We’ve won a few awards to date but this is the biggest one so far, our first gold! “The Third Angle,”, a podcast we make for industrial software company PTC won the Gold for Best Business Podcast at the British Podcast Awards in September. In all honesty I was shocked, not that I think it’s not worthy, I’m hugely proud of it and the team who make it, but, the competition was heavyweight! It beat podcasts from the likes of the FT, The Economist, and the BBC.
The judges said some kind things: “This is how to do a corporate podcast, I love the fact that they get more from the guests than just a simple interview. The tours and interactive parts bring this to a different level. It’s a blend of geeky and clever – but also really accessible.”
“The Third Angle” provides a refreshing dive into the design and engineering world. It’s not just a corporate message board for PTC. Instead, it offers listeners an intimate tour behind the curtain of innovation. By avoiding the cliché Zoom chats and taking the listener into real-life settings – whether that’s a Danish lab, an Essex workshop, or a Nairobi production line.
I really do think our Bristol roots inspire us to think differently, to be authentic, and we always try where we can to harness the rich tapestry of creative talent that we have here.
Every detail of “The Third Angle,” from its visual identity to the futuristic and playful soundtrack (created by a Bristol-based composer), is curated to make the podcast memorable and stand out, something that listeners would eagerly share with friends and colleagues, which is vital when the business podcast space is so competitive.
The win I think reaffirms our belief that corporate podcasts, when produced with flair, can compete with anything out there. A big part of the success is also down to our client PTC who have really got behind the creative vision.
For anyone contemplating stepping into the branded or corporate podcast world we’re always happy to chat about how to make sure you get cut through. In this vibrant Bristol community, standing out is what we do best!
If you have a well-optimised website and an SEO strategy in place, you are probably used to seeing reliable and healthy levels of organic search traffic reaching your site every day. With any luck, you can see this SEO traffic growing over time. So what happens if one day you look at Google Analytics and see that this traffic has plummeted?
Before you panic, have a look at our advice for investigating the issue. Follow these five steps to help you discover the cause for the sudden drop in organic search performance.
There’s a big difference between your website not getting any visits from organic search, and you simply not being able to see the visits. If your Google Analytics account shows traffic dropping off a cliff, perhaps GA is the issue rather than your site. There are a number of reasons your tracking might be disrupted. Find out whether anyone in your organisation has changed the website code – perhaps your tracking code has been accidentally deleted or modified.
We recently saw something similar happen to a client after they updated the Cookies pop-up on their website. Their Cookies policy would only track visitors who had actively opted-in, but the new pop-up was small and easy to miss, leading to a sudden and steep decline in the amount of visits being tracked. Double check that your GA4 tracking is working correctly before you start to troubleshoot any other issues.
If you are sure that your website is showing visits correctly, but organic search traffic is still significantly lower than you would expect it to be, it might be that a technical error is preventing search engines from indexing your content. The first place to look is Google Search Console. Here you can get a glimpse of how the world’s biggest search engine views your site. Have a look at the performance tab to see if and when clicks fell, then take a look at the listed indexing errors to see what might have gone wrong.
One useful tactic is to look in Google Analytics to see which landing pages have lost the most SEO traffic, and then look at some of these individual pages on Google Search Console. You will be able to see when the page was last crawled by Google, whether it is currently indexed, and if there is a specific error or issue standing in the way. This should set you on the right track to know what you can do to fix the problem.
If your website tracking is correct, and your pages are all indexing without any errors… what next? Have a look beyond your site to the wider landscapes of the web, your industry, and even the world as a whole. There are all sorts of external factors that could affect your site’s performance on search. Let’s take a look at a few:
Seasonal impacts. Many websites will naturally see peaks and troughs throughout the year. If your site is new, you might not be expecting this. In many industries, Christmas, public holidays or even a sudden heat wave can prompt a steep decline in searches and a corresponding sudden drop in SEO traffic.
Still struggling to understand why organic search traffic has plummeted? Perhaps your competitors have suddenly upped their game. Whilst it is unlikely that an improved SEO strategy on the part of a competitor would cause an immediate and sudden drop in your search traffic, it could be that a competitor has begun a significant paid search campaign. If someone else starts bidding on the kinds of search terms that usually send lots of organic search traffic to your website, you may feel the impact.
