This episode features Susanne Clausen, Chair of Open Hand Open Space (OHOS) and Professor of Fine Art at the University of Reading. The conversation delves into the unique nature of Open Hand Open Space, which is housed in Brock keep, a historic military keep on Oxford Road. Susanna emphasises that it serves as the town's only dedicated provider of long-term artist studios and the only dedicated contemporary art gallery in Reading. We also discuss Susanne's work and her exhibitions, as well as the vital role OHOS plays in providing affordable infrastructure for local creatives.

Finally, the conversation covers the significant challenges regarding the building's future. Susanne concludes by encouraging listeners to visit the gallery to discover the "best kept secret" of Reading's cultural landscape.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Retention of Local Talent

For a town to thrive, it must provide the infrastructure necessary to keep skilled graduates from local institutions like the University of Reading. OHOS serves as a critical bridge, offering the only dedicated long-term studio spaces for artists post-graduation. Without these affordable "incubator" spaces, creative talent often migrates to other cities, taking their innovation and economic contribution with them.

2. Boosting Reading's International Brand and Profile

Art is a vehicle for global networking. Susanne highlights how local artists represent Reading on the world stage—citing her own recent exhibition in Miami—which helps position the town as a sophisticated cultural destination rather than just a commercial hub. Supporting such spaces enhances Reading's competitive edge against comparable cities like Oxford or Milton Keynes.

3. Social Value and Community Cohesion through Cultural Hubs

OHOS acts as a "best kept secret" that drives community engagement by partnering with diverse groups, including refugees and the Hong Konger community. For business owners, a vibrant, culturally inclusive Oxford Road district improves the local environment, making it a more attractive place to live, work, and invest.

TIMECODES

00:00 Welcome to Susanne!

00:23 What is Open Hand Open Space

01:17 University of Reading connection

01:49 Reading's best kept secret

03:18 How Open Hand Open Space fits into Reading's creative setting

04:15 Some artists at Open Hand Open Space

06:18 Open Hand Open Space for the general public

06:56 How Open Hand Open Space is promoted to the public

07:52 About Susanne Clausen

10:02 What Reading needs to support artists

11:46 Why it's good for artists to exhibit their work

12:18 Is artwork used to convey specific messages

13:52 Challenges faced by Open Hand Open Space

17:06 How can people support Open Hand Open Space

18:26 Susane's final thoughts

In the final My Local Marketer episode of 2025, Maria shares four key takeaways from local business interviews to help Reading-based entrepreneurs succeed in 2026.

1. Mastery of Industry Insights

Maria highlights Becky Ottery from Eclectic Games, who stays competitive by tracking designer blogs, attending trade shows, and listening closely to customer interests.

To streamline this, Maria suggests using AI prompts—specifying your niche and location—to identify the best sources and people to follow.

2. Strategic Positioning

Differentiating your business from giants like Amazon is essential. Local shops provide value through specialist advice, product trials, and physical experiences that online retailers cannot match. Understanding this unique positioning allows for more effective marketing and targeting.

3. Shared Knowledge Systems

Becky Nallon of Double Barrelled Brewery shares how they use a "product book" containing brewer and marketing notes to empower front-of-house staff.

Collate your team's knowledge into a central resource to ensure consistent, high-quality customer service. Solo owners can use spreadsheets to track these details for contractors or partners.

4. Extraordinary Customer Touchpoints

Inspired by Pete Hefferon of Shed, Maria advises auditing every business touchpoint to add "thoughtful tweaks" that turn ordinary interactions into memorable experiences. Creating a "Fans First" culture leads to fiercely loyal followings and increased word-of-mouth growth.

By refining information channels, USP, and internal communication, local businesses can build a standout brand for 2026.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Build Robust Information Channels

To stay competitive, establish formal systems to track industry news, local developments, and audience interests. You can use AI tools like Gemini or ChatGPT to help identify specific blogs, trade press, and key influencers to follow. Becky Ottery from Eclectic Games highlights that listening to customers is often the best "crowd-sourced" method for staying ahead of trends.

