Two Lichfield graduates who met at university have set up their own business as a traditional aid to the world of social media.
Having completed their masters degrees in marketing at the University of Sheffield, James Price and Hugh Kinnear dismissed the university jobs fairs and milk rounds after spotting a gap in the marketplace.
The duo are post-graduates in marketing and have found that even though social media has its place “traditional conversations can still rule and the two go hand in hand perfectly”. Their company Naughty Horse Promotions specialises in conversational direct marketing – the creation of newsletters, flyers and leaflets to be hand delivered by a friendly face and voice explaining its contents.
Business has been successful during the first few months and the company has been commissioned by many local companies including cutlery and giftware firm Arthur Price.
Hugh explained why he’d decided to go down a non-traditional graduate route: “Applying for a job was a virtual experience – thousands applied for the same jobs and CVs sent via email were sifted based upon box ticking, probably dismissing many who may not have had the right qualifications but had the social and inter-personal skills to succeed.
“This virtual world, together with our marketing skills and qualifications gave us the desire to turn our thoughts into a business. We have grown up during this social media revolution and have been the targets of many campaigns. We felt that there was a gap in the market for a traditional direct sales and marketing approach for small and medium sized businesses to supplement this and so James and I created Naughty Horse Promotions.”
James added: “It is our mission to work with local companies, offering flexible packages (tailor made to size and budget) in order to help them get their material and offers into the minds of the right people, in the right place, at the right time.
“We hope that our approach of traditional conversational direct marketing will help businesses communicate their complex offers in a more personable and friendly way, re-enforcing and going hand in hand with any messages put across through other more modern means such as social media.”
For more information, email james@naughtyhorsepromo.com or hugh@naughtyhorsepromo.com.
