We are super excited to be bringing MotherBoard events to Bristol!
When: Wednesday 19th July 2023.
What time: 6.30pm – 9pm
Location: Huboo, 41 Corn St, Bristol BS1 1HT
Drinks and pizza provided.
Speakers include:
Rav Bumbra, Founder of Cajigo
Rowena Innocent, SVP Engineering at Ultraleap
Chloe Allan, Technology Manager, Just Eat
David Maher Roberts, Managing Partner of Digital DNA & Founder of TechSpark
Join us for the first Bristol MotherBoard community event! This event will be a networking event, with a panel talk starting 7.30pm.
With 50% of women leaving the industry by the time they are 35, we will be asking the important question “how we can retain more women in tech”.
We will offer practical takeaways including how businesses can support their female talent and drive retention, how businesses can offer an inclusive environment for mums and what we as individuals can do to support our peers and be advocates for all women working in tech.
If you have not been to one of our events before, MotherBoard is a community, event series and charter for everyone who believes we need more support for women working in the tech industry. We encourage everybody to join who is interested in understanding more about how to drive inclusion in the workplace.
Please RSVP to confirm your place.
At JMP, are delighted to welcome Matt Joy to our growing team, joining as Managing Partner.
Matt has a wealth of industry experience, having spent more than 10 years in the sports industry, and most recently four years at a strategic brand agency.
His previous roles have included five years as Marketing Manager at Stoke City during their Premier League golden years, before moving south and helping create the Marketing team at Bristol Sport during the rebuild of Ashton Gate. Following that, he spent four years at Mr B & Friends in Bristol.
In regards to his responsibility at JMP, Matt will be a crucial cog in our ability to excel as an agency, offering additional strategic insights and creative campaigns to our clients.
Managing Director Joe Meredith expanded on this.
“It’s a significant role, the biggest addition we’ve ever made to the business,” he said.
“It’s something that I feel we’ve both wanted to happen for a long time. Everything just needed to align. Matt is in a position to elevate the offerings of JMP and I’m really excited to work with him to take JMP to the next level ”
Matt expressed his excitement about what lies ahead, for both himself and JMP.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “I’ve known Joe since I initially moved to Bristol and how he has grown the agency in that time has been great to see. It’s an exciting time to now get involved and add to the recent successes.
“My role is going to be quite broad but ultimately I will have a real focus on the growth of the agency. First of all to define who we are, our offerings and identify where we can add real value to our clients, both current and new.”
Matt joins our newly-formed Senior Leadership Team, alongside MD Joe and Operations Director Vicki Theobald.
JonesMillbank, Bristol-based video production company, is now a Certified B Corp.
They join a growing community who are leading a global movement that makes business a force for good.
And Bristol is gaining pace, with over 70 companies from Ecologi to Triodos Bank, Too Good To Go, Psychopomp and Sawday’s inspiring change.
JonesMillbank have achieved a score of 94.7, but like all B Corps, certification is just the start of the journey.
“We’re incredibly proud to be a Certified B Corp, which recognises our ethos and all the work we’ve done to date. But we’re excited about how the certification will inspire us and our team to do more” said Russell Jones, Co-Founder at JonesMillbank.
“And there’s a huge opportunity for improvement. With the opening of our new TV and film studio, Nine Tree Studios, we’ll have more space and resources to support Bristol’s community, from internships to pro-bono hire, creative industry support, and event hosting.”
Nine Tree Studios will host this month’s Purpose in Practice event, run by Assembly, featuring Adam Millbank, Co-Founder of JonesMillbank, as guest speaker.
Of the B Corp Certification, Adam said “We’ve always aspired to leave a positive lasting impression on everyone we encounter. It’s been part of our culture throughout our journey. Being part of the B Corp community further amplifies this goal and will ensure the company will always balance its financial goals with true positive purpose”.
JonesMillbank commenced their B Corp journey in November 2019, and part of their certification recognises their support for impactful businesses, including over 50 education institutions and numerous charities and public sector organisations.
For more information and to start your own B Corp journey, visit www.bcorporation.net.
***
JonesMillbank are a full-service video production company.
They work in-house with a talented team of multi-disciplined creatives, telling authentic stories for a range of clients such as University of Bristol, IDLES, NHS England, The Royal Mint and Battersea.
jonesmillbank.com
01173706372
[email protected]
We’re all a little bit obsessed with acquisition; it’s drilled into us from birth and stays with us until the day we die. From Pokémon cards and soft toys to clothes, art and tech – we progress through a natural arc of ownership in our lifetime. The truth is, we usually look to upgrade our belongings before we’ve squeezed every bit of value from our existing ones.
