Tara Tomes
Tara Tomes is Founder and Managing Director of Birmingham-based PR agency, EAST VILLAGE. Specialising in PR, marketing and events, the award-winning agency works with brands across retail, leisure, hospitality and the Third Sector. Tara is passionate about helping people find their voice and tell their story; with an agency centred around team culture and delivering PR consultancy and coaching to business and brand owners too.
- Tell us a little bit about your business…
EAST VILLAGE. is an agency that prides itself on doing things differently. I set up the agency in 2013 to be centred around team culture; putting people at the heart of everything that we do. That transcends into the way that we work too; representing impact and purpose-driven brands who have great values at the heart of their everyday operations and placing them in front of people who care about making a difference.
We pride ourselves on being a ‘think outside the box’ agency, delivering PR, social media, influencer marketing and events for retail, leisure, hospitality and Third Sector organisations.
We have a love of small and independent business, representing clients including sustainable jewellery brand, Influenstar; planet-friendly firewood retailer, Love Logs; craft beer brand, Gypsy Brew; and bespoke jewellery designer, Roseanna Croft. As well as organisations who want to have a positive impact on society, including the region’s largest grant-giving charity, Heart of England Community Foundation; Living Well UK, a consortium of 40 mental health charities; Warwickshire-based The Heart of England Forest; and pioneering arts complex, Midlands Art Centre (MAC).
- How did you get into the industry?
My mum and dad are in the music industry so I grew up in what I guess you would call a ‘showbiz’ lifestyle. I fell in love with the power of the media from a really young age; seeing how you could tell stories through newspapers, magazines, TV and radio. The concept of ‘brands’ was something that always interested me, and I wanted to get into PR before it became the “cool” industry to be in.
I went to Uni to study Advertising & Marketing, and did a placement year that I split in two; working for six months in Stella McCartney’s press office and 12 months at a music festival called Gigbeth. I just loved everything about it… and couldn’t wait to finish uni to start my love affair with the world of PR!
- What are the biggest opportunities and challenges in your industry?
As the world becomes more connected, telling your story has never been more important. People are fighting for consumer’s attention so it’s crucial to know who you want to talk to and, most importantly, how to stand out in the crowd. This is what makes a great PR pro; knowing how to get to the hearts and minds of someone’s customer and communicating with them in a compelling way.
For me, the biggest opportunity in PR is that it’s no longer about newspaper headlines; great – and impactful – PR is about using a blend of different channels to get in front of your audience. That makes it really exciting! It could be an amazing founder interview or product placement in a shopping page, but it could also be a TikTok trend or a stunt that goes viral. There’s just so much to experiment with!
Added to that, the pandemic has really brought home the importance of shopping local and caring about your community, so there has never been a better time to be a small, independent business. Reach out to people who you want to buy your product and service and tell them why you’re the must-buy business for them!
- How would you describe your leadership style?
People genuinely matter to me – that’s what forms the foundation of EAST VILLAGE. I wanted to set up an agency that put people front and centre, and became somewhere that I would be proud to work for… and I really have done that!
In terms of leadership, I aim to lead from the front with the perfect balance of ‘getting stuck in’ and driving things forward creative, strategic ideas. I’m big on empowerment so aim to inspire the team and give them the freedom to take control of the agency and the direction that we go in.
- How do you get the most out of the people who work for you?
There are seven simple steps to team engagement in my book:
- Communicating my ‘why’ and bringing them on my journey as a business owner
- Defining clear roles and responsibilities, with transparency around progression and career development
- Knowing when to be ‘one of the team’ and play the role of peer
- Putting time into getting to know the team; how they learn, how they work, and adapting leadership styles to get the most out of them
- Knowing what matters to the team and making it matter to me – and the business too – so shaping how we tackle important issues like mental health and diversity
- Not being a fair-weather boss and putting my money where my mouth is in terms of team training and development, policies that matter, and shaping the business around the collective vision
- Encouraging and welcoming feedback in many forms; from their three-month appraisals to our anonymous ‘If I were boss for the day’ suggestion box
Then, most importantly, trust. It’s so crucial that the team knows that I trust them, and giving them enough autonomy to use their initiatives and take some risk.
- What are the most crucial elements to your business running smoothly and being successful?
