Catherine McManus

Spending is selective, not uniformly up or down: consumers trade up in some categories and cut back in others, so the same survey can point sectors in different directions. As the post warns, not all operators will succeed when consumers choose where to spend and where to cut back.

A post unpacks PwC's Summer 2024 Consumer Sentiment Survey, highlighting findings relevant to grocery, travel, fashion, hospitality, health and tech: 38% of consumers expect to spend more on groceries; the “four H’s” of holidays, health, home and hobbies lead discretionary spending; clothing is recovering among under-25s; and 72% still plan cutbacks. Catherine McManus recommends a Barclays customer insight report on spending on experiences and recalls how, as a Brand Manager at Nestlé Purina Petcare, they reviewed brand plans and strategy thoroughly every year.

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A numbered, shareable list names contributors and ends with a direct invitation to discuss how the ideas apply to a specific business.

A post announcing the blog article “9 Marketing Ideas For Small Businesses” thanks two contributors featured in the list, Simon Rigby and Enterprise Nation. It invites readers to share the post or add their own marketing ideas in the comments, and gives a contact address to discuss how the ideas could work for a business.

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The guide promoted in the post answers what ChatGPT is, how it can save time and money, how to use it without losing the human touch, and what to watch out for on usage and legalities.

A post promoting a 2025 quick-read guide lists the four strands in order and asks readers how they are finding ChatGPT, what they like or dislike, and whether they will repost the post to other owners—turning the explainer into a discussion rather than an endorsement.

The subject matter shifts from core strategy, segmentation and marketing plans in earlier posts to a new tool in the 2025 post. The approach stays consistent: plain-language, owner-first treatment.

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The posts describe a completed mentorship and a mentee's account of receiving guidance on customer segmentation and building a marketing strategy, resulting in a plan designed to maximise return on marketing investment.

A post says Catherine McManus signed up as a mentor with the UK Government's Help to Grow Management Course, was trained by the Association of Business Mentors, and had just completed a second mentorship. It quotes a mentee review describing help with segmentation and strategy, outlines the course's practical terms—90% subsidised, costing participating businesses £750, with ten hours of mentorship—and points readers to the Association of Business Mentors and Enterprise Nation.

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Co-written with an operations specialist, its productivity tips are aimed at owners who want to grow, placing marketing advice alongside the work of delivering it.

A post offering “5 Game-Changing Productivity Tips” was co-produced with Operations Consultant Sarah Hale. It focuses on growing and developing a business through improved productivity and invites readers to add their own tips in the comments.

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Start here to understand the data-led side of their work before reading the shorter tactical posts.

Catherine McManus walks through findings from PwC's Consumer Sentiment Survey, citing specific figures: 38% of consumers expected to spend more on groceries over the next 12 months, 72% still planned spending cutbacks, and the "four H's" of holidays, health, home and hobbies had become the most prioritised discretionary categories.

• The post covers grocery, travel, fashion, hospitality, health and technology; notes that clothing had leapfrogged technology and big-ticket items, especially among under-25s; and stresses that consumers keep prioritising experiences over physical goods.
• McManus draws on their time as a Brand Manager at Nestlé Purina Petcare, where brand plans and strategy were reviewed annually, and points readers to a further Barclays customer insight report.
• The post identifies them as an adviser within Enterprise Nation.

For brands planning a campaign

Useful for a brief on research-backed SME content or consumer-trend explainers: Catherine McManus turns a corporate survey into practical advice, a working style suited to a data-driven partnership.

The short read offers a sense of their collaborative, list-based format.

The post announces five "game-changing productivity tips" produced jointly with Operations Consultant Sarah Hale for small-business owners looking to grow by improving productivity.

• It invites readers to add their own tips in the comments.
• The tips themselves sit behind a link, so the post focuses on the framing and collaboration rather than the full advice.

For brands planning a campaign

Shows that co-created content with a complementary expert is part of the working approach, relevant to guest-expert or joint-byline proposals on SME operations.

Read it for the mentoring angle that the marketing posts only imply.

Catherine McManus describes mentoring on the UK Government's Help to Grow Management Course, having been trained by the Association of Business Mentors, and quotes a mentee review about being guided through customer segmentation and building a marketing strategy. The post lays out practical routes for readers: Help to Grow, described as 90% subsidised and costing participating businesses £750 with ten hours of mentorship; the Association of Business Mentors, a professional body for the mentor and coach sector; and Enterprise Nation, which was recruiting mentors.

For brands planning a campaign

A placement or collaboration aimed at UK SMEs could use the mentoring and programme angle as an entry point rather than a straight marketing pitch.

Start here to see how they make a new tool approachable for owners.

The post promotes a quick-read guide framed for 2025, covering what ChatGPT is, how it can save time and money, smart ways to use it without losing the human touch, and what to watch out for on usage and legalities.

• It asks readers how they are finding ChatGPT and what they like or dislike, inviting discussion in the comments.
• The guide is linked rather than included in the post.

For brands planning a campaign

A software or AI-adoption partner could fit an SME explainer in this format, covering practical uses and caveats.

Read it to see how a list-style resource is introduced and readers are directed to the full article.

The post announces a blog article with nine marketing ideas combining online and offline tactics, thanks Simon Rigby and Enterprise Nation for items in the list, invites readers to share the post or add their own ideas, and gives an email address for discussing how the ideas could apply to a business.

For brands planning a campaign

Shows a numbered idea roundup as a realistic placement format, with the post acting as the entry point to a longer article.

