuable, so you can make the best decision for you and your business and set the best building blocks for you to push your website faster and further.

The Creative Bloom Full Website Audit

We Bloomers take a ‘no stone left untouched’ approach when it comes to our digital marketing audits. Good Marketing Strategy comes from Good Diagnosis and and insightful diagnosis will show us the challenges and opportunities to forge ahead in our marketing.

We’ll look at everything from measuring your digital footprint, full channlel anlaytics & performance, website technical checks, speed and mobile optimisation, SEO, and User Experience in our comprehensive review. 

Why does that matter? It means you can create a clear actionable plan of what to tackle and when, getting you more our of you digital marketing efforts and budgets

You’ll take away a step by step action list of all the areas we’ve flagged that require improvements or immediate attention. We’ll go through it all point by point, no jargon, so that you walk away feeling empowered instead of overwhelmed.

What is the Value in a Content Audit?

The point of a content audit is to work out whether you’re making content that’s actually valuable in terms of SEO.

The content you post to your website shouldn’t just be there to promote your business’ values or show off your success stories; it should also be answering questions that potential customers are asking, helping you reach them at multiple points along their customer journey.

A content audit can show you where you have gaps in your content that could provide you with more traffic and help you reach new audiences - meaning people are more likely to consider your brand and compare you against your competitors, as well as giving you a list of content ideas that you don’t have to come up with yourself, which is a win allround.

Do I Need a Social Media Audit?

Social Media Audits help you understand whether you’re driving traffic from your socials to your website, and whether those leads result in conversions over time.

It also points out where you have gaps in your social content and helps you understand whether your brand values are translating in the way that you’re expecting.

Sometimes the values and content you think are worth promoting on social media aren’t really reaching the audience you’re trying to target once you look at the data; a Social Media Audit can help you identify content that will set you apart from your competitors, and speak to both the audience you have established and new customers that find you online.

Similarly to a Content Audit, a Social Media Audit will often result in a list of content you can create without having to sit and think about it yourself, which gives you more time and energy to make that content as high quality as possible.

What does a Website Audit Include?

A Website Audit covers all the backend bits that we often don’t like to think about, but that are really important for rankings; we’re talking speed, mobile optimisation, links (both internal and external), images, website structure issues and all the rest. Websites can bloat over time, and search engines and users can start having a hard time working out what’s what.

The biggest value in having a Website Audit conducted is that it can be a time consuming process to do yourself, you may not have access to the paid tools required, as well as being quite technical. Keeping an eye on your website health is something that needs doing regularly, so having someone else just tell you what needs fixing makes it a lot easier to handle.

What is an SEO Audit?

SEO Audits are essentially the backbone to an effective search marketing strategy. 

An SEO Audit is the best way to measure your organic search rankings, assess the opportunity in your search environment and create a plan on how to improve them.

It will cover the keywords you’re hitting successfully, the keywords you aren’t hitting, and the keywords you didn’t even know about - meaning you can go on to apply those keywords to all the other aspects of your digital marketing. It will assess you against the other ranking factors too to see how you stack up against them, and most importantly against your competition.

A good SEO Audit will sift through all the data you’re collecting to identify any issues affecting your organic search performance, showing where you need to improve your strategy overall - what people search for changes constantly, there is a technical element too and your action plans need to reflect that.

What Do You Do After an Audit?

Well, that part is up to you! 

As we said Good Strategy comes from Good Diagnosis, a good audit will show you what’s going on and how to navigate forwards, so the best thing you can do is take the information and recommendations from an audit and put into short term, medium & long term action plans - particularly if there are glaring issues with your website or SEO.

If you’re the type who focuses more on creation than implementation, there are plenty of Digital Marketing agencies who can help you put in place and deliver against those actions plans - these types of agencies are perfect if you don’t want to do the heavy lifting yourself.

Whether you end up making the changes or an agency does, it’s important to keep measuring our performance  and check if the changes you’ve implemented are having the results you were expecting - you should never see a decline in rankings after taking action from a Digital Marketing Audit.

And with that, we’ve covered it all!

Dreaming of your own audit after going through it all?

Reach out today to arrange an audit of whatever it is you need.

5 Ways to Help Your Business Grow Post Lockdown

5 Ways to Help Your Business Grow Post Lockdown

The last year has been incredibly hard for the economy, but no one has felt it more so than small businesses. With the constant changes in law, safety practices, and lockdowns being imposed, it’s been near impossible to plan what the next steps for small businesses actually look like.

We have however seen a silver-lining amongst the difficulties, with nearly half a million new businesses registered in 2020. We’re all too aware that starting a small business isn’t always smooth sailing and decided it could be really helpful if we pointed you towards some communities in Brighton, share some strategies and tips that could help your business grow as we emerge from lockdown.

Empowering Your Business With Coworking

Small business owners, entrepreneurs, and freelancers often work alone from a spare bedroom or single desk office - although comfortable, it’s not always the best way to keep motivated, inspired and connected.

Projects in Brighton is a great example of a coworking space that champions small businesses and supports communities so that can support each other, meaning you can benefit from events, networking - and can often get a huge amount of advice and guidance that you otherwise would’ve had to pay for. Businesses from a range of industries collaborate together to help the small business community thrive, and it’s something we’re proud to be a part of! 

