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With over two decades of marketing experience, Yorkshire born Sarah found herself on a managerial level, but her job was more about employee management and budgeting than what she loved … developing marketing strategies to help businesses To help achieve their goals.

“I love marketing, but I wanted to roll up my sleeves and go back to the details,” she said. “Working directly with entrepreneurs to make a real difference to their businesses.”

With priorities shifting, Sarah wanted to feel fulfilled again in her career and decided to take the plunge and start her own marketing company.

Simonside founder Sarah Alcock.

After recently moving to Northumberland, Sarah took inspiration from her surroundings and Simonside Marketing was born in June 2019.

“One of the things I wanted to achieve when I started Simonside was to fill in the skill gaps I had developed from my senior leadership roles where a team of people did the day-to-day campaign activation work. ”

Sarah knew she could benefit from the guidance available to further solidify her growth plans.

“You can never have enough support for your business, especially in times of economic uncertainty, as we are now seeing because of Brexit and Covid,” she said.

The first recommendation for Business Northumberland came from NBSL, where Sarah took full advantage of attending workshops to improve her social media skills, doing 1-2-1s with a dedicated Business Growth Advisor, and online networking meetings as part of it to visit Simonside’s broader marketing strategy.

The fully funded support program is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Advance Northumberland, so that eligible companies do not incur any costs to access the support.

Through Advance Northumberland, Simonside was referred to the Northumberland Covid Business Response Program (NCBRP) and took advantage of both the Business Advantage and Digital Advantage elements of the program.

Working with a dedicated coach, Sarah was able to use the time to discuss, develop and refine the Simonside brand, services and website.

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