2. Define Your Strategic Positioning

Clearly define how your business adds value in ways that global competitors like Amazon cannot. Specialist knowledge and physical experiences—such as product trials or expert advice—are critical USPs for local businesses. Understanding these unique advantages allows you to target your marketing more effectively.

3. Centralise Your Team's Knowledge

Improve customer service by sharing expertise across your entire staff. For instance, Double Barrelled Brewery uses a "product book" containing brewer and marketing notes to empower their team with consistent information. Even solo entrepreneurs can benefit by recording service details in a spreadsheet to streamline communication with future partners or contractors.

4. Elevate Every Customer Touchpoint

Audit every interaction a customer has with your brand and identify where you can add "thoughtful tweaks". Taking an ordinary process and making it extraordinary makes your business more memorable and shareable. This "Fans First" approach helps cultivate a loyal following and drives word-of-mouth growth.

This episode features Tomson Chauke, a musician, community leader, and founder of World Groove, discussing his mission to build bridges across the diverse communities of Reading. Tomson wears many hats, including running his band Limpopo Groove, working as a session musician, and hosting a radio podcast on B Radio.

The conversation centres on the work of his main project, World Groove CIC, which uses African drumming to help young people and young adults with autism find their rhythm. Tomson explains how this work creates a vital community where parents and carers also meet, share experiences, and form a supportive "tribe". He also mentions running the Sanctuary Strikers football team for asylum seekers and refugees as another way to connect people.

Tomson delves into his strategies for engaging diverse audiences, particularly through his vision for the World Groove festival, which aims to bring together the music and food of different cultures present in Reading. His workshops are designed to be simple and fun for everyone, using bodies, voices, and hands to create music and encourage interaction, effectively taking people away from their phones and back into shared human experience.

Finally, the discussion touches on the challenges facing community initiatives, mainly the lack of financial backup and the difficulty of finding suitable venues. Tomson strongly advocates for increased support, urging businesses to think outside the box and invest time, not just money, in helping community groups and struggling families. He concludes by emphasising the importance of kindness, paying attention to local needs, and sharing stories that inspire people in the community.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The Power of Time Investment Over Just Money: Businesses should view community support as more than just financial donations. Investing employee time—even just a few hours a month—in local initiatives like World Groove creates deeper, more authentic connections with the community you serve, leading to improved brand goodwill and local visibility.

Collaboration Requires Flexibility and Openness to New Ideas: While approaching a partnership with a vision is good, be prepared to adapt it. Instead of dictating terms, approach potential partners with an open mind and ask, "Can you try this?" or "What can you bring to the table?". This flexibility is crucial for staying relevant, attracting new talent, and finding unexpected mutual benefits.

Building an Inclusive Local Network: Tomson's use of drumming and football to bridge cultural gaps provides a model for engagement. Businesses can leverage diverse local groups to expand their network and connect with untapped talent and customers, thereby learning more about the diverse community of Reading.

TIMECODE

00:00 Welcome to Tomson

00:24 Introduction to Tomson

00:49 Tomson's focuses

01:30 Bringing people together

02:43 How Tomson breaks down barriers and brings people together

04:04 How Tomson started to connect people

06:01 Open yourself up to different experiences

07:20 How Tomson balances everything

08:18 Advice for people who want to start collaborating

11:07 Tomson's audiences

13:07 How Tomson gets people engaged in an activity and having fun

16:17 What has peaked people's interest the most about what Tomson does

17:54 What challenges Tomson has faced

19:26 Tomson's key takeaways from the people he's interviewed

20:15 Local stories are more relatable and need to be shared to inspire local action

21:37 Tomson's plans for the future

23:58 How businesses can support the local community

27:06 Tomson's final thoughts

In this episode, Will Carver, a successful writer, podcaster, and fitness business owner, shares his philosophies on work and creativity. The conversation delves into his preference for the title "writer" over "author," his method for balancing his different activities and roles, and his views on the changing landscape of the publishing industry.

