My name is Lauren Bell and I have a hair salon called Belle Ame in Lancaster England and I’ve been working with Catherine for around two years
Catherine’s had an amazing impact on the salon and on the business as a whole. It looks professional and it’s cohesive through all the social media platforms from Google ads to Google to Instagram Facebook. It all sort of is as one and works really well and it’s definitely led to sales and revenue which is great.
Also, Catherine does get at me, which is what you need, well what I need as a small business owner. She whips me into shape and puts me on task because sometimes you’re spinning a lot of plates and Catherine focuses me on one thing and sort of flies at me and makes me execute which is what I need. We work really well together, so I had a bit of an idea because Catherine was like “We need to do something big to get noticed.” I was like “Oh the Barbie and Ken film was coming out” and I knew it would probably be quite big and appeal to a lot of people in different ways. And normally I’d be like too insecure to maybe do something like that, but Catherine was like “Oh I think that’s a really good idea.” So, we did the hair for it, but Catherine executed like how to get it out to the papers and she got us on like Heart radio and she just really rolled it out and believed in it and pushed it forwards. Whereas I think sometimes when you’re running a business or like you are creative, you’re not always confident to sort of do it but if someone sort of has your back a bit.
She really helps in a lot of ways. I would never have gone for an award, but Catherine was like “Oh it will be really good to get the salon out there if it’s an award-winning salon.” So, we went in for a local award and we won it this year, and it’s really given us sort of like a bit of prestige and sort of made us come across as like a higher-level brand and without Catherine and putting all this groundwork in that definitely wouldn’t have happened and thanks Catherine.
Three things that have definitely benefited me and the salon for using Catherine’s services is definitely like the brand – that the salon actually has like a brand feel which is what I really wanted. Catherine set the bar high so I feel like we we’re seen as sort of a higher classier salon which means I can charge more, which we have been charging more, and we’ve had a a lot of new clients from Catherine coming in. So, it’s led to increasing revenue. I think when it is tough times like it is at the moment, with everything going on, you sort of would tend to back off marketing and be like oh it’s an expense that we don’t need. But actually, we’ve hammered hard down into it and it’s paid off so it’s sort of almost going against your gut, where your gut is telling you to hold on to like your cash flow. With sort of letting it go, letting it go by paying Catherine it’s actually led to more sales, which is good. You’ve just got to play the long game with it and it’s really paid off. Like I say, we’ve used Catherine for two years and it’s definitely sort of paying off now. Do you know, sometimes you do stuff, and you can’t always grasp how much it’s benefiting but it’s only over a longer period that you can see it has. Like I say, it’s just Catherine using all the platforms together.
Also personally, as well, sometimes I will speak to Catherine because it’s really tough being a business owner, especially a small one and you feel quite lonely. It’s nice to sort of have someone in your corner a little bit. You know we do keep it mainly on topic with marketing but obviously you do drift off. Catherine’s got full access to our sales and everything and she really knows what’s going on in the business, which I think really benefits her but it also benefits me. It’s nice, sometimes we might drift off topic a little bit but it’s nice to have someone that I can speak to about something else that’s going on in the business but mainly is marketing which is good.
I’d probably say my favourite thing about working with Catherine is really selfish but it just takes the pressure off me which I know sounds so selfish. It’s just nice to know that there’s someone else batting for the team because you feel it’s relentless sometimes. It’s just nice to know there’s someone else pushing because some days you don’t always have a push in you and that’s the one thing. She’s always fun and strong and positive and she works like system based but she is a nice fun human too. So, you feel like you’re getting both, like strategic and also like a nice person, it’s fun and upbeat which is good.
Surprised at the outcome, to be honest. Like, if you look back at the Barbie campaign and then the award and stuff, it’s probably things that I wouldn’t have actually thought we would have been able to pull off unless we were like a bigger brand you know. So, it’s sort of nice that we’ve got these achievements and I definitely believe it is down to Catherine’s support and pointing direction. So, I feel like she’s really helped the business.
My initial expectations of working with Catherine was sort of more than anything just to polish up the Instagram and Facebook and maybe do a little bit with the website. I didn’t realize how much there was to social media, because I thought I did have a slight grasp on it until I met Catherine. Since then, she’s done things like backlinks to increase our Google search, SEO search, like everything. She’s just basically made our business, really promoted it in every way on every platform to a really high level for local clients, so it’s made us so easily accessible, and I didn’t think that’d be possible. Like now we’re third on Google search and, you know, before Catherine came, we were like second, third page, we were just irrelevant. The same for sort of Instagram and Facebook, there’s so much more presence. I’m proud if someone says they’ve looked at our website, it looks great and that’s definitely because of Catherine’s input. For us booking now it’s going more online, and she sort of pushed us to go with online bookings. As a hair salon, it’s always something you’re a bit sceptical of but now probably about 40% of our clients book online and it’s through the links that Catherine’s put in place like on Instagram on the website, so it just makes it so easily accessible and really cuts down our admin time which is great. Also cuts down like no shows because there’s deposits, like everything’s been put in place and yeah Catherine’s just boxed it off. And then if we’re quiet, she’ll be like “let’s do a text message blast” you know. She just really pushes us, but she’s also got a long-term plan in place as well.
I’d tell anyone that’s considering Catherine as an option for marketing services that yeah, do it. Across the board she will help you from sort of search engine optimization to Instagram ads to email marketing. Whatever you want, Catherine will do and help with. My two main things were to have a classy feel and a cohesive feel and also to drive in revenue, and Catherine’s smashed both for that.
So yeah, just do it as a small business. I know my big concern was, oh my God, like I’ve got enough going out on payroll. Like, do I really want to be paying for social media and maybe I can do it myself. But you genuinely cannot do it as well as someone that’s trained in it. Like Catherine has earned her keep and then some. Sometimes it’s really hard, especially if the first couple of months maybe you’re not seeing that much increase. But over a period now, I’ve been with Catherine two years, I can definitely look back and be like “Yes she’s definitely really increased sales and kept the brand standard high.”
So, I know it’s a lot sometimes for small businesses to do and sometimes you think “Oh it’s better for the bigger companies to invest” but to get someone on side and if it’s a few hundred pounds a month, it’s so worth it. And you will definitely get a return on that, with Catherine anyway, she’s great. So yeah, just do it – but don’t go in short-term, go in with a long-term view and just stick at it.