Goodfellas (kind of), 1990
Hi, I’m Sarah and I am a freelance digital marketing consultant and creator of Yabber Marketing. I’ve been working for, or alongside small businesses and start-ups for over 17 years. This is my journey to Yabber.
I landed my first proper job after graduating and I was determined to make a difference. I worked for a local charity organisation where I was responsible for organising and promoting events aimed at women setting up their own business.
These business events, aptly named ‘Mind Your Own Business’, (not my greatest accolade) were ran in conjunction with leading organisations such the Federation of Small Business, The Prince’s Trust and Business Link, and were my first real exposure of business strife and struggles. The events were always a great success and attracted many eager, hardworking start-ups, but there was always an overwhelming hunger for advice on marketing and a distinct lack of affordable help. The Yabber seed had been planted.
Eager to develop my skills in marketing I landed a job in Higher Education where I completed my Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) certification. I was given an amazing opportunity to work on an exclusive, newly funded project, designed to up-skill the workforce of local businesses.
Here I got first hand experience of working with excitingly large budgets, devising national campaigns and was instrumental in re-branding the commercial arm of the University. By some weird coincidence or strange hand of fate, the commercial marketing team were housed in the Innovation Centre. Home to about 20 business start-ups, I found myself attending every ‘new tenant’ introduction talk given by the new start-ups to hear their individual stories; as if by sharing the same room, some of their courage might rub off onto me. It obviously did!
After four years in Higher Education and 6 months travelling around South East Asia, I was desperate to get back to working for a smaller organisation where I could make my mark and leave a legacy.
I joined a digital signage company specialising in interactive, multi-touch solutions and it was here that I achieved the most. After conducting a 2 month long company audit I was able to devise a 2 and 5 year strategy for the company. I took them through a major re-brand, a new website build, established a robust partner package, completely re-developed their product offering and re-wrote a huge amount of sales literature. More importantly, I crafted their online profile which I lovingly and personally tended to every single day.
Since the company were essentially a multi-media agency I made it my personal mission to give them an online identity worthy of the innovative technology being produced in-house. I was further exposed to life as a small, but successful outfit and I would have forever regretted it if I didn’t give it a go. So here I am.
Well, I did it. Yabber Marketing can definitely be attributed to all of my experiences and skills gleaned from previous employment and inspired by the many business owners I have met along the way.
I’ve gone from working solo to working with a small team of reliable, consistent freelancers, each with specialist superpowers. We regularly work together to deliver exceptional results for our clients.
If you like what you see then please leave your details on my contact page, call or drop me an email to get the ball rolling. I can’t wait to hear about your project. Alternatively why not take a look at how I’ve shaped other businesses.
Take the first step to better online visibility and start generating those essentials leads for your business.
Find handy how-to guides, and helpful hints and tips for growing your business over on the Yabber Marketing Blog. And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter!
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