About the client

Stories by Ola is a contemporary Irish ceramics brand, hand-throwing stoneware mugs, bowls, dishes, vases and ceramic jewellery from a coastal studio. The brand sits firmly in the Contemporary Irish Craft segment — between traditional heritage names like Nicholas Mosse and Louis Mulcahy and high-end international gallery ceramics — with a clear coastal narrative ("ceramics shaped by the sea") and a strong social media presence built on process-led making content.

The business had real strengths to work with: high-performing reels, a recognisable visual identity, and an authentic maker story. The challenge was commercial. Reach and engagement were strong, but website revenue was not keeping pace, the email channel was running on ad-hoc updates, and there was no structured approach to SEO, repeat purchasing, or international growth.

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The brief

Stories by Ola needed a clear, realistic plan to:

• Strengthen the website as a primary, predictable sales channel
• Convert social reach into measurable commercial outcomes
• Build a more structured, intentional email channel
• Develop selective international growth without overcommitting to high-friction markets
• Improve brand clarity, consistency, and perceived value
• Make marketing efficient and sustainable alongside production demands

The output needed to be practical, time-horizon based, and respect the operational reality of a solo maker — no marketing system that quietly becomes a second full-time job.

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Approach

The project ran in two phases. The first was a full marketing audit covering website performance, social channels, email, SEO, brand positioning, competitive context, and operational capacity. The second was a 5-year strategy structured across three time horizons — short-term (0–12 months), medium-term (2–3 years), and long-term (4–5 years) — with each horizon having clearly defined priorities, outcomes, and success indicators.

Key strategic decisions included:

• Sequencing for ROI. Conversion fixes on the website come first, because every uplift in conversion makes every other channel more valuable. Social funnel work, email structure, and SEO follow in that order.
• Six strategic goals anchoring all activity: website as primary sales channel, social-to-commercial conversion, intentional email, sustainable international growth, brand clarity, and marketing efficiency.
• Audience-first segmentation. Three clearly defined buyer groups — Irish design buyers, international design buyers in selective markets, and B2B stockists — each with their own triggers, barriers, and discovery patterns.
• Competitive positioning within the Contemporary Irish Craft segment, with the coastal narrative and accessible premium pricing as core differentiators.
• A seasonal commercial calendar mapped to handmade production cycles, so marketing intensity rises and falls with production capacity rather than fighting it.
• A lightweight measurement framework — a 30-minute monthly review covering five core performance areas, designed to inform decisions without becoming admin overhead.

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Outcome

Stories by Ola received a complete strategic foundation: a 60-page document covering audience definition, competitive context, positioning and messaging, a phased roadmap with concrete first 30–60 day actions, a seasonal calendar, a measurement framework, and budget and resourcing principles.

The document gives the business a clear answer to the question of where to focus next, what to build for the long term, and what to deliberately deprioritise — with every recommendation tied to a goal, sequenced by impact, and sized to the operational reality of a solo maker.

Services Rendered

• Marketing audit (website, social, email, SEO, brand)
• Audience and buyer group definition
• Competitive analysis and positioning
• Brand messaging and tone of voice guidelines
• 5-year marketing strategy and roadmap
• Short, medium, and long-term action planning
• Seasonal commercial calendar
• Measurement and reporting framework
• Budget and resourcing principles
• Document design and delivery