Meet Monty Roy who owns and runs the Leith Walk Police Box. Monty told us all about her journey with the police box, and how it became the wonderful community pop up space that it is now. She also shared how she uses Facebook and Instagram. And I shared some ideas about how to create exciting new content on social media – even when you’re talking about the same subjects over and over again!

Today’s episode is sponsored by the All-in-Whin Marketing Method. I’ve been working hard at updating my signature course for 2020, and it’s now open for registration! Click the big yellow button below to get all the details.

What goes on at the Leith WalkPolice Box

The Leith Walk Police Box has been used for a variety of different things. One of their longest standing pop up customers is a group called Edinburgh Tool Library. You join up, pay what you can and you borrow tools instead of buying them. It’s a really fantastic idea because you save money. You don’t have to buy a drill. You don’t have to buy a workbench. They’ve got everything from sewing machines to gardening equipment and you don’t have to worry about storing them either. The average drill is used for 13 minutes in its lifetime so Monty loves that “It’s a really great way of saving money and also saving the planet as well.”

Another regular customer is a man from Sicily, and his company is called Tipico Sicilian Confectioners. He sells nuts and dried fruits imported from Sicily, but he makes them into the most amazing sweets. It’s fantastic, the nuts are addictive They also have had a wide range of charities, for example The Woodland Trust. They’ve had local campaign groups like Save Leith Walk, which successfully managed to stop the demolition of a 1930s building on Leith walk and creatives such as artists like Stuart Bremner. He did some fantastic artwork on the side of the police box and he also sold some of his merchandise from the box. Other artists have done exhibitions in the police box and they’ve taken part in Leith Late, which is a grassroots arts festival.

 Monty’s in a little club of police box owners and compares it to owning a caravan. One of the other owners worked in the film industry previously. He helped set up a projector in the box so they could take part in some film festivals.

“One of the things that I really love about my business is that it’s very flexible. We’re absolutely open to all manner of ideas. Yeah, sometimes the crazier the better.”

How the Leith Walk Police Box started 

Having a police box and turning it into a community space is such an unusual concept, I was keen to ask how she got started. She spotted one for sale and thought “wouldn’t that be a great thing to own?” Initially she had no idea what she was going to do with it.

Monty’s family are from India and she considered selling Indian street food. After trialling it for a weekend the response was a bit mixed some people were really enthusiastic and other people were really not very receptive at all. She also wasn’t certain if she wanted to commit to this idea. There were two perfectly decent Indian restaurants on the same block, and she was aware she was competing with them. Monty felt it would be better to bring something fresh and new to the street. Not competing with local businesses, but hopefully bringing new customers to the area, increasing the footfall from outside. She decided it would be good to do different things all the time, but wasn’t sure how to make that work.

Monty started by putting a sign on the police box saying that it was a pop up space and it was available for rent and it’s flexible and affordable. Quite a lot of people are now finding them through the Leith Walk Police Box Facebook Page. She also loves going around markets to see what people are doing. She finds people who fit well with the ethos of the police box, then approaches them to see if they’re interested. They also have some charity spaces where they offer the pop up space for free because it’s something she feels really strongly about. They’re also trying to be more environmentally friendly and do business in a way that’s sustainable. I also think that’s really important; businesses have a responsibility to make sure that they are using their influence in a responsible way.

“I was really reluctant even to get onto Facebook, but now I’ve embraced it. I’ve had to embrace it, really, because that’s kind of the way the world works..”

Marketing The Leith Walk Police Box 

Building a community and connecting with existing communities is an important part of marketing and raising awareness for the police box. Monty has also made an effort on Facebook to try and find out what are other things are happening locally and promotes them. She says it’s really helped sharing posts and updates for other people, then they hopefully reciprocate for her. It’s an effective way of marketing because it doesn’t have to cost very much but also you’re reaching people that are local to you. There’s no point spending money, time and effort on targeting people that are not going to be able to use your services.

She admits struggling a lot with social media and asked for my advice on new ways to engage people when talking about the same subjects over and over. This is definitely a challenge I’ve faced too, particularly when teaching people about Instagram. Over the last couple of years, Instagram hasn’t changed very much except for the launch of Instagram TV (IGTV). My approach is to find new ways to say and teach people the same things. Maybe they haven’t heard it before, maybe it didn’t sink in, or maybe they just need a reminder. You don’t always have to have something that’s super shiny and different than everything you’ve posted before because sometimes the continuation of a theme or a topic is relevant to community.

Monty’s content can focus on the people, the relationships and the stories that happen within the community and the people using the box. That’s what’s going to be interesting. It will help potential customers to understand who goes to the box.

As well as the Facebook page, there’s a Leith Walk Police Box Instagram account, and they’re on Twitter. I would say that Facebook and Instagram are where they’re going to find the businesses that are doing the things that make the most sense for what they have to offer. Instagram’s Monty’s favourite platform at the moment because you don’t have to say very much. The picture can sometimes say it all, it’s quite nice and easy. She likes using Canva as well, because there are lots of different photo templates and you can just add your text to top of it. This helps for someone scrolling through Instagram, they can very quickly see what your message is.

