Julia Ruane has fought a desire to become a
maths teacher for over 15 years and instead has run communications campaigns
for everyone, from government departments and PLCs to small businesses and
start ups.
After taking an unusual route into
communications (Julia gained her degree in Maths from Bristol University, where
the only options open to students were teaching, accountancy and tax) Julia has
worked with brands across the world to grow and attract new customers.
This has led to a lot of international travel,
from Hong Kong to Las Vegas, and has left Julia with a strong desire to stay
put in Yorkshire for as long as possible so she actually gets to see her little
girl grow up.
Julia set up ChiCho Marketing in 2011, with a
view to help small business and start ups take advantage of the marketing tools
available to them to grow their business.
Her approach is one that strongly
brings together logical thought with creative input. And her no-nonsense,
jargon free approach certainly goes down well in Yorkshire.
We ask Julia Ruane of ChiCho Marketing our 3 Questions:
1 Why did you first start in business?
I’d always had a hankering for running and owning my own company.
I’m always setting myself new challenges and being wholly responsible for every
aspect of a company appealed to me.
Saying that, if I’d known how much hard work it takes I probably
wouldn’t have done it! But hard work does reap rewards and the massive learning
curve I took has been worth it. One of
the key tenets behind what we do at ChiCho is to help other small businesses
and start ups to avoid the major pitfalls you often face when starting out in
business. Marketing can be often seen as
the last task on the to do list for a business owner but we’d argue, after
finance, it’s the most important thing.
It’s no use having the hottest company on the block if no-one knows
about you. It can be easy to get lost in
the variety of marketing tools out there as well. Our focus is on guiding each company through
the maze so that they choose the right approach for them.
2 What are your biggest business challenges?
Time! I have a dreadful habit of over-servicing as I’m a
perfectionist that wants everything to be right. We also operate in a very competitive market,
so we have to make time to market ourselves properly, not just our
clients. But clients have always come
first!
3 What do you like most about what you do?
Without doubt it’s seeing the light come on in people’s eyes when
they see what the right marketing mix can do for them. We meet a lot of people who are worried that
they haven’t got the right (or any!) marketing strategy in place. Sometimes they are already doing the right
thing. Other times it’s a case of showing them what tools are best for them and
why, and then helping them to do it. That’s the part I love – being part of a
team, working together to help someone achieve their dreams.
Thank you very much for your time Julia! We hope you enjoyed answering our questions. If you want to get in touch you can find Julia on Twitter @chichomarketing
If you want to answer our 3 Questions please get in touch! You can find the other 3 Questions interviews in our blog.