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Kayjay McDonald-Ferguson: 'Google Digital Garage helped me learn about my customers.'

Posted: Mon 18th Dec 2023

Enterprise Nation partnered with Google to deliver 20 Digital Garage events across the UK, providing free digital skills training and mentoring to small business owners who are looking to grow their ventures.

This series of in-person events offered free training to people who already own a small business, are interested in starting one, or are looking to develop their job prospects.

We're speaking to some of the business owners who have attended the events to learn how taking part has benefited them so far. Here, we talk to Kayjay McDonald-Ferguson, a Bristol-based digital marketer who operates as King Visuals.

Kayjay, tell us about your business and what led to you starting it.

I started my business in 2018, initially as a creative outlet for myself when I was still in education. By 2022, I'd decided that I wanted to go fully freelance and specialise in branding and marketing – mainly digital marketing on social media.

As a brand, I mainly work with small businesses and community and trust companies. I decided to work mainly with these types of businesses because they have a direct and meaningful impact. I really enjoy working with people and telling a story. When you work with those types of smaller organisations, you really see how much of an impact it has.

I help them with their visual identity and their branding, and create a cohesive brand story for them. A lot of the time with smaller businesses, they blow up really quickly and don't have the time to think about their brand. I can be that person who goes in with the knowledge to be able to support them.

What struggles have you faced with your business?

In the beginning, it was having that work-life balance. Knowing when to stop working. So now when I have a good idea and I want to continue with it, I set some key milestones.

I make sure I plan everything out in the beginning and then also plan two to three check-ins with the client at various points. That's helped me achieve a lot more balance and know what I need to get done from day to day.

Why did you decide to attend a Google Digital Garage event?

I really wanted to connect with other people in the sector. One of my other struggles is networking, and so I wanted to meet new people and form a network around myself.

I already knew a little bit of the information that would to be in the session, but I didn't know how to make those points actionable. The event really helped me with my marketing strategy and how to put together an action plan on points like learning about the customer, for example, and how Google can help me with that.

What have you learnt from attending? And how have you started to implement it into your business strategy?

How important it is to know as much information about your customer as you can. And the ways you can use Google Analytics to help you find that data and put it all together in one cohesive place.

I'd never really thought about it that much before, but I also learned a lot about cyber security. The importance of protecting your website and your client information.

Have you noticed a difference or a change?

Definitely with brand awareness. The session helped me to come up with a digital strategy and a plan for implementing it. I feel like I've had a bit more interest in my brand since I've been more consistent and created content that's tailored to the customer.

It's also made me more confident when it comes to analysing data from Google Analytics, identifying keywords, doing SEO and so on.

Finally, what's been your business's biggest achievement or proudest moment?

I'm proud of the clients I've been able to work with, especially the community interest companies and smaller organisations like that. This year, I worked with a brand called Curiosity UnLtd and helped them manage their social media.

It's been great to see the impact they've had in terms of diversity and how to better include people in Bristol. I just realised that other people are starting to see my work on a much bigger scale now, and that's definitely something that gives me pride.