Emma Carter from Smarter Media - Summer Q&A 2021

Today we're discussing some of those things with Emma Carter who is managing director of Smarter Media in Swindon. This company offers digital marketing support to ambitious and growing businesses across the UK.

What are your plans for July in your business? 

Recruitment remains a big priority for us - we currently have two roles open with plans for a further role in Oct-Dec quarter.  

What are your personal plans for this month? 

Having been inspired by our exec chair Karl’s commitment and utter determination complete the Race to the Stones this weekend, myself & Charlotte (our business administrator) have signed up to the Diabetes UK 1 million step challenge - I need to do 10k steps per day from 1st July-30 September, which might not seem much, but my average is 3200, so it’s a big challenge for me.  My aim is to do 450k steps in July.

July 19 has been dubbed ‘freedom day’ what things will you be looking forward to in business and life that you’ve had to put on hold? 

In businesses, it has to be getting out to meet clients and attending networking events face to face again.  I miss the excitement of visiting clients & seeing their business in operation.  

I personally have found the limited contact really tough to deal with & the thought of ‘normality’ resuming is incredibly exciting!

Personally, it will be the ability to travel again in the UK or abroad, it’s my favourite past-time and it’s been incredibly hard to have been so restricted. 

We already have beach day trips, theme parks, zip wires & UK city breaks planned for the August summer holidays however the temptation for an overseas holiday is so strong!

It’s also the month when the summer Olympics – Tokyo 2020 – begin. Do you have any Olympicthoughts/feelings/experiences you’d like to share? 

The 1992 Barcelona Olympics hold a special place in my heart. I was 12 and spending the summer with my grandparents in Southsea and I remember the excitement building around Sally Gunnel, Linford Christie and Chris Boardman performances.  

It was made even more special when we returned to school in September and Kris Akabussi visited us to see his bronze medals.  That, and the Barcelona Montserrat Caballe & Freddie Mercury collab is one of my favourites.

July is often associated with sport in the UK – with other events like the British Open (golf) and also Wimbledon? How important is sport to you in your life or business? 

I have never been a big participant in sports.  I have to be very strict with myself to do what little I already do and it is a constant battle!  

From a watching point of view though, I absolutely love American Football and have been a season ticket holder for the London Games for a number of years. 

The TV is auto-tuned to turn to Sky Sports RedZone and the dulcet American tones of Scott Hansen, on a Sunday at 6pm from September to January. And the day after the Superbowl is the first holiday I book every year.

On a much lighter note – July 17 is World Emoji Day and this often trends on social media. What do you think of emojis? 

In the words of my 15 year old daughter “you might use them mum, but you don’t understand them…”  

Yes I use emojis. A lot. The same five or six. ALL the time. But, I am also a prolific exclamation point user, so it’s surprise really is it?!  

I mostly use emojis on What’s App & via our internal chat system at the office, but I would never dream of using them in a professional capacity

Can you name one business you’d like to give a summer shout out too? Who has gone the extra mile for you recently? 

I’m going to cheat & name more than one.  We’ve had some great support from the local community in the last few months such as Jim Parsons at KLOC, Chris Spratling at Chalkhill Blue and Fiona Scott at Scott Media - but my special shout out goes to Helen Rich at Taste Of Bath.

Her sweet hampers are bloody awesome, and incredibly popular with everyone who has one, but the growth she has delivered in her company during the last 12 months has been phenomenal & deserves a special shout out.

Have you got any services or special offers you’d like to mention? 

We have a few offers running for July to September.  

The first is an introducer/referral scheme where both you & the person you refer can each receive up to £150 Amazon, M&S or Love 2 Shop vouchers.  The second is a half price Web/SEO/PPC audit, which is then refunded when you proceed with our main services and the third is a 50% reduction in fees for the first three months.  

Obviously, different T&Cs apply to each, but we wanted to make sure we were giving an option of offers to match the needs our clients most ask for. 

And finally:

We’ve produced some stunning results for a mix of our clients, across our range of services, this year to date.  I’d love to share the specifics with any business out there looking to grow their business through digital methods.  

Give me a call on 07748 965034 or follow us on our social media channels to keep up to date with what we are doing!

For more information visit www.smarter-media.co.uk