Empowering small business

When people think of networking events, they often think of stuffy, uncomfortable super smooze coffee mornings. Or at the very least the ones that are relevant to us small creative biz types, are mostly found in London.

As a small biz exploring new marketing channels, Black and Sigi created a new strategy. We wanted to visit more events where we could meet people face to face, where we could find like minded people and where we could create awesome collaborations with.

After speaking to Karolina from Estila magazine at a lunch event organised for the small brands that she works with, the concept of a networking roadshow was created. We took the idea that not everyone could make it into London, because of time, money or family commitments, and created our mission to empower women through informative and relevant events. The added bonus was that we would take the event to you!

We created a soft launch of the concept and tested it in our stomping ground Essex! We collaborated with already established network group Connecting with Cocktails and drafted in the expertease of The Style Mum and created an event where women in small business in the area could meet, learn and collaborate effectively, but also then give the opportunity to explore their strategy further through consulting or workshops. Check out our blog post on all things branding to sum up all our points discussed ~ Read here. Our model has taken all the feedback from this event and we have now created something even better and even bigger ( All deets to be shared shortly!)

Networking is a marketing channel that us small businesses should all be considering. It’s a mindset that needs to be locked down and explored to its full – imagine the marketing power of two of you teaming up rather than working against each other? We won’t make you stand up and talk infront of everyone ( we get it!!), we encourage you not to stay with the people you know and we get you creating partnerships  using simple but effective tools to propel you onwards and upwards.

We have since connected with business from Brighton, Glasgow, Sheffield and Yorkshire and have already started organising the network to a city near you! We are adding a list of all our events on our Facebook page here 

In the meantime see our evening through beautiful imagery by the fabulous Charlotte Green Photography  

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