Birmingham PR agency EAST VILLAGE.has launched a new service for small businesses, offering a portal of free downloads, as well as tailored PR and social media packages.
Pocket Sized PR is a new initiative by EAST VILLAGE., an agency that specialises in PR, marketing and events for retail, leisure and hospitality brands. Focused on start-ups and small businesses, a dedicated page on the agency’s website shares PR and social media best practice, jargon-free step-by-step guides, and templates for press releases, marketing plans and more.
In addition to the suite of downloads, Pocket Sized PR also offers three packages for PR and social media support, tailored to small business budgets. The ‘Getting Started’ packages provide one-off support to help brands kick-start their marketing, and the ‘Step-Change’ and ‘Step-Up’ options aim to relieve brands of the marketing burden, with monthly management by EAST VILLAGE.’s communications experts.
Speaking about the launch, EAST VILLAGE. Founder and Managing Director, Tara Tomes, comments:
“For yearsI’ve tried to balance how an agency that works with national brands can also help start-ups too. It seems simple but you’ll often see agencies choose one or the other; be ambitious and play with the big boys (with big budgets) or focus on small businesses and niche markets.
Since I started EAST VILLAGE. I’ve wanted to do both but faced the challenge of how you go to market with two pricing strategies; after all, small businesses simply don’t have the same kind of budgets (if at all) as bigger brands.”
Celebrating its seventh anniversary later this year, EAST VILLAGE. prides itself on doing things differently and delivering ‘PR with personality’. The team already manages PR, social media and marketing campaigns for businesses including Castle Fine Art, Centrick Property, Colliers International, and Living Well Consortium. In addition to Evolve Café, The Butchers Social and Living For The Weekend; which runs Birmingham Cocktail Weekend and Birmingham Wine Weekend.
“For all its faults, this pandemic has provided some much-needed time for strategy, and clarity about what I want EAST VILLAGE. to stand for. I am so excited that we’ve crafted an initiative that can help small businesses; even if brand owners just download one of our guides or templates, I know the difference that can make,” Tara continues.
“Of course, we want to work with these amazing businesses too – I know the blood, sweat and tears that goes into running a small business, so we’ve gone against the agency model of never publicly disclosing fees to create packages that are easy to understand and tailored to small, sometimes non-existent, budgets. It seems to have worked too; just three weeks into June and we’ve won seven new clients, five of which have come via Pocket Sized PR. Proof indeed that an agency’s value isn’t in its day rate; it’s about the value that we bring to clients, no matter how big or small.