Monty wanted to know a bit more about IGTV. The main things to note are that videos need to be more than a minute in order for long, so the biggest barrier to using IGTV well is having the time to create more polished content, compared with what you might put up on Instagram Stories. Storytelling content works really well on IGTV and this would be ideal for the Leith Walk Police Box.

Get connected

If you would like to get in touch with Monty you can contact with her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Visit the Leith Walk Police Box website for details on how you could use this wonderful community space.

Meet Mike McGrail of Getgo Studio. On the podcast, we talked about our experiences as business owners, covering everything from choosing a name to choosing your first hire. We also talked about how to use video as a tool to connect with new and existing customers to add value and to be open and authentic. It might be my favourite conversation so far. 

Today’s episode is sponsored by the All-in-Whin Marketing Method. I’ve been working hard at updating my signature course for 2020, and the next cohort opens in February. Click the big yellow button below to get all the details and register for early bird access.

Getting started in video creation

Mike McGail is a marketer by trade, creator of Getgo Studio a video production and marketing agency based just outside of Edinburgh in Queensferry, and working right across the UK.

He worked for a variety of marketing agencies until 2012 when he started his own marketing consultancy Velocity Digital. Clients began asking him to help with video creation because it’s a huge part of marketing. He was honest about his technical skill with a camera but felt he could help his clients because he knew the brand, their audience, what they were trying to achieve and how to tell a good story – so he fell into the role of producer and director. This inspired him to try and do it on a larger basis and Getgo Studio was launched in February 2019.

Mike’s day is incredibly varied as Getgo has a variety of offerings. First is a one-day training course in video creation, helping people get started making short videos for LinkedIn and social media. I’ve been on the course and can testify that it was awesome, I learnt so much and had a great day. A lot of people were asking Mike for his advice and he enjoys teaching so the course helps him combine the two. They also offer an all inclusive studio experience in Queensferry where people turn up with their content, and they film it then edit it. The third service is location filming. Mike’s been surprised by the demand for filming on location. About 85% of what they’ve done in the last nine or 10 months has been on location. That’s been right across the UK and there’s some exciting filming coming up in Europe this year.

He’s constantly learning and is currently doing Ron Howard’s direction course. It’s a brilliant master class and Ron Howard’s big thing is that any film or piece of video is made in the editing suite. Mike agrees because on the day you film what you film but it all comes together in the editing. His day can involve everything from marketing to pre production then shooting and it involves a lot of communications with the freelances he works with and his clients.

“Literally no day is the same and that’s one of the reasons I work for myself.”

Attracting clients and trusting your gut

Mike has worked out that roughly 94% of all the work that they’ve done has come from LinkedIn. Through initial discussions, not paid campaigns, just him putting himself out there on video. I’d recommend connecting with Mike, his videos are informative and injected with humour. He told the story of Getgo’s creation on LinkedIn, going through every stage and it engaged a lot of people. They liked how honest he was and his style of video so when he launched people were quick to get in touch keen to have a chat about projects.

Getting the word out about the training courses has mainly been driven through Instagram and networking. He used Instagram Stories a lot and people who connected with him through that have tended to come on the course. The location filming and people with want to book the studio seem to come from LinkedIn.

He admits marketing Getgo has been a bit haphazard. I think that the haphazard approach can sometimes work just as well as having a really organised strategic plan. Particularly, if you’re in a position where sticking to a really organised strategic plan is challenging, then allowing yourself to take a haphazard approach can sometimes be far more beneficial. Especially since Mike’s already got such a deep background knowledge of what good marketing is, his instincts are going to be really strong.

Mike agreed that you get a good gut feel over time and in business, you should really follow your gut. That’s been one of his biggest lessons over time, your gut normally tells you the truth and it feels weird going against it. Anytime he’s gone against it has rarely worked out. For example, in the last two years, he’s said no to more Velocity Digital work than he’s said yes to, because he’s not had the right feel about the project.

“I’ve never been a fan of soft metrics – likes, shares, comments. They’re an indicator of how your content’s performing, but what is it actually returning? Has it generated sales or clients? Or is it retaining people? Don’t forget that you have to look at retention as well.”

Being authentic in business

Social media can make things look brilliant. But behind the scenes, businesses are failing or more importantly, the people in those businesses are stressed, they’re on the verge of making themselves very ill. It’s so easy in this day and age to paint a picture of success that’s actually not true. It can be a dangerous thing because it’s inauthentic and doesn’t deliver the right essence of the business. Recently Mike put a written post on LinkedIn talking about how he was having a tough time. He got a lot of positive reactions and it highlighted the supportive community he has around him.

For small businesses making videos to market themselves, Mike advises a lot of your business is built around you, your knowledge, your experience and your personality. One of the best things you can look to do is tell your story. If you’re selling a physical product, then you really need to be showing people how it solves the problem that they’re having.

Obviously, he sells professional video services, but one of the reasons he does the training courses is to inspire people who just need to get going with video. Most of us have got a good enough camera in our pocket and just need some guidance on how to make the most of that.

