“I’m not your average business owner,” admits Chelle McCann of Social Sparkle. “I kind of fell in to this,” she continues modestly down the phone from her hometown, Brighton.
Think Bigger is talking with Chelle, a business director who built her own social media agency. It’s not that she was lucky to find the right business for her, just that she naturally grew in to her market by being thoroughly involved in it – maternity and parenting.
During her stint in the property industry, Chelle became pregnant. And by blogging the trials and tribulations of balancing work with pregnancy and parenting, she became a voice for other mothers. Now she offers a social media service to maternity wear and parenting clients, including a number of SMEs.
With her, we take a retrospective look at SAP’s Insight Report: The SME Growth Imperative for 2012.
Firstly, thanks for chatting with us. How did you find the report?
“Looking back, and now we’ve got a good view of how 2012 unfolded, it makes a lot of sense.”
In what way? One key suggestion was that finance would be the biggest concern for SMEs in 2012. Does that still hold?
“Yeah. It’d be silly to say that finances weren’t top of the agenda for most organisations. Although, from my viewpoint there were two main concerns: finances and engagement. Our growth and the growth of our clients was mostly down to people wanting to improve the way they connect with each other – be that with social media or marketing campaigns.”
“I suppose they come hand in hand. The ability to add marketing comes with the money to do so. But when sales are tight, reinvesting money in marketing and engagement campaigns is difficult.”
So how have you stayed financially competitive?
“It’s about being flexible. In some cases we charge at half the rate of most agencies, all-depending on the client. For our customers that means they get a lower cost. It also means they are more accepting of our service – allowing us to work efficiently and to our timeframes. We also do short term contracts with rolling periods of notice.”
The report also suggested that SMEs would be instrumental in the revival of our economy. What strengths do SMEs have, compared with larger organisations?
“For me it’s all down to people. Personality and attitude can go a long way. Big agencies and businesses have, in some cases, lost the human aspect of what it is they do. We really love what we do. Often that’s the case with smaller companies; the people who are growing the business are close to the surface, so their passion shines through.”
“SMEs are also more innovative because they want to grow quickly. I’m in social media, which changes all the time, so we need to move quickly and keep pace with it. Growth often means change, and change is often down to innovation.”
Aside from an emotional investment, SMEs must have invested money to grow too. Was technology the main focus of investment – as the report suggests?
“Tech has changed so much this year. So yeah, you need to keep up, invest and learn. No one wants to be left behind. It’s an expensive game but there are good ways of getting around expensive training courses, such as simply speaking with other people and businesses that are learning.”
“I’ve also seen a rise in BYOD and mobile technology at work. It’s a great way to allow people to think outside of the box and the office. Rather than an investment in technology I see it as an investment in people.”
Now we’re heading further in to 2013, you must’ve set some goals for this year?
“I’m changing the way I work this year. Rather than natural, organic growth, we’re focusing on strategy and expanding with purpose. With more structure we can forecast and figure out where we can develop and in what areas we can improve.”
“For many it’s taken that last few years to get an opportunity to rethink things. Now it looks like some positivity is returning and businesses will start to look ahead. I know clients who are rebranding and buying new buildings – fundamental changes as a result of working through the downturn.”
Good news, Chelle! Stay tuned for our SME forecast for 2013.