News.
Training.
Interviews.
Videos.
The latest from Alex Ryan
Alex's news - jump to a section
Read on below, or use these handy links to jump to a section and catch up on Alex's latest training sessions, interviews and much, much more!
Alex Interviews...
Here you’ll find a selection of the most interesting interviews that Alex has conducted, either from his own Marketing podcast of through his role as the host of the Product-Cast, the Giftware Associations weekly podcast. Make sure to check back regularly – new episodes will be listed as and when they are published!
Alex recently interviewed one of the most iconic and respected figures in the UK Gift Industry, Sarah Ward, Managing Director of the British Allied Trade Federation, on the Product-Cast, a podcast designed and delivered by Marketing 101 and hosted by Alex on behalf of The Giftware Association.
The interview was originally planned to last just 25mins but, in standard Alex style, his beloved ADHD took control and he and Sarah ended up chatting for almost an hour and a half, covering fascinating topics like the origins of the Giftware Association back in 1947, to the way it’s adapted to serve it’s members throughout the C19 pandemic, a full overview of exactly how it goes about helping it’s members and, of course, a deep dive into it’s beloved Gift of the Year award scheme which has been running for over 40 years.
If you have any questions at all about the content herein, or would like to discuss joining Alex on the Product-Cast or his Marketing podcast, then please jump over to the contact page, here.
To visit Marketing 101; https://marketing-101.co.uk
To visit Alex Ryan’s consultancy site; https://alexryanuk.com
For Alex’s socials, podcast, blog and more, CLICK HERE!
In one of his most enlightening interviews to date, Alex caught up with sustainability and ethical manufacturing expert, Helena Mansell-Stopher. After many years in the retail industry in many different areas such as supply, licensing and retail, Helena first launched the Sustainability In Licensing Conference (SILC) and in 2020 launch Products of Change – a forum for it’s members (who range in size from small indies to multi-nationals) to share their knowledge and success within their sustainable and ethical growth plans.
Join us as we learn not just about the organisation and it’s sterling work, but also gleam some fantastic insight and advice that suppliers and retailers alike could use in their own ethical and sustainable journeys.
If you have any questions at all about the content herein, or would like to discuss joining Alex on the Product-Cast or his Marketing podcast, then please jump over to the contact page, here.
To visit Marketing 101; https://marketing-101.co.uk
To visit Alex Ryan’s consultancy site; https://alexryanuk.com
For Alex’s socials, podcast, blog and more, CLICK HERE!
This episode is a MUST for anyone with a home service business (full list below), especially if you’re based in the UK. Google’s Local Service Ads (LSA) has been tried and tested in the USA and has finally made it’s way to the UK.
Put simply, LSA can very easily put you at the TOP of Google, above the usual adverts and right below the search box for local searches, and you ONLY pay for the leads you receive.
My guest today, Suraj Singh, helps guide us through this exciting new opportunity and tells us exactly how to get up and running.
Sound intriguing, then listen!
If you’d like an introduction to Suraj and Thrive/Known Locally then get in contact with our host, Alex, and he will be very happy to make the introduction!
alex@marketing-101.co.uk
Alex has the pleasure of interviewing Sara Allbright, Buyer of Candles & Gifts at John Lewis and now, more recently, Waitrose, as the stores extend and redefine their gift offering.
Sara tells us everything we need to know about how to get in front of buyers, from the obvious trade shows and buyer meet-ups to the less obvious social media hash-tagging and their relationship with the Great British Exchange. If you’re looking for insight into how to reach key buyers like Sara, then this episode is for YOU!
It’s the B word – BREXIT! Now that everyone is slowly starting to understand the implications of the governments EU trade deal, we thought it the right time to bring a couple experts onto the Product-Cast to shed some light on some of the most common questions that they are asked and the kind of situations that have arisen in the recent months.
Alex meets Taran Sahota and Laura Banner from the BJGI (British Jewellery & Giftware International) – experts in all things import and export whose goal is to better enable international trade for UK suppliers & retailers.
In this interview Alex finally gets to talking about all things Gift of the Year – the history, how it’s changed over the years and, more recently during the Covid era, exactly how the judging works, the trials and tribulations behind the scenes, and, of course why it’s such a wonderful undertaking for the Giftware Association.
Sit back, relax, and let the dulcet tones of the GA’s very own Chris Workman flow through your ears.
Alex presents... Gift of the Year 2021
If you think YOU’RE tired of Zoom, try hosting 22x separate award ceremonies via zoom over the space of 6 days… well that is exactly the task Alex undertook when The Giftware Association (part of the British Allied Trade Federation) engaged him to deliver a very different kind of event back in January 2021.
