The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire September 2014 Edition | Page 4

BUSINESS NEWS A LINK FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS Left to right: Sue Roberts, James Phipps, Ruth Ogle, Anita Jaynes & Roger Ogle The Business Exchange and Swindon Link Magazine have joined forces following the purchase of Swindon Link by TBE director, James Phipps. Swindon Link magazine previously owned by Roger and Ruth Ogle has been in existence since January 1979 and is very much part of the town’s community, being delivered to more than 25,000 homes and a further 2,000 copies left in public places like libraries and leisure centres for people to pick up. It’s second only to the Swindon Advertiser locally, but the largest free publication in the region. The Link also has a strong web presence with tens of thousands of unique visitors per month. James Phipps, also CEO of Swindon based Excalibur Communications, is Swindon born and bred and is highly passionate about the town he calls home. A sense of community is important to him and this is why he decided to secure the future of the publication and website. James commented: “As someone locally who has received the Swindon Link and used the website, I know what an important part it has played in the Swindon community for the last few decades. Roger was keen to expand it further and with significant investment in the coming months, the team is already growing from four to eight in the first month with a new website on the way. This allows us to offer an even better service to our readers and our advertisers and to a much wider audience in the whole of Swindon.” Wiltshire Business Hub 4 THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2014 James and the team have big plans in the coming months and are currently recruiting a highly experienced team to take the business to the next level. The Business Exchange magazine and online offering has been a huge success story, with the company celebrating a year in business this month. The group is being widened to include Swindon Link to provide an unrivaled offering in terms of consumer and business press across Swindon and Wiltshire. Fellow director of TBE Anita Jaynes will work closely across the publications as group editor managing the new team and working on the development and expansion of the company. Roger and Ruth Ogle will be staying in the business for the next few years at least with their valuable input and passion for both Swindon Link and the town itself. Anita commented: “I can’t believe how far TBE has come in just a year and joining forces with Swindon Link is the icing on the cake. We really have some fantastic plans in the pipeline and its great to have the support of a team behind me. We have just employed three new journalists and we’re also recruiting sales staff.” “In the next few weeks we will be launching a dedicated sports website for Swindon, which will quickly become the go-to place for everything to do with sport in the town. Exciting times ahead.” Little Miss Cakemaker helped the TBE team have their cake and eat it Little Miss Cakemaker, otherwise known as Samantha Whitting delivered TBE’s first birthday cake and cup-cakes to our office and before it was devoured we thought it would be great to have a few shots taken to use the fab design as our front cover image this month. Lis MacDermott of Headshot Diva kindly came to the rescue and helped us secure some professional shots worthy of front cover prominence. Samantha’s cake making business is based in Bowman House Business Centre in Royal Wootton Bassett and the company is growing quickly having only launched in February of this year. Perhaps this is due to Samantha’s unique skill set. She has a degree in advertising design and has worked for both Swindon Advertiser as a sales advisor and Future Publishing in Bath, working on the Craft portfolio of magazines. Samantha said: “My specialty is corporate cakes and catering for business events as I can bring a unique blend of cake-making and advertising/branding together – I understand businesses needs in a way that other bakers may not, as my career was established in that environment.” Sam has recently launched a specific area of her website just for corporate orders, with a discounted pricing structure based on the quantity you require. Cupcakes start from £2.50 and go down to £1.50 each when you order a larger amount. The larger sponge cakes are also priced with a simple structure - so that you can be as creative as you want with the design, and not pay ridiculous prices. The sponge cakes range from £35 to £65. Visit www.littlemisscakemaker. com for more information. Samantha recently entered a national business competition and is shortlisted in the top 100 new businesses in the country. To vote for Little Miss Cakemaker to win the Digital Marketing Award visit www.thepitchuk.com/shortlist/ little-miss-cake-maker/701