And we’re guilty for doing the same in the marketing bubble: often, we prioritise growing eCRM databases before we engage the contacts that are already in reach. But when acquiring a new customer costs five times more than retaining an existing one, there’s a compelling case for making the most of what we already have in front of us (Invesp, 2018).
It’s easy to forget that existing customers are the ones positioned deeper in the sales funnel. These are the contacts who have already experienced your brand in some capacity; they know the role that you can play in their life. Which begs the question: why have my contacts lapsed? Often, customer apathy is the primary reason for inactivity.
An overworked cliché, but a true one nonetheless, is that your database is a flowerbed, and you’re holding the garden hose. So, for dramatic purposes, let’s imagine we’re in the second week of drought. Your flowers are wilted, and the soil? Bone dry. In your absence, your contacts have become idle and unenthused. Any avid gardener knows that chucking buckets of water on a flowerbed in this state will cause the soil to repel it, instead you should sprinkle the surface lightly to encourage gradual absorption. The same applies for your marketing, if you relentlessly continue to push hard sales-led messaging upon your lapsed eCRM contacts, they will only reject it.
Take a more considered approach. Whether it’s a virtual gift card, an email to a live event, or a simple message to say we haven’t heard from you in a while, a softer approach is the most likely to warm inactive customers to your brand, ahead of overt promotion.
If you’re in a position where you have a chunky list of email addresses, and not a lot else, then it’s time to start building. Whether it’s a poll or survey with a gift or promo code for their next order, this is a great opportunity for you to understand how users are interacting with your brand. But first, you need to be sure of your objectives. Do you want to understand how satisfied customers are with your product? Are you trying to establish the customer pain points to optimise your service offering? Knowing the purpose of your research is fundamental and will help you to structure your questions and analytics accordingly.
Once you have constructed and sent your re-engagement email, the next step is analysing the results. Pay attention to any clear patterns and use them to tag specific customers with common themes. In case you’re not convinced, MailChimp research shows that segmented email campaigns have an open rate that is 14.31% higher than unsegmented campaigns.
Using historic data, it becomes possible for brands to track browsing behaviour, purchase history, and previous engagement to tailor communications from specific customer actions. And doing so holds impact. Over 59% of customers claim that personalised content impacts purchase decisions. In the long run, this can help brands to grow stronger relationships with their customers, increase loyalty, and ultimately drive revenue growth. By identifying and segmenting different groups within your database, it becomes possible for brands to fine tune the content within email sends to resonate more clearly with the audience at hand.
Take Nike, for example, a global conglomerate operating in more than 30 major markets: from sports to lifestyle. A track runner from Osaka and a fashion enthusiast from New Mexico will engage with the same brand in two very different ways. While the runner will be most invested in the performance-related benefits of the garments, the influencer will likely be drawn in by aesthetics, limited edition colourways, and exclusive brand collaborations. This can be reflected in granular segment-specific sends, with tweaked products, ranges, visuals, and tone.
This isn’t to say that marketers should forget about scaling mailing lists. Growing your current book of eCRM contacts and delivering content to your existing audience should happen in tandem, in fact, it’s beneficial. When you are making efforts to re-engage existing contacts, and growing a database simultaneously, you can be safe in the knowledge that you’re doing everything in your power to increase acquisition and retention.
When it comes to customer acquisition, engagement, and retention, we’re experts in the field. Drop us a line today to see how we can leverage email to maximise the value from your contacts, no strings attached.
Discover more industry insights and opinions at saintnicks.uk.com/insights
In the current digital era, a successful online presence is essential for any e-commerce business. However, having an online store alone is insufficient. Your e-commerce website needs to be highly ranked in search engine results to draw in potential clients and increase sales. E-commerce SEO can help in this situation. In this article, we’ll examine the best methods for optimising your online store for search engines, which will ultimately boost its exposure and boost sales.
E-commerce search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the website and content of your online store to increase exposure in SERPs (search engine results pages). Your e-commerce website will be more visible to potential clients who are actively looking for the goods or services you provide the higher it ranks in search results. Increased visibility results in more qualified leads, increased organic traffic, and eventually, better sales and revenue.
Any effective SEO plan for e-commerce must start with rigorous keyword research. When a person searches for a certain good or service on search engines like Google, they enter terms and phrases known as keywords. You may begin optimising your website to rank for these particular search queries by choosing the appropriate keywords that are pertinent to your e-commerce firm.
Make a list of prospective keywords associated with your products or sector to start. To obtain information on search traffic, competition, and related keywords, think about utilising tools like Google Keyword Planner, Moz Keyword Explorer, or SEM Rush. Aim for a mix of broad keywords with bigger search volumes, coupled with extremely relevant and particular long-tail keywords.
Not got the time? Check out our affordable SEO packages.
