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Company: The Engaging Brand
Contact: Anna Farmery, Principal and Founder
Location: Bradford, UK
Industry: Marketing and Consulting, B2B, B2C
Annual revenue: Confidential
Number of employees: 1

Quick Read:

After over 20 years in the world of finance, and having served as a group HR/finance director for global FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods, aka consumer packaged goods) companies, Anna Farmery felt stifled by the corporate silo. The loss of her father cemented her decision to leave finance.

Her initial goal was to launch her own business based in branding and engagement. But Farmery faced startup costs upward of $15,000 and had a very limited budget to establish her business through more traditional marketing tools. The costs of promoting the business even via Web sites, direct mail, and other sales collateral seemed an insurmountable barrier to founding a new venture.

With only an initial $1,000, Anna was spurred by the creative challenge of realizing big dreams with little funds; she launched her business, blog, and podcast, "The Engaging Brand," in April 2006. The first podcast had only 70 downloads and the blog had five readers on the first podcast day.

Merely two years later, the podcast now boasts nearly 200,000 downloads and is included in the Ad Age Power 150 top marketing blogs. The Engaging Brand was also a nominee for Best Business Podcast in 2007.

The Challenge:

Anna Farmery's challenge was to launch a company online using social media tools, including a podcast and blog. The blogosphere boasted some 40 million blogs at that time as measured by Technorati, and Farmery's podcast was one of hundreds, with no sponsors and no budget for PR or outreach to attract a listener base. Her podcast's success, and ultimately her business's, was dependent on word-of-mouth and link-minded bloggers who thought it worthwhile to their readers.

Farmery also faced the daunting task of not only launching a company with only $1,000 but also building a company that was not dependent on cash investment.

"When I looked at the costs of promoting the business via Web sites, promotional literature, PR, logos, etc., I was stunned at the thought of spending between $15,000 and $20,000. I didn't have that kind of money. So at first I wondered whether I should just give up on my dream," recalled Farmery.

Another challenge she faced was how to help people understand what her company did. Farmery works with leaders to explore how to engage with employees and consumers. Her work includes leadership coaching, strategic thinking, using social media and motivational speaking.

"My background of being a marketer, chartered accountant, and business coach means that I can show you not only how to engage people but also how you measure the effects on the bottom line," said Farmery.

"I questioned myself to begin with and then thought... no, my passion is engagement and working with people to create engagement that grows bottom-line profits."

Farmery wanted a company that had personality, "one that people wanted to find a way of working with...because they liked the personality, not the words on a piece of literature." In other words, Farmery's hope was that her success would come through transparency and authenticity, which are especially prized in the online world.

The Campaign:

After spending three weeks learning about blogging, podcasting, and social media, Farmery used a Logitech DSP500 microphone bought secondhand at under $20 from Amazon and debuted the Engaging Brand podcast in April 2006.

"I took every tutorial out there...then started creating. I used TypePad to build the blog and started the podcast. I loved the fact that I could experiment, that I didn't need to be a geek to do it...it was not about understanding the details of the technology but how to use the technology. I suppose it was the ultimate trial-and-error way of building a business," recalled Farmery.

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Case Study: How a Finance Director Left Her Day Job and Launched an 'Engaging Brand' Online via a Podcast and Blog

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