Breakfast with Benefits – reflections over canapés

Getting up early on a Tuesday morning, for a slap-up breakfast with some of the very best people that Derby has to offer, usually means there is a Marketing Derby Bondholder event somewhere fabulous.

This morning was slightly different for Gravity as it was our Bondholder Breakfast we were getting up early for. This meant getting up before day break to set things up, and having to wait until it’s all over to have our own breakfast.

So, we just wanted to take a step back and reflect on today’s event.

Way back in September last year we went for a drink with our friends at Cactus Images and decided to hold a Bondholder event. When we got in touch to ask, the ever-efficient Lindsey at Marketing Derby told us we could hold an event but that it would be at least six months away.

‘Great!’ we thought, “That gives us plenty of time.”

Now, we all know that a busy plumber always has a leaky tap at home. And so it goes that a busy marketing agency never has time to market themselves properly, so the planning started in earnest just a few weeks ago. We probably shouldn’t say that, but it’s said now.

Since then it’s been all hands-on deck. We’ve brought our kernel of an idea for an event to life and given it structure.

Once you have structure, you then have a very busy schedule of things to do. This has seen us agonising over parcel tags versus little boxes, brown bags over white bags, twisted handle or not… Then stamping 120 bags, ordering fortune cookies, getting in touch with clients to ask for items to give away in the goody bags, coming up with a fabulous tips and tricks generator, meeting with Morley Hayes to discuss the selection of canapés and the layout of the room, sourcing a screen and thinking about the logistics of the order of play; as well as breathing life into the presentations we wanted to deliver on the morning itself.

But we are really pleased to say that today was a great success. The fact that so many busy people took the time to come and listen to find out more about us and Cactus Images has been overwhelming. Thank you to each and every one of you for your time, we know how precious it is to you.

More than 100 people arrived at Morley Hayes on a beautiful misty spring morning and that already made our day. We started the morning by serving our guests with a selection of breakfast canapés and we have to say that the atmosphere in the room as people mingled with each other was inspiring.

As anyone who has had to speak in public will know, not knowing how your audience will react as you take to the lectern can turn the steeliest of characters into a paranoid mess. So seeing how warm and friendly the people in the room were this morning, helped us to step up and deliver what we hope will be food for thought, packed with tips and tricks.

We came up with the name of Breakfast with Benefits for the event, partly because we thought it sounded cool, but also because it truly matches our ethos. We pride ourselves on always doing the right thing by our clients and we believe in sharing our knowledge and expertise with others where they might find it helpful.

Being a small business we often come across the same problems repeatedly. Often clients have placed their digital marketing elsewhere (and usually with much bigger businesses than our own) and the relationship has soured as expectations have not been met. So we have had to fix websites that have dropped all of their Google traffic, we’ve had to revive social media accounts that have been left to whistle in the wind, we’ve had to analyse marketing tactics that have been put in place that have leeched money. Usually, we also must seek out usernames and passwords that have been lost somewhere along the way.

So, we wanted to help people to help themselves by imparting some advice. We’ve seen a lot of crazy things and so we feel in a strong position to be able to do this. We might not win your business today, but we would be happy if we have given even a handful of you an ‘Aha!’ moment that will help you figure out some answers to some of the problems you might have been facing.