Steve Rees
Steve Rees, commercial manager at Square Media, reflects on what has become a breakthrough year for the digital marketing specialists
It seems incredible that over 18 months have passed since we went into the first lockdown and everything in life started to change. We are reaching the end of our second year of lockdowns and face a second toned-down Christmas and no New Year London fireworks to marvel at on TV at the stroke of midnight. In all reality, 2022 could see more of the same restrictions and the need to work in our ‘new reality’.
Looking back at 2021, Square Media has had an incredible year, when it could have been a disaster. While so much has changed, one thing has remained the same – businesses still need to market their services and keep their businesses functioning. We also noticed that our competitors had reduced their advertising and sponsorship of events. Confidence in the future was evaporating fast and most businesses were going into survival mode.
We had to step up and help our clients through the ‘digital transformation’ they needed to make in their businesses and through that process, our clients started to find savings and new opportunities in equal measure.
Zoom and Teams calls were already happening long before the 2020 lockdown started but they were not essential. We could jump into our cars, battle through traffic, find and pay for parking and then pay for overpriced coffee in noisy cafés trying to hold meetings among groups of ‘yummy mummies’ and their sugar-fuelled toddlers.
Maybe our new reality has been a force for good. Traffic levels have reduced, our wildlife has had a boost and everyone seems to be ‘kinder’ to each other. I decided to look a little deeper and found some interesting personal and business statistics for 2021:
- I have driven 15,000 fewer miles, saved £2,250 in fuel and 400 hours of time.
- I have saved over £1,000 in overpriced coffee and £300 in parking fees.
- I have also had a 40 per cent increase in meetings (virtual of course) all recorded in our HubSpot CRM which captures everything booked on Teams and Zoom through our Microsoft 365 integration.
Best of all.. our business has doubled in size partly due a new client who has raised £1 billion to roll out fibre broadband across the East of England, helping people and businesses work better online.
It has not been an easy year but we have transitioned to being a fully digital agency and are now reaping the rewards. We have had to adapt fast but can now have staff working from anywhere so why not expand further and increase our capacity? Growth through acquisition in digital markets is so much easier than the traditional world we are all leaving behind. We hope to complete the acquisition of a competitor this year and supercharge our growth plans for 2022.
So what have we learned in 2021 that has made this year our most successful on record? We wrote our own marketing plan and decided to:
- Innovate and use best of breed software and systems to be competitive;
- Empathise with our clients and help them with digital transformation by running educational webinars and events to help us understand their options;
- Network through the Northamptonshire Chamber of Commerce. We have been able to take exhibition space, apply for business awards and attend related events with sponsorship opportunities;
- Join Business Network International partly because of their impressive ‘digital transformation’ and innovative new ways of running the network;
- Advertise heavily on Google and in publications such as Business Times who themselves are going through a digital transformation;
- Publish our own blog and social content to help educate our audience;
- Send out consistent email campaigns to our database to increase engagement;
- Run PR campaigns and work with local charities such as Cransley Hospice to demonstrate our Corporate Social Responsibility.
We have learned so much over the last 18 months about how to thrive in our new digital world and can see huge potential in the year ahead. But enough about us… what about your business? We may have all been navigating the same storm but we have all been in different boats.
If you would like an opportunity to discuss your business, we would be delighted to have a chat. Our consultation calls are free and I guarantee you will leave the meeting with ideas on how you could improve your marketing and make 2022 a year to look forward to.
