Training “At the start of my online journey, I went on a number of courses run by the council, and I have to say they were massively valuable. As a small business, I do not have an IT department but I have mastered the key skills required in the virtual world, and also, I know my customers! How to get best value from social ads and how to create videos were two really useful courses.”
“For me, it was really important to have a real shift in mindset from using social media for friends and family to using it for work with a business filter. Now it is just second nature – what we do on Facebook and Instagram is really just an extension of how we deal with customers. And with 100% authenticity.” In terms of her online trading, this is split fairly equally between Facebook and Instagram and the website. Heather explains: “People buying on Facebook and Instagram tend to be more local and tend to have an ongoing relationship with the gallery.
Heather Lavery
SELLING THE SHELDON WAY Heather Lavery may have 38 years’ experience of the framing industry but her passion for the sector and appetite to try new things is unabated! As a result, not surprisingly, Sheldon Galleries is absolutely flying on the back of innovations around online trading that were essentially accelerated by lockdown but had been started back in 2012 when Heather first embraced social media as part of her marketing strategy. In this article, Heather shares some insightful best practice around selling on Facebook, Instagram and her website. Heather’s father David Devenney opened Sheldon Galleries in 1965 and she was brought up on art and framing – helping after school and in the holidays. She started full-time at the age of 18 and then officially took over the business in 1987. While Heather still loves to see customers in person at her Newtownards studio, a huge amount of her business is now online. She has a team of 10 in total, many of whom like Karen Gregory and Eilis Johnson have been with her for over 20 years.
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“Interestingly, much of the online business through the website is with customers farther afield who have discovered us via Google as opposed to a pre-existing relationship. Our SEO strategy is clearly working and we now have customers throughout the UK, Europe and USA.”
