Mediaboss Marketing

On Thursday 24September, RSViP held its most recent event online with talks from twodigital marketing experts.

Hosted by Fiona Duncan-Steer, ofRSViP, andBrand Consultant, Matt Davies, The power of marketing in the digital space featuredTrevor Lorkings aka The Digital Alchemist, who specialises in the development of e-commerce websites, creative design for print, and produces notebooks, planners and journals, as well as hosting his podcast Curious Fire alongside Alan Hennessy.

Trevor launched a food business in 2009, building a community around jam and preserve making, with hiswife Rosemary, with workshops, recipe books and an online recipe site and blog. A monthly preserving magazine, in both digital and paper formats, came shortly afterwards and the business fluctuated over the years then hit lockdown.Four months on the couple have quadrupled their monthly turnover. The event saw Trevor detail their story.

The event also featuredB2B Digital LinkedIn Coach, Charlie Whyman, whospends her time consulting, coaching and mentoring teams and individuals on strategic B2B Marketing and LinkedIn. She is also the host of The Curiosity Key Podcast and founder of The Curious Marketing Club.

This session isjust one example of RSViPs work tokeep businesses connected through troubling times, in the last six months since lockdown began in March.

Taking their in-person Network Social events online, business was able to continue as (un)usual. Named Keep calm and carry on digitally, the events have been running for 6 months now.

Founder of RSViP, Fiona Duncan-Steer, said:Its been a very challenging time for many businesses, in particular the events and hospitality industry. We have been hit extremely hard and it has been difficult seeing many of our clients anxious and struggling. As such many of us have had to switch into survival mode and do whatever it takes to keep going, stay visible and above all, support one another, which is exactly what I decided to do.

After a forty eight hour panic following the first Government announcement, I pulled my socks up and hosted my first ever online event in March, to a positive and grateful response from both business professionals and University students and we are now preparing to host our eighth online event on 29th October and will continue for as long as we need to.

I have very quickly had to adapt a business Ive been running in much of the same way for the past 12 years in a matter of weeks and Id be lying if I said it hasnt been a challenge at times. Knowing I have such a powerful and extensive network and reach, there was no option but to go digital! Ive learnt so much during this process and just feel happy Ive been able to keep going and help so many others along the way.

Fiona has collaborated with brand strategist Matt Davies, Brand Strategist & Co-hostto host the online events and together they both offer their expertise from a business and marketing perspective, inviting guest speakers to share their stories and insights on topics such as how to stay connected in the digital space, maintaining valuable relationships at a distance and such-like, experimenting with various formats and timings to co-inside with the changing times along the way.

Fionas property network WREN have taken their events online too.

Over 300 East Midlands professionals have also joined the new LinkedIn group RSViP Business & The City during lockdown, with the groups intention to bring businesses together to share useful resources and information.Fiona has also been developing her training business, and launching hervirtual training hub,offering businesses free resources.

See shots of the most recent event, capturedby Steve Edwards Photography & Photography by Gem, below:

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Social scene: RSViP - 'The power of marketing in the digital space' - East Midlands Business Link