Lindsay Woodward Marketing Starting Its Next Chapter

Experienced marketer Lindsay Woodward established her business in 2018 after deciding to turn a negative into a positive.

She had been made redundant four times and decided the time was right to launch Lindsay Woodward Marketing.

With 20 years’ experience as a marketer, Lindsay focuses on providing strategic marketing advice and acts as a creative consultant to clients in a wide variety of industries from construction and manufacturing to technology and IT.

She is a CIM qualified Chartered Marketer and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and helps businesses to enhance their brand and grow – just like her own business is doing!

The Challenge

Lindsay lost virtually all of her clients overnight when the first lockdown was announced during the pandemic in March 2020 since marketing became lower on the list of priorities for many businesses.

She decided to use her formal training experience to provide training to teach business owners how to write an effective marketing plan to help them market themselves, and she also used the time to write a book offering step by step guidance.

This new service proved so popular that, by the end of 2021, Lindsay Woodward Marketing was growing faster than Lindsay could cope with.

After receiving an email from the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) Growth Hub about potential post-Covid grants, she contacted account manager Laura Delahunty.

The Solution

Lindsay and Laura initially had an in-depth chat over the telephone and although the business wasn’t eligible for a grant, Laura realised the business needed strategic support and advice to help build its foundations and work out the direction the business needed to progress in.

The Growth Hub introduced Lindsay to Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce’s Accelerated Growth team, recruitment support channels and acted as a sounding board for her ideas.

Lindsay met with Helena Bassett from the Chamber and signed up to receive business support through the Coventry & Warwickshire Business Support Programme which is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). They split the free support into four sessions.

These covered an initial session about Lindsay Woodward Marketing, an honest appraisal of the business’s website, how to write a one-page business plan and a focus on cash flow to get to grips with the finance of the business.

The Result

Lindsay has taken the advice on board and has opened a virtual office in Leamington to meet clients, is set to take on her first employee and has launched a graphic design service in her business.

She said: “After getting made redundant so many times, I decided it was time to take control because I wanted job security and I wasn’t going to make myself redundant!

“The business was going really well until Covid and then when I introduced new services, I began to grow really fast. It was as this point that I contacted the Growth Hub and I have had a really positive experience.

“Marketing the business wasn’t a problem because I have over 20 years’ experience in the field but the operational side of the business was holding me back.

“Laura at the Growth Hub helped me with the clarity I needed because I had plenty of ideas but I wasn’t sure which were viable and I didn’t know who to speak to in order to access support.

“She put me in touch with Helena because in terms of running the business, I only knew what I had taught myself along the way so to sit down and discuss finances, chasing invoices and how to run the business in the most cost-effective manner were important lessons.

“I had a marketing plan but not a business plan so there were gaps in my knowledge for the operational side of the business and how to grow.

“My husband, Mark, is joining the business as Operations Director since it was a choice between having someone with his experience or hiring a junior member of staff to help with the marketing and me looking after the day-to-day operations, but then I thought I would struggle to find time to focus on new leads.

“So, I’m handing over the operational aspect to Mark and concentrating on our clients and winning new work.

“Since receiving the help from the Growth Hub and the Chamber, I have won major contracts and have others in the pipeline.

“I feel more in control which gives me a positive feeling and it is a relief to hand over the operational aspect of the business to Mark. I have more clarity about the future direction of the business and feel positive about the future.”

The CWLEP Growth Hub

The CWLEP Growth Hub, which is part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), was established by the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership to provide a one-stop shop to help make businesses aware of the advice and support available to them.

The Growth Hub proactively helps businesses grow by providing access to private sector professionals with commercial experience in a whole host of fields including marketing, finance, IT, training and logistics.

The Growth Hub has experts in various fields to help companies access grants and funding to diversify or expand by providing introductions to a range of services and support from other organisations across the region.

The Growth Hub offers help with:

• Access to finance
• Business Innovation
• Business Support
• International Trade Advisers
• Skills4Growth
• Inward Investment
• Planning
• Supply chain opportunities

Partners involved include the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, UKTI, Local Authorities across the sub-region, Coventry University and the University of Warwick.

For further information, email or telephone 0300 060 3747.