We recently talked with international marketing professional and entrepreneur Toni Navarro, to discuss how EnterprisingYou helped him survive the Covid storm by changing his business strategy…
Hello Toni, tell us more about you and your business?
I’m a digital marketing consultant, trainer and SEO specialist, with over ten years of experience working with companies internationally, in countries from Spain and Portugal to the US and the UK. My business is Toni Navarro Consulting – it’s a small, remote digital marketing agency based in Manchester.
So, what motivated you to start a digital marketing agency?
My mission is helping businesses to thrive with their sales and marketing strategies. For the past four years or so, I’ve dedicated my time and effort to build this project, working closely with people who are willing to invest not only money but, more importantly, time and effort into getting the best results for their businesses. It’s great to be able to help different companies all over the world to thrive.
What impact did Covid have on your business?
Covid has been really hard for a lot of my clients, particularly for those in the travel and hospitality sectors. Unfortunately, this meant some clients had to cancel their contracts and marketing investments. Last March, April and May, I lost more than 60% of the business income from those directly affected by Covid, and the training that we had lined up was also cancelled. Fortunately, the situation has improved for the business, and we're now heading in the right direction and looking at growing over the next few months.
That must have been a worrying time. How did you have to adapt?
It was definitely concerning. In terms of changes, we used to run face to face training and workshops for small business owners, but the pandemic meant we had to pivot everything online. When we moved online, we also decided to focus more on the healthcare and business services. By doing this, we have overcome the first 12 of the Covid crisis, and we hope the situation improves for us and for every business in the following months.
What did you do to overcome the challenges of a pandemic and come out fighting?
The first thing was focusing more on the core services of the business and completely rethinking my strategy. It was also pivoting face to face training to deliver online webinars and workshops, helping clients and others as much as possible, and building strong business partnerships. I also had to focus on specific sectors that I could provide the most value and deliver the best marketing to.
Why did you approach EnterprisingYou? What help were you looking for?
I approached EnterprisingYou because I needed help to manage and run my business strategy. As a business owner and marketer, I had many ideas and things going on all the time; I just needed a business coach and advisor to guide me through it and give me some advice on how to focus on the things that matter more to grow my business.
What help did your Business Coach provide?
The advice and support from the EnterprisingYou team and my Business Coach Nick were superb; not only in terms of the business advice, but also with mental health support and accountability, which has been key to powering through these difficult times. Nick has been supportive, easy to work with, and he's always been there to give the best advice possible for me to get the most out of the coaching programme.
What other help did you receive from EnterprisingYou?
I really benefited from taking part in the free training courses. This was useful for helping me with areas such as Linkedin, business growth and strategy, how to manage teams remotely, and how to effectively network. There were so many opportunities; I honestly wouldn’t be able to list them all, but I was able to access everything easily through the online portal.
How has the EnterprisingYou support helped for the future and what are your plans for growth?
EnterprisingYou have helped me to find more clarity with my business strategy, as well as providing me with plenty of useful resources to use in order to continue growing my business. My future plans are expanding the team, looking at other countries to work in, launching new online marketing training for business owners and CMOs, and committing to deliver the best marketing solutions for our current and future clients.
You can find out what Toni and his team are up to here:
- Website: https://toninavarro.net/
- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/toninavarro_digital/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ToniNavarroYes
- Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/toninavarromk/ / https://www.linkedin.com/company/toni-navarro-consulting
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/toninavarro.marketing
We provide fully-funded support to the self-employed and gig economy workers across Greater Manchester. If you would like to find out more about EnterprisingYou, register online or email info@enterprising-you.co.uk.
More information about the EnterprisingYou programme can be found here.