The Gift of the Year awards are over 40 years old, the longest running in the industry, and are usually held at Spring Fair – the largest Gift & Homewares trade show in the UK calendar. Of course, events are off and everyone is adapting, so the decision was made to give each of the 22 award categories it’s own platform and own event.
Marketing 101 was engaged to create the content and manage the presentations, while Alex hosted the events. In total, 12 hours of footage was edited down to 3x one hour highlights videos that we aired at Spring Fair At Home. Below is a highlights video or you can see all the full videos here!
Congratulations to all the finalists and winners, we look forward to hosting you on the Product-Cast very soon!
If you have any questions at all about the content herein, or would like to discuss using Alex for one of your own events, then please jump over to the contact page, here.
Alex Gets Interviewed...
If you’d like to bring Alex onto your blog, podcast or vlog then please don’t hesitate to reach out.
23/02/21 – Talk Marketing Tuesday
Alex joins the excellent Martin Henley from The Effective Marketing Company for a frank discussion about the murky world of marketing. In this no-holds-barred discussion we do the thing that only two marketers together can do – remove the bullsh*t and have a real discussion about what it’s like selling and delivering marketing;
🌫️ penetrating the black fog around marketing
🎭 the link between entertainer and marketers
💰 selling vs serving
❓ agency vs consultancy
If you have any questions at all about the content herein, or would like to discuss your own marketing requirements, then please jump over to the contact page, here.
To visit Marketing 101; https://marketing-101.co.uk
To visit Alex Ryan’s consultancy site; https://alexryanuk.com
For Alex’s socials, podcast, blog and more, CLICK HERE!
19/12/21 – Radio Reverb, Brighton Business Show
Alex had the pleasure of being on RadioReverb for the #brightonbusinessshow on Sunday giving tips about how to review your 2021 marketing and make changes for 2022 – here’s the full recording with;
💰 Farhan Syed (insolvency practitioner); approx 2mins in
📈 Andrew Abaza (business coach); approx 21min in
👐 Me (Marketing 101); approx 38mins in
Thank you to Lisa moore for the invite and for being an excellent host 🎙
To visit Marketing 101; https://marketing-101.co.uk
To visit Alex Ryan’s consultancy site; https://alexryanuk.com
For Alex’s socials, podcast, blog and more, CLICK HERE!
Alex Teaches...
In this section you’ll find a variety of recordings from training and educational sessions that has delivered, from Linkedin masterclasses to Influencer Marketing and Podcasting.
If you would like to discuss booking Alex for a teaching session then please don’t hesitate to reach out.
On the third Friday of every month Alex delivers an educational slot to 100+ businesses at the fantastic Big Business Breakfast Club networking event (the BBBC, formerly Global Breakfast). The sessions are recorded and published below – just click the image to read a more in depth description of the topics covered and to view the full video.
In this session Alex teaches how to improve your social media adverts and posts by using 2 classic marketing frameworks.
If you have any questions at all about the content herein, or would like to discuss your own marketing requirements, then please jump over to the contact page, here.
To sign up for future Big Business Breakfast Clubs contact jim@OFMG.co.uk
To visit Marketing 101; https://marketing-101.co.uk
To visit Alex Ryan’s consultancy site; https://alexryanuk.com
For Alex’s socials, podcast, blog and more, CLICK HERE9
In this sessions Alex talks to 20 businesses about his Linkedin Organic Ecosystem – a system that Alex has developed to draw businesses from your monthly email engagements through to your personal and business Linkedin pages.
He also briefly touches on paying to promote your content to your existing business page followers, and tackles questions a variety of questions, such as personal profile vs business pages, how to get floating graphics on your zoom call (!) and what kind of content to be thinking about posting to your Linkedin pages.
If you have any questions at all about the content herein, or would like to discuss your own marketing requirements, then please jump over to the contact page, here.
To visit Marketing 101; https://marketing-101.co.uk
To visit Alex Ryan’s consultancy site; https://alexryanuk.com
For Alex’s socials, podcast, blog and more, CLICK HERE!
Here, Alex hosts an Influencer Marketing workshop for a group of businesses brought together by The London Stationery Show.