Until you’ve had a business community around you, you don’t realise what an asset it can be - coworking opportunities may vary from place to place, however if you’re looking to branch out and take the next step for your business, we could encourage getting a tour of your next workspace!

Take Advantage of Government Aid

In Brighton in particular, the local council does a lot to support small businesses - so take advantage of it while you can! 

Currently, Brighton Chamber is running the Reset. Restart program, which is aimed at improving the skills of SMEs so they have the knowledge they need to adjust to challenges in the future. 
There’s more grants and services available for business support through Brighton and Hove Council, including the Restart grant which can give up to £6,000 to non-essential businesses and up to £18,000 for hospitality & leisure businesses. On this page, you can find all the business support funding that’s available in Brighton at the moment.

Get Involved in Online Events and Training 

Getting involved with online events and training not only helps you support the businesses running them, but also expands your networking circle and puts you in contact with people who know what it’s like running a business. 

LinkedIn regularly hosts online events which can connect you to your peers, as well as Eventbrite and even MeetUp having business focused events running. Being able to interact with other entrepreneurs can be really beneficial, even if just for moral support.

Brighton Chamber is running the aforementioned Reset. Restart program, but they also run training regularly throughout the year on everything you could need to know. Getting involved with the community and educating yourself on ways to improve your business without needing to pay an agency can make a huge difference to your businesses’ success.
Wired Sussex is another great service for finding training, or even businesses to connect with if you need to outsource some work - and of course, if what you need help with is in the realm of digital marketing, Creative Bloom runs accessible but in-depth training short courses on SEO, PPC and Google Analytics.

Internships

If you’re a more established business and you think that having some extra hands on deck could be what you need, why not look into internships?

You can choose to advertise the position as paid or volunteer work, and with all the Universities in Brighton, there’s bound to be students looking to bump up their CVs with some extra experience. As long as you have a clear plan for what this person can bring to the team and what the intern will get out of the experience, having an intern could be a great way to lighten your workload and get some new perspectives.

Need a more permanent employee? Currently, the Kickstart Scheme is being used to create more job placements for young people. The Government will fully fund their wages at minimum wage for 6 months, and will provide grants to help with the admin costs of getting it all set up. If you’ve been looking for a new permanent team member, this scheme could be a great way to find the right fit.

Social Media

This last section is about building your own community - social media isn’t just a powerful marketing tool, it’s social in nature. 

Investing in your social presence can connect you to customers who want to support you and your brand, not just buy your product. Depending on your business, different social platforms will work best - luckily, we have another blog which includes a breakdown of the different social media platforms and what they can do for you.

Your company's values and overall ethos should be intertwined to your social media posts regularly - ethical shopping has become more common since the start of lockdown, meaning that many customers want to know who you are and what you stand for before they buy. As an example, if you run a vegan soap making business, you should be posting about why veganism is important to you on social media; lots of companies make vegan products, but the community wants to support people who truly believe in it. 

Over time, and with the right strategy, you can build a community online that will support your business through hard times in the future. There is a lot of help out there and it may feel a little overwhelming diving straight in after the year we’ve all had, so take advantage of the help and ideas available to you in your local town or city.

Mobile SEO: 6 Tips To Optimise Your Site

We all know that Google looks at a range of different areas to assess a site’s SEO; but did you know that Mobile Optimisation is a key factor in where you rank?

Converting clicks into customers isn’t easy at the best of times. In the first quarter of 2016, the global conversion rate on desktop was 3.63% - but on mobiles it was only 1.25%.

Not only has global phone usage increased a great deal since 2016, but the amount of time customers spend browsing has dramatically increased as well, typically spending double the amount of time browsing their phones instead of desktops.

Considering all of this, it’s easy to see why Google has decided to make Mobile Optimisation a significant ranking factor. Nobody wants the first result they click on Google to leave them having to squint at tiny text and scroll endlessly to find a button to follow; depending on the website hosting service you use, it might be easier to get your Mobile SEO sorted than you think.

Tips and Tricks

Use Structured Data

When your data is structured, Google can access the information on your site more easily, and when done well it can greatly improve your chances of getting clicks through from search results. A commonly used service is Schema.org - remembering that people spend twice as much time browsing on mobile as they do on desktop, ensuring that your mobile site has structured data is critical. 

When Google can access your data, it allows them to implement more information around your search result. Structured data itself is a huge topic that we could cover in it’s own blog, but below is an example of the ways Google can take advantage of your structured data and make your site a richer search result than your competitors.

Used Compressed Images

If you’re using huge images with large file sizes, it can cause loading delays or fill your customer’s entire screen with the image. This is particularly important when it comes to things like product photos.

Using a responsive design and regularly checking your site on mobile devices as you go through the design process can help you avoid this issue, but if you’re deciding to use an entirely different site for mobile, service such as Smush Images or tinypng can help you ensure your images aren’t affecting your website’s Mobile Optimisation.

Avoid Non-Mobile Friendly Features

On a similar note to compressing your images, ensuring that the design of your website doesn't include features that make it harder to browse your website on mobile is important. 

The most common example is a sidebar; it may look good and be functional on a desktop, but on mobile it can widen the screen and force the user to pinch and scroll around to find the information they’re looking for. It’s best to avoid making the customer work harder than necessary when trying to create conversions. 

