Hybrid Legal Limited - Hoot Marketing

Sue Wills and Niamh Cullen are the founders of Hoot Marketing, a specialist marketing agency which helps businesses communicate more effectively with brand story telling.

We caught up with Sue to find out more about her journey in business so far. Here’s what she had to say:

WHAT INSPIRED YOU BOTH TO JOIN FORCES AND START HOOT MARKETING?

Having spent plenty of time sailing together we realised that we had some complementary skills that make voyages fun yet safe. Niamh is very detail driven and has navigated crews safely around the world whilst I can smell rum from 100 miles away. We wanted to run an agency that delivered more emotive marketing and in 2010 Hoot was born… our mantra is to inspire, surprise and delight and if all else fails…drink rum!

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST SATISFYING MOMENT IN BUSINESS TO DATE?

We’ve always been passionate about the way people communicate. We realised that marketing is an ambiguous term and it says many different things to different people so we changed our proposition from marketing strategy to brand story specialists. Brand Storytelling is an engaging and effective way to talk with your audience offering real life stories about customers and experiences.

We are proud of the work we have done with all our clients but the most satisfying moments have been with the clients that have embraced storytelling and use stories to communicate in a different and rewarding way.

We love stories and we are delighted that Hybrid are also using them to connect more freely with their audiences.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST CHALLENGING MOMENT AND HOW DID YOU OVERCOME IT?

As mentioned we were frustrated by the term ‘marketing’. It’s used so frequently and so ambiguously that we felt our message and offering was lost. We took some of our own medicine and asked a few pertinent questions of ourselves. In
order to be different, we had to offer something different, something that inspired others to want to learn more.

We recreated our proposition, specialising in brand story development and communication and it has allowed us to open doors and help others develop their own brand difference and story centric marketing.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR HOOT?

We’d like to teach the world to sing … oh, actually I think that’s Coke's job!

We’re looking forward to working with more clients who want to develop their own brand stories.

IF YOU COULD PASS ON ONE KEY TIP FOR HOW OUR CLIENTS COULD MARKET THEIR BUSINESSES MORE EFFECTIVELY, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Easy, tell great stories. We are all people at the end of the day and we all enjoy listening to stories of how others have overcome adversity or stories that make us laugh, so look for the engaging examples that help others understand what it’s actually like to work with you.

AND FINALLY, HOW HAS HYBRID LEGAL HELPED HOOT?

We are proud of the work we’ve done with our clients and that in turn has helped us build value in the Hoot Brand. With the help of Hybrid, we trademarked Hoot Marketing so as to protect our business and reputation. Subsequently we’ve twice had to defend the trademark and Hybrid have been on hand to advise us on how to manage it swiftly and successfully.