About me
An influencer marketing strategist, I help brands understand how to work with online influencers and how this engagement should form part of their marketing strategy. To grow my profile in this area and to increase my network of potential clients, I co-founded the Men's Lifestyle Influencer Database - a comprehensive database of UK-based men’s lifestyle influencers. The database is sold as a low-cost subscription product and we count some well-known high street brands among our clients.
I’m also a blogger, writing for Buckets and Spades - one of the UK’s top men’s lifestyle blogs. I work closely with the editor to build our profile amongst readers and brands, and work with those same brands to create content that delivers their message, effectively, to our audience. To date, we’ve produced photographic, video, audio, and written content for some of the world’s biggest brands, including Levi's, Nike, Ford, Coca-Cola, and more.
Projects
- A Guide to Fitzrovia, LondonUS brand Huckberry asked us to produce a guide to London. A tall ask, that one; so, we scaled it back to focus exclusively on Fitzrovia. Over two days, we took photos of places we knew - and those we didn't - gathering thoughts, inspiration, and ideas for a written piece that would appear on Huckberry's online journal. The result is a visually stunning and highly engaging look (if we say so ourselves) at an often overlooking part of the city.
- The EssentialsWith Love Project - site dedicated to finding people who produce things with a passion and purpose - asked me to pick a few of my essentials: those items that either can't live with out or carry with me on a daily basis. Working in collaboration with two brands, I picked eight complementary items that work together well as a set. Writing and photographing a flat lay, I produced a short snappy piece that detailed my reason for choosing each item.
- You got any pie on ya?For The Holborn - a bi-annual magazine focusing on quality brands, products, experiences, and travel - I wrote a piece looking at the history of pie shops in London: their past, present, and (possible) future. Printed in their fourth issue, my article was four pages of glossy, pie coated delight.
- 6 Things All Smart Men Carry in Their PocketsCoach Magazine asked me to come up with some ideas for short written pieces that would appeal to their audience of late-20s - mid-30s. My first was a list of items that all men should carry in their pockets, which was shared over a couple of hundred times across social media.
- City Guide | Discovering Independent LiverpoolEnterprise Rent-A-Car and UEFA asked us to produce a city guide to Liverpool, one that encapsulates the independent spirit of the city. We spent two days in the city, researching, discovering, experiencing, and photographing independent stores, restaurants, and bars. Our final piece was a brightly shot, tightly written insight into the city, which Enterprise publicised in their e-mail marketing and through social channels.
- A Moment in Time with Citizen WatchesCitizen Watches asked us to capture a moment in our day - one that involved an inspirational light source. Over two days, we captured footage of light sources at Southbank and DLR at dusk. Citizen took our footage and used it for their global online campaign, A Moment In Time.
Work history
Co-founder
Influencer marketing has been the buzzword(s) of the past couple of years. The issue for many brands is, that while they know they need to engage with influencers, they’re not always sure who these influencers are and where (and how) they can be found. To fill this knowledge gap, specifically with regards to UK men’s lifestyle influencers, the editor of Buckets and Spades and I created a database that catalogues these influencers and provides contact details, social channel links, follower numbers, and more.
Updated once a month, we add newly discovered influencers, update all their follower numbers, and provide a brief analysis of the changes and trends in the data. We’re currently working to automate this service, so it can become a weekly delivery. This should help our clients keep better track of influencers and also provide more granular statistics, enabling greater analysis of the data.
So far, the database has a number of high profile clients, including Whistles and Made.com. A very low cost service, my target is to reach 100 clients by the end of 2015, using a combination of networking, direct outreach, content marketing, and a series of e-campaigns to spread the word amongst prospective clients.
Senior Writer
One of the top men’s lifestyle blogs in the UK, Buckets and Spades has an audience of almost 500,000 across different social channels. We focus on style, photography, design, and introducing people to little-known brands, products, people, and projects.
Our approach has proved popular with readers and with brands and we’re frequently invited to work with brands - both large and small - to help deliver their message to our audience. To date, we’ve collaborated with hundreds of brands, with some of our most recent projects including:
- Filming around London for Citizen Watches’ global campaign ‘A Moment In Time’
- Two days exploring Fitzrovia and compiling a ‘city’ guide for US online retailer, Huckberry
- Documenting our discovery of the independent stores, bars, and restaurants of Liverpool for Enterprise Rent-a-Car and UEFA
- A road trip to Brighton to capture images for a Citroen’s #LoveC4Cactus social campaign
- Presenting ASUS’s latest tablet computer, including a piece to camera for their television ad campaign
My principal role for Buckets and Spades is the creation, curation, and promotion of content. As well as writing, I’ve developed skills in photography, filming, and image editing. Our photos, in particular, always receive high praise from readers and brands, with the blog’s Pinterest and Instagram accounts gathering 400,000 and 36,000 followers respectively.
I’m also heavily involved in developing new business for the blog: liaising with clients to pitch for work, negotiating budgets, and clarifying briefs. I’ve also built an extensive client relationship management (CRM) system, so we can collect, record, and monitor our relationship with both paying clients and prospective clients. In 2015 alone, we won over £50,000 of business and pitched for almost £50,000 more.
+ Show more
Skills
- Advertising
- Events
- Marketing PR
- Writing
- Copywriting
- Editing
- Blogs
- Creative
- Social Media Marketing
- Web Content
- Excel
- Indesign
- Photoshop
- Powerpoint
- Word
Education
International Business and Management
-
History
-