Case Study with Storm Solutions: Supporting Growth & Success

At Escape the Village, we love supporting ambitious businesses that are ready to grow but need the right marketing structure, strategy, and support behind them to make that growth sustainable.

One of those businesses was Storm Solutions, a growing management consultancy specialising in IT within the education sector. Based in Surrey, they were already building a strong reputation within their industry, but like many expanding businesses, their marketing activity had developed organically over time and needed clearer direction, systems, and consistency to support their next stage of growth.

What followed became a fantastic example of how practical marketing support, training, and strategic guidance can help a business build confidence, increase visibility, and create real commercial growth.

Understanding the Challenge

When we first began working with Christian and his team at Storm Solutions, the business had a clear vision and excellent industry knowledge, but, like many smaller, growing organisations, marketing often had to compete with day-to-day operational pressures. Their team knew they needed to improve their overall marketing and sales approach, but they also wanted something realistic and manageable rather than a complicated strategy document that would sit untouched in a folder somewhere.

After carrying out a series of initial marketing audits and review sessions, we identified several key areas where improvements could make a significant difference:

• Greater consistency across social media
• Improved structure and management of marketing tasks
• Better use of PR opportunities
• More strategic website content and messaging
• Clearer systems and processes for ongoing marketing activity
• Support and development for their marketing apprentice
• Ongoing guidance to help the business maintain momentum

Rather than simply “doing marketing for them,” the focus became building a stronger internal marketing foundation that would support long-term growth.

Creating Systems That Worked for the Business

One of the biggest priorities was introducing practical systems and processes that suited the way Storm Solutions operated as a consultancy business.

For many growing organisations, marketing can quickly become reactive. Social media posts are created at the last minute, website updates get delayed, and PR opportunities are missed simply because nobody has the time to coordinate everything properly.

Working closely with the team, we helped implement structured approaches for:

• Marketing planning
• Content scheduling
• Social media management
• Website updates
• PR coordination
• Campaign organisation
• Internal marketing responsibilities

Importantly, these systems were designed around the business and its people rather than forcing them into rigid processes that didn’t fit their working style. As a consultancy supporting the education sector, flexibility and responsiveness were incredibly important to them, so any marketing structure needed to support that rather than slow it down.

Supporting Their Marketing Apprentice

One of the most rewarding parts of this partnership was supporting the development of their marketing apprentice.

At Escape the Village, we strongly believe that training, mentoring, and confidence-building are just as important as delivering marketing activity itself. A business can have all the tools in the world, but without people who feel supported and capable of using them, growth becomes much harder to sustain. Liz’s training and teaching background means she can support and make a real difference with young apprentices and in turn your business!

We worked closely with the apprentice to provide guidance, training, and practical support across multiple areas of marketing. This included helping them understand:

• Social media planning and management
• Brand consistency
• Marketing coordination
• Content ideas and creation
• Basic PR activity
• Website management
• Day-to-day marketing organisation

Rather than overwhelming them with technical jargon or unrealistic expectations, the focus was on building confidence, practical skills, and a clearer understanding of how marketing supports wider business objectives. This ongoing support also helped create greater consistency within the business, ensuring marketing activity could continue more effectively internally between our regular support sessions.

Flexible Support That Matched Their Needs

Like many modern businesses, Storm Solutions needed flexibility in how support was delivered. Because they were based in Surrey and where we work with clients across the country, we used a combination of online meetings and face-to-face sessions depending on what worked best for the business at the time.

Some conversations were ideal for video calls and regular focus sessions, while others benefited from in-person meetings to enable more collaborative planning and deeper discussions about strategy and future growth. This flexible approach allowed us to provide support that felt practical, accessible, and tailored to the team’s needs, rather than forcing them into a rigid consultancy structure.

Regular Focus Sessions for Ongoing Support

As the business continued to grow, our work evolved into regular focus sessions that provided ongoing strategic and operational support. These sessions became an opportunity to:

• Review current marketing activity
• Identify new opportunities
• Solve marketing challenges
• Refine messaging and strategy
• Discuss lead generation
• Plan future campaigns
• Support internal marketing decisions

Sometimes businesses simply need an external perspective and somebody who understands both marketing and the realities of running a growing organisation. Having regular access to experienced support allowed the Storm Solutions team to continue moving forward confidently without feeling isolated or overwhelmed by marketing demands.

The Results – From 3 People to a Team of 10

One of the most exciting outcomes of this partnership was seeing the direct impact improved marketing had on business growth. As their visibility, consistency, and strategic activity improved, Storm Solutions began generating increasing numbers of sales leads through their marketing efforts. With stronger lead generation and greater brand presence, the business was able to expand both its client base and internal team.

Over time, Storm Solutions grew from a small team of just three people into a business employing ten staff members. While growth is always driven by many factors, including expertise, service quality, and leadership, effective marketing played an important role in helping create the visibility and opportunities needed to support that expansion.

More Than Just Marketing

This project perfectly reflects the way we work at Escape the Village. For us, marketing is rarely just about social media posts or websites in isolation. It is about understanding the wider business, identifying barriers to growth, supporting people, creating confidence, and building systems that genuinely help businesses move forward.

Sometimes businesses need full outsourced marketing support. Sometimes they need strategy, training, mentoring, or simply someone to help them organise the chaos and create a clearer direction. With Storm Solutions, it became a combination of all of those things.

And seeing a business grow from a team of three to ten people while developing stronger marketing foundations along the way is exactly why we love what we do.