2016 has been fantastic year for Simple Marketing Consultancy. Not only have we enjoyed our own successes, our clients have also had some fantastic highlights and been a pleasure to work with. From total rebrands to birthday celebrations 2016, has been eventful as ever, but to be honest……we wouldn’t want it any other way!
As expected for the beginning of a new year, January started with a bang. After a few months of initial consultations, the new year saw us take on a new client, Tecserv UK, a fire and security solutions specialist company based in Underwood.
Tecserv contacted us for some expert advice with regards to their upcoming 15th anniversary celebrations. After further questioning about whether their brand positioning accurately reflected their current position in the market place as it did 15 year ago, and a review of their website performance, a decision was taken to embark on a rebrand. Tecserv’s image needed to better represent the various services that Tecserv had to offer and the calibre of client it now served. From there on, it was clear that a busy month lay ahead, but nevertheless a great project to get the year rolling.
Into February, and another busy month lay ahead. We needed to start the anniversary preparations for our client Wynbrook, who were planning to hold a client party to celebrate their 30th Anniversary as well as a number of PR and editorial features in building, care home and local press. This involved a lot of liaising with journalists and copy editing.
Fast forward to March, and once again we were planning yet another anniversary celebration, but this time for our client Pellacraft Ltd, a promotional goods specialist who were celebrating their 35th anniversary. The highlight of their celebrations was a visit by Gloria De Piero, a local MP from the Ashfield and Eastwood district who attended to offer her congratulations.
April was a slightly quieter month, as Managing Director, Bev Cook took the opportunity to take time away from the business and fly over to America, to watch her son, Elliot graduate from University. Having spent four years at University in West Virginia, playing on a football scholarship, Elliot was awarded his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and graduated with the coveted honours Magna Cum Laude. Very proud and emotional Mum!
After returning home from America, May heralded a return to work and the winning of another new client called theGrogroup. Having worked with company directors Alex Shacklock and Kate Hennig previously at leading accountancy firm Tenon, we were contacted to provide an outsourced marketing solution to help theGrogroup become an established specialist consultancy to the professional services sector.
Working alongside Kate, Alex and Managing Director, Paul Richmond, we have helped them to develop a marketing strategy, determine their service offering, launch a new website, and embark on focused email and PR campaigns targeting key decision makers in the legal and accounting professions.
Following months of planning, Wynbrook celebrated their 30th Anniversary with a lavish summer drinks party held at Holme Pierrepont Hall. Over 60 people came to attend the event, many of whom were Wynbrook contacts, developed over a 30-year period.
July was a quieter month, with perhaps the decision to leave the European Union playing its part, and for a while, businesses were unwilling to commit to investment decisions. Thankfully, that stutter did not continue and as ‘True Brits’, the stiff upper lip prevailed and we quickly got back almost to normal!
Purpose Media has been a long-standing client of ours for the best part of 6 years, but August marked the time when we had to let the adolescent business we have nurtured from a tiny office based in the Mansfield I-Centre go out into the adult world!
In January they took on a full time marketing graduate, and when they later added a senior marketer to the team, it was time for us to step back. But we consider this a real story of success! One of the goals Simple Marketing Consultancy has when we start to work with our clients is to get to a point where we have helped them grow their business to the point where they need to take on a full-time marketer. In the case of Purpose Media, we can consider their expansion all part of the bigger plan and further proof that our business model works, and that our involvement has had a tangible impact on their growth.
Simple Marketing Consultancy was also looking to expand and with Elliot having recently graduated is was a natural progression for him to join the family business to expand our capacity. He has settled in well, and taken responsibility for completing assignments for existing clients and attending many various networking events to help promote the company to new prospective clients.
One of the highlights of the year, is always the company golf day. This year we held our golf day in October, at the Nottinghamshire Golf & Country Club where our clients and contacts were invited to play on the Signature course. After agreeing our sponsoring deal of the 17th tee back in August, it was an ideal chance to showcase our golf day event management skills and invite business owners to enjoy the new configuration of the course whilst also discussing reciprocal work referral opportunities with each other.
With the run up to Christmas notoriously busy for most businesses, November was no different for us. For the past few years the Nottingham Post has made a significant effort to recognise the roles that women play in our business community. Our client Lesley Cree who runs an opticians practice in Radcliffe-On-Trent was a finalist in this years ‘Women in Business Awards’ in the category of ‘Small Business of the Year’. Unfortunately, she didn’t win, but again it proves our ability to work with all types of clients in a variety of sectors and that no matter the size of the business, it emphasises the impact a regularly implemented programme of marketing activity can have when planning to grow a business. We’re also excited about Lesley’s next development which is to launch an on-line business selling designer sunglasses!
In more recent times, December saw one of our more established clients Alpha Rail take on a new Business Development Co-ordinator. Joe Redman has just completed his Level 3 Diploma in Interactive Media and has joined the metal railing and gates specialists to help the company grow and have an increased presence online, with the aim of attracting new customers and bringing in more orders. We’re looking forward to working with Joe in 2017 to mentor him to a position where he can manage Alpha Rail’s marketing activity!
Overall, 2016 has been an exciting year for all associated with Simple Marketing Consultancy. Full of twists and turns, the year has been jam packed with excitement and with 2017 right around the corner we can only hope that we build on this years’ successes and look forward to a prosperous new year.
If you or a business associate is looking to grow your business in 2017, celebrating an anniversary or looking to rebrand or increase sales – then maybe we can help?