The South East Midlands celebrates businesses that make up a rich and diverse rural economy. One such success is Milly Fyfe Marketing and PR Services. In June 2020, during the height of the pandemic, Milly Fyfe launched her rural marketing and PR business. Milly provides digital marketing and social media support to local, regional, national and international businesses with their feet firmly rooted in agriculture and food production.
Food and farming campaigns are an area in which Milly excels by creating content, especially video and social content, to help highlight the need to Buy British, shop locally, farm sustainably and provide a connection to where and how food is produced to world class standards.
We spoke to Milly about her experiences in setting up her business.
“It was a very challenging time to be trying to establish a business. What is most important for me is making a difference within the community as well as establishing a long-standing relationship.
“Positioning myself has been key to attracting clients where I can both flourish as a service provider and, can work alongside to connect them to consumers so they can convey field to plate messages or their sustainability credentials or, connect people who want to engage with farming communities, for example.”
Milly contacted SEMLEP’s Growth Hub advisers and successfully applied for grant funding via the Kickstart Grants scheme. This allowed her to expand her online marketing offering, helping her to sustain her business. She also received some consultancy support for video production as well as investing in some lighting, audio, and software to provide professional quality content for her clients, which ultimately has helped them to reach out to a wider audience.
Milly said, “I hope that I can use my influence in the future to maximize support for rural communities, raise awareness of important issues such as mental health, digital connectivity, funding opportunities as well as career opportunities, inspiring others to forge a career in farming and food production.”
Milly is a member of the SEMLEP Rural Group and an active advocate for local rural businesses. When asked about what the support needed for rural businesses, Milly commented: “For public and private sector organisations to support sustained economic growth in rural areas, grant funding processes ideally need to be streamlined, easy to access and navigate and, tailored more to recognize and realize the benefit these small businesses bring to the wider rural community.”
Find out more about Milly’s business at www.millyfyfe.com. Milly also hosts a food and farming podcast called The Countryside Kitchen meets, where she interviews farmers and food producers, finding out about their backstory, how they have made their way into the industry and discover what they produce, grow or process. You can find it at: https://feeds.captivate.fm/the-countryside-kitchen/ and it is available on major podcast streaming platforms.