In one post, they work through PwC's Summer 2024 Consumer Sentiment Survey, highlighting findings they consider relevant to grocery, travel, fashion, hospitality, health and tech: 38% of consumers expecting to spend more on groceries, the “four H's” of holidays, health, home and hobbies leading discretionary spending, and clothing recovering among under-25s.

• They then recommend a Barclays customer insight report on spending on experiences and note that annual brand-plan reviews were routine when they worked as a Brand Manager at Nestlé Purina Petcare.
• They share the material as an adviser within Enterprise Nation.

Takes a published survey, pulls out sector-relevant figures and uses them to prompt a marketing-plan review rather than simply summarising the report.

For brands planning a campaign

A partnership or guest-expert slot built around a sector data story is a natural fit.

• Catherine McManus reads a named survey, selects findings a small operator can act on and turns them into a reason to review a marketing plan.
• A brand with its own consumer data could supply the research and let them draw the operator-level conclusions.

Examples: Source 1

The list credits two contributors — Simon Rigby and Enterprise Nation — and invites readers to share posts or add their own ideas in the comments. The post also gives a direct contact address for discussing how the ideas apply to a specific business.

For brands planning a campaign

This is a clear opportunity for a brand to appear as a worked example rather than a sponsor. A business or organisation named in a numbered tactics list can reach readers actively looking for ideas to try, and the article is framed for small budgets.

Examples: Source 1

It covers what the tool is, what it does, how it saves time and money, smart ways to use it without losing the human touch, and what to watch for on usage and legalities. The post asks readers to repost it for other owners and share their own experience with the tool in the comments.

For brands planning a campaign

An AI or software brand could partner on educational content or a sponsored guide. The format is already a short, structured explainer with prompts to share and comment, and it addresses adoption concerns such as human tone and legal use, not just benefits.

Examples: Source 1

A mentee review describes how they helped with customer segmentation and building a marketing strategy, and ends with confidence that the plan would maximise return on marketing investment. The post also outlines the course's cost and structure, and points to the Association of Business Mentors and Enterprise Nation as routes for others.

For brands planning a campaign

This suits a hands-on collaboration — a workshop, mentoring cohort or guest-expert session — better than a promotional placement. The outcome is a small business leaving with a segmentation and a strategy, so a brand attached to the format is buying process credibility rather than reach.

Examples: Source 1

It invites readers to add their own productivity tips in the comments.

For brands planning a campaign

Shows a working habit of co-authoring with a complementary specialist. A brand could join a piece pairing marketing and operations advice, in a format that already invites reader contributions.

Examples: Source 1

They draw on that experience to recommend that small businesses review their marketing plans regularly.

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They describe the course as aimed at senior leaders of small and medium-sized businesses, 90% subsidised by government, and including ten hours of mentorship per participant.

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They point readers to the organisation if they are looking for a mentor.

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Buyers should ask about the terms of their role.

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They present the survey as research businesses can act on.

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The post reviewed makes the case directly: founders jump straight to channels when they have a strategy problem.

• The fix is clarity on who they are trying to reach, the problem they solve and the story the business needs to tell.
• Storey also describes being proudly channel agnostic, which matches McManus's habit of treating the channel as a decision that follows the thinking.

Storey runs Freshbat, a strategic communications agency, and writes for established B2B professional services founders who have grown on reputation and referrals and now want a structured marketing function.

• The examples are client work, including an email campaign for a financial consultancy with reported open and response rates, and a day-long strategy session.
• Catherine McManus writes for small businesses and SMEs more broadly, and their examples are a consumer survey breakdown, an affordable-tactics list, a ChatGPT guide and a mentoring programme rather than agency campaign results.

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The CRM post makes the same argument as Catherine McManus's marketing advice: understand the problem you are trying to solve before spending on a solution, and count the real costs — integration, migration, training, process change and management time — rather than the headline price. Both write in the same owner-to-owner register and end with a clear next step.

Newbould focuses on commercial risk and how businesses buy expertise: contract disputes, deals, shareholder fall-outs, insolvency, personal guarantees, procurement and technology purchasing.

• The material draws on work across law, business and government and on running five businesses.
• The routes offered are Instagram tips, courses, guides and tools under a business solutions banner.
• Catherine McManus stays focused on marketing — customer research, low-cost tactics, AI tools and mentoring — and points readers to marketing bodies and programmes.

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The two posts promote podcast episodes with Amrit Dhaliwal of Walfinch, and the takeaways focus on growth: think about your exit before your entry; growth depends on people, processes and systems; coaching is an investment; and leadership balances intuition with data.

Westra's format is the interview: each post features a named founder, is promoted across LinkedIn and Instagram with a watch-the-episode link, and covers subjects such as franchising, scaling beyond the founder, exit strategies and fractional leadership. Catherine McManus writes their own marketing advice rather than hosting guests, with recurring subjects including customer research, affordable tactics, AI adoption and mentored strategy work.

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In a post about strategy before channels, Storey describes helping a financial consultancy clarify its audience, offer and story before an email campaign. The campaign recorded a 51.76% open rate—41% above that account’s average for the previous three months—showing how strategic clarity connected with execution.

Storey’s post emphasizes professional-services strategy; Catherine McManus’s PwC consumer-sentiment analysis highlights sector spending patterns and changing customer priorities. For a brief centered on consumer research across sectors, McManus’s example is the closer fit.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2