The discussion begins with Carver's view that a writer uses words to change the world and make sense of difficult subjects. We then discuss his podcast, Nothing Important Happened Today, and how Will uses this creative outlet. We then turn towards discussing Will's fitness business, which he runs with his partner.

The conversation also covers the challenges of traditional publishing. Will's core message for other business owners is that authenticity is key to finding and keeping an audience. He encourages them to find their unique selling proposition (USP) and fully commit to it. He concludes by emphasising that patience is a superpower in business, necessary for enduring the initial phases of development and ultimately outpacing those who seek instant gratification.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Embrace Radical Authenticity to Define Your Niche

After being advised by his first publisher to hide his "real self" on social media, Will found that people weren't engaging with him. Once he committed to being himself, he developed a dedicated "cult following". Review all your marketing channels and ensure the voice, mission, and offering truly represent who you are, as this will attract your ideal audience.

Commit Fully to Doing One Thing Exceptionally Well

As someone who juggles multiple careers, Will notes that being multi-passionate can lead to the feeling that "I'm not doing any of them well". He advises that while "you can do anything you want, but you can't do everything you want," the goal should be to "pick something and just do it well" and "go fully at it". Identify the single most critical strand of your business, commit to spending the time and effort necessary to develop it, and use patience as a "superpower" to far outpace competitors seeking instant results.

TIME CODES

00:00

00:18 Introduction to Will

01:02 How Will manages everything

02:13 Will's podcast and how it connects with his writing

04:34 Why Will prefers 'writer' to 'author'

07:16 The difference between being self-published and using a publisher

11:27 Will's writing process

13:42 What Will learns from the different things that he does

17:04 Will's audiences

19:13 Advice for business owners- AUTTHENTICITY AT END

21:31 Be patient!

23:42 Problems and challenges Will have faced | Will's US

28:03 Final message

Ep.74 The Mirror Test: How Do you Reflect Your Target Market?

This episode features Brendan Carr, Community Engagement Curator at Reading Museum, discusses his role, the museum's vast collections, and strategies for engaging audiences. Brendan was born and bred in Reading and has a wealth of experience in museums, including the last 25 years at Reading Museum.

The conversation delves into the evolution of Reading Museum, which is housed in the beautiful red brick Reading Town Hall and has been accumulating collections for over 140 years. He emphasises that the visible displays are just the "forefront," while the vast reserve collection acts as the town's "memory bank" for researchers worldwide.

The discussion touches on the vital topic of contemporary collecting and community engagement. Brendan stresses the importance of the museum acting as a "mirror," where people can see their own culture and background reflected. Engagement strategies focus on a balance of "old school" simple, tactile interactives and leveraging digital platforms for a growing global audience.

Finally, the conversation covers the challenges of funding, and the success of strategic partnerships and crafting "compelling" projects that align with the needs of funding agencies. Brendan concludes by encouraging listeners to visit the free museum for discovery and its positive impact on long-term wellbeing.

TIME CODES

00:00 Welcome

00:55 An introduction to Reading Museum

04:41 How large is the museum collection and how much is on display

08:19 How Reading Museum decides what stories and objects to collect

12:23 How Reading Museum staff keep the collection relevant over time

18:29 Brendan's role at the museum and what it involves: Community Engagement Curator

23:34 What works for engaging museum audiences

29:07 The data Reading Museum collect and how they're used

35:02 What challenges Brendan faces in carrying out his role

41:07 Brendan's final thoughts for listeners

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Be a "Mirror," Not Just a Platform: Customers must see themselves reflected in your product or service. Ensure your offerings and marketing reflect the diversity and current story of your target audience to establish identity and a feeling of belonging.

Craft Compelling, Aligned Partnerships: The museum augments its budget by raising funds through grant applications. The key is to craft partnership arrangements with communities and projects that fulfil the needs of the funding agencies/partners. Business owners should look for partners whose strategic goals align with their project's outcomes, creating a mutually beneficial relationship.

