“Don’t be Basic Be Premium!”
This catchphrase was reiterated by Ashley Phillips to the eighteen members of her Brand Strategy Bootcamp, which was held from August 26 to September 1, 2021, at the Island Inn Hotel.
The Bootcamp which was hosted by Phillips’ company Bijou Media which is a Social Media Agency that offers brand strategies to small and medium-sized businesses demonstrated to participants how to market and reposition their enterprises in a COVID-19 environment.
“I am having this workshop to allow business owners to know the importance of having a strong concrete business strategy.
Sometimes we have really good products and services and we put it out there in the hopes to get some sales and spark some interest and do not understand that they are steps that need to be taken to achieve those sales,” she said.
Phillips who is a graduate of Barbados Institute of Management and Productivity said during the ten days she would be teaching the business owners, template and repositioning, unique value proposition, just to name a few.
“We know at the end of this our business owners would have a concrete plan of where their business would be going and what steps they would be taking in the next couple of months, or year and have their short term and longterm goals and the only thing they would have to do is to update that strategy.
The next thing we shall focus on is the execution of these goals,” she said.
During one of her sessions, which included members of her group Branded Bunch she explained why a small business must have a unique value proposition.
“When formulating a unique value proposition, one must consider the following, be unique, capture the readers’ attention, be difficult to copy or imitate.
Your unique value proposition tells your potential customers how they would benefit from what you offer, how your products or services will address their needs and what makes you different from your competition,” she said.
The owner of Bijou Media said she wanted to allow the students to be well rounded and not just have a Bootcamp focused solely on teaching them brand strategies, thus, she asked the owner of Write Right PR Services La Shawna Griffith to conduct a special session where she taught the students on August 31st, 2021, about Public Relations and Media Strategies.
“We had a special guest on day eight who came to present public relations. And from all accounts the session was wellreceived as the members of the Bootcamp got to understand why public relations is important, as well as learn the dos and don’ts of handling an irate customer,” she said.
In Griffith’s presentation she told the members of the Bootcamp that understanding public relations was paramount for a business owner as one needed to build trust with the public in order for them to purchase your product or service.
“Public Relations is important for a small business owner as you have to ensure the public can trust your product and services. In order to build that trust, you have to show them that you are professional, that you have excellent customer service, that you are reliable and dependable and that you are passionate about what you do. The public will trust your brand more if they believe that you are doing it for all of the right reasons,” she told the members of the Brand Strategy Bootcamp.
Phillips said she was pleased with the development of the members of her Bootcamp thus far as it was her passion to assist small and medium-sized enterprises as they seek to elevate their businesses.
“I am passionate about helping these small businesses elevate because a lot of them only need a concrete brand strategy to continue thriving,” she said.
The Brand Strategy Bootcamp concluded on September 1 where the members pitched their services to win packages compliments TQ Media Productions, Bijou Media, and Write Right PR Services.
“As today [yesterday] is the final day of the Bootcamp I wanted the participants to use everything they have learned over the ten days into presenting their products or service. But we also wanted to ensure that the business owners can receive something from being a part of the Bootcamp. So, we would like to thank TQ Media Productions and Write Right PR Services for donating their services to the winners of the pitch session free of charge,” she said.
(Write Right PR Services)
