Bristol content marketing specialists Sonja Jefferson and Sharon Tanton have set up a unique learning programme for small businesses – in their local pub.
Pub School, which is held in the Lion in Cliftonwood, takes owner-managers on a three-month journey into the world of online communication specific to their own business.
Would-be students were given a taste of Pub School yesterday when Sonja and Sharon hosted an open day for anyone interested in finding out more.
Despite being held in one of Bristol’s best-loved pubs, Pub School is focused on tea and cake rather than harking back to the days of boozy liquid lunches.
And Sonja and Sharon’s ultimate aim is to improve people’s business presence online – instead of inducing an internet hangover.
The best-selling authors co-own Bristol-based online marketing company Valuable Content, which was set up by Sonja more than a decade ago.
She said: “What we want to do is help people shape their vision and strategy for communication online in a way that attracts and engages the customers they really want through content that they love.
“Most small businesses know how important it is to have a strong online presence but don’t really know how to go about making that happen. Owners are so busy doing the day job of building their company and dealing with all that entails that getting their website and marketing right never gets sorted.
“Sharon and I thought about the kind of place we would like to go for a course and, funnily enough, the Lion was our first choice, so we thought let’s go for that. After all, who wouldn’t want to be allowed to spend their afternoon working in the pub?”
Although the surroundings may seem light-hearted, the work given to Pub School students through the monthly workshops and subsequent homework is anything but.
Sharon added: “A good pub is the perfect place to relax and talk, but also, as it’s in the afternoon, there is no one really around so you can also concentrate and get stuck in to the tasks in hand.
“Generally people don’t want to sit in auditoriums being told what to write and how to write it online, basically because it’s boring.
“Creating a community and an audience for your product or service takes time and hard thinking, so you have to make it accessible, fun and easy for people to do in the first place – and then encourage an atmosphere where people can talk and share ideas naturally. Only by doing this do they then start to actually believe their online story means something and want to take it to the next stage.
“The Lion’s landlady dishes out lots of free tea and home-baked cake and then when it’s time to down tools invariably everyone has a drink or two and continues the conversation. It’s a lot of fun – and, unlike most afternoon sessions in a bar, you walk away with more money in your pocket and a clear head about where you’re going.”
Over the three months, guidance and support is also offered by the Valuable Content team and the result at the end of the programme students know what to say and how to say it to market their businesses and drive sales.
They have a clear plan for their website, and a plan for the content they need to create to share their story on social media and in the wider world.
Pub School ‘graduate’ Jon Gaunt, founder of FD Works, said: “The benefits reach even wider than the content driving the business forward from a sales and marketing point of view. You get clarity about who you are as a business and what you stand for.”
Another former Pub School student, Purple House HR owner Lindsey Newman, said: “Pub School was been so worthwhile. We gained more out of six sessions with Sonja and Sharon than we have in a year of coaching in the past.”
Pub School re-opens its doors in September for its next programme.
Sonja and Sharon wrote the international bestselling book Valuable Content Marketing: How to Make Quality Content Your Key to Success and last year were also chosen by the Government-backed digital growth organisation Tech City UK to run its national social media training programme.
Pictured: Sonja and Sharon of Valuable Content
