Fund101: A bit of funding, for Example

"We'd all been working on our own and about six months ago we had a brainstorm and decided that rather than be fighting a battle individually, we should work in combination," says Lex Guzowski of the four-man team that makes up Example Marketing**.**  "Each of us is working in a freelance capacity at the moment - we're all self-employed," he adds. "But the name will be registered as a limited company in a few weeks and once we're ready to build up our momentum we'll take it further. It's a work in progress."Â  The four Wolverhampton-based marketers each bring a different specialism to the Example team. Lex himself is an out-and-out marketer. His colleagues Paulina, Karol (Evostudio) and Lucas have expertise in graphic design, web design, photography and video. The thinking behind the blend is that together they can cover every aspect of a modern small business marketing campaign.  "We work mainly with small businesses that don't have a marketing function at the moment, but who want to get involved and see the benefit of marketing," Lex explains. "You still get people who, when faced with marketing people, say 'Oh, I don't need advertising'.  "But it's so much more than that," he stresses, warming to his theme. "So we'll try to bring marketing in on the back of web design, for example, because if you have a website, you have to think about who your target audience is, how you're going to get to them and what your business objectives are. What we aim to do is combine our clients' industry knowledge with our marketing knowledge to help them grow and develop their business.  "In fact, we argue that a marketing plan should actually come before a business plan," Lex continues. "Because you need to know your market and your competitors before you can do anything with your business plan."Â

From Poland to the West Midlands to the worldÂ

Each member of the quartet has brought their own clients into the Example Marketing mix and they've picked up others collectively. Though mostly working with West Midlands firms - mainly in the hospitality and construction industries - Lex and his colleagues have recently been attracting clients from further afield in the UK, too. And Poland.  "We're all born and bred in Poland," the 26-year-old explains. "I first came to England in 2002 and I came back for a few years over the summer to work on my English. In 2007, I decided to come and do a second degree in event marketing and I've been here ever since.  "Working with clients further afield is fine. Although I prefer to sit down and discuss things face to face, you can't always do that. But with technology you can work from anywhere these days."Â

How Example Marketing plans to spend its Fund101 grantÂ

It's the need for a bit of extra technology that encouraged Lex to make an application to Fund101. The £500 Example Marketing has received will go towards a new Apple laptop to beef up the team's graphic design capabilities. "We all work on Macs. They're great for day to day use and far better than PCs when it comes to things like graphics or photography. Having another Mac would make dealing with the workload easier, but it's difficult to get a grant for equipment like that."Â  "You can get loans or you can go for huge funding, like £20,000, but most start-ups don't really need that," Lex adds. "Often they just need a small sum and there's a massive gap there. We think what you guys at Enterprise Nation are doing with Fund101 is great - can we start-ups have more please?"Â  Follow Example Marketing on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook (or both!)