It can be challenging to think of new ways to connect with your customers, that’s why we’ve worked with a social media expert to help you boost your brand in 2023.
Read on for her top tips and watch her talk from our Empowering Women in Business event.
3 ways to build your content strategy
Tips for growing your business
Download practical tips from Lucy Hitchcock and an editable business worksheet to help you find your purpose and set new goals.
Partner in Wine – a viral success
During the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020, there was a boom of side hustles emerging with people having time to explore new ideas.
As lockdown measures eased, people began to socialise in outdoor spaces. During this time, social media expert Lucy Hitchcock came across a problem. There wasn’t an effective way for her to transport a bottle of wine while keeping it cool for the whole day.
When presented with this problem, Lucy said: “Most normal people would go – oh well, never mind, better luck next time.”
“But instead I went no, I won’t do that, I will create my own insulated wine bottle.” And that’s how Partner in Wine began.
But it was Lucy’s content strategy and brand storytelling that propelled her product to being stocked in retailers like Selfridges and Liberty.
Watch Lucy’s top tips for brand storytelling
Lucy, who also founded digital marketing agency Sassy Digital, told the story of Partner in Wine and shared a range of marketing tips with other small business owners at Simply Business’s Empowering Women in Business live event.
She was joined by the winner of The Apprentice, Harpreet Kaur who shared her tips for supercharging your business in 2023.
Tell your brand story
The way Lucy harnessed her story was a big part of what made her marketing effective. Initially, Lucy shared with friends, family, and other business owners that she was starting a business but didn’t explain what her product was.
By the time she revealed the product, there was a sense of anticipation among her followers which helped to get the business off the ground.
Her side hustle took the next step when one of her TikToks went viral. It was a simple video, explaining how she started her business and it resonated with people instantly.
Lucy credits the success to her storytelling: “The basis of any good marketing is storytelling.
“When I launched, people were excited because they got to see the end result of the storytelling I’d done over such a large period of time,” she said.
The goal of telling your brand story is to connect with your audience so they understand more about your business than just what you sell. Think about ways you could explain how and why you started your business in a compelling way.
Build a community
Lucy shared that your business’s community is made up of people that relate to your story and like your product, but you should reach out to other small business owners too.
She said the goal of starting a community is ‘to make people feel connected to your business’.
“You want people to support you however they can, whether that’s buying your product or liking your posts.”
She added that to grow your community you should ‘make content that makes people feel something, whether it’s entertaining, inspiring or educational’.
Here’s an outline of the journey you should aim to take your customers on to build a community:
- step one: create content that makes people feel something (entertained, inspired, or educated)
- step two: people will use those feelings to explain your story to other people because it’s easier to relate to
- step three: shared stories that people relate to will be shared further than the internet and this is where a community begins
Lucy also outlined that there are many benefits of building a community for your brand, including:
- new clients and business growth
- increased brand awareness
- trending products
- a stronger relationship with your customers
- becoming a household name
- building partnerships through your community
Create your content pillars
To engage with your community, you’ll need to establish your content pillars and make content that attracts like-minded people.
Think of a content pillar as a category that helps structure your content. You’ll take aspects of your business and build around them.
Wine, small business, and the products are Lucy’s pillars for Partner in Wine. The social media content she creates always falls into one of these categories.
The benefit of doing this is that your content is focused on your audience’s interests.
Think about topics that relate to your business and where you can add value for your customers. Lucy recommends ‘three or four pillars, then use those as the basis for your storytelling.’
Get creative with your content
Once you have your pillars defined, get creative about how you explore them. Lucy broke down a few different ways to think about your content:
- explore your industry – share your industry expertise and make content that educates your audience. For example, you could make content that debunks myths in your field and share your insight
- show your product – one of Lucy’s most successful TikToks is a video of her showing how to use the insulated wine bottle. Don’t be afraid to talk about your product and show people what it does
- tell your story – Lucy suggests that you tell your story once a week because it helps people feel connected to your journey. “It doesn’t have to be big things, just share your excitement so people feel engaged,” she said. Behind the scenes content and updates on new stockists are good places to start
- be authentic – ‘people like real, not always curated content’, according to Lucy. Let people get to know you because they like buying from a real person. Share your personal interests or your excitement about something because this helps people relate to your story
- entertain your followers – one of the main reasons people use social media is to be entertained. Find ways to entertain your audience even if it doesn’t directly relate to your business. Staying up to date with current trends and reacting to them is a good way to keep your content relevant
Join our networking group
Connect with other female entrepreneurs and share your experiences by joining our Women in Business Facebook community group.
You’ll find exclusive Q&A sessions with experts, business tips, and exciting giveaways.
More useful small business resources
- How to grow your business – tips from Harpreet Kaur
- Female founders level-up on trends and skills at small business event
- An expert guide to marketing for small businesses
- How to start a clothing brand
- A guide to billboard advertising
Which of these tips will you use first for your business? Let us know in the comments below.
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Photograph: Noah Da Costa
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