Responsive Design

Of course, a way to avoid having to worry so much about the previous two bullet points is to implement a responsive site design. Responsive design allows your website to adjust to the device it’s being viewed on. Depending on where you design and host your website, you may have a responsive design built in. 

For example, Squarespace gives you the option to view your design from the perspective of multiple devices as you build your site. This means you can check the sizes of buttons, images, side bars, and a range of other elements that may not translate well onto a smaller screen; and we highly recommend you do! Even if you aren’t on a site builder such as Squarespace, it’s worth having your phone next to you so you can view your website yourself and check how everything looks.

You may even want to look at installing an AMP if you want your site to translate smoothly onto mobile.

Use More Video

Mobiles naturally have a smaller space to display images on. Including multiple images on a page can start to look messy quickly, and even when features such as carousels you may find people rarely click through to view all the images.

This is particularly important when offering a service as opposed to a product; having multiple images of your Personal Training sessions may have less effect than simply compiling multiple clips of you actually working with your clients into a sleek video. You can translate the personality of your business into video much more quickly than with images.

Streamline your Check Out

Cart abandonment is a common problem, causing a loss of between 55-80% of potential purchases.

Allowing customers to check out as a guest and streamlining the checkout process can increase the likelihood a customer completes their purchase. You might not get the customer to sign up to your email marketing, but a customer who has actually purchased and received your product is far more likely to return and purchase again than one who never purchased in the first place. They’re also then able to leave reviews, which can be critical to encouraging future purchases from other customers. 

A lot of people may browse and add to basket in order to compile the items they like without the intention of purchasing - the less obstacles between the customer and actually checking out, the more likely they are to actually make the purchase without overthinking and closing the page.

Google is constantly updating the way they rank and the things they assess for SEO. Implementing the road signs that Google looks for, as well as setting up your site to maximise your conversion, will increase your revenue and set your business up for success.

If you ever need help getting your head around Digital Marketing, we run free Digital Clinics as well as Online Training courses, which can give you the knowledge and confidence to take control of your online presence.

NAP Consistency: What is it and Why does it Matter?

NAP Consistency: What is it and Why does it Matter?

NAP stands for: Name, Address, and Phone Number.

As a business owner, keeping these 3 things consistent  and easy to find for users and for Google can reinforce trust in your brand and website , even if they’ve never heard of your business before.

Why does NAP Matter?

Customers: NAP can make the difference between a customer choosing to stop by the store or giving it a miss; if they can’t find an address to go to or a number to call, they might decide to go with a competitor instead.

Google Ranking: if you haven’t updated old addresses, new phone numbers or name changes, you’re making it much harder for Google to understand, who you are, where you are and how someone can get in touch.

Therefore NAP consistency is pretty important!

NAP and SEO

NAP is a Top 5 Ranking Factor, meaning if you want to rank with the big names, NAP consistency is a must. Bright Local conducted a study into NAP consistency, finding that Businesses in the top spot usually have around 81 NAP citations, but the 10th spot often have 75 - so every citation counts! If Google can determine your business is reliable by finding multiple sources corroborating the same information, your rank improves; NAP is one of the easiest ways to do this.

When you start looking into it, you might find that you already have a lot of NAP citations for Google to read. Simply adding an address and phone number to a Facebook Business page creates a citation for Google to grab; it’s the consistency that’s key.

Because NAP builds over time without you noticing, it’s easy for consistency to waver over time, especially when link building and putting that trust into someone else's hands.

How to Improve NAP

• If you’re changing a phone number or address, make sure you change it everywhere.

• Double check for duplicate listings, otherwise Google doesn’t know which listing to rely on.

• Set up a Google My Business Page and keep it updated; we’ll be talking about Google My Business more in a future Blog.

• Audit all your business listings and update them if necessary. You may have signed up for a network a while ago and forgotten about it, but it’ll still be impacting your NAP consistency.

• Double check your Social Media listings. Sometimes your address and phone number aren’t even available publicly on your social media pages, but Google can still read them.

• Lastly, if you’re just starting a new business and deciding on your business name address and phone number - decide on one of each and STICK TO IT!

We hope that our guide will help you to demystify some of your NAP questions and queries. Running a small business can be overwhelming; there’s a lot of jargon and way too many things to think about.

That’s why we run Online Training Courses that put the power back in your hands. No need to pay an agency to handle it all for you - we’ll make sure you know everything you need too, in order to make your digital presence as strong as it possible can be. Head over to our Eventbrite to find out what courses we have coming up next!

Google My Business: Changes to Be Aware Of

Google My Business: Changes to Be Aware Of

You may or may not have noticed that Google has temporarily removed some features from Google My Business as a result of the current COVID-19 situation. There are a few features that have been changed during this time that you need to be aware of, so here’s some help in understanding what these are and how it’s affecting the GMB page:

Where are my new reviews?

For the time being, Google My Business will not be publishing any new reviews. You will also not be able to reply to your reviews or new Q&A’s until further notice. Don’t panic though – any existing reviews you have, replies to those reviews or Q&A’s will still be visible.

New Listings, Claims and Verifications

Google is now, understandably, prioritising reviewing new listings, claims and verifications for critical health-related businesses. For all other services, you can expect delays of the publication of any new listings, claims and verifications.

I’ve Edited My GMB Page, But Where Are My Edits?