People… without a doubt! When the team is happy and supported, they’re not just more productive but they get the best results for clients too! Creating an environment where everyone actually enjoys work is so important to me; I want everyone to integrate life into their work, and vice versa, so putting the team at the heart of what we do has to come first.
Aside from this, of course it’s essential that we’re working with clients who see the value in what we do and that we’re delivering work we’re proud of. I work hard to ensure that the processes in place aren’t just for the sake of it, but are designed with team-working and improved performance in mind.
Then, of course, it’s cashflow. I learnt the hard way the importance of really managing your cashflow and putting systems in place that ensure clients pay on time. The eternal challenge as a business owner!
- How has the past 12 months been for you?
Surprisingly – or perhaps not – the pandemic has actually seen us have our most successful year to date. We stayed strong, we adapted quickly, and provided support to businesses who needed it most… and it has reaped rewards! We now have a bigger and better client list than in 2019 – with higher retainers than we’ve ever had – alongside our new Pocket Sized PR initiative, which allows us to support small businesses with free resources and tailored PR packages.
Covid-19 saw us really come into our own; I’d already stepped away from the day-to-day, so I moved to a more strategic role just in time for what became one of the most challenging year of all our lives. This means that I was able to look at what was best for the business and our clients, as well as step into my experience and do more external speaking and consulting.
For all its faults, the pandemic has actually been really exciting for us!
- Is there anything you’ve learnt during the pandemic that you’ll take forward in your business?
Everything! PR has been, perhaps for the first time, put front-and-centre of business strategy as people saw the importance of storytelling. Instead of being cut from budgets, PR has been invested in even more, as brands have realised the power in staying in front of consumers and remaining relevant.
As a business, we’ve learnt a lot about what we want to be known for and the impact that we can have, so this will keep informing the clients we work with and the initiatives we lead on.
- What will the next 12 months look like for your business?
Lots of growth, hopefully! We are just about to welcome two new team members, as part of the Government’s Kickstart scheme, and I have big ambitions for further increasing our reach. We will also be launching Pocket Sized PR as a standalone initiative, which I’m really excited about; building it as a resource for small business owners to truly grow their customer base.
- What are the highlights of your career so far?
Oh wow, there are way too many to pinpoint, which is incredible considering I’ve only actually got 13 years under my belt… imagine how many more I’ll have when I get to 30… 40 years in the business! Over the years, I’ve worked on some incredible projects but nothing quite beats seeing a piece of incredible client coverage land… I still get that buzz, even now! Event day is always amazing too; the stress of bringing everything together and then seeing people love what you’ve created… that is a really amazing moment!
Every day at EAST VILLAGE. is a highlight – even the bad days – because we’ve built it together. A vision that I had has come to life with the help of an incredibly passionate and dedicated team… I mean, it doesn’t get much better than that!
- What’s the biggest business mistake that you’ve learnt from?
I’m not great at money management, which I probably shouldn’t admit as a business owner. I’m a girl who likes to spend money, not save money, so it’s a big learning curve managing the cashflow of a business. That’s where being a great leader comes in; knowing that you don’t have the skillset to do it all and bringing in experts, in this case an accountant, to manage that side of things!
I’ve worked with people over the years who I’ve really liked and gelled with, but that isn’t enough! You have to think strategically and know your value; not accepting a lower fee just because you have rapport with someone, and not continuing work when someone doesn’t pay you for what you’ve already done. We had a run of really bad clients in 2018/19 and were owed tens of thousands of pounds, which we’re only just getting over now. It was a tough time but I learnt a lot and definitely improved the way that I manage money and also relationships when people don’t pay.
- What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve been given?
A few things stick out, namely staying ‘on top’ of the business rather than ‘in’ the business, which is something that I’m trying to do more and more nowadays. This means I have a true overview of what’s happening and also the time to build ideas and strategy, which ultimately benefits everyone. Plus, the team has more room to grow without me getting involved in the day to day.
However, the most important piece of advice is that there is no failure, only feedback. As a concept this removes fear around failure and allows me to take risks and do things differently. If it doesn’t quite go to plan, I can just learn and grow from it. That’s a piece of advice to take into every day life too! Society tells us that failure is bad and that we can only show success, but show me a truly successful business owner or leader that hasn’t had the bad times to learn from!