Proactive Asset Acquisition: Don't just save records—proactively collect items, stories, and data that reflect your current history. Business owners should be capturing the tools, narratives, and artifacts of their current success (e.g. prototypes, early marketing materials, customer testimonials, team stories) as they happen.

This episode features Alex Langlais, the owner of Café Yolk, discussing her background, the development of Café Yolk, and her philosophy on running a successful hospitality venture. The conversation delves into the diverse community it serves, and the detailed operational strategy behind its success.

The discussion begins with Alex's French-Canadian background and her upbringing in the restaurant industry, highlighting the essential need for passion and resilience in the field. She explains that Café Yolk was created to fill a market gap by delivering good quality food at an affordable price point, which is something she struggled to find when she first moved to the UK in 2007.

The conversation then moves to her practice of running the café, which focuses on intense attention to detail and consistency in execution. To maintain quality at scale, Alex developed Baby Yolk as a smaller, easier-to-operate "capsule" that can deliver consistency with less reliance on constant human presence, drawing parallels to the operational success of McDonald's.

Finally, the discussion touches on the constant operational challenges, which affect an industry operating on small margins. Alex advises other business owners to "be curious," stay open to new ideas, and be passionate about the business side of the industry to survive. She concludes by mentioning her plans for the future.

TIME CODES

00:00 Welcome to Alex Langlais

00:28 Alex's background

01:26 The gap that Café Yolk fills

02:19 Who are Café Yolk's audiences

04:28 What makes Café Yolk stand out/What is Café Yolk's USP?

06:04 How has Alex been able to get the details for Café Yolk right

07:48 How Alex's hospitality background has helped her to scale

08:46 What is 'Baby Yolk'?

10:04 Getting the correct operations in place for hospitality

10:50 The challenges Alex has faced over the years

12:38 Why you need to be passionate about the product and the business side

13:50 The tight margins in hospitality

14:16 The structure of Alex's week

16:03 Alex's advice for other business owners

17:28 You can't beat the classics!

18:02 Alex's plans for the future for Café Yolk

19:11 Alex's final thoughts

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Master the Micro-Details to Create a Premium Experience at Any Price Point

Alex demonstrates that quality is built on meticulous attention to every aspect of the customer journey, not just the core product. What are the "touchpoints" in your service or product that are often generic in your industry. How can you elevate them?

2. Design for Consistency and Scalability from Day One

Alex views her business as a "heavy machine to operate" and recognises that consistency is difficult to maintain with many people involved. Her solution was developing Baby Yolk, a smaller "capsule" designed to be easily replicated and deliver the same quality with less reliance on constant human error. What part of your service delivery relies too heavily on one individual or subjective judgment?

3. Be Passionately Business-Minded to Combat Slim Margins and External Pressures

In an industry with minimal margins, Alex stresses that passion for food is not enough; you must be equally passionate about business. This requires being extremely agile, constantly making hard decisions, and quickly re-adjusting the menu, operations, and pricing in response to volatile factors like government decisions, taxation, and ingredient shortages. How can you implement a routine for high-velocity decision-making regarding finances and inventory?

This episode features Tony Cowling and Tricia Marcousé of Draughtbusters, a community group dedicated to draught proofing the homes of people in energy poverty. Originating from a 2013-2014 initiative by Reading Borough Council, the service is provided free of charge. Despite the low overhead, the work is highly impactful: draught proofing can lead to annual savings of £150 to £250 and more on energy bills. Tony, a former builder, explains that common draughts are found in places like leaky trickle ventilators, under newly fitted doors, around pipes, and through floorboards.

Draughtbusters operates via a referral system through organisations like Reading Borough Council, Citizens Advice, and local hospitals, which helps establish the group's legitimacy and checks for energy poverty. Tricia manages the admin and promotion, noting that their biggest challenge is overcoming public suspicion due to scams and managing expectations. They stress that the purpose is to provide an essential service to those who cannot afford it, and that draught proofing is the vital starting point before investing in major projects like heat pumps.

