Meet Amanda Wynne Evans, Director and Founder of Wynne Marketing, a company that uses exciting marketing strategies to help regulated firms in the UK to find, win and keep clients.
Amanda Wynne Evans’ personal and professional journey has been nothing short of a rollercoaster. Starting her first job at 17, she took up every project and course that was presented to her and rose up the corporate ladder. Things seemed perfect until a series of events hit her and her family, changing her perspective towards life. Her father passed away in 2009, which devastated the whole family, following which her brother-in-law suffered from a serious work accident, and her husband started having health issues. This was during the time when she and her sister were both pregnant. The financial crash of 2008-09 also put her career in financial services in threat. Her world turned upside down, and while she went on maternity leave, Amanda realised how short life was and that it was time to fulfil the dream of starting her own business, to bring the flexibility and freedom she had always wanted to her work and life.
Wynne Marketing started as a web design and logo business in 2010 and grew to become a Consultancy, focusing on strategic advice. It was only in 2019 after Amanda came face to face with a life-threatening virus similar to meningitis, which made her so sensitive to light that she could barely open her eyes, that everything came to a scary halt. The pain was excruciating, and even after several tests, doctors couldn’t figure out the reason and suspected it might be a brain tumor. As she lay on the hospital bed, unable to open her eyes, she realized how hard she had been pushing herself with no focus on self-care. As she didn’t employ anyone directly, she was doing all the work herself, which had eventually taken this huge toll on her health. She considered how to change the business model and came up with the idea of ‘Flexperts’, a collaborative team of creative experts who had their own businesses but could do work for her as and when needed. After 6 months of health tests, she was told she had no tumor and was completely fine. It took this scary situation to help her to grow the business by accepting help and realizing the need to prioritize her health.
Talking about the idea behind the organization, she says, “Wynne Marketing Consultancy is different to agencies in that we focus on solving business problems for our clients. They come to us asking how they can sell more services, how they can be noticed by a certain target audience, how they can be more consistent and automated with their marketing to simplify it. We don’t just sell clients a new website or a social media package, etc; we begin with a Marketing Strategy workshop, which is designed to understand the goals and dreams of the business owner. We understand where they are now and where they want to get to and diagnose a marketing mix and plan that bridges that gap. We then work alongside them to deliver that plan.”
Starting out as a business owner, as Amanda was eager to help and do the work, she priced it quite low and eventually found it difficult to pay herself what she deserved. She worked on her confidence and created boundaries and systems to ensure clients did not take advantage. The business and her client base started growing as word of mouth spread. Recently, COVID has brought challenges to Wynne Marketing with business owners pausing their usual spend on growth and marketing. However, as Wynne Marketing specialises in supporting business owners to understand and connect with their target audience, Amanda expects an influx of new clients as they realise how COVID has impacted customer behaviour. She wishes to help as many businesses as possible with marketing strategies and process for the ‘new normal’ and create win-win situations (Wynne-win) as a ripple effect, so that they can help their own clients and so on.
Amanda is grateful for the response and support she receives from her clients and many connections. She often writes about motivation and aims to inspire, rather make a sale, building a solid reputation over the years. In 2020, she achieved Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM) which recognized her time and expertise in the field of marketing. Despite all the challenges, Amanda forged her own path, turning her misfortunes into a learning experience and it became the motivation behind her success. Leaving an inspiring message for her readers, she says, “Whatever your situation, if you are called to make a change in your life, then do it. Trust your gut, believe in yourself, and take the first steps into making it happen. You can do anything you set your mind to!”