Former Social Media and Online Content Manager for Liberty Insurance, Áine Bermingham reached a “now or never” moment when she was told the company’s marketing function was moving to Dublin.

Faced with the options of keeping her job but relocating to Dublin, or seeking employment locally, Áine decided that the best way to further enhance her credentials was to create her own digital marketing business.

“In the past, the thought of working for myself had always been a pipe dream but I took redundancy from Liberty Insurance and decided it was the right time to take the leap,” she tells The Impartial Reporter.

“I know a number of local business people who are self-employed and I had developed a range of connections in Dublin in relation to digital marketing, so I spoke to a few people about my idea. I also spoke to Fermanagh Enterprise and Invest NI about the viability of my offering and they were very keen.” ‘Utter Digital’ has been operating for six months and has acquired clients in Northern Ireland and the Republic, including large financial services organisations, charitable services, retail, hospitality and services industries.

Áine has found that “there’s a real need to bridge the gap between learning the theory of digital marketing and applying that to the business”. Staff have often been sent to digital marketing seminars, but the company still struggles with applying the practicalities to their service.

“I deliver a programme which will marry the learning and development of the skills with the practical application to your business.” Beginning with identifying where the opportunities lie for each business, based on their objectives, their offering, and their target market, Áine will then examine the client’s existing digital presence, such as its website, and look in detail at other opportunities such as its social media potential, how to ensure search engine optimisation and its email marketing prospects. In addition, Áine offers out-sourcing services to companies who don’t have the resources to be able to manage all of their digital marketing activity.

Her first six months as a self employed digital marketing specialist have been hectic; getting clients on board, keeping up to date with the ever-changing digital world, setting up office space in her home and also caring for her eight-year-old son.

Following a personal investment, Utter Digital turned a profit every month. “I am now in a position to reinvest that into the business to achieve my ambitious two year growth plan,” she explains.

Áine is pleased to have received such positive feedback from clients and from Fermanagh Enterprise, which sees high export potential. As she is providing her service in the Republic of Ireland, Áine already qualifies as an exporter.

She concludes: “I have an ambitious two year plan with visions of expansion across the Republic and Northern Ireland and hopefully into the rest of the UK. At the moment I have someone helping me with my admin but I expect that I will soon require a team working for me. The agencies can see a lot of potential there. They have been very supportive of what I want to do.” u Twitter: @ainebermingham u Email: aine.bermingham@utterdigital.com