Paying for Google Ads gives your competitors access to the very top slots within Search Engine Results Pages, and plenty of people don’t recognise ads within Google. This could push down your organic search listings and potentially eat away at your traffic. On the other hand – have you yourself just begun to run paid search campaigns? If so, you may find that you are cannibalising the traffic that used to make its way to your website via organic search.
Still stumped? If your organic search traffic has taken a worrying dive and you cannot identify a reason from the above steps, it might be time to look deeper into your site’s technical SEO set up. There are over two hundred factors considered by Google and other search engines when deciding how to rank your content, so there are many elements to investigate to understand all the SEO risks and opportunities for your website. The experts at Varn will be happy to conduct an in-depth audit of your site to work out exactly what has happened and help you get up and running once more. Give us a call to find out more about how we can help.
We are thrilled to announce a significant milestone in our agency’s history, with the appointment of Hannah Williams as Managing Director.
Hannah has been an integral part of our journey here at Halo for almost 10 years and her dedication, expertise, and commitment to our clients and the studio have been nothing short of remarkable.
This promotion is not only a testament to her exceptional leadership and strategic vision, but also a reflection of Halo’s commitment to nurturing talent and helping people shape meaningful careers to grow and succeed as leaders in the creative industries.
As Managing Director, Hannah will be leading Halo into a new era of excellence, shaping brands with strategy, storytelling and design; growing the agency the right way as a certified B Corp.
We hope you’ll join us in celebrating Hannah and this exciting new era of Halo.
Renewable electricity company Good Energy, in collaboration with Bristol-based agency, McCann, has revealed its new TV advert urging homeowners to choose the greener option with a Good Energy heat pump.
The 20 second ad, voiced by soul singer and songwriter Lemar, features an animation of a deflating home with the question ‘heating letting your home down?’
Two animated engineers then install a heat pump onto the deflated home, which then reinflates as viewers are encouraged to choose hassle free heating and ‘fill their home with Good Energy’.
The ad brings to life Good Energy’s premium heat pump installation offering, providing customers with a fully in-house expert service from design through to installation and on to aftercare, ensuring that switching to a heat pump is hassle free.
Broadcasting soon after the government announced a 50% increase in the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant for installing a heat pump to £7,500, the ad will be shown via Sky Adsmart and ITVX to viewers in Good Energy’s key catchment areas in the South and South West.
Good Energy worked with McCann Bristol on the creative development and media strategy for the advert, which is appearing from October 9th, and will be supported with digital retargeting and local PR activity.
Laura Wildish, Head of Marketing, Good Energy said: “Heat pumps are a real hot topic right now. With the increase to the grant, and as people are turning their heating on, lots of people will be thinking about making the switch.
“Our ad is for people who might have been considering for a while but want to know they are going to get expert advice and a good service. We hope lots more homes will be filled with Good Energy soon.”
We’re delighted to announce Gravitywell’s rebrand.
Delivered by the superb team at Seon Creative, our new identity emphasises our status as Bristol’s Venture Studio.
A Venture Studio deploys its expertise, resources and infrastructure to generate and validate startup ideas, then build and launch them into the market.
At Gravitywell, we do this by offering a full suite of hard and soft services to validate, fund, design, build and launch PoC, prototypes and MVP software products.
“This is a long overdue alignment of the brand with Gravitywell’s mission. I’m thrilled to be part of this exciting vision and proud to support a bold position in the tech startup industry.”
— Simon Bos, Founder, Gravitywell
If you’re a tech founder — or an entrepreneur with an innovative idea for a startup — Gravitywell can help build and launch your business.
Contact us today.
World Mental Health Day is an initiative that raises awareness of mental health across the globe. This annual event campaigns against stigma and discrimination relating to mental health issues. What’s more, World Mental Health Day advocates action, guiding people towards the support and assistance they may need. At Varn we believe it’s an important date in the calendar.
As a company we recognise mental health is a serious consideration within our workplace and that taking as many steps as we can to help positively manage mental health is beneficial to everybody in our team. As the mental health charity Mind puts it on its website, “If you look after your employees’ mental wellbeing, then levels of engagement will rise and so will staff morale and loyalty, innovation, productivity and profits.” This is a statement that Varn fully subscribes to.
