Digital confidence for Vale businesses

An overview to tickle your tastebuds

From social media algorithms and video content to Google Business Profiles and AI-driven search, the digital marketing landscape is evolving faster than ever.

For many small businesses – particularly those juggling the day-to-day realities of running a café, shop, attraction or tourism business – knowing where to focus their efforts can feel overwhelming.

That’s where we came in.

Working with Vale of Glamorgan Council, we designed and delivered a practical digital marketing training programme aimed at helping visitor-facing businesses build the confidence, skills and knowledge to take control of their online presence.

Through a series of interactive workshops, we helped local businesses understand what really matters in digital marketing today – and, most importantly, gave them the confidence to stop overthinking and start doing.

Lifting the lid on the brief

Vale of Glamorgan Council identified a need to support local SMEs operating within visitor-facing sectors including tourism, retail and food and drink.

Many businesses already had a digital presence, but the rapid pace of change across social media, content creation tools and search behaviour meant that business owners were lacking confidence, feeling overwhelmed and unsure where to focus their time.

The challenge was to create training that was accessible to all levels of experience — from businesses who rarely posted online to those looking to refine and improve their approach.

The programme needed to cover a broad range of topics, including:

• Social media fundamentals and understanding how platforms work
• Creating engaging content and building confidence in front of the camera
• Simple tools that make digital marketing easier
• Local SEO and improving visibility through Google Business Profiles
• The increasing role of AI in how customers search for businesses
• Websites, digital advertising and making informed decisions about outsourcing

Most importantly, the training needed to reassure businesses that they did not need expensive equipment, large marketing budgets or hours of spare time to market themselves effectively.

Our recipe for success

Rather than delivering a one-size-fits-all course, we began by listening.

Every attendee completed a detailed pre-training survey, allowing us to understand their current digital activity, confidence levels, challenges and ambitions. This insight shaped the final training content, ensuring examples, exercises and advice were relevant to the businesses in the room.

We designed the sessions to be highly interactive, moving away from a traditional “talking at people” approach. Businesses took part in practical exercises, including generating content ideas, reviewing their online presence, identifying improvements to their Google Business Profiles and even creating their own video content.

The training focused on practical actions that could be implemented immediately, such as:

• Developing a simple 30-minute weekly marketing routine
• Using smartphones to create authentic video content
• Making the most of free tools such as Canva, CapCut and Meta Business Suite
• Understanding what digital analytics to monitor and how to use them to improve their activity
• Making small changes to websites and Google profiles to improve visibility

The key message throughout was simple: consistency beats perfection.

Proof is in the pudding

The feedback demonstrated the real impact of the programme.

100% of attendees rated the workshop positively. Over 90% found the training very or extremely useful, and 92% said they felt more confident managing their own digital marketing following the sessions.

The practical, confidence-building approach encouraged businesses to take immediate action, with 83% of attendees planning to create video content following the training.

The demand for continued support was also clear, with every attendee expressing an interest in attending future workshops and the programme achieving an average recommendation score of 9.67 out of 10.

By combining strategic insight, practical training and confidence-building, we helped local businesses develop the skills they need to thrive in an increasingly digital world.