Social Media for Small Business 

You’ll start by understanding how to put a social media strategy in place and then this is used to identify the right platforms for your customers, as well as the tools that will help you succeed more easily.

The afternoon is all about optimising performance, how to test different approaches and then you’ll end the day by learning to use paid ads and influencers without breaking the bank!

The whole session is interactive, packed with examples and exercises, where you’ll get to test out the learning directly on your own business and get instant feedback from the experts.

All attendees should come away having achieved

· Clarity on what social media platforms are right for their audience

· Learn how to use tools like Canva and scheduling tools to deliver efficient and converting content

· Come away understanding the metrics you’ll need to keep improving your results

· Build a testing plan

· Learn how to use social ads and influencers in the most cost-effective way

Meet the speakers:

James has been running his own marketing agency for over 15 years and for the last 5 years has been working directly with small business owners to help them make the most of marketing with a special focus on how social media works within the small business world. He’s worked across multiple sectors and has a passion for helping people understand their audience and deliver quality content for them.

Gaby has spent her entire career, both client and agency side, working in social media. She’s responsible for running the social media accounts for multiple clients and even runs her own fashion business where she’s responsible for driving engagement on social media. Gaby loves working with business owners and showing them that social media is not a scary thing to be afraid of but can be fun and is much easier than people realise.

As this workshop is fully-funded, businesses are subject to funders' eligibility criteria. Please keep an eye out for communication from our Enquiry team at GM Business Growth Hub who will discuss your eligibility and complete paperwork. If your place is confirmed, you will receive an email from us with further details.
- Greater Manchester Clients Only

- Sole trader, micro business, small and medium-sized enterprise, or large business.

-Social enterprises where these engage in economic activity

For more information on how your data is stored please visit our privacy policy.

HR Employment Plan 

This workshop will cover everything from the legal obligations of employing people, your responsibilities when it comes to HR policies and procedures, through to effective management of people in 2024 to ensure people are performing at their best.

The workshop will cover the following topics:

- Employment law, the fundamentals

- Understanding legal aspects of employing people

- Recruiting and starting work, your responsibilities

- Work arrangement – contracts, probation, working time regulations, pay and pension

- Leave – holidays, absence and other types of leave

-Managing conflict and conduct – disciplinaries and grievances

-Termination of employment

 - Policies and procedures – your responsibilities and the statutory legal requirements

 - Working with agencies

- What is an agency

- Watch outs and how to best work with them

 - Intro to effectively managing people

- What people expect from their manager in today’s world

-Motivating people

-Managing difficult conversations

What will attendees learn/take away from the session?

Attendees will gain invaluable and practical insight to employ people and ensure they are compliant with current employment law.

Attendees will understand exactly what they need to have in place when employing people and learn skills to proactively manage people.

Bio of Deliverer

Claire is a HR professional of over 23 years having started her career at the Royal Bank of Scotland and moved to mostly manufacturing, retail and family businesses, driving company growth by supporting managers and business owners to focus on employees. Claire’s strengths include ensuring full employment law compliance by understanding the businesses she works with and developing HR strategies to support company growth. Claire focuses on supporting start ups and scale ups.

As this workshop is fully-funded, businesses are subject to funders' eligibility criteria. If your place is confirmed, you will receive an email from us with further details.

- Greater Manchester Clients Only

- Micro business, small and medium-sized enterprise, or large business.

- Social enterprises where these engage in economic activity.

For more information on how your data is stored please visit our privacy policy.

Intellectual Property 

Do you know the difference between a patent and a design? Between copyright protection and a trade mark registration? Do you understand the dos and don’ts when considering making use of these rights?

In this interactive session, we will empower you with knowledge of at least the basics, and challenge and address any misconceptions that may be lurking.

Join us for a guide through the world of Intellectual Property (IP) – from application through to commercialisation - to get the facts and understand the benefits to your business.

All attendees should come away having achieved

· Knowledge of the different types of IP rights that exist, including how they differ and how they can be used in a complementary manner.

· An understanding of the processes involved in obtaining and maintaining the rights.

· The value of the rights to a business, including ways in which the rights can be used.

