We’ve notched up another year in business. We had hoped that things couldn’t get much worse than 2020, but 2021 turned out to be a year of both challenges and successes!
It has been a difficult one professionally and personally but as always it has also given us so many opportunities that we are thankful for.
Some highlights from our 6th year in business and some of the things we have learnt along the way…
2021 was a year we had been looking forward to for a couple of years. Coventry’s year to shine as it became the UK’s City of Culture. The pandemic however had other ideas and the start was delayed until May 2021.
January
During January 2021 we got our opportunity to play our part in a City of Culture project and worked with the team at CUSU, Phoenix Creative and ENV to pull together a marketing plan to recruit 5000 volunteers.
It was a real honour and privilege to work on this project. It was a great collaboration of forces, and everyone played their part. You can read more about that in our case study here.
Learning…
All those people who lurk in the background on LinkedIn are watching and waiting! Suddenly the timing and their need for your services is right. They DM you with an amazing opportunity. Keep showing up and growing your LinkedIn network.
February
In February on the back of a successful working partnership with Phoenix Creative, we were asked to work with West Midlands Combined Authority on a jobs and skills project in conjunction with Birmingham Commonwealth Games. It’s a project that continued throughout 2021 and will run up until the games which start in July 2022.
Learning…
Collaboration and regular communication have been key. This successful working partnership has also led to working on 2 other campaigns in conjunction with West Midlands Combined Authority.
March
March saw the children returning to school. We really haven’t enjoyed the home-schooling experience. It’s no fun for the children and certainly no fun for us.
Learning…
We’re not cut out to be schoolteachers. School teachers are amazing!!
April
April, we decided that we needed to learn something new. We chose the topic of SEO. Andrea Rainsford is an expert this area and the work we have done with her across the year has helped our own website immensely plus we’ve been able to share that knowledge and apply the techniques to our own clients.
Learning…
Over the last 6 years our learning has never stopped. Andrea has helped us to enhance our knowledge and organic traffic to our website. She also introduced us to Neil Patel’s Uber Suggest tool which has been invaluable.
May
In May we ran an online Social Media Training Course for a group of Tropic Skincare Ambassadors. They were a pleasure to spend time with and if you haven’t yet tried their products, we can highly recommend them.
Emma said goodbye to a very important loved one.
Learning…
Life is short… make the most of every second.
June
June was an incredibly busy month for us. Emma got to play her part in the opening ceremony for the City of Culture. Who on earth would be mad enough to give her a loud hailer? Kate balanced in lots of precarious locations to get the best shots.
We also started working on 2 more projects with West Midlands Combined Authority and Phoenix Creative. Project 1 promoting opportunities for Retrofit Training. Project 2 working on a marketing strategy to help promote the Kickstart scheme within the region.
The Kickstart project was particularly challenging. As part of this project, we helped to launch a new hub for young people to search of opportunities within the region, created some amazing case studies from young people and their employers.
Learning…
Emma doesn’t really need a loud hailer. Kate could do with a ladder.
The most challenging projects provide the most opportunity for learning and growth.
July
We expanded our freelance team back in 2020 and Imelda joined us. As growth continued, we welcomed Georgina & Emma to our freelance team.
We were overjoyed to start working with the team at West Orchards Shopping Centre. Retail has struggled over the last few years and the team have some amazing plans and we look forward to working with them to help shout about these.
Football nearly came home! Kate went to the Wimbledon Men’s Final.
We attended our first work event in a very long time… Foodie Awards 2021.
Emma’s little sister finally said I do after many COVID postponements.
Learning…
To deliver for our clients, we need external support. We’re very grateful to our wider team for all their ongoing hard work. We literally couldn’t do it without them. Thank you, Imelda, Emma & Georgina.
If we can home-school for months on end, we can cope with the school holiday juggle.
August
Photoshoot time! We headed over to a studio in Aston and worked with the team at Phoenix Creative to capture photos and videos for West Midlands Combined Authority projects.
We took a little time out with our families.
Learning…
Photoshoots are great fun. Emma has a great ability to get people to relax in front of the camera. This allowed the team at Phoenix Creative to get some great, real-life shots.
We all need a little bit of vitamin sea, it’s good for the soul. We won’t mention the lack of sunshine.
September
September was busier than June! Godiva Festival, Birthdays, Marbella, Cheltenham, Chelsea Flower Show.
We still managed to fit in all the usual work, and we experienced an increase in new business leads. We saw our business coach Stephanie Rix who helped us to formulate a plan of action for the next 6 months.
Learning…
Having a coach has helped our business to grow. There’s never anything left unsaid, and we have a greater understanding on where we are heading after each session. We’ve also picked a coach who builds our confidence and self-esteem. That’s important to us.
October
October… COVID, Candles, Pumpkins and Turkeys – as we say no day is ever dull!
Carrie-Anne Twining set up Twinings Home Fragrance at about the same time as us and has grown her amazing brand offering amazing products. We were super excited to work with Carrie.
For three generations Adlington have been providing exemplary premium products for the British fine food market. Both businesses kept us very busy over the festive season.
Pumpkin carving and patches were on the events calendar, and we worked with Smith’s Garden Centre and Coventry Business Improvement District to promote both attractions.
COVID hit Emma’s household, but she soldiered on.
Learning…
Many people are in your sales funnel without you even knowing! Carrie had watched and waited until the time was right for her business. One of our key mantras across the 6 years has always been consistency & persistency, even when we’ve not felt like it, we have spurred each other on.
We’re now very grateful that we took this approach.
COVID has affected the events industry and consumer buying behaviour. This needs to be monitored throughout 2022 to see if it continues.
November
November, we watched the Christmas Lights switch on and completed another photoshoot with Phoenix Creative for West Midlands Combined Authority. Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games is now just around the corner, and we will be helping to promote FREE training opportunities in the region.
Learning…
We spent many hours on Zoom with the team at Phoenix Creative. Finally getting to spend time with them in person is so valuable. Collaboration not competition.
December
In December we started working with HBT Communications. We look forward to developing this relationship further in 2022.
We helped to promote Santa’s Virtual Sleigh Ride at West Orchards Shopping Centre. As we started to sell out, we were able to increase capacity for the attraction. The ride proved to be popular and a great footfall driver for the shopping centre.
We launched our new Social Media Essentials Club at the end of the year. Piece of Cake Marketing’s ultimate content creation membership scheme is ideal for small business owners who want to have a consistent and persistent presence on social media but struggle for inspiration. Find out more here.
We reached a great turnover milestone for our business, this meant that we are now VAT registered.
We finished with a little dose of COVID, this time in Kate’s household.
Learning…
Practice what you preach, we couldn’t tell other people what they need to do and not do it ourselves. As a marketing agency we are committed to showing up regularly. Blogs, emails, socials and video content. Okay, okay, we might not do quite as much video as we would like, but you never know 2022 might be our video year!
Thank you…
To our freelance team… Imelda, Emma and Georgina – thank you!
To our clients – thank you!
To our other halves… Chris and Scott – thank you!
Here’s to another great year in business. If you need to contact us, email hello@pieceofcakemarketing.co.uk