Business Park Partners with Chartered Marketer to put South Belfast on the Map

Ormeau Business Park in South Belfast is teaming up with Chartered Marketer Christine Watson, founder of Watson and Co. Chartered Marketing, in an effort to drive awareness of the Google Local Guides programme to businesses, social enterprises and charities across Northern Ireland.

Sponsoring a free micro learning opportunity over breakfast on Friday 26 January in the newly refurbished training room inside the enterprise agency headquarters in Ormeau Gasworks local entrepreneurs, business founders and managers are invited to attend to learn about how Local Guides can benefit their organisation.

Local Guides by Google is a global community of explorers who write reviews, share photos, and videos, answer questions, add or edit places and check facts on Google Maps. These Local Guides can also organise their own ‘Meet Ups’ through Local Guides Connect. The gamification nature of the platform has individuals, all around the world, being awarded points for each contribution they make to Google Maps.

Chartered Marketer, Christine Watson who ranks as a Local Guide at Level 7, following over 1,000 visual and written contributions to Google Maps, will deliver a bitesize insight into just how Local Guides can enhance the digital footprint of an organisation, its products and services and benefit our destinations across Northern Ireland.

She said:

“Organisations don’t know what they don’t know and in lacking knowledge and inspiration they are missing out on digital marketing opportunities. As a WorldHost Ambassador for Northern Ireland, alongside my work as a Marketing Trainer and Mentor, I believe that it is my civic duty to help organisations and destinations present themselves online in the best light possible. Photos that I have contributed as a Local Guide have been seen by people using Google Maps over 33.5 million times. I welcome this investment by Ormeau Business Park in driving awareness and upskilling those in our local economy in lesser well known and adopted digital marketing tactics like Local Guides and I look forward to bringing insight into how GIPHY and Threads can be leveraged for business benefit in future breakfast sessions.”

Manager of Ormeau Business Park, Patricia Neill added:

“Our forward thinking business park in Ormeau Gasworks has been helping businesses across south Belfast to start up and grow for over 20 years. In partnering with a local Chartered Marketer we aspire to introduce marketing opportunities to our network of entrepreneurs and drive digital awareness and build marketing skills for business benefit.”

Explaining the business case behind the new investment, she said:

“When Christine first introduced me to the wide range of digital tools that an organisation can leverage for marketing I was astounded. Increasing awareness of the lesser adopted digital marketing tactics or platforms and the benefit that they can bring to business is the objective of these breakfasts and the topics for the first series include Local Guides, Giphy and Threads.”,

adding:

“As an enterprise agency we aim to be as responsive as possible to the needs of the players in our local economy here in south Belfast and we are delighted that we can act to introduce new ideas and concepts and be responsive to the learning requirements of organisations and individuals. Events that we host in our newly refurbished conference and training rooms also offer local entrepreneurs and organisations a valuable opportunity to network and connect.”

This digital marketing insight breakfast series, launching with Local Guides, aims to introduce local entrepreneurs, businesses, social enterprises and charities to lesser known digital tools that can be cleverly adopted for business benefit. These free bitesize learnings over breakfast, which will be delivered in-person, are made possible with funding by Ormeau Business Park, which runs as a social enterprise.

To find out more or to book a free place at the first event on Friday 26 January visit Ormeau Business park on eventbrite.

Photo Caption: Patricia Neill, Manager of Ormeau Business Park is partnering with Chartered Marketer of Watson and Co. Chartered Marketing, Christine Watson in a drive to enhance the digital footprint of local businesses, social enterprises, charities and destinations on Google Maps. A free breakfast event on Friday 26 January at the South Belfast enterprise agency will showcase to local entrepreneurs and managers the ways in which Local Guides can deliver marketing benefit to organisations across Northern Ireland.

Photo Credit: Bernie McAllister