When the Chamber asked me to put together a post about being a member, I jumped at the chance. My new business, Artios, is designed to generate leads and online sales using maths-powered digital marketing. While that’s something that’s in great demand and incredibly effective, ‘the science’ part is not always easy to convey, simplistically, and the Chamber is a fantastic way to raise awareness and meet the right people to get the message out there amongst the local business community.
I’m a qualified management accountant, a digital marketer of 12 years and have recently retrained as a data scientist. At Artios my role is both managerial and operational so I get to work on the macro and the micro issues, moving the business forward, client-management and getting down to the nitty-gritty with our in house data scientists, engineers and marketing specialists.
In 2010 I founded Alchemy Viral, providing SEO consultancy services and online PR to international brands, agencies and start-ups. It was during this time I joined the Chamber and have now been a member for 3 years.
Being a Chamber member has been instrumental in my ability to meet other individuals and businesses in the community and to share challenges. In turn, this has led to my making some really useful and influential contacts to drive my business forward. But more than that, it’s also presented the opportunity to give something back by holding workshops for local businesses.
My experience means I’m well-placed to know what successful digital marketing looks like and how it works. We believe that data science is the future as there really is no excuse for making important marketing decisions based on rhetoric especially in a data-rich environment like social media and online. Artios delivers workshops on digital marketing including social media, SEO, analytics and content strategy. We also lead the digital marketing forum. It means we can really demonstrate the how’s and why’s of digital marketing for local business and give them a head start on the road to digital success. We also participate in the mentoring programme and attend the Chamber events
such as the Richmond Business Awards and lunches,
Joining the chamber is a ‘no brainer’ as it’s an instant and valuable source of feedback for your business, as long as you allow yourself to accept the ‘feedback’, which I believe is critical for the success of any business, especially if you’re starting up. Being an ongoing member, really does have a positive effect. It epitomises the meaning of community, in a business sense, and I would say, you get out, what you put in, tenfold!
You can read more about digital marketing and Artios at www.artios.io