In April 2021, Kathryn Strachan, Managing Director and Owner of CopyHouse and Lenna Lou, Founder of The L Factor, are joining forces to bring to you their very own mini web series, Business Bites.
Business Bites is your monthly dose of all things business, brought to you by CopyHouse and The L Factor.
Every month, Kathryn and Lenna will be presenting quick 20-minute bursts of brilliant insights. Whether it’s diving into your brand's vision and making it a reality or understanding how to market to a global audience, Business Bites has all the information you’ll need to take your business one step further.
Both brilliantly talented female entrepreneurs will share their expert opinion and advice on all things business, streaming live for you via your favourite social media platforms, including LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter.
But don’t let us bore you with the details. You can hear directly from Kathryn Strachan and Lenna Lou themselves, as we took the opportunity to sit down with them both at our recent interview about Business Bites.
Kathryn Strachan is the Owner and Managing Director of CopyHouse Ltd., an award-winning content marketing agency specialising in creating well-crafted content within the technology and FinTech sector.
Prior to launching CopyHouse, Kathryn started her career agency-side before striking out independently. She’s taken CopyHouse from ground zero to £1 million turnover within three years, turning CopyHouse into a successful B2B marketing agency.
As well as managing CopyHouse, Kathryn is a respected Forbes contributor and industry speaker featuring at events like MoneyNext, Semrush, The Content Marketing Association and more.
She regularly speaks on topics like SEO, B2B marketing, customer-centric content, technology and FinTech marketing, agency culture, leadership and female entrepreneurship.
“Running CopyHouse has never been all sunshine and rainbows. We’ve had our fair share of challenges.
For example, we lost over 50% of our clients during the pandemic. Instead of admitting defeat, we did some market research into what industry requires our services, even during such difficult times. That’s when we went from a generalist content marketing agency to one specialising in the niche segment of technology and FinTech.
Through endless networking and marketing, we managed to slingshot our way out of the pandemic and rapidly grow CopyHouse. Since then, there have still been some growing pains, but we have tackled them one by one, and we’ve continued excelling.”
- Kathryn Strachan, Managing Director of CopyHouse.
Lenna Lou founded The L Factor back in 2016. She built it to help SMEs and corporates who don’t have time to manage, build and sustain long-term business relationships for effective collaboration and partnerships worldwide.
Lenna is passionate about helping young and seasoned entrepreneurs establish and grow their market presence through active strategy, marketing, engagement, and relationships.
“I have over fifteen years of experience across several key industries from Professional Services to Insurance, FinTech and Manufacturing.
With that said, my actual role and the purpose of The L Factor is to help empower professionals and service organisations to truly understand their customer needs.
The L Factor is also responsible for supporting clients and helping them build and sustain long term business relationships for effective collaboration and partnerships. With our phenomenal expansion, we now work with clients from all around the UK, Europe and Asia.”
- Lenna Lou, Founder of The L Factor.
When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, almost everyone transitioned to online working, virtual events, virtual meetings and so on.
In fact, due to the pandemic, virtual events increased by over 1000%. This rise led to a new phenomenon known as ‘webinar fatigue’ or ‘Zoom-fatigue’ – a medically-recognised condition caused by having to maintain communication over video for sustained periods of time.
We get that hour-long webinars are tiresome, and not everyone has time to fully commit to a lengthy podcast. So, Lenna and Kathryn came up with the idea of producing short bursts of content that can be quickly consumed, are of great quality and get straight to the point.
“Sometimes we just don’t have time to invest in a webinar or read a long piece of content. We want immediate answers to our queries, and that’s precisely what Business Bites offers.
Also, Business Bites is suitable for all. When we first came up with the idea of doing this short series, we thought about who our target audience was. Upon reflection, we realised there is no specific person.
Our advice is not just for SME’s it’s for people running businesses or marketing teams at all stages and of all sizes. Everyone benefits from the advice we share, and whether you’re a team of 3 or 300 there are aspects that will apply to you.”
- Lenna Lou, Founder of The L Factor.