You may have made lots of edits to your Google My Business page so that you are on top of your game and potential customers can see how you’re operating during the coronavirus crisis. But now you’re left wondering, where are they?

Google are running on limited resources, so they have issued warnings that any changes made to your business information will now take a little longer to review. As before, businesses that are directly related to healthcare and critical services will be prioritised. If you don’t fall into that category, Google are now only reviewing edits to the following bits of information:

• Changes to your opening hours

• Whether you are operating on special hours

• Temporary closures of your business

• Descriptions of your business – perhaps you’ve decided to run differently and would like to inform potential new clients of your stances on the coronavirus pandemic

• Changes to your business attributes

If you’ve made edits to your Google My Business page, your efforts will not be disregarded – it will just take longer than usual for them to show up. Google have confirmed that it may take up to three days for your edits to show.

Can I Post Updates in Google Posts?

Yes! Google is currently not restricting the Google Posts functionality. If you’ve got new updates that you’d like to share with your customers, you can still let them know via GMB in the Google Posts function.

We would advise you take advantage of this feature whilst you still can. It’s another way to communicate with your audience and could potentially attract your next new client!

Don’t Forget to Post a COVID-19 Update

You can now inform your customers of relevant information relating to your business. This can include how you are now working, such as new events, new products, offers and announcements.

When you complete your COVID-19 Update, it will look like this under your usual GMB information. Don’t forget to add a CTA to your post and direct people to your new events, products or services!

We hope that our guide will help you to demystify some of your Google My Business questions and queries. We understand that these times can be challenging for businesses of all sizes. We are running all our popular digital marketing courses online, so that we can help as many of you as possible prepare for the environment after coronavirus and of course, keep you going right now. Our courses are free to charities or members of The Projects Brighton and currently only £10 + VAT for everyone else. Head over to our Eventbrite to find out what courses we have coming up next!

Keyword Searches Have Changed Due To Covid-19

Keyword Searches Have Changed Due To Covid-19

How do you think your customers find you on Google or other search engines? 

Keywords are simply the words that a user decides to use when trying to find what they are looking for online. Whether local, national or purely online, the keyword or keywords are entered into a search engine, which then locates websites that are authoritative, relevant and supply the information, product or services the user is looking for. 

Prior to Covid-19, there were likely a few keywords that you could tell me were being searched for by your then customers or potential customers - but how has the landscape changed now?

Having conducted research on a number of different industry sectors, Creative Bloom have found that March 2020 saw a 50% decrease in typical search volumes on specific topics. The majority of sectors that operated services in physical locations were affected by this and saw a transition to keywords related to online services. 

• Online searches in Brighton for ‘Online Course’ have changed from 90 searches per month in Feb 2020 to 320 searches per month in Mar 2020.

• Online searches in Brighton for ‘free online course’ have changed from 110 searches per month in Feb 2020 to 590 searches per month in Mar 2020. 

If, for example, you run training or physical workshops in a specific geographical area, we can tell you that the search terms, traffic and intent have all changed. For example, no longer are users looking for ‘Website Training in Brighton’, but now keywords are all about ‘online website training’. No longer are users searching for ‘Personal Trainers in Brighton’ but instead ‘online personal trainer’ or ‘at home leg workout’. 

It’s vital that you do your own research to understand how the search environment has changed for your business and how your competitors have adapted. Should you also consider changing your content / website / strategy to mirror this change?

Creative Bloom are offering a FREE keyword trend report for any company, charity or individual interested. Get in touch with us here and we’ll be happy to help shed some light on how your sector search terms have changed. 

The Value of Pay Per Click Advertising

PPC. Those three letters can be quite daunting to someone who’s never properly investigated them. Pay-Per-Click advertising can be complex, but definitely worth it. Done correctly, PPC can be incredibly valuable for businesses and brands of all sizes.

So, What Is Pay Per Click Advertising?

Per-per-click (or PPC for short) is an advertising model that enables businesses to place adverts on an ad platform and pay the host of that platform every time their ad is clicked. Still with us?

The ultimate goal of a PPC advert is to entice your audience and lead the person viewing it to click through to your website or app. This is so that whoever is visiting your website or app can complete a valuable action – such as purchasing your product.

The most common type of PPC ads are ‘Paid Search Ads’. These types of adverts are usually displayed when someone searches for something online using a search engine like Google. These occupy the top four spots in Google search engine result pages. Did you know that 64.6% of consumers clicked on Google ads when shopping online*?

A big driver in using PPC advertising is the immediate results that can come from your campaign. Strategically crafted PPC campaigns can provide excellent traffic to your website, prompt business leads and attract more customers in a short amount of time.

How PPC Can Benefit Your Business

Using PPC in your marketing strategy can help you achieve a vast number of business and marketing goals. Benefit from high-level brand exposure and - even better - get a sale or a new lead!

Using PPC advertising can support many parts of the sales funnel and the path that your prospect customers take from brand awareness to becoming a paying customer.

PPC can help you assess what keywords to utilise for your SEO strategy, and give you presence where your SEO may not.

Your PPC Advert is Measurable and Trackable

Another great thing that can come from running PPC ads is that almost any type of conversion goal can be tracked. You can measure anything that is related to your PPC campaign such as costs, profits, views, clicks and visits. From the time you begin your PPC campaign, you will know how much you have spent and be able to see whether you are generating a profit or a loss.