To mark 2023’s World Mental Day, which this year falls on October 10, we have invited Katie from the excellent Noue Yoga to the Varn offices to run a desk yoga session. It’s an activity that members of the team are looking forward to with varying degrees of excitement and trepidation. Yoga is acknowledged as being good for relaxation, and research studies also reveal that it is effective both as a stress-buster and a mood-enhancer. Katie has promised to explore a number of mindful movements and breath-work techniques with us that will be sure to give our mental wellbeing a welcome boost. This year Varn has also offered an annual subscription to the mediation app Headspace to all members of the team looking for a mindfulness uplift.
Mental health is clearly an all-year round concern and at Varn we are committed to creating an environment where mental health issues can be openly discussed. As our Managing Director Tom Vaughton explains:
“A full-time employee can spend up to 70% of the day that they are awake either at work, travelling to/from work or thinking about work. It is, therefore, imperative that all managers look at time and money spent on wellbeing and mental health as not only an investment but also the right thing to do. Your work impacts your life for better or for worse. In the past, employees have been lazy and have not wanted to take responsibility for their team’s physical and mental health. This shouldn’t be the case in 2023!”
To this end, the company possesses a mental health policy that outlines the company’s provisions to prevent and address mental health issues within the Varn team. To back this up, if necessary, we will also provide a Reasonable Adjustment Passport for any of our team who are suffering from poor mental health.
On top of those safeguards, we have two members of the Varn team who have completed the Mental Health First Aider qualification, courtesy of the St Johns Ambulance, and are available to colleagues for raising issues and signposting to support. The company also provides an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) that includes confidential health assessments, counselling and a 24-hour hotline for personal crises.
To sum up, we take mental health in the workplace seriously at Varn, and are very happy to find time to celebrate an important initiative as World Mental Health Day. As a company we wish good mental health and wellbeing to all.
With three national websites and a franchise based business model, Bristol based The HR Dept is really several campaigns rolled into one. After two years working with them, we have delivered an 80% year on year increase in goal conversions and numerous wins for their franchisees and we still have so much more to achieve for this market leader in HR services.
“We have been extremely pleased with the guidance and expert knowledge provided by Superb Digital. They are always quick to respond and very proactive in their approach. Since working with them for the last couple of years we have seen very positive results. Thank you Paul, Joe and the team.”
FELICITY KENNY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, THE HR DEPT
The HR Dept is a national franchise providing HR consultancy and related services for SMBs up and down the UK. Established in Bristol (where the head office still resides) in 2002 by Sue Tumelty, the company quickly grew into a franchise based business, with individual HR directors heading up their own territories across the UK, Ireland and Australia. These individual franchises are small companies in their own right, with many employing several support staff.
In November 2021, The HR Dept Group Ltd became an employee ownership trust.
The HR Dept’s brand presence consists of three websites: The HR Dept, The Health and Safety Dept and Franchise recruitment.
Unlike the first two, whose audiences are the end users, franchise recruitment targets HR professionals looking to set up their own HR consultancy business.
Having three websites to work on was a huge challenge, as each in itself is a huge project with different requirements and challenges.
Despite previous work with a number of Search Agencies, The HR Dept hadn’t received much strategic advice, as both the HR and HS Dept websites had little search visibility around most of their key services, some of which had huge traffic potential.
A major challenge identified from the outset was duplicate content. The company’s websites were set up to effectively host each franchisee territory on their website as a separate area of the main website. With over 60 active franchisees, this meant every single piece of content on the main site was replicated 60 times over.
This was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the work that lay ahead. Other issues included no analytics or goal conversions set up, localisation issues, the sheer volume of rankable content topics to cover, not to mention the challenge of promoting the strategically vital HR recruitment side of the business, which has little to no search volume.
So with three websites to look at and a finite budget, we focused our energies on the HR and HS Dept sites first.
After dealing with duplicate content and other technical SEO challenges, the vast majority of the work would be centred around building out The HR Dept’s content. Whether that was localising franchisee areas of the site, improving existing service pages, or creating expert guides to supplement service pages, the issue was content. Or rather a lack of it.
