Take Ownership of Your Marketing: Introducing the Marketing Think Tank
Running a micro-business, sole trader, solopreneur, or freelance practice means wearing every hat in the company. From operations and finance to customer service and delivery, it is all too easy to spend your entire week working in your business rather than on it.
When you are deep in the day-to-day routine, marketing often becomes a reactive task. You post on social media when you find a spare ten minutes, update your website when something breaks, or panic-plan a campaign when sales dip. Hiring a full-time marketer or paying heavy agency retainers isn't an option for where you are right now—and stepping back to look at the bigger picture on your own feels like a luxury you do not have time for.
However, sustained growth requires intentional space to think, test, and strategise. That is why Elm Marketing Solutions is launching a bi-monthly Marketing Think Tank designed to offer an affordable, highly focused way to take true ownership of your business marketing without needing a dedicated marketing department.
What Is the Marketing Think Tank?
The concept is simple, highly collaborative, and structured for real results:
Strictly Limited Numbers: Each session is capped at a maximum of six people. This ensures everyone has ample time to share, be heard, and receive meaningful input.
Bi-Monthly Gathering: Meeting every two months provides a regular rhythm of accountability without adding another overwhelming commitment to your diary.
Collective Problem-Solving: This is your dedicated creative hub for high-level thinking, testing, and strategising. Together, we dive into real-world challenges to unpick roadblocks and spark fresh ideas, empowering you to steer your own marketing with total confidence and clarity.
The Benefits for Small Business Owners
Stepping into a dedicated think tank environment offers several key advantages for business owners who are tired of navigating their marketing alone:
An Objective Sounding Board: When you are too close to your own brand, it is easy to develop tunnel vision. Peers who understand the realities of running a business can look at your challenges with fresh eyes and spot opportunities you might miss.
Overcoming Isolation: Running a small business can be lonely. Sharing your hurdles, bouncing ideas around, and brainstorming with other local business owners provides a powerful sense of community and shared momentum.
Actionable, Real-World Advice: This is not about generic theory. You bring your actual marketing roadblocks—whether low engagement, unclear messaging, or campaign fatigue—along with exciting new ideas you want to explore, and leave with practical, peer-tested solutions you can put into practice.
Accountability and Focus: Committing to a bi-monthly session ensures that your marketing doesn't get pushed to the bottom of the to-do list. It forces you to pause, step away from the daily grind, and dedicate uninterrupted time to growing your business.
What You Will Come Away With From Each Session
When you invest your time into a Marketing Think Tank session, the goal is never just a pleasant chat or abstract brainstorming. You leave with tangible outcomes that directly impact your business:
A Cleared Roadblock: You bring a specific marketing challenge you have been stuck on—whether it is low website conversion, stagnant social media engagement, or a campaign that feels flat. By the end of the session, collective problem-solving will give you a clear direction on how to fix it.
Refined Messaging on Pain Points: You will walk away with a sharper understanding of how your ideal customers articulate their frustrations, allowing you to rewrite your copy so it immediately positions your business as the definitive solution.
Actionable Next Steps: You get out of it what you put in. You will leave with a prioritised, realistic action list of tasks you have shaped and chosen for yourself during the session, ready to take back and implement on your own terms.
Fresh Perspective and Accountability: Stepping away from the day-to-day grind gives you renewed mental clarity. Knowing you will check back in with the group in two months provides the gentle accountability needed to ensure your marketing tasks actually get done.
Targeting Your Customer Pain Points Together
One of the most powerful elements of a small group format is how it refines your messaging. When you are close to your own products and services, it is easy to get caught up in features rather than focusing on what your audience actually cares about.
During these sessions, we will look closely at how you identify and address customer pain points. By examining your marketing through an outside lens, the group can help you pinpoint the exact frustrations your ideal clients are facing—and clearly demonstrate that your business holds the solution. When your marketing speaks directly to a customer's specific headache, your value becomes crystal clear.
Flexible Seasonal Cohorts to Suit Your Schedule
To keep our groups intimate, collaborative, and strictly capped at a maximum of six businesses, we run four seasonal intakes throughout the year. You can choose the cohort that best fits your diary, securing your permanent seat for a full year of bi-monthly sessions for £350 (working out at less than £30 a month invested directly into your business growth).
Autumn Cohort
Timing: Friday mornings (9:30 am to 11:30 am, arrival from 9:15 am)
Dates: Friday 9th October 2026, Friday 11th December 2026, Friday 12th February 2027, Friday 9th April 2027, Friday 11th June 2027, Friday 13th August 2027.
Winter Cohort
Timing: Friday afternoons (1:00 pm to 3:00 pm, arrival from 12:45 pm)
Dates: Friday 11th December 2026, Friday 12th February 2027, Friday 9th April 2027, Friday 11th June 2027, Friday 13th August 2027, Friday 8th October 2027.
Spring Cohort
Timing: Thursday mornings (9:30 am to 11:30 am, arrival from 9:15 am)
Dates: Thursday 11th February 2027, Thursday 8th April 2027, Thursday 10th June 2027, Thursday 12th August 2027, Thursday 7th October 2027, Thursday 9th December 2027.
Summer Cohort
Timing: Thursday afternoons (1:00 pm to 3:00 pm, arrival from 12:45 pm)
Dates: Thursday 8th April 2027, Thursday 10th June 2027, Thursday 12th August 2027, Thursday 7th October 2027, Thursday 9th December 2027, Thursday 10th February 2028.
Location: Elm Marketing Solutions office at Consett Innovation Centre (ample free parking on site).
Format: 2-hour focused working session. Tea and coffee will be available throughout.
Group Size: Strictly capped at a maximum of six people per session.
If you are ready to pause the daily juggle, take ownership of your strategy, and invest time into your business?
