Workshops

Workshop 1
Blogs Pods and Twitters - Building Relationships With the Latest Web Tools

How many times do you really look at advertising let alone react positively towards it. Is it cost effective to use traditional ways to reach new customers or is there another way that will work for your business? This workshop explains what the latest tools are and how relevant they might be to your marketing strategy.

Anna Farmery qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG before joining the printing industry as a Financial Controller. At the ripe old age of 25 she was promoted to Managing Director.
"I knew then that I loved developing and inspiring people to bring out that talent that I believe is inside all of us".
Anna continued in industry working for FMCG companies for 20 years latterly as a Group HR/Finance Director for a major worldwide brand but then decided to establish her own company - The Engaging Brand.
"I guess that I am really proud of building The Engaging Brand as I started with a budget of only £500 and now it is a successful thriving business that has helped many others achieve their dreams - all done through social media".
Much of Anna's time is spent speaking and delivering workshops on branding, motivation and social media. She is described as " a ball of energy and crammed pack of ideas".
The Engaging Brand podcast - was nominated two years running for the Best Business podcast - In it Anna interviews a wide range of people looking for creative ideas of how to develop their businesses.

Workshop 2
Get to The Top - Get More Customers

Sceptical about the hype from search engine optimisation specialists about getting your site to the top position in Google? This workshop will help you separate some of the myths from the realities of search engine optimisation. After all, someone does have to be at the top of Google and there is no reason why it can't be you in your particular field.

Richard Morton is WiRE's own webmaster and has been helping WiRE members make most effective use of the WiRE website for the purposes of furthering their own businesses.
This seminar will arm you with the means to either improve the search engine optimisation of your site, or to be able to know what questions to ask when employing a specialist in this area. See the power of even the most simple optimisation through a WiRE member's website which has been climbing through the ranks of Google's results for the past couple of months, mainly as a result of simply converting images to text.

Workshop 3
Keep in Touch - Managing Relationships Online

It cost significantly more to attract a new customer than retain an existing one so what tools are available to keep your existing customers interested. There are many different ways to scale a mountain which ones will work for you and your customers.

Speaker tbc

Workshop 4

Insight – Who do You Think You Are?

A lively and engaging session focussed on how to evaluate your position in the marketplace. Where has your company come from? Where is it heading? and how is marketing going to help you get to your destination?Learn how to use insight to drive your marketing activities and make them more effective.

Julie Grant is a marketing professional – a trainer, writer and speaker who over the last 20 years has worked in a senior capacity in a variety of sales and marketing roles.She spent 10 years working in the leisure industry for Allied Domecq and Pizza Hut UK and then became Head of Marketing Services at Britannia Building Society. In 1995 Julie established Plinkfizz Ltd, a marketing company that provides marketing expertise and plans to a range of clients. In 2008 she started Nuko Ideas Ltd, design and print which offers services to SME’s in Staffordshire and Cheshire. She has delivered seminars on branding, customer relationship management, loyalty schemes, retail marketing and web strategy. She is particularly interested in marketing to women, and why it really is a woman’s world.

Workshop 5
Be Engaging - Sell More!

This is about thinking about your role as 'sales person' for your business in a different light. This seminar offers an opportunity to gain an understanding of how the mind and self talk affect the achievement of sales and business goals. The workshop will take a critical look at how our experiences and beliefs directly affect the way we approach selling and therefore how we can change and release the saleswoman within.

Norman Smyrell is the Managing Director of Redbeech Limited, a business that unleashes the potential of people to achieve extraordinary success. An excellent communicator and motivator, Norman is a highly effective trainer, mentor and executive coach. He has many years of marketing, sales and customer service experience that is shared with insight and enthusiasm to audiences across Europe, US and Asia.

Starting as a Technician with Post Office Telephones in 1973 Norman rose to become a senior manager responsible for sales of Contact Centre products and services. Adopting a new challenge, Norman started Redbeech in 2002 and has used his skills to develop a business that is a respected player in the world of management training and executive development. Redbeech clients include both small businesses and household corporate organisations.

Norman, is Fellow of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management, and an Affiliate of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

Workshop 6
Show me The Money - and How to Get It.

You have reached a stage where you know you need more money in order to grow your business. This workshop is all about making Finance Fun, identifying the right sort of finance for you, the right level of finance and understanding the process for obtaining it.

Geoff Parkes is an entrepreneur who has run several businesses, including acquisitions and start-ups. He believes strongly that SME’s are the lifeblood of the economy and is an exciting environment in which to work whatever the economic environment. For 10 years he was the Marketing Director of AGA
He now runs a Finance Brokerage ASC Finance for Business raising investment funds for SME’s and is a Non-Executive Director of several other businesses. He is a Visiting Lecturer at Aston Business School.

click here to Book your workshops at Thrive and Grow 2009