Mid Ulster’s Social Enterprises encouraged to “Tell their Story”

Representatives from more than 23 social enterprises from across the district, and further afield, attended Mid Ulster District Council’s ‘Effective Marketing for Social Enterprises’ Seminar last week.

The event, funded by the Council and organised as part of the Mid Ulster Social Enterprise Programme, took place at the Burnavon, Cookstown last Tuesday.

Opening the seminar, Chair of Mid Ulster District Council, Councillor Sean McPeake said, “Mid Ulster District Council values the work of its social enterprises and the outstanding contribution they make to the social and economic life of our District. Indeed most are so busy delivering their services they don’t have the time to promote their excellent work; today’s event is aimed at helping them address this by giving them the opportunity to tell their story!”

The keynote speaker was Dave Linton, the founder of the inspirational social enterprise Madlug, whose core mission is to help ‘Children in Care to carry their Lives with Dignity’. Dave inspired the audience with his insights into how he made Madlug an iconic brand attributing this success to a combination of getting the right brand and helping customers to show they care. Dave’s key tips to successful marketing were to ‘find your own story’, ‘empower your customers to be the hero’ and to ‘invite people into your story’.

Debbie Rymer, the founder of SAND Marketing and an award-winning marketer explained how telling your social enterprise story is an essential promotional tool for engaging with customers and stakeholders. Debbie offered a range of practical hints and tips about how enterprises can both attract and retain the attention of customers using different media channels, and also gave examples of how to make storytelling powerful to achieve impact and greater customer engagement.

Patricia Elliott, from our Workspace office in Draperstown then outlined key mechanisms and online tools social enterprises can avail of to more effectively profile their work and promote their products, services and stories.

During the event attendees had the opportunity to talk to the guest speakers as well as the agencies present to find out about the range of support available.

For more information on this event, or to find out what other similar events are coming up, contact us on 028 796 28113.