This month the Belvoir Group was delighted to win the Best Investor Communication Award at the prestigious AIM Awards, sponsored by BDO in association with the London Stock Exchange. We have been shortlisted for this award for the past few years, and so it was incredibly gratifying to finally get the win and to have the hard work and effort we put into communication recognised and acknowledged.
Together with my colleague, Louise George, who is the Belvoir Group’s Chief Finance Officer, we meet regularly with both our institutional and private investors to ensure they have a clear understanding of our business model and financial performance. During these meetings we always endeavour to be open and transparent in responding to investor questions, and this has enabled us to build significant levels of trust, and so we are really pleased that the Belvoir Group was chosen as the award winner in this category.
As we all know, running a business can be very challenging, and it is sometimes hard to carve out enough time to focus on marketing and communication, but I believe making this a priority is definitely worthwhile. In today’s post-pandemic world, more people than ever seem to appreciate doing business with ‘real’ people that they feel they can trust. Ensuring that your marketing strategy hits the right note, whether that is social media posts, advertising, phone calls or emails, can really help in the development of client relationships.
The Belvoir Group recognises that some busy franchisees value the opportunity for extra help with their marketing and client communication strategies, and for this reason we have created an optional managed marketing programme. For a small fee the Belvoir Marketing Team can help franchisees with their social media management, social and display advertising, email marketing, content writing, video content and creation and many other communication strategies. The service is proving to be very popular amongst busy franchisees within the Group, and we are starting to see some great results for those offices who have signed up. As well as promoting the properties that businesses have for sale or to rent, sharing other engaging content can help to demonstrate the team spirit within that business, and enables people to put a face to the names of team members they are dealing with. This all helps to create a healthy balance of interesting and appealing content and communication with clients.
Another recent development has been the creation of the Belvoir Group podcast. Podcasts remain incredibly popular, and are yet another way of communicating with people – you could perhaps be speaking to them when they are listening whilst driving home, or they are in the gym or walking the dog etc. You never know when people will listen to podcasts, but they provide another opportunity for entrepreneurs to talk about topical subjects, address concerns, and establish their position as an expert in their field. Perhaps this is something that you could consider adding to your marketing strategy?
Communicating with our franchisees and their teams is vital to the Belvoir Group. This was never more apparent than during the pandemic, when the Senior Management Team worked flat out at all hours of the day and night to ensure that everyone had the most up to date information to run their business. The pandemic may have passed, but the Franchise Support Team still works very hard to ensure that everyone has the information they need to run their businesses effectively whilst remaining legally compliant. A monthly on-line newsletter, professionally produced by a local journalist and design team also enables us to share and celebrate any good news stories, and achievements of franchisees and their teams.
In conclusion, good communication is a powerful tool, whether that is to inform investors, help franchisees run their business, or reach out to clients. PR, marketing, social media, advertising, newsletters and of course your website content are all examples of areas that can benefit from constant attention to keep people engaged and interested in what you have to say. There’s never been a better time to spread the word about your franchise and your team!