Lastly, I asked Mike to share his favourite marketing videos. He named Burger King as a brand that smashed it in 2019 and one of his favourite ever videos is the $1 Shave Club launch, view the videos below.

Get connected

If you would like to get in touch with Mike you can contact with him on LinkedIn. You can also find him on Instagram and Twitter. Visit the Getgo Studio website for details of the Video Creation training. Since recording, Mike has decided to close the all-inclusive studio he mentioned on the show to focus on on-location shooting. He is, however still offering a packaged service for creating short videos for social media and so on, please contact him for more information.

Meet Rebecca Bonnington. Rebecca is a business consultant and her company Tricres has an online platform full of training courses and support for small business owners. On the podcast today, we talk about how to get your business out there without having to become a social media expert and how Rebecca hired a digital marketing agency.

Today’s episode is sponsored by my Instagram masterclass, brand new for 2020. I’ll be delivering live master classes in Edinburgh, where you can come and learn about Instagram strategy from an expert. To find out more head to the whin.co/igmasterclass, I look forward to seeing you there.

“The business owner feels they’ve got a coach in their pocket that they can consult anytime of the day or night because let’s face it as an entrepreneur, it’s usually three in the morning that you kind of want to learn about stuff.”

Combine an online course with your consultancy business

Rebecca explained a bit about Tricres and what she does. They put a series of models and frameworks that can add value to businesses onto a platform. The idea is to democratise business consulting and coaching because most small to medium sized enterprises can’t afford it, but really need it. You can use their unique model every day to grow your businesses. They’ve put everything all on one platform so everybody, no matter where you are, can access it for just £17 a month.

Rebecca’s day job is very much working with businesses. She mainly works with large companies and usually works with the founders and their board or senior team. When businesses grow they’ve usually grown without much of a plan. The founders have got a vision of where they want to go and what they want to do, but they’ve not really thought about the nuts and bolts, the structure and how to get where they need to be. Rebecca goes in and does a bit of a MOT, she helps them understand how to make sure that the good positive stuff they’ve put in, keeps going as they grow and scale. She’s passionate about releasing the potential of people and business.

I was curious to find out how her insight and expertise translated to benefit people via the online platform.  She explained it was launched at the end of April 2019 and they are developing an intuitive and interactive app to go along with it. They have fantastic training courses that will walk and talk you through everything, models, lovely shiny PDFs and answers to lots of questions. You can work through everything at your own pace.  Rebecca recommends spending 10 minutes a day doing something from the platform, this will get those grey cells working in a way that means that your business works better.

Podcasting and other ways to increase brand awareness

I met Rebecca at a networking event, she was the guest speaker.  After hearing her speak I knew she’d make a wonderful guest on my podcast. I asked her what other ways she gets the message out about the training platform.

 They’ve just starting a digital marketing campaign. Before that she was doing lots of blogs and she’s going on a research trip to Silicon Valley with FutureX. They’re doing lots of publicity around that. It’s a great idea to join in with things that other people are doing, and they do lots of publicity for you. Recently she’s been reading “Start With The Why” by Simon Sinek book , and agrees what you need is the passion and you need to understand the purpose of what you’re doing. People will then begin to follow you because they believe what you believe.

She uses LinkedIn a lot and is always on the lookout for opportunities.  Through the Scottish Business Network she got to do a one minute pitch to a big audience in London. She did a free hour of coaching for Entrepreneurial Scotland for some of their members. Again, they both put publicity out there for her. Rebecca likes giving back anyway so the publicity is a bonus.

 I think it’s a great a marketing strategy that allows you to practice what you already are good at and show people that you’re awesome.

She does her own podcast called Tricres, it’s on all the platforms. She talks to very ordinary entrepreneurs who are in the thick of it, who are still building their businesses, some of whom have failed spectacularly, some of whom are succeeding, some of whom are literally in month six. It’s about their journey and what gave them the inspiration. Like me she loves doing the podcast and finds it an effective way to keep broadcasting her message.

“When you know what path you’re on, those opportunities just light up like this big neon sign.”

Finding a digital marketing agency

Rebecca is about to launch a digital marketing campaign for the platform, naturally I was interested in the process. They’re going to focus on LinkedIn, primarily, because that’s where their audience hangs out. Then feed it into Twitter and Instagram.

Rebecca believes people buy from people and this was important when meeting digital marketing agencies. Because of the ambitions she’s got for the business, she needed a digital marketing agency that was much bigger than her company. They’re not hugely expensive, but they’re not cheap either. She recognised it was going to be a big investment for the business but worth it. She realised last year that digital marketing is a complex science. The agency she chose has separate departments and specialists in each of the different areas and that’s why she chose them. She was really impressed with their professionalism and they didn’t promise to get a zillion subscribers. They’ve stressed it’s a learning curve that will take some experimentation to get the formula right. She knows there won’t be instant results, but they will get results and they’ll be the right results.

Get connected

If you would like to get in touch with Rebecca you can contact her on LinkedIn. You can also find her on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Find out more about her amazing platform on the Tricres website.