- Why influencers should be a staple of any supplier or retailer marketing strategy
- The 3 different levels of influencer and how to find the perfect one(s) for your product or store
- How to manage your influencers and how much you should be paying to work with them (plus any other satellite costs)
- A real way to track and measure the ROI of working with influencers
- Keep it fresh; unique ways to work with influencers
On the third Friday of every month Alex delivers an educational slot to 100+ businesses at the fantastic Big Business Breakfast Club networking event (the BBBC, formerly Global Breakfast). The sessions are recorded and published below – just click the image to read a more in depth description of the topics covered and to view the full video.
In this session we learn about the kind of things that a business should be reviewing at the end of each year (every year), some ideas for marketing New Years Resolutions that you could make, plus a few upcoming changes that are specific to 2022.
If you have any questions at all about the content herein, or would like to discuss your own marketing requirements, then please jump over to the contact page, here.
To sign up for future Big Business Breakfast Clubs contact jim@OFMG.co.uk
To visit Marketing 101; https://marketing-101.co.uk
To visit Alex Ryan’s consultancy site; https://alexryanuk.com
For Alex’s socials, podcast, blog and more, CLICK HERE9
On the third Friday of every month Alex delivers an educational slot to 100+ businesses at the fantastic Big Business Breakfast Club networking event (the BBBC, formerly Global Breakfast). The sessions are recorded and published below – just click the image to read a more in depth description of the topics covered and to view the full video.
Hi and welcome! The video below is the first in a series of educational slots that Alex is delivering to the networking group Big Business Breakfast Club (formerly the Global Breakfast).
In this first episode we receive a quick introduction to Alex and Marketing 101, briefly touching on the origins of the brand, born from giving voluntary marketing support to businesses that were struggling or adapting during the beginning of the C19 pandemic.
We then move on to the topic for the day – a simple marketing mix that can be installed into any business with relatively low financial and resource investment. Understand how content can drive traffic to your website, and how to make the most of those website visitors through data capture and cookies.
If you have any questions at all about the content herein, or would like to discuss your own marketing requirements, then please jump over to the contact page, here.
To sign up for future Big Business Breakfast Clubs contact jim@OFMG.co.uk
To visit Marketing 101; https://marketing-101.co.uk
To visit Alex Ryan’s consultancy site; https://alexryanuk.com
For Alex’s socials, podcast, blog and more, CLICK HERE!
On the third Friday of every month Alex delivers an educational slot to 100+ businesses at the fantastic Big Business Breakfast Club networking event (the BBBC, formerly Global Breakfast). The sessions are recorded and published below – just click the image to read a more in depth description of the topics covered and to view the full video.
A deeper dive into the content marketing section of last session’s marketing mix with a focus on promoting content to your existing audience. We also briefly discuss podcast marketing and the current ‘hot topic’ – Clubhouse.
If you have any questions at all about the content herein, or would like to discuss your own marketing requirements, then please jump over to the contact page, here.
To sign up for future Big Business Breakfast Clubs contact jim@OFMG.co.uk
To visit Marketing 101; https://marketing-101.co.uk
To visit Alex Ryan’s consultancy site; https://alexryanuk.com
For Alex’s socials, podcast, blog and more, CLICK HERE!
On the third Friday of every month Alex delivers an educational slot to 100+ businesses at the fantastic Big Business Breakfast Club networking event (the BBBC, formerly Global Breakfast). The sessions are recorded and published below – just click the image to read a more in depth description of the topics covered and to view the full video.
In this session Alex shows the BBBC crew a really quick way of grabbing some more Facebook followers – not just any followers, but those that are already aware of your brand and have engaged with it at some point in the past.
We then have a deep dive into Google Local Service Ads (LSA) which is a service that Google now offers for ‘home services’ like plumbers, removals, roofers and many, many more! Watch this video to learn about how a home service business can jump to the top of Google and only pay if someone calls you!
If you have any questions at all about the content herein, or would like to discuss your own marketing requirements, then please jump over to the contact page, here.
To sign up for future Big Business Breakfast Clubs contact jim@OFMG.co.uk
To visit Marketing 101; https://marketing-101.co.uk
To visit Alex Ryan’s consultancy site; https://alexryanuk.com
For Alex’s socials, podcast, blog and more, CLICK HERE!
Pt. 4 – 16th April 2021
On the third Friday of every month Alex delivers an educational slot to 100+ businesses at the fantastic Big Business Breakfast Club networking event (the BBBC, formerly Global Breakfast). The sessions are recorded and published below – just click the image to read a more in depth description of the topics covered and to view the full video.
Today Alex has a few great Whatsapp tips that will probably make you want to start using it for business (did you know you can make words ‘bold‘ in Whatsapp?!)