Looking ahead, Draughtbusters is expanding its reach beyond Reading. They are actively training and setting up autonomous groups across the region and as far as Scotland, with 15 new groups forming in surrounding towns over the last two and a half years. They conclude by asking listeners to volunteer to help meet the increasing demand for their invaluable service.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Prioritise Simple, High-ROI Intervention

The most impactful solutions are often the simplest, not the most expensive. Draughtbusters proves that a £22 investment in draft-proofing materials can yield £150 to £250 (and sometimes up to £600) in annual savings for clients. This demonstrates that focusing on eliminating foundational inefficiencies (like draughts) delivers massive, immediate, and recurring returns before tackling major capital projects.

Leverage Credibility for Project Flow (The Referral Engine)

To overcome public scepticism and the challenge of appearing as a "scam", Draughtbusters established a trust-based referral system. By partnering with trusted institutions like the Reading Borough Council, Citizens Advice, and the NHS, they ensured a consistent and vetted flow of clients. This structure is a powerful blueprint for any business or CSR initiative requiring verified need and high-trust acceptance.

Build a Scalable, Autonomous Training Model

The project's structure is designed for growth without central micromanagement. Draughtbusters scaled by focusing on training and workshops to help others set up autonomous groups. This enabled rapid expansion, resulting in 15 groups forming in surrounding towns and others as far as Scotland. The lesson is that to scale community impact, you must provide a replicable framework and empower local leaders to run their own operations.

TIMECODES

00:00 Greeting to Tony and Tricia

00:16 What is Draughtbusters

00:36 How did Draughtbusters start?

01:20 The Impact Draughtbusters is making

01:32 The most common causes of draught in a home

02:45 What is the mix of new to old homes in Reading?

03:23 What is the process for how someone contacts Draughtbusters

04:24 Tony's background and how he became interested in preventing draughts

06:12 Tricia's role in draughtbusters and how she promotes Draughtbusters

10:38 Draughtbusters groups outside of Reading

12:24 Challenges the group has faced

16:24 Draughtbusting tips from Tricia

19:47 Draughbusters going forwards and economics of Draughtbusters

21:23 Final thoughts

This episode features Tara Deane, founder of the Inside the Music Scene podcast, Inside the Music Scene. Tara is a former radio presenter, promoter, and musician who manages a wide array of creative projects in the music scene. The discussion covers her lifelong journey in music, her unique approach to building a supportive community, and her strategies for managing creative burnout.

The conversation delves into the evolution of Inside the Music Scene, which started in lockdown and now functions as a social media platform as well as a podcast. Tara explains how the platform offers a backstage view, interviewing not just artists, but also the vital support network like photographers, sound engineers, and music video shooters. She also details her content strategy.

Finally, the discussion touches on the vital topic of community-building. Tara urges other creators to focus on networking, being genuine, and giving value to others. She encourages musicians to explore different scenes and open mic nights to evolve their skills. She concludes with her future plans, and some valuable advice for everyone.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Use Collaborative Content to Grow Your Audience. Tara highlights the efficiency of leveraging a community through co-creation. By interviewing over 30 people at a festival and using collaborative social media posts, she saw her following triple.

Growth is Driven by Networking and Giving Value. True, long-term business success is built on relationships. Tara emphasises that business owners must be out there, doing the grafting, giving value, and doing things for others, recognising that this foundational work is what ultimately drives growth and builds a supportive, engaged network.

Your "Niche" Should Embrace Competition, Not Shun It. Tara models a powerful mindset by viewing competition as a positive force. Instead of being irritated by other promoters starting events on the same night, she sees it as a healthy, competitive market which draws in more participants and ultimately benefits your own platform.

TIME CODES

00:00 Welcome to Tara Deane!

01:04 Tara's background

01:56 Tara's activities

04:40 How Tara has developed her podcast

07:48 Finding your balance and growing your network

09:21 How Tara has developed her community

14:04 The importance of being nice!

15:04 Advice for local artists

17:59 Tara's plans for the future

20:34 Tara's advice