Another element of the campaign was promoting the franchisee sections of the website. The HR Dept’s business model sees franchise fees go towards national marketing, but with many franchisees in highly competitive regions or cities, we hit on the idea of creating franchisee packages, to supplement this to any franchisees that wanted it. The take up was encouraging and we’ve seen some great successes with individual franchisees.
The franchise recruitment strategy has focused on developing the brand with content created through interviewing franchisees and senior personnel at head office. We have had great feedback so far but it’s early days and we look forward to working more closely with The HR Dept on this area in the coming months.
We have well and truly achieved great results for the HR Dept website, with an 80% increase in enquiries and 60% increase in organic traffic for The HR Dept site. HS Dept, which had far less SEO work done to it when we took this on it should be pointed out, has seen a massive 492% increase in organic traffic.
The localisation work we have done for the franchisee pages on the main HR Dept site, has also had a huge impact, with many of them coming from nowhere to rank in positions 1-3 for local HR related search terms in their area.
All of this has led to a surge in enquiries for The HR Dept’s franchisees, such as:
As we continue to grow topic clusters around key services, we expect The HR and HS Dept’s national search presence to continue its upward trajectory, with more business generated for their network of franchisees as a result.
At the same time, we are now turning our attention (and budget) towards really pushing the franchisee recruitment side of the business, in order to attract new franchisees to take on this growing demand.
Over the last year, mustard jobs have seen a surge in activity within the events industry across the UK. With Brexit, Covid and the Cost of Living Crisis significantly affecting the rate of movement within the industry in recent times. We’re breaking down the current trends, salary expectations, candidate availability and industry growth of the events sector.
At the beginning of the year we saw various external factors make candidates more hesitant about moving roles. Even though the cost of living remains high, the UK hasn’t plunged into a recession yet so candidates are maneuvering in the market again.
The events industry is booming across the UK, and Brand Experience within London remains a particularly busy sector for the mustard team for permanent and contract roles.
Covid-19 has become a memory of the past and as a result the Tradeshow Exhibition industry is back and better than ever. Virtual Broadcast has maintained popularity within the corporate space as streaming functionality is more accessible than ever. This has provided continued success for global brands looking to improve sustainability, reducing flights and event waste.
Whilst London still remains the hub of the event sector, other areas such as Manchester, Leeds and Bristol are seeing sharp growth, fueled by increased flexibility to work from home post pandemic. As a result, we’re seeing top talent move away from London.
Firstly, Sustainability. Eco washing has become a prevalent issue across the industry, with brands implying sustainability rather than working on making real positive change. As more candidates in the industry are looking to work within an actively sustainable organisation, being certified as B-Corp or part of an industry specific sustainability group such as Isla, will ignite candidate attraction.
Next up, Flexibility. As a lot of employees within the sector devote their weekends and evenings to meet the demand of the job, working the ‘allotted’ 9-5 are becoming increasingly difficult to adhere to whilst maintaining a work-life balance. As a result, there is increased pressure on employers to offer flexible hours to align with this.
The digital age has taken events to the next level. Consequently, employers are looking for event professionals with a mix of digital skills, the more digital integration the better. AR and VR offer interactivity that will engage audiences across the entire industry and showcasing any digital skills will give your CV the edge. This could include anything from working on virtual events, website registrations, video content, motion graphics, graphic design, animation and 360 photography.
Salaries have gone up drastically when comparing the mustard XP salary guide from 2021 to 2023. As an example, a Mid-weight 2D Designer working in London in 2021 would be earning around £28,000 – £36,000 but in 2023 they’re more likely £40,000 – £50,000.
This could be because a lot of candidates left industry during the Covid-19 lockdown period for job security elsewhere so there is smaller pool of candidates, as a result employers are battling for the top candidates, offering higher salaries to entice them into their role. As the industry has bounced back in full force the demand for skilled candidates has increased.
“The Experiential, Events and Exhibitions industries have fluctuated dramatically within my five years as a recruiter in this space. We’ve seen various highs and lows across the industry over the last few years, but now is such an exciting time to be expanding your business or to move into a new role.”
– Jamie Rogers, XP Divisional Lead at mustard jobs.
So, you’ve fist punched the air, danced around the kitchen (in virtual times) and called the CEO. You’ve just received an RFP from a prospect client who needs your full suite of services, in a sector you know inside out! You’ve nailed it, but in truth the way you respond NOW is what really counts!
