Workshop

Produced by Courier, the defining media brand for a new generation who want to live and work on their own terms, the Courier Workshop podcast explains key business topics in order to help you work better. Each episode takes a deep-dive into one essential concept and unpacks it – defining terms, sharing the experiences of experts and founders, and pointing you in the direction of useful tools.

Courier Workshop episode 12: Press coverage

Having your business talked about in the right places, for free, is something pretty much every business is after. But how do you go about it? We talk to Jesse Derris, founder of strategic communications agency Derris; Kim Pham, co-founder of Asian food brand Omsom; and Hana Sutch, founder of walking app Go Jauntly, to talk about the tactics to getting press coverage – including tips for doing it yourself or working with a PR agency. File this under 'unmissable'.

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Courier Workshop episode 11: Customer support

How a business interacts and supports its customers is super important to keeping hold of them – and attracting new ones. We speak to two direct-to-consumer brands who take their customer support very seriously and dig into the details of how they go about it. Plus, we get the lowdown from a Zendesk expert on the essentials every business needs to have in place from the beginning – and then how to scale it.

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Courier Workshop episode 10: Pay equity

Despite positive intentions, achieving pay equity across your business isn't something that'll just happen organically. In this episode, we learn how two companies, Buffer and GrantTree, have brought in innovative approaches to ensuring people are paid fairly, based on their skills, experience and knowledge. We also dig into how you can adapt your compensation structure to achieve pay equity.

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Courier Workshop episode 9: User research

Understanding the wants and needs of your customers is essential when you’re creating something. We talked to Katy Marshall, the VP of Pattern Brands, and Ben Witte, the founder of Recess, about how they factored research into their product development processes. And, we got tips from qualitative research consultant Lucy Morris on how to run focus groups and customer interviews that generate useful and actionable research.

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Courier Workshop episode 8: Delegation

Everyone knows how important delegating tasks is to growing a business, but plenty of founders find it hard to get out of the weeds – whether that’s because they don’t know how to or just don’t want to. We speak to a couple of founders on how they’ve improved their process and get taken through a step-by-step guide to effective delegation from someone who’s taught Amazon and the US Army.

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Courier Workshop episode 7: Content usage rights

Yes we’re getting technical, with a legal issue that’s often ignored by small businesses but one that could come back to bite you if you don’t get it right. In this episode, we’ll outline how to develop content licensing agreements over the content you use – be that photography, video, social posts or illustrations.

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Courier Workshop episode 6: Effective interviews

You won’t be hiring the right people without a carefully considered and structured interviewing process. While plenty of small businesses opt for more informal and instinctive approaches, if you want to make sure it’s as effective and as inclusive as possible, you need to give it due time and attention. Here’s how to go about it.

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Courier Workshop episode 5: Market assessment and positioning

Before you launch a business or a new product, you need to know whether an opportunity exists in the market, how big it might be, and how you can stand out. We chat to two founders on the practical things they did to assess their market, before turning our attention to the importance of nailing down a unique brand positioning.

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Courier Workshop episode 4: Carbon footprint

A critical step for working out a business' environmental impact is working out its carbon footprint. While that might initially seem super complex, time-consuming and expensive, it needn't be. We hear how physical and digital product companies have worked out theirs, along with the creators of some excellent online tools.

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Courier Workshop episode 3: Referral marketing

Word of mouth is one of the most effective ways for a business to acquire new customers – and plenty of businesses bring in referral marketing programs to encourage it. We get into the what, why, when and how of referral marketing with two businesses who have found success with it, and an expert on the subject. Strap in tight.

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Courier Workshop episode 2: Tone of voice

When it comes to building a brand, one critical aspect is often overlooked: tone of voice. We speak to two communication managers at two very different companies about how they apply it to their businesses – and get some tips on how you can develop your own.

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Courier Workshop episode 1: Debt financing

The headlines might be dominated by startups raising big rounds from venture capitalists, but traditionally businesses were – and in many cases continue to be – built using debt. We share the experiences of small business owners who have used debt financing, alongside practical tips from the experts.

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