Then it’s onto the main event – how to get blogging. A lot of people find blogging overwhelming and, while they know their business would benefit from it, struggle to start, or find it too hard to do regularly. Alex goes through some great ways to avoid these footfalls and have you up and blogging in no time!
If you have any questions at all about the content herein, or would like to discuss your own marketing requirements, then please jump over to the contact page, here.
To sign up for future Big Business Breakfast Clubs contact jim@OFMG.co.uk
To visit Marketing 101; https://marketing-101.co.uk
To visit Alex Ryan’s consultancy site; https://alexryanuk.com
For Alex’s socials, podcast, blog and more, CLICK HERE!
On the third Friday of every month Alex delivers an educational slot to 100+ businesses at the fantastic Big Business Breakfast Club networking event (the BBBC, formerly Global Breakfast). The sessions are recorded and published below – just click the image to read a more in depth description of the topics covered and to view the full video.
In this session Alex explains why it’s so important (and easy) to send out press releases regularly, before doing a deep dive on customer personas – how valuable they can be to create, plus a really nifty tip about how to make them easier to empathise and predict.
If you have any questions at all about the content herein, or would like to discuss your own marketing requirements, then please jump over to the contact page, here.
To sign up for future Big Business Breakfast Clubs contact jim@OFMG.co.uk
To visit Marketing 101; https://marketing-101.co.uk
To visit Alex Ryan’s consultancy site; https://alexryanuk.com
For Alex’s socials, podcast, blog and more, CLICK HERE!
Pt. 6 – 18th June 2021
On the third Friday of every month Alex delivers an educational slot to 100+ businesses at the fantastic Big Business Breakfast Club networking event (the BBBC, formerly Global Breakfast). The sessions are recorded and published below – just click the image to read a more in depth description of the topics covered and to view the full video.
We all hate that feeling when your carefully crafted post gets totally ignored on social media – but was it just a rubbish post, or is there more to it? In this session, Alex explains what is known about the secret Linkedin algorithms, giving some important rules to follow when posting to hedge your bets for a better response and more exposure.
If you have any questions at all about the content herein, or would like to discuss your own marketing requirements, then please jump over to the contact page, here.
To sign up for future Big Business Breakfast Clubs contact jim@OFMG.co.uk
To visit Marketing 101; https://marketing-101.co.uk
To visit Alex Ryan’s consultancy site; https://alexryanuk.com
For Alex’s socials, podcast, blog and more, CLICK HERE!
On the third Friday of every month Alex delivers an educational slot to 100+ businesses at the fantastic Big Business Breakfast Club networking event (the BBBC, formerly Global Breakfast). The sessions are recorded and published below – just click the image to read a more in depth description of the topics covered and to view the full video.
Having previously discussed how to stop your posts flopping on your personal Linkedin page (how to beat the algorithm), today Alex talks about a more surefire way to beat the algorithm – with cold hard cash!
Learn about boosting vs advertising, plus some great tips for ways to reach a specific audience on Linkedin that you might not have known were possible.
If you have any questions at all about the content herein, or would like to discuss your own marketing requirements, then please jump over to the contact page, here.
To sign up for future Big Business Breakfast Clubs contact jim@OFMG.co.uk
To visit Marketing 101; https://marketing-101.co.uk
To visit Alex Ryan’s consultancy site; https://alexryanuk.com
For Alex’s socials, podcast, blog and more, CLICK HERE!
On the third Friday of every month Alex delivers an educational slot to 100+ businesses at the fantastic Big Business Breakfast Club networking event (the BBBC, formerly Global Breakfast). The sessions are recorded and published below – just click the image to read a more in depth description of the topics covered and to view the full video.
Today Alex covers a topic that can benefit all kinds of businesses, whether B2B or B2C, with high or low value leads, including ecom where they are not ‘leads’ so much as just ‘data’.
Very few leads convert on the first or second point of contact – generally speaking people need more exposure to get used to your brand and feel comfortable doing business with you. With that in mind we need to create a touch point journey that will ensure your leads don’t fall by the wayside, without bugging them with endless sales messages. Learn how with this video!
If you have any questions at all about the content herein, or would like to discuss your own marketing requirements, then please jump over to the contact page, here.
To sign up for future Big Business Breakfast Clubs contact jim@OFMG.co.uk
To visit Marketing 101; https://marketing-101.co.uk
To visit Alex Ryan’s consultancy site; https://alexryanuk.com
For Alex’s socials, podcast, blog and more, CLICK HERE!
Are you ready to take the next step?
I'd love to hear from you, learn more about your business and your goals. Please reach out for a chat.
Thanks, Alex