There will be no mysteries when it comes to your PPC performance! Combined with Google Analytics you’ll be able to see high-level performance details. All your stats will be readily available, so you’ll be able to see what kind of traffic you are getting and what results they are driving for your advert budget.

Stay in Control of your PPC Adverts

Staying in control of your PPC adverts means there is a lot of flexibility if you decide you’d like to start off small. For instance, if you’re beginning to see positive results from your advert you can decide to scale up immediately and start raking in the customers! Or, if it’s not going to plan you can take a break and pause or stop your ad entirely. This gives you the opportunity to be in control of your spending and work accordingly.

Another great feature of running PPC ads is the opportunities to make quick edits and optimise while your ads are up and running. Anything from a sneaky spelling mistake to deciding to test something completely new – you are in complete control of your ad.

We hope this has helped uncover a few mysteries for you when it comes to PPC Advertising. If you want to learn more about how PPC advertising could benefit your business then how about attend one of our Online PPC Training Sessions? It’s important to us that we help you, help yourselves and your business. Our online PPC training will teach you why Paid Advertising is so important and how it can boost your website traffic and ultimately get you more customers!

• Ref: wordstream, 2019 Study of US paid advertising market

Digital Marketing Tips For 2021

What we consider as 'marketing' is rapidly evolving and becoming a lot broader. To get the most out of our digital marketing in 2020, we need to understand that It is no longer just about your branding and advertising, teams from multiple departments need to focus on building great customer experiences and engaging customers to form long-term relationships. As the year is drawing to an end, we take a look at the key digital marketing trends to look out for in 2020.

Shopping through Social Media

Shopping through platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest has just become a whole lot easier. A whopping 72% of Instagram users have purchased a product through the app, proving that creating shoppable posts can have a huge impact on your business. A survey of 4,000 Pinterest users found that 70% use the app to find new an exciting products. Using your social media channels as an online shop will attract new customers quickly and easily and shorten the sales funnel making it easier for consumers to purchase from your business.

Go Live!

Customers respond well to visual content. Putting yourself and your business out there by making video content is an important marketing tool for not only 2019, but also 2020 and beyond. Be brave and go live! On average, Facebook and Instagram Live keep your audience watching three times longer than pre-recorded videos. Producing a live video will see you gain six times as many interactions as traditional videos, and the average watch time of Facebook Live videos has quadrupled in the past year.

Interactive Content

Today's shoppers are on the look out for new experiences online as well as offline. Interactive content is different and exciting which results in consumers spending more time on your website or social media channels. As interactive content is immensely shareable, when viewers share your posts it will help you gain a wider following and grow your online presence. 

Get Crafty

Producing content that is visual and in-particular, colourful, will increase viewers desire to carry on reading by 80%. Our brains process visuals 60,000 times faster than text alone, and you don't need to be a graphic designer to begin creating posts with your logos and brand colours. Utilise free tools such as Canva to create colourful and engaging content and begin producing content that has a strong visual presence and watch your interactions increase by up to 180%! 

Transport To the Future

Companies like IKEA have already begun reaping the benefits of AR by creating a platform which allowed customers to see if the furniture they want to buy will fit in their homes before they made a purchase.

A number of companies are also using AI powered technology to add chat-bots with automated answers to help aid customers through their website and keep them engaged throughout their time on the website. 

AI and predictive analytics is also enabling hyper-personalisation of customer experiences and helping brands to learn more about their audience and customers.

In a digital world which is forever changing and adapting, there's an array of things that you can do to create engaging and exciting content in 2020. These pointers only just scratch the surface of the endless creative possibilities which can see your business gain more engagement on your social media posts and see more traffic to your website, leading to further sales and inquiries. 

Business Support Organisations in Brighton & East Sussex

Do you need some help to make your business boom? We’ve put together a handy list of business support organisations and co-working spaces in Brighton & East Sussex, that can lift your business to the next level.

Business Support Organisations in Brighton & Sussex:

Green Growth Platform

The Green Growth Platform is the South East Regional Hub of Clean Growth UK; a national business-innovation network that has supported thousands of green businesses across the UK to innovate and grow.

Brighton University’s Green Growth Platform is an award-winning green network, which aims to help create healthy, future-proof businesses that try their best to minimise their impact on the planet. They work to encourage businesses to develop clean and environmentally friendly products and services through coaching, workshops, access to funding and access to University facilities to help green businesses scale.

Brighton Chamber of Commerce

Brighton Chamber is a diverse community, which helps its members build successful businesses and be part of Brightons welcoming community and healthy economy. Anyone running or working for a business, charity or social enterprise; in or around Brighton and Hove, can register to be a member and access all of their services.

Their services include; networking events, Bite-sized learning sessions, business support and mentoring as well as an inclusion in their online business directory.

Wired Sussex

Wired Sussex is a Brighton- based membership organisation for companies and freelancers operating in the digital, media and technology sector in Sussex, UK. They assist their members to create, innovate and grow.

They have a Directory of Members and Projects Board, which allows their members to promote their services and find new clients. They also provide business and funding support through newsletters, 1-2-1 engagement and regular events.

