HamishErskine.net
Website and Marketing tips for Small Business
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjqOsObKptQ
In January 2012, I launched my plumbing business, having just retrained as a plumber. I never imagined that 3 years later I would find myself as the UK’s national face, not only of plumbing, but also of online marketing for small business. In November 2014, I was head-hunted for the government’s Business is GREAT campaign, which ran from December 2014 to March 2015. I was featured in nearly every national and local newspaper, on massive billboards all around the country, on the radio, and on YouTube and banner ads on the internet. All because they liked how I was running my plumbing business and successfully marketing myself online.
Since 2012, I have been on 2 steep learning curves:
1) Plumbing - How to fix plumbing problems without flooding people’s homes
2) Marketing - How to market myself successfully and manage my own business
The plumbing learning curve was relatively straight-forward. I had just finished my plumbing training, and I was full of plumbing confidence, raring to get up and go.
The marketing learning curve was more of a challenge. Before retraining as a plumber, I had worked for 17 years as a maths teacher. As a teacher, it was always someone else’s job to make sure there were enough students to keep me in a job. So back in 2012, I was a complete beginner when it came to marketing.
In addition, the UK was still in fairly major recession in 2012. If I was going to make my new plumbing business successful in a recession, I had to learn marketing fast. And I quickly came to realise that even though Exeter is quite a small place, there are lots of other plumbers to compete with!
From the start, it was obvious to me that if I wanted to market myself effectively, I need to good website. Instead of paying someone to make me a website, I decided to learn how to build my own. I started by creating a very basic website, but it has evolved along the way. You can visit my plumbing website by clicking this button:
By the start of 2013, I was busy most of the time. By the start of 2014, so much work was coming in that I was having to turn a lot away or pass it on to other plumbing friends. By the start of 2015, I was all over the national press!
Now in 2017, I have decided it is time to teach my web design and marketing skills to others. I have created my first course on Udemy.com entitled 'Build a website with Rapidweaver'.
This website is intended as an additional resource to help my students. For further information about Rapidweaver, please see my Rapidweaver page.
Now in 2017, I have decided it is time to teach my web design and marketing skills to others. I have created my first course on Udemy.com entitled 'Build a website with Rapidweaver'.
This website is intended as an additional resource to help my students. For further information about Rapidweaver, please see my Rapidweaver page.
As seen on billboards
Hamish Erskine Marketing
Web design by Hamish? Och aye! That too.
© 2020 Hamish Erskine, i@henet
Web design by Hamish? Och aye! That too.
© 2020 Hamish Erskine, i@henet