A new year means unmarked pages waiting to be filled with exploring, learning, growing and creating. It also represents a fresh and refocused start – a time to reflect, set goals and channel positive energy into the next phase of the business.
At the end of 2019, we kickstarted our reflections and ran a series of our ‘5 Favourite Things’ across our social media channels to explore the best bits of 2019, and some things to get excited for in 2020.
Now as the holiday season wraps up, we are ready to pinpoint and share our biggest goals and brightest visions for the next twelve months.
Join us as we begin the best year yet!
1. Develop our niche
Uncovering the stories we are passionate to tell is essential to the next stage of CBA Content. This year, we’ll be focusing solely on the UK’s arts and cultural heritage sectors!
We believe in the power of art and cultural heritage to preserve the history of a place and enrich the future of a people, so by honing our niche and writing about what we’re really excited about, we can help provide resources for people who want to learn about the UK through cultural experiences.
How are we going to do it?
When it comes to art and heritage, there’s nothing like first-hand experience. Being based in London, one of the most prominent cultural and historical hubs in the world, we are incredibly fortunate to have world-class exhibitions, museums and galleries, and lovingly-maintained heritage sites with centuries of history on our doorstep.
By getting out and about, being the eyes and ears of cultural happenings, and connecting and collaborating with London’s arts and culture writers, we can immerse ourselves in the beating heart of this city’s cultural scene.
2. Have more meaningful conversations
Since launch, CBA Content’s client base has primarily been built by word of mouth and personal introductions, which has resulted in some truly amazing partnerships and creative content.
This year, however, our goal is to initiate more conversations in the arts and cultural heritage space, with everyone from historians and culture vultures to content marketers and creative producers; that way we can better understand their problems and help them come up with valuable, one-of-a-kind solutions.
By opening up these conversations, we’ll be able to learn about what really makes our dream clients tick: What are their aspirations and goals? What do they fear, and what are they most excited about?
Asking these important, humanising questions will give us a richer picture of the world they inhabit, so we can get to the heart of the challenges in the arts and cultural heritage sectors and offer the best services to tackle them.
Which brings us to another cornerstone of our business…
3. Pitch, write, pitch, write!
At the start of 2019, our director and content producer, Celeste, wrote that she aimed to pitch “more articles to more publications in the hopes of getting rejected more (yes, rejected!) and published more. The fear of being rejected is what usually held me back from not pitching articles in the past, but those days are over.”
We’re hanging onto this attitude in 2020, doubling creative ideas and getting our name out there. (Without giving too much away, our earnest pitching and engagement with publications we really care about is already starting to pay off…)
This year, get ready for more informative and intriguing blogs, eye-catching social posts, creative collaborations and content experiments with video and live streaming.
Currently, Celeste is working on an illuminating article for her alma mater on the London Arts Experience – a guided tour of museums, galleries, theatres and private collections organised for alumni in December.
Over the coming months, we plan to bring fresh ideas to publications such as KCW Today, Time Out and The Guardian, connecting with strong leaders in the arts and culture world on both a local and national level.
4. Launch a new website for our new direction
CBA Content has undoubtedly transformed since we launched the site which means our corner of the internet is in need of a revamp. This year we’ll be refreshing the look and feel of the site from blog to portfolio and putting together a new menu of content offerings.
While we’ll be providing largely the same services – marketing strategy, content creation and social media guidance – we’ll be changing the way these services are packaged. Our new packages will be tailored to overcome the challenges organisations face in the arts and cultural heritage industry.
A nifty brochure of our services is coming soon – sign up to our newsletter so you don’t miss the launch!
5. Look beyond the horizon
The journey is just as important as the end goal in our view. After all, if you don’t enjoy the path to your ambitions, is it really worth it?
That’s not to say everything we do is fun and games (invoicing and backend coding – no thanks), but when you are solely responsible for the direction and success of your business, it’s essential to do something you love.
That’s why we are concentrating on things we are extremely passionate about, and helping people who are just as interested in arts, culture and history as we are to tell their stories.
So here’s to 2020 – a year of exploration, meaningful conversations, learning and writing about the art and culture that expands our horizons, and the history and heritage of where it all began.