Natwest Accelerator

Natwest offer’s 3 variations of their Accelerator programme, all which have been tailored to empower entrepreneurs from local startups to national businesses. The 6-month programmes are fully funded, and you don’t even have to be a NatWest customer to apply! They have 12 hubs throughout the UK which you'll have access to, including hubs in Scotland and Northern Ireland and one based here in Brighton.

The Pre-Accelerator programme is tailored to early stage start-up entrepreneurs, while the Accelerator programme is targeted at established entrepreneurs. Both of these offer exciting opportunities and support such as online learning and coaching, regular action-focused events and basic legal and tech advice.

Natwest also offer the accelerator programme ‘Fintech’ which delivers specialist support such as 1:1 coaching with their experienced staff and a technology review and sales strategy analysis by Dell Technologies

Sussex Innovation Centre

The Sussex Innovation Centre is a business incubation network, supporting entrepreneurs, start-ups and scale-ups across the South East from their headquarters at the University of Sussex. They offer founders strategic insight to help grow their business, while also providing practical resources which can help businesses grow at a healthy rate.

There are a large range of membership options, where you can tailor your membership to fit your needs. There are superb facilities and resources at the modern office spaces that they offer, or their Network membership is designed to give you all the benefits of their support and mentoring when you already have your own office, or don't need a permanent base.

Co-working Spaces in Brighton:

There are also a range of local co-working spaces in Brighton and East Sussex who offer networking and training events alongside office spaces to their members.

The Projects

The Projects is located in a 19th Century listed building in the heart of Brighton’s Lanes, it’s a great communal space that still manages to place the wide range of co-working needs at its heart. They offer a variety of co-working and serviced office space options to suit your needs, with entire floors dedicated to quiet spaces or spaces where you can collaborate with other members.

From half day passes to 24/7 access, all their co-working memberships are monthly rolling, so if you change your mind, you have the freedom to change your membership.

They also host daily events; such as free coffee mornings and yoga sessions, networking opportunities and free Help Hubs. So whether your company is newly established or long standing, big or small, you can find something here to suit you.

PLATF9RM

PLATF9RM is a thriving business community in Brighton & Hove, who offer access through single day passes, whole offices bookings, meeting rooms and event spaces.

They design their workspaces to encourage networking opportunities and business connections, whether you’re a freelancer or CEO of a multinational company.

They also curate a program of social and cultural events that ensure their members get to know each other, such as their monthly breakfast and quick-fire talks from PLATF9RM members and PLATF9RM physical; an opportunity to stretch your legs and connect with your fellow co-workers.

Want even more information on how you can kickstart your business and improve your online & offline traffic? Come along to our next SEO workshop.

How to Create a Successful Marketing Strategy

At Bloom Towers, we often find that some clients & marketing managers struggle to get traction with their marketing campaigns. In the bewildering landscape of digital marketing it can be hard to work out the right way forward for your business marketing - ‘should I invest more in SEO? Or a content strategy? Or focus on social media?’ A bad marketing strategy can tank your business - just ask these bears.

Fear not! We are here to guide you through the digital labyrinth.

Successful marketing strategies start with thorough diagnosis

For us strategy is all about identifying the key challenges you face in your competitive & business landscape and creating the means of overcoming them. An effective marketing strategy can be fundamental in allowing a business to effectively build value in it’s brand, services or products.

Creative Bloom’s approach to Digital Marketing strategy takes inspiration from a US strategist called Richard Rumelt and his book Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why it Matters (2011) (we suggest get a copy if you haven’t read it). Rumelt explains that strategy should not be defined by ambition, leadership, vision or planning; but a coherent action backed by an argument, and we agree entirely. For Rumelt, the essence of a successful strategy is thorough diagnosis of a situation, creating an overall guiding policy to overcome challenges and the design of coherent action plan, that is driven to effect.

So, applied to marketing, a good strategy can be broken down into three key ideas.

1. Diagnosis: getting to grips with what’s really going on. This involves effort and a deep analysis of your current marketing efforts & available resources, the competitive landscape you operate in. You need to gain insights into your market environment, your customers and assess your competition and internal situation. These insights are important as Rumelt says “an especially insightful diagnosis can transform one’s view of the situation, bringing a radically different perspective to bear.” When a digital marketing diagnosis is carried out properly, it will correctly inform how you respond to weaknesses/challenges.
   
   

2. A Guiding Policy; the purpose of this is to direct your actions, it is the context in which your actions are made and helps to ‘guide’ them. “It is like a signpost, marking the direction forward but not defining the details of the trip”, the guiding policy should outline the overall approach for tackling the weaknesses you identified with your deep diagnosis. An example of a successful guiding policy is Barcelona FC who developed a guiding policy of embracing ‘Total Football’ throughout the club in the 1970s to then become a powerhouse in European club football.
   
   

3. Coherent Action; strategy is nothing without action or measurement. Just as a diagnosis informs the guiding policy, the guiding policy informs the coherent action to achieve your goal. These actions should be coherent, consistent and coordinated. “A good strategy doesn’t just draw on existing strength; it creates strength through the coherence of its design” , these actions should support and build upon each other, steadily building towards the goal. Performance measurement is critical for good strategy: Are our actions making an impact? Is the strategy working? Do we need to adjust things?

Only through the process of regular performance monitoring can you develop a successful marketing strategy, be prepared & geared up to adapt.