As the guardian of the relationship, you have probably been speaking with the prospect for months, maybe years, so you know more about that person, their challenges and business needs than anyone else. Therefore, you need to step up and lead the pitch team. That doesn’t mean you deliver the presentation or lead the project, your role may differ, but you make it happen!
I’ve been in this position many times, it’s a responsibility so I hope these tips, will help you and the team get the pitch over the line.
1. Set out a project plan from the off, including timelines and dates for key deliverables such as; agreeing the team, collating questions, the client’s responses, schedule internal meetings, proposal structure, developing content and uploading final document. If it’s a procurement portal it can be a nightmare. Highlight gaps in your capabilities early so solutions can be put in place.
2. Set up a shared file, template and communicate the process. The worst thing possible is to lose or duplicate content, it’s happened!
3. Gather the right team and make sure they are prioritising the response. If you need specialists, bring them in from the off. Agree R&R and when content will be available. Timing is key for content. For example, agreeing the process and team is required before you can create the pricing matrix.
4. Continually review the RFP, agreed & play back to the team the key client deliverables. Think about how to structure the response to answer their questions and make it easy to follow.
5. Identify early on what your USP’s will be and where you can really add value. It may be specific “tools”, data/insights or a process that you adopt. Showcase your IP.
6. Show a granular understanding of consumer trends and how you can help them harness trends and innovate to connect better with their consumers.
7. Remote pitching makes it even more tricky to maintain the attention of the audience and demonstrate your business culture. Try to reduce words and introduce other forms of comms such as video’s, infographics and animation that is relevant, short and reflective of your culture.
8. Be clear about your commitment to the prospect client and how your input will truly benefit their business in 1yr, 2yrs and 3-years’ time.
9. Invest time and money to make the document on brand, accurate, engaging, consistent, formatted beautifully so the content SHINES.
10. Make sure you are part of the final document sign off and attend the presentation. You have built trust with the prospect and you must make sure that all your knowledge is reflected in your response.
GOOD LUCK!
This is in no way an exhaustive list, every pitch you do you learn something new. I’d love to know what you would add to the list?
As an agency I’m sure you are continually asking yourself where is the next piece of work coming from and how are you going to attract new clients? But often the day-to-day pressure of delivering great work gets in the way.
If you’re holding back on launching a new business strategy don’t 🚀
This is the time to fully invest in powering up your new business machine. There are customers out there, buying habits may have changed but with Zero market presence how are they going to find you?
Start with crystal clear thinking; who is your ideal client? How can you best add value for them?
With a tough market you will need to be more creative, relevant and consistent in your approach.
Adopt an agile approach, continually reviewing and refine your proposition, approach and tactics. Listen to the feedback you are getting and really use these insights to develop that robust new business pipeline!
New business is not the responsibility of one person it’s a team effort so get everyone involved and accountable.
A few things to think about:
😍 Build deeper, stronger relationships with Current & Lapsed Clients:
Love them, keep close to them and support them. Understand their objectives whether it be personal or business. Make them look great and shine.
Always ask clients for a referral this is a source that can just keep giving.
Continually extend your network within your client. Get under their skin, there will always be new opportunities in other departments & regions.
Try new things, use insights to develop new services or tools. You may be sitting on a gold mine.
💥 Be Bold with New opportunities:
Do your homework to truly understand their pain points. Ask direct questions that demonstrate that you really understand their business.
Be prepared to go that extra mile to prove your value. Things may take longer but stick with it.
Don’t be lazy and rely on virtual meetings. Invite them into your offices and involve your best talent. People buy people.
Don’t hide your success under a bushel – Be BOLD and proud and talk about your talent, best work, awards and values.
🤗 Re-establish your Networking:
Always make time to speak with your network, you never know what the next conversation will unearth.
Add value to your network by offering them something say … speaker, judging, podcast.
When reconnecting always ask for something, whether it be time in the diary or a referral. People like to help.
We learnt from the pandemic that those agencies that proactively engage with new and current clients reap the benefits.
Start today and fuel up your new business engine. Stick with it and it will deliver new clients, new work and give you a better night’s sleep 😴