What we’ve learned from visualising our business. Showing up, staying in touch, being open to serendipity…
How do you share your company data so your team and/or clients can understand it simply? As our 6th year in business came to a close, we were curious about what the business was doing and decided to visualise It.
This image takes aspects of our business, some concrete, some more ephemeral, and puts them together to show what Carbon Orange is all about.
Here’s what it shows in more detail:
1. Networking – turning up, and serendipity
Networking was probably the single most terrifying prospect of starting a business in the beginning. Gradually with practice and a shift in perspective, it has got easier (more of that in another post!). Looking at what to take away from getting out (or online) and meeting people, it’s a case of allowing serendipity to happen. You never know who you might meet. And by showing up consistently, you build relationships and potentially gain clients, or cheerleaders/ambassadors.
2. Events – pick wisely, participate
Our 3rd biggest client came to us as a result of us offering graphic recording service for free at an event. One of their marketing team was at the event and although we didn’t meet them at the time, they got in contact a short while afterwards to ask if we could help with a project they were working on. This has led to thirteen jobs with them so far, and an ongoing business relationship with them and wider team.
Offering to do work for free isn’t something to take on lightly – we offered to do this event because we were confident that the benefits would be worthwhile, and sure enough it paid off big time.
3. Ex-colleagues – stay in touch, don’t burn bridges
Keeping in touch with ex-colleagues, as you can see from the infographic has been hugely beneficial. Sometimes this happens naturally…You never know where people are going to move on to, and what they might need in the future. Even if the ending of a job leaves a bitter taste at the time (eg in the case of redundancy) it wasn’t personal in our case. We didn’t burn any bridges. Ex-colleagues from one company have spread into several others and come to us at Carbon Orange because they liked how we worked together back in that previous company.
4. What are the possibilities with social media
We wasn’t as active on social media in the last year as we might have been but looking at the graphic we can see the potential – it may not have yielded the biggest jobs (yet!), but there are a good number of clients, and it’s where people are doing the most recommending…
5. Recommendations – results might not be instant, but you never know who might recommend you, even if they aren’t a client
The results of any of these activities may not have been instant – some are a very slow burn – but you never know who you might meet or inspire along the way who might sing your praises to somebody else. Even if you haven’t worked for someone, if they like what they see, they can be a valuable cheerleader for your business.
I set myself 3 intentions for 2023, and one of them is to be more consistent with my marketing efforts. This exercise has helped us see where to focus and what to improve on, and in putting it out here, we’re making ourselves accountable to make sure it happens! Here’s to our 7th year being the best yet.
And if you would like help to visualise your data, get in touch with us.
