Ben Martin , Manchester, United Kingdom

Ben Martin – 20 + years in creative, design and marketing.
Ben started his career as a graphic designer and worked his way up to a Creative Director for several Manchester based marketing agencies. Prior to co-founding Royal Flush Marketing, he was recruited as Head of Commercial and Marketing for The National Outdoor Centre in North Wales. Ben has developed a more strategic approach to creative using data to help understand different target audiences to find out their buying habits, what messages resonate with different buying groups, and how to align brands with their audiences. His approach is to immerse himself within a business to give them the most cost-effective way of achieving their objectives. More importantly, he aligns the marketing objectives to the commercial objectives to find out which channels will be most effective.
Some of Ben’s work includes creating a marketing strategy for Sambro International to re-pitch to Disney, which resulted in an increase of £30m in value. Creating a marketing strategy for Ultimate Products, working with their already high-performing team. Launching Ten Acre Crisps and working on everything from the name to the branding to the route to market. This culminated in the brand being sold for £13m. In addition to this Ben has worked across start-ups, SMEs, and Blue-Chip organisations on a range of projects.
Skills – Graphic Design, Strategy, Creative Concepts, Project Management, Branding, Copy Writing, Social Media Strategy, Social Media Advertising including LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube. Marketing Consultancy, Brand Management, Brand Consultancy, Brand Strategy, Digital Marketing, Commercial Strategy, Forecasting, SEO, PPC, Creative Story Telling, Selling Online.

Andy Smith – 15+ years in sales and marketing.
Andy’s career started in telesales but quickly rose through the ranks to Business Development Manager and then to Business Development Director. As a director his role was to understand the operations and delivery of the business and develop a more cohesive strategy that led to a much more holistic approach. This has enabled him to provide advice to overcome business challenges and objectives across a wide range of industries.
Some of Andy’s work includes creating a Business Development Strategy for Peppermint Soda which focused on expanding the client base using existing client case studies to create a portfolio of new clients within specific industries such as Professional Services, Construction, Outdoor, Retail & Healthcare, Manufacturing and Hospitality. He also developed client reporting systems for the delivery team to improve client retention and increase cross selling opportunities.
Andy also worked on the Ultimate Products Strategy with Ben as well as strategic campaigns for EatHome Made, PSI Global Specialist recruitment, Shea Joyfully and FHS Accounting.
Skills – Selling On-line, Sales Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Networking, Social Media Advertising, Social Media Set-up, Consumer Behaviour Analysis, Marketplace set-up including Amazon, Etsy, Not on the High Street, Folksy and eBay. Data Analysis.