Meet Our Partners: “Your AJency”
Authenticity and a personalized approach are a few of our core values. Anna and her team at YourAjency assist us in connecting with our community in order to promote awareness, education, and understanding of our brand and mission statement. Anna works hard to promote the continued growth of My Household Managed.
Tell us more about Your AJency ? The story behind it? How it started, etc?
Your AJency is a global strategic marketing agency for female-founded businesses that was founded in Chicago in September 2020 by Anna Jones, a British national. We support female entrepreneurs to get the visibility they deserve through strategic storytelling and mentoring. With this support, we support them to achieve their ambitious growth goals and connect them with a community of loyal supporters and future clients. We started with 1 client in Roscoe Village Chicago and in the last 2.5 years, we have expanded globally with clients across Europe, Africa, and the states, to support these brave disruptors who are doing things differently in their industry. Having lived in multiple countries, we have extensive global experience which enables us to operate globally but think locally. I am now based in the UK but have local teams to support in the US and continues to grow.
I started my career as an ambitious retailer running some of the UK's largest flagships but since then have traveled around the world including India and the US. During this time I have built amazing communities starting with an ex-pat community in India through to a small business community in the sleepy British countryside. It was here when pregnant with my second child I decided having majored in marketing at university that I needed to understand digital marketing. So I completed a 6-month course and my love of marketing grew. I had a small agency in the Cotswolds before moving to the states where I set up Your AJency.
Who are your customers?
My customers are all ambitious female-founders. They are not defined by industry but rather by their strong ambition and drive. They are often brave disruptors who have created a brand that is in its second phase of growth (although not exclusively) looking to reach new audiences and shake up the norm within their industry. Up until reaching out to us they have done their own marketing and have hit a plateau or realized they could use their time more effectively somewhere else within their business and now need an expert. So they can play to their own strengths and drive their business forward in other ways.
What services do you provide and in what locations?
We provide a number of different consulting services:
Marketing strategy and business development work (this is all about business growth, PR, and storytelling)
Strategic marketing and visibility mentoring for female founders ( going from 1 hour power hours to 3-month programs and longer)
"Done for you" social media management. We are in the process of adding other done-for-you services that include email marketing and PR.
What advice would you give to someone that is just starting to think about getting serious about a plan for social media?
It's hard to summarise, but knowing your target audience, and engaging with them a lot even before you start posting is key. Followed by getting a plan in place and a scheduler will save you a huge amount of time down the line. But here is a little more detail.
1) Get really clear on your target audience, then invest some time in researching what content they like, looking at their lifestyle choices, where they hang out, and who they are engaging with. Not because you want to do the same as someone else. What are their pain points - what are they struggling with that you can help them with? This time will save you hours of time in the long run and help you immediately identify who you want to talk to when it comes to your social media
Then think of your 3 most important messages - Why you do what you do. Who you are and your story - an introduction where you show your face and put a face to the brand. How you can help them with details of your services. These questions and answers should be ways to solve their pain points.
You then need that one killer line that explains what you do in a nutshell with the customer at the center of it. This doesn't come overnight and won't be perfect but will evolve over time. I recently changed mine again.
Then come up with 3-4 content pillars or themes that your content will fall into and be realistic with how often you want to post and which pillars are more important than others.
Finally set up a scheduler and batch your content creation to a minimum of a week at a time and this will ensure your marketing is balanced, targetted, and on brand. But remember everyone starts somewhere and it may not be perfect but as long as it is authentic content that focuses on things your target audience struggle with you will get traction and start to grow.
Do you have a favorite story from working in your business or a memory you are particularly fond of?
I think my first ever event in US for my first client Wildwood Photography and Studio, will always be special as she was the first person to believe in me and embrace an idea I pitched to her. It was mid-pandemic, she has a photography studio and at the time no event business (my background is retail and events - so this in itself was a dream) but wanted to grow it. Her family photography business was slow at the time and she had only the year before invested in a beautiful new studio with a huge renovation, At the time many people were desperate to see friends and family, people didn't feel comfortable or couldn't eat out and were sick of being in the homes. So we launched Dinners at Wildwood, which was the safe alternative to restaurants during COVID, a private event of maximum 8 people (city restrictions) where local restaurants could cater for your event. So it was a way of supporting not only her business but also local restaurants which were also having a hard time. I worked with an amazing fellow female founder/ influencer Shannon at House of Shan and we were inundated after posting the next day as they say the rest is history. This got the eyes of some of the city's top event planners/stylists and now she has a hugely successful events business as well as her award-winning photography business. So her business really has grown and expanded and this was just the beginning!
What’s next for Your AJency? Any fun events or news you'd like to share?
Last year was all about our global expansion and our HQ relocation to the UK, whilst keeping a presence and team in the states. This year is about establishing ourselves more in these markets, growing our team with more partnerships, increasing our visibility, and further establishing ourselves as the go-to global marketing experts for ambitious female founders who dare to be different.
In January I will have my biggest speaking event at Top Drawer in London along with plans to share more of my expert knowledge with my community this year! Watch this space.
If you were to hire a household employee for your home, which type of employee would make your life easier and why?
This is a very hard one to decide, it would be between a housekeeper and a chef. I think a housekeeper would win as when you have a tidy and organized house it is easier to be successful in my opinion, , especially when you work from home a lot of the time. It would also free up more time to spend with my kids doing the things we love as a family. Any time you can get back is worth every cent! I do love cooking when I have the time but grocery shopping and tidying aren't as enjoyable for me!