“I couldn’t agree more. Zoom fatigue or webinar fatigue was one of the staple reasons for creating Business Bites. We wanted to share vital information in a less intrusive manner. So, having 20-minute snippets of content is great – we’re able to shine a light on all the important information and get straight to answers that entrepreneurs and marketers are searching for.”
- Kathryn Strachan, Managing Director of CopyHouse.
Both Kathryn and Lenna not only have extensive experience within the B2B marketing and communications realm, but they are also phenomenal female entrepreneurs looking to change the status quo and break all the rules in business, and in tech.
“I’ve never been a conventional type of thinker. I’m a little out of the box, and so are my techniques in running a business. So far, breaking away from the cliche has done wonders. Not only have I successfully run and grown a completely remote business, but I’ve also transformed it from nothing to hitting £1mil in revenue in under three years.
This whole journey began because I was discriminated against and forced out of the agency life. So, I decided to build my own agency, and I’ve never looked back.
Why should people tune in, you ask? Because I’ve had my fair share of ups and downs, both professionally and personally, but we’re still growing and taking over the content marketing space. I want to shine a light on the importance of that and offer advice where I can.
There have been moments where I was carrying CopyHouse on my own, thinking there was no way it would be a success. However, with the support of my team, we’ve taken it to new lengths, and I want to support others in achieving the same, if not more.”
- Kathryn Strachan, Managing Director of CopyHouse.
“As mentioned, it’s something for everyone. Both Kathryn and I have been in the industry for years. We’ve gone through similar challenges and come out fighting.
However, there are occasions where running a business can feel isolating and figuring out the next step can be tough, but we’ve gotten through it by making mistakes and by following the advice of those before us. We now want to do the same for other businesses and entrepreneurs.
Also, if being an entrepreneur isn’t challenging enough, being a female entrepreneur in the B2B space can be tougher. We want to encourage female entrepreneurs to take risks and go for it.
Not only are we looking to support other entrepreneurs, business leaders and agencies, we’re also looking to change the face of leadership and create a more equal and inclusive space.”
- Lenna Lou, Founder of The L Factor.
“When Kathryn and I connected, we instantly bounced off one another’s personality. We also quickly realised that we wanted the same thing, and we were on a similar journey.
I think I can speak for Kathryn when I say that time and time again, we see businesses making similar mistakes – whether it’s their approach to culture, to marketing or to reaching their target audience.
Everyone goes through growing pains and challenges that Kathryn and I have already experienced. So, we wanted to share this information with others and help them avoid these common mistakes.
Again, our approach to things may be different, but the results we receive are the same, and that’s why we complement one another so well.”
- Lenna Lou, Founder of The L Factor.
“As Lenna pointed out, at first instance, not only did we immediately connect but we also got talking and found out that CopyHouse and The L Factor had a lot of similarities in terms of goals and audience.
We quickly realised that our expertise compliments one another.
For example, both of our businesses are about understanding and connecting with your audience, yet we approach things differently. Neither of us has a right or wrong method, but the difference in opinion was eye-opening, and it would be great to share with others.
Creating this webinar would be a brilliant way to show diverse routes to success and different ways to tackle issues. The balance of differences and similarities in knowledge and approach are what makes us a brilliant duo.”
- Kathryn Strachan, Managing Director of CopyHouse.
“I've made a lot of mistakes, and I’m not ashamed to say that there are moments where I’ve failed. However, no one is perfect, we’re all human, and failing is part of life. The only way to succeed is to try, fail and try again.
Dwelling on failure gets you nowhere, and not allowing yourself to fail stops you from taking the risk to begin with.”
- Lenna Lou, Founder of The L Factor.
“Listen to those who have already walked in your shoes.
It’s so easy to want to do everything your way and by yourself. But the truth is, you go through certain challenges and growing pains that other entrepreneurs or those in the same boat can help you with.
It’s always good to keep an open mind and listen to what they have to say. Their advice and support can go a long way.”
- Kathryn Strachan, Managing Director of CopyHouse.
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