The Women in Business Network Rising Star, 2021
Jessica Nolan, winner of The Women in Business Network Rising Star Award 2021, is the founder and “Chief Disruptor” of The Disruptors Agency, a full service marketing agency for brands in the health and wellness space.
The Disruptors Agency service offering includes brand design, website design, social media management, Facebook ads, marketing strategy & consulting, events and content creation. The agency’s unique selling point is a new take on influencer marketing. Jessica, who has been described as having a “profound passion for building brands”, has a mission- to disrupt the influencer marketing industry and exclusively focus on experimental marketing, which include larger scale events and in-store activations. Jessica believes the old model of marketing doesn’t work anymore and with consumers focusing more on phones and laptop screens, Jessica wants to really connect with them there too.
Inspiration
“From working in digital marketing, I have seen so many brands spending a lot of time, money and resources on things like Facebook ads and influencer marketing, and getting no return. I wanted to change that.”, explains Jessica.
Research and overcoming hurdles
Jessica noticed a niche in the market and upon doing some research she found that there were no other agencies exclusively dedicated to working with brands in the health and wellness space.
“I am a huge believer that the best marketer is the end consumer. So, being specifically focused on the health and wellness category is a huge advantage because I understand the consumer and how to speak to them.”
“All of the company set-up admin, taxes, etc.. felt like a very daunting hurdle, but I have managed to kind of skirt around it by getting help from some amazing people who have experience in this area!”, says Jessica.
Making the decision to become self employed
Like many others during the pandemic, Jessica lost her job. This gave her a kick-start to setting up her own business.
“I made the decision to become self- employed when I lost my job as a result of the pandemic and had nothing left to lose.”
Challenges & Opportunities
The biggest challenge for The Disruptors Agency has been ensuring that they are paid by their clients on time. Cash flow issues can be caused by late payments and Jessica counts this as one of her biggest learning curves.
“Nobody likes to chase payments, but it is really important as your business needs a healthy cashflow to survive.”
The Disruptors Agency has worked with some of the biggest global names in the health and wellness industry, such as Optimum Nutrition, Deliciously Ella, the Glanbia Performance Nutrition Portfolio. They have also worked with many top Irish brands, such as FLYEfit, Kerrigans and Avonmore Protein Milk.
“The biggest opportunities have been getting our first few ‘big brands’ as clients over the past few months. This has been really exciting and reassuring that we are moving in the right direction.”
LEO Supports
“For me, the LEO Women In Business Network has been invaluable. For 2 reasons;
1. The support of the women in the group has been amazing. Starting your own business can be a very lonely journey, so it makes a huge difference having a community of women to touch base with who are on the same journey as you.
2. I have got so many clients from the network and it has been so special to be able to help so many people in our lovely little community!
The Trading Online Voucher, although I haven’t availed of it myself, has also indirectly been amazing as it has allowed so many small business owners to be able to afford to work with me.”
Adapting to the Covid 19 pandemic
“My business was set up as a result of losing my job during the pandemic. So without the pandemic, my business would not exist! I previously had a marketing agency that focused on experiential marketing, but the acceleration towards digital has been sped up so much because of the pandemic, that although we will return to in-person events in the future, we have been entirely focused on all things digital this year.”
Jessica also noticed the huge shift in consumer psychology towards online learning.
“I am launching an online course in January 2022, something I would not have been as confident about doing pre-pandemic when online study was not as widely accepted as it is now.”, Jessica tells us.
Winning The Women in Business Network Rising Star Award, 2021
“Winning the award honestly means so much to me. My business is still so new, and every day you have those moments where you question yourself, your abilities, and your decision to go down this path of self-employment. So to receive this recognition and validation from such a highly regarded external source, is massively reassuring and really has made me feel like all of the late nights, working weekends, blood, sweat and tears are paying off.
I am hoping it will help my business by spreading the word about who we are and what we do, so that we can continue to help as many more people as possible!”
You can read more about The Women in Business Network Awards and winners here; https://www.localenterprise.ie/DublinCity/News/Press-Releases/Women-In-Business-Network-Awards-2021.pdf
Next steps: 2022 and beyond
Jessica has brilliant plans to move into the world of online learning in the New Year.
“I’m very excited to launch my online course in 2022, which has been created as a result of the work I have done with a number of members of the network. The course is designed to help small business owners understand how to master their digital marketing, and be able to do it themselves in the most efficient and effective way possible.”
There’s no stopping Jessica and her big plans for the future of The Disruptors Agency.
The Women in Business Network is a business support network for all female entrepreneurs. Members can use the network to promote their business, create alliances with other members, learn new skills, get help from members with similar challenges that they may face in their business and increase your contacts to encourage business development. To join the Network, please visit here.
Contact
Website: The Disruptors Agency (disruptyourmarket.com)
Twitter: The Disruptors agency (@disruptors_irl) / Twitter
Instagram: www.instagram.com/disruptorsagency/
YouTube: The Disruptors Agency - YouTube