Franchise Article

Following a career in corporate banking spanning some 25 years, a Warwickshire woman is focusing her marketing skills on helping local businesses to take on the big brands by tapping into the power of the internet.

Alison Henderson (53) was the UK representative on an Italian banking group, operating from its Lombard Street office.   When the bank decided to close its overseas offices, she took the opportunity to make a complete career and life change, and moved to the picturesque town of Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire, establishing a local branch of national franchise operation ORCA, which is dedicated to helping smaller firms achieve “big-brand quality” websites at prices they can afford. She comments:

 “Every multi-million pound enterprise started life as a small business, so I’m delighted to be helping local firms to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the big brands in using the web as an effective business tool.   It really is their shopfront to the world – maximizing their advertising, and enabling them to sell, literally, while asleep.

“What impressed me most about ORCA was its focus on the specific needs of small businesses.   We’re not selling generic websites.  With us, there’s no “one size fits all”.  We know that every business has its own unique personality and positioning in its market.  Its customers have their reasons why they buy from my clients, and not from elsewhere.   My job is to find out what those reasons are, and to get them up there on the web, working hard for the client.”

Alison says that the ORCA way of working has many similarities to her corporate banking days:  researching companies to establish their specific needs, studying the competition, then structuring a package to suit their particular requirements,  thereafter providing ongoing help, advice and support.  The main attraction to her however, is the opportunity to help small businesses market themselves more effectively, which lies at the heart of the ORCA proposition.