In summary, when all three areas have been considered and you haven’t rushed or skipped any steps, you can maximise your opportunities of delivering fantastic results!

NEED SOME HELP? WE ARE HERE TO ASSIST

CONTACT US TO HELP YOU CREATE AN IMPACTFUL MARKETING STRATEGY

Give Your Business A Head Start & Navigate The Cobbled Streets

Give Your Business A Head Start & Navigate The Cobbled Streets

Running your business can sometimes feel like trying to tackle an incredibly uneven road surface in incredibly inappropriate footwear. No matter where you go, or which part of the road looks smooth there are inevitable hiccups, trips, bumps and set-backs. This is why, truly understanding your business and how other people perceive your business is vital. Do you have everything you need? Have you taken advantage of the free stuff out there?

Small Business Tips to Improve Your Strategy:

Know Your Customer - Data Doesn’t Lie

Important foundations to a business are paramount to success. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, start-up or already established, there will undoubtedly be areas you could improve, refine or introduce (if you haven’t already). Knowing your customer for example, do you truly know your audience? This is not necessarily who you ‘want’ to be your customer, or asking others who they ‘think’ your customers are. Use the data available to you! Remember that Google Analytics account you’ve never looked at? As well as Google Search Console & Social Channel Analytics - they can all tell you exactly who is on your site, where they’re coming from and what they’re doing when they get there. Take some time and dive into your traffic analytics, you will likely be pleasantly surprised what you can find out.

Understand The Basics & Better Equip Yourself

The murky world of Digital Marketing, SEO, PPC etc. can all be quite overwhelming if you’re exploring it for the first time. However, if you take some time to understand the basics in these areas, you will be able to better understand what your business needs, be better equipped to explain to others what you need and you’ll also end up saving yourself money! So eventually, what, 6 months ago you would’ve paid an agency to do for your SEO, you can now jump on and fix yourself.

Have a look at how fast your website is running with Pingdom. If your results say you’re below 2.5 seconds, give yourself a high five. If not, then you are provided with the information you could give to your developer to help improve this. You just became better equipped!

Competitors - Online & Offline

Stella and Jimmela have a flower shop where they take lots of online orders. Just because Olivia has a flower shop across the street does not necessarily make Olivia their competitor - Especially as she doesn’t even have an online website. So understanding your online competitors is extremely important as they are likely not who you think they are.

Jump on Google, type a few variations of your service or product into the search box and see what the results say! Do maps appear? Do some competitors appear for multiple searches? Now you can try and work out why they may be ranking higher than you (or lower) and employ some tactics that they’re using to better compete!

Still itching to learn more about how you can supercharge your own business? Check out our two day digital marketing course that will give you all the tools you need to propel yourself past your competitors.

Train for the Gain | Why Ordinary Business Training Just Doesn't Cut It

Train for the Gain | The Best Way to Learn Business

What comes to mind when you think of the last professional development training session you attended? A positively prosaic afternoon filled with monotonous corporate speak and lukewarm coffee? We thought so.

Was there any practical information or any tailored examples? Any action list for you to implement? You probably filled a notebook full of buzzwords and strategic jargon but it's been collecting dust ever since. We've all been there.

We find that most training that we have experienced take a 'one size fits all' approach. It's rare to find a workshop that really delves deep into one specified area of marketing and instead takes a broad brush approach with attendees no matter what their business needs.

Well we like to shake things up a bit.

At Creative Bloom, we've had enough of textbook training and have spent time developing a different approach. Our new workshops are designed to enable you to tailor your training to find what suits you. We supply you with the knowledge, but also help you to ensure that it is relevant to your specific business and send you away with an action plan for what you need to tackle next. PLUS, we pester you after, to check up on how you're getting on beyond the classroom.

Each of our coaches or 'Bloomers' as we like to call them have experience in their specific field, knowing what it takes to deliver what they preach, and continuing to practice with our current clients, keeping up to date with new tech and trends. 

Don't like tech speak? Neither do we, so all our workshops are delivered minus the jargon and instead with simple to follow steps, tips and examples. You never know, you might find a Star Wars slide in there somewhere. And hey, it's not all for you, we enjoy delivering them - so all that comes with a load of enthusiasm, helping you to have that lightbulb moment!
 

Top Ways to Encourage People to Review Your Business

Why are online reviews so important?

Whether you are an online or offline business, reviews are a crucial element to your success. A whopping 97% of consumers read online reviews and more than half of those people need to read four or more before they can trust the business. Reviews can give you feedback on ways to improve your business and help to prove its legitimacy. Good reviews can also help to improve your SEO. Just as a user will be more likely to trust a business with good reviews, search engines will trust them in the same way. Google, in particular, will gather information from several review websites and if it likes what it sees, will help to push your ranking up. All of these advantages will put your business in the best position to lead to that greatly sought after sale or sign up.

Tips for Online Reviews

Set it up 

It's up to you to get your business listed on review sites. Tripadvisor, Yelp, and Facebook are all well known review websites, but certain sites are better than others for your particular sector. Dig a little deeper to find out which review site suits your business best and make sure that you're listed. Once this is done, you will have a link that you can forward on to any customer or client you wish!