Meet the speakers:

Aimee Cawley

Partner – Patent Attorney, Marks & Clerk LLP

Aimee undertakes work in both the chemical and mechanical fields. Her predominant practice areas include: chemical engineering, in particular relating to petrochemicals, and renewable energy; inventions relying on physical and inorganic chemistry, such as energy storage devices, dental compositions, catalysis, indicators materials, and materials processing technology.

Aimee also has experience of inventions in the residential and commercial construction sector, pharmaceutical manufacturing processes and equipment, and medical and surgical devices, as well as glass-related inventions, having previously trained and practised in the Intellectual Property department of Pilkington Group Limited

Aimee brings almost 20 years of experience in drafting, filing and prosecuting UK, European and International patent applications for a range of clients from SMEs to universities to listed companies, and is readily able to understand and work with their differing business needs. She is also able to advise on issues relating to infringement and validity of third party patents, including preparation of opposition cases and attendance at hearings before the European Patent Office.

Aimee joined Marks & Clerk in 2009 and became a partner in 2013. Aimee graduated from the University of Oxford in 2001 with an MChem in Chemistry

Graeme Murray

Senior Associate – Trade Mark & Designs Attorney, Marks & Clerk LLP

Graeme Murray has years of experience in advising individuals, companies and organisations from a diverse range of industries and professions on the selection, protection and exploitation of their brands and designs.

Graeme has a particular interest in the creative industries sector and is a member of Marks & Clerk’s Creative Industries group. Graeme has acted for a broad range of clients within the sector, including TV production companies, design agencies, and musicians.

Graeme graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2005 with an LLB (Hons) in European, International and Comparative Law. His degree included a semester at the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands. Graeme was awarded a Distinction in the postgraduate diploma in Legal Practice in 2009 and entered the trade mark profession in the same year.

In June 2011 he completed a post graduate certificate in Trade Mark Law and Practice at Queen Mary College, University of London. In June 2012 he qualified as a Trade Mark Attorney having completed The Professional Certificate in Trade Mark Practice at Nottingham Law School.

Graeme practised at the North West office of another firm of Trade Mark Attorneys before joining Marks & Clerk in 2019.

Eligibility 

As this workshop is fully-funded, businesses are subject to funders' eligibility criteria. Please keep an eye out for communication from our Enquiry team at GM Business Growth Hub who will discuss your eligibility and complete paperwork. If your place is confirmed, you will receive an email from us with further details.
- Greater Manchester Clients Only

- Sole trader, micro business, small and medium-sized enterprise, or large business.

-Social enterprises where these engage in economic activity

For more information on how your data is stored please visit our privacy policy.

Meet the speakers

David Jones is a Senior Bid Consultant from Bespoke Bids, a Manchester-based bid consultancy who have supported clients of all sizes to win contracts across various industries including health care, training and education, facilities management, legal and professional services, transport, robotics design, hospital and school construction, broadcast media and many more. With 30 years of experience, David has extensive experience across multiple sectors which entails developing client-specific Bid Win Strategy Workshops and Bid Preparation Workshops as well as Bid/No Bid decision sessions.

Nadir Sultan is a Social Value Specialist from the GM Business Growth Hub. Prior to his role as a Social Value Specialist, Nadir was working as a Senior Social Value Advisor at The Social Value Portal where he helped to embed the National TOMs framework into local authority procurement across the country. Nadir has vast experience in working with commissioners, procurement teams and businesses to understand, embed and think about social value in their everyday working lives.

Paul Vicario is a Social Value Specialist from the GM Business Growth Hub with 5 years of experience delivering social value support to construction companies. Paul has worked on public sector contracts across the North West and have supported bid writing teams with successful tender submissions.

Eligibility

As this workshop is fully-funded, businesses are subject to funders' eligibility criteria. Please keep an eye out for communication from our Enquiry team at GM Business Growth Hub who will discuss your eligibility and complete paperwork. If your place is confirmed, you will receive an email from us with further details.

- Business trading in the Greater Manchester region.

- Sole trader, micro business, small and medium-sized enterprise, or large business.

- Social enterprises where these engage in economic activity.

For more information on how your data is stored please visit our privacy policy.