With the end of 2019 fast approaching, I find myself reflecting on the incredible journey we have enjoyed over the past 12 months. I am so proud of the team this year for achieving what has been one of the most transformative in our company’s history.
With so many milestones and achievements to look back on, I thought I’d take a moment to acknowledge just a handful of our highlights from 2019.
We stepped into this year with 28 employees all based at our studio in Suffolk. Fast forward 11 months, we have a second studio at the stunning Cow Shed in Warwickshire and are surrounded by an incredible team of 45 marketing experts across both offices.
Supporting the Industry
Our technical search and development team gifted several new tools to the digital marketing industry. Chris Green and Simon Thompson launched Spark, a Meta CMS for SEO teams, Hannah Rampton unveiled her Keyword Cannibalisation Tool and Simon also released his Gtrends connector for Google Data Studio
We continued to grow our network and build our partnerships, ensuring we can deliver the best for our clients. We partnered with leading platforms such as MailChimp and Lead Forensics, we spoke about our relationships with UKFast and continued to strengthen our partnerships with Cloudflare, Sistrix and WPengine, having supported their training and events throughout the year.
The team attended and blogged about industry events across the country including BrightonSEO and Search Love. I am especially proud to have witnessed several of the team taking their first steps into the world of public speaking (with great success).
Developing the Team
Personal and professional development has always been at the forefront of our business, but this year even more so with the appointment of the amazing Sue Firth. A veritable stress expert and qualified business phycologist, Sue has been an absolute rock, providing unwavering support across the business and helping many of the team achieve success in their professional and personal lives.
This support and focus on goals has seen six of our team move into their first new homes, eight people receive promotions and everyone that’s been here for 12 months receive a pay increase. The launch of the our profit scheme will also ensure everyone has the opportunity to share in the company’s success.
Awards and Recognition
A particular highlight for us this year was having our company culture recognised and being awarded Best Employer at the EADT Suffolk Business Awards, which we celebrated with the entire team at our Summer BBQ.
We were also shortlisted for Best Large Integrated Agency at the UK Search Awards and took home wins at the UK Digital Experience Awards, but by far the most rewarding accolade this year was witnessing two of our amazing colleagues being recognised at the DevelopHER Awards.
These moments of reflection really make you think about what you can achieve, and I genuinely feel we have landed as one of the industry’s most trusted agencies.
The investment in our leadership team and our commitment to improving our processes means that we have taken a huge step forward in “Building a Brand People Want To Be Part Of”. This has been evident this year with the talent we have attracted to the team and the companies that have chosen to partner with us.
Making an Impact
The final part of reflection, and arguably the most important, is looking back at the impact we’ve had on our clients. Seeing how we have grown their businesses through the brands we create, websites we launch and marketing we deliver is what drives us and will continue to underpin our growth and success.
In summary, we have built an amazing team who do an exceptional job delivering our services regardless of channel. We are really proud of our colleagues, their hard work and accomplishments throughout the year.
As we move into the next phase of our journey, we are committed to building a sustainable business and continue to employ, nurture and develop the best talent in the country, while continuing to open up and develop our services to produce impactful results for our clients.
Thank you to everyone – clients, colleagues and partners – who have been a part of this fantastic journey. Here’s to 2020… Happy Christmas and we will see you all next year!