If you don't ask, you don't get

 We can all be a little shy at times when it comes to asking for feedback directly, but this should really be commonplace in any business. During a conversation in person or even on a social platform, asking directly for feedback and reviews can come back with plenty of results. These can be taken as soundbites and testimonials to be used for web or social content - don't be afraid of blowing your own trumpet!

Keep it easy

A 'thank you' email after an online purchase with a link to your review page makes it easy for anybody to just click and review. They're already online with your business in mind, so what's to stop them? You can automate emails to send as soon as a call to action sign up or transaction has been completed to make it super simple. 

Don't forget 'Google My Business'

Make sure that all of your relevant information is updated on your 'Google My Business' page and get your Google review link to send to your customers. Around 9% of Google's ranking algorithms are based on reviews - that's a good chunk to influence your SEO.

Reply, reply, reply.

It's all fine and well to gain the trust of your customers and clients but keeping it is just as important. Bad reviews will come along every now and again but it's not the end of the world. Someone who has not had a good experience with your business will be far more likely to return if any negative feedback is acknowledged and dealt with quickly and efficiently. So it's important to keep an eye on good and bad reviews to make sure your customers feel like they're being taken care of.

Follow these simple tips and you'll be well on your way to building reviews online and helping to increase your business's success. Believe us - it's important.

The New Way to Network: Why we think old-school business events should be a thing of the past.

We all know the standard networking event format. You arrive at a swanky venue, slap on a name tag and proceed to wonder around the room clutching a glass of red and nodding your way into conversations with strangers. Then there's shaking hands whilst holding both a paper plate & glass of wine (a very difficult task) and leaving with pockets full of business cards. This is the classic 'old-school networking event'. We do understand the need for these events and how important getting out there and chatting to other businesses is, but we'd much rather do it in a different way! 

Brighton is home to one of the most thriving communities of start-ups, freelancers, organisations and charities, all enthusiastic to get to know one another. In turn, there are a whole host of exciting events that cater to many different industries. We would much rather have a chat with someone during a workshop, take part in an open discussion or try out a new product to learn about how we can collaborate. Laid-back events can lead to a true sense of trust and create an atmosphere of fun, where ideas and real in-depth conversations can be exchanged. Exactly how we believe business should be!

Here are some of our favourite events to meet new contacts in Brighton:

TEDx

Brighton

If you haven't heard of TEDx then this is certainly the time to learn about it. These inspirational talks are usually held at Brighton Dome and give an insight into a whole host of industries. You'll get talks from speakers such as Dom Joly from Trigger Happy TV and Steven Day, Co-Founder of Pure Planet and Renewable Energy Expert. By the end of the evening you'll definitely have something to talk about with fellow attendees.

Wired Sussex

This organisation has been bringing the digital community of Sussex together for over a decade, hosting events all over the city. They provide a platform for freelancers, start-ups and bigger businesses to connect through workshops, breakfast sessions, talks and loads more.

Toast

The hosts of Toast Brighton began running their breakfasts after they became bored of the usual corporate networking events - just like us! That's why they run events to create a buzz around networking and make it fun and relaxed. You can mingle around a breakfast buffet and leave feeling inspired after hearing from one of their motivational speakers.

PECHA KUCHA

This is a similar one to TEDx Brighton but on a slightly smaller scale. Local people and small organisations can get involved to share the story of what they're doing. With only 20 slides of 20 seconds each, the talks are short and fast-paced, giving time to include more speakers that add variety to the evening. If you're thinking of attending, the PechaKucha Brighton website has a whole host of past talks you can check out before you go.

Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce

This business community hosts events both large and small, from conferences to workshops. Though you'll have to pay for membership, it's well worth it, as the Chamber of Commerce really does act as a central hub for local businesses - giving you so many opportunities and connections. They have a great selection of events so you have loads of choice of what to attend.

Green Growth Platform

Hosted by Brighton University, the Green Growth Platform provides a network for sustainable businesses to meet as well as offering business support to them. Their upcoming events include marketing workshops and courses on sustainability in action.

O N C A

With sustainability, creativity and community driving everything they do,
O N C A provides a space to create and expand a network of individuals and communities with the same values. They hold regular events such as storytelling evenings, workshops and artist's talks at their gallery on London Road, welcoming those looking to host events of their own.

GLUG

If you're a creative type you'll probably have come across Glug already, but if not we'll tell you a little about it. This event is always packed to the brim with graphic designers, illustrators, animation wiz kids and loads of other creative people. Often held at the Patterns nightclub, the evening could begin with a mingle around the bar, trying out VR headsets, watching live art or pulling your own screen print. This gets everyone chatting before the line-up of speakers begin. Past speakers have included David Shrigley, Supermundane and Kyle Bean. Get ready to be inspired!

Brighton Meetup

We're cheating slightly on this one but felt it was too great a networking platform to miss out. If you haven't come across Meetup yet then we urge you to give it a go! This is a great space to create online communities, find people with similar interests in Brighton and take part in those interests together. You are encouraged to create your own events and invite your group to take part. So if we haven't listed an event that you would be looking for here, then check out the Meetup site and see if it exists. If not, we'll leave it up to you get it up and running.

All of these events are held in Brighton and are great ways of creating relationships with people outside of 'work mode'. Organic conversations that come from a shared experience or topical point are far more worthwhile and memorable than those which aren't. But we'd say the best way of getting out there is by hosting an event of your own!