The following stage is to optimise the on-page components of your online store after you’ve created a list of target keywords. When it comes to user experience and search engine rankings, these factors are crucial. The following are a few key on-page components to pay attention to:
For e-commerce enterprises, it’s essential to pay attention to technical SEO aspects in addition to optimising your site’s on-page components. Technical SEO makes sure that web crawlers can successfully access, index, and comprehend your website. The following are some important technical SEO issues for online stores:
When it comes to enhancing e-commerce SEO, content is crucial. High-quality, pertinent, and interesting content not only increases organic traffic to your website but also motivates visitors to browse around and make purchases. To improve e-commerce SEO, some content methods are as follows:
To increase your e-commerce website’s authority and search engine rankings, you must build high-quality backlinks to it. But it’s crucial to concentrate on obtaining natural, pertinent backlinks from reliable sites. Among the tactics for link building that work well are:
For continued optimisation and improvement, regular monitoring and analysis of the results of your e-commerce SEO activities are crucial. Track critical performance indicators like keyword rankings, conversion rates, organic traffic, and bounce rates using programmes like Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Key areas to think about include:
Putting into practise efficient e-commerce SEO methods is essential for improving your online store’s exposure, bringing in visitors, and generating sales. We are aware that not every online retailer has the time or knowledge to pull this out. To learn more about how we can help you improve SEO for your e-commerce site, get in touch with us right away.
Want to learn more about SEO? Check out our beginners guide to SEO or sign up for it below!
We are a group of friendly Digital and Tech runners who go for a social jog around Bristol’s wonderful harbour each Wednesday lunchtime at 12.30 from the Lloyd’s amphitheatre. It’s an opportunity to get away from our desks, get some air, and get to know some other people in the tech industry in Bristol.
We’re a super friendly bunch and everyone is welcome, whatever aspect of digital and tech you work in and wherever you work.
Our pace is gentle, it normally takes around 30 minutes to do the 5km loop around the harbour. Nobody gets left behind – ever! It’s totally free and we go for a coffee afterwards at the Society café.
Sarson’s has been hard at work creating a fresh brand identity that launched in the spring of 2023, and with this, they’ve enlisted our help yet again for a fresh new website.
The new website design reflects the new style for Sarson with a bold, contemporary, and sleek designs. We’ve also taken a reductive approach to content and wording, which simplifies the overall experience, whilst also bringing freshness and clarity to the design. We’ve used interactive animation, interesting build loads, and a new colour-blocking design scheme To increase engagement levels across the site.
We’ve enjoyed a long-standing relationship with Sarson’s, so it’s been a joy to watch the brand develop and once again collaborate closely with the Sarson’s team on the project.
Even if we do say so ourselves, the result is fantastic! However, don’t just take our word for it; visit the new site and see for yourself.
The good, the bad and the ugly. 1+ Year in Bristol.
Every now and then we get itchy feet. Want to move, see new places, new people, new scenarios. Because things are never perfect, at least not long term. When the idea of perfection fades away, we leave, we run, we chase it. In new places, new people.
Just over a year ago I made a bold move to move back to England but to a new City; Vibrant Bristol. But why leave Sunny Cyprus after building a good network? Well, I felt stuck in a comfort zone.
There was a lack of healthy competition and opportunities to collaborate and learn. Sure, it’s comfortable being a big fish in a small pond, but my dreams were bigger than that.
This lesson I didn’t know I needed..
Success is not all about big clients and shiny projects. Instead, it is found in the unbounded exploration of self change and growth. It has been a wild and often lonely ride. A beautiful chaos which through I’ve discovered the excitement of stepping into the unknown, the growth that comes from new unexpected challenges.
I had become overly fixated on achieving success in a business context, forgetting that at my core, I am an artist, a designer, and a curious soul. I’m on a journey to reconnect with my inner child—the one filled with boundless curiosity and a hunger for exploration. I am embracing my individuality and breaking free from the stereotypical definition of success in the creative industry. Now, I am pursuing work that I genuinely love and attracting clients who appreciate my unique style and vision.
It hasn’t been easy. Building a new client base, making connections, and stepping into the unknown—it often felt like navigating without a map. But there’s beauty in being lost and embracing the journey. I realised we create our own opportunities.
Being in Bristol has had a ripple effect, immersing in a vibrant design community, meeting amazing people who shaped my journey. Bagging local clients and a recent London collaboration opened new doors.
To keep it real.. I haven’t figured it all out. Life still throws curveballs, and self-doubt can creep in from time to time. But after all it’s all about the unknown, in being open to new adventures and experiences, rather than having all the answers.
Looking forward to seeing where life takes me next. Focusing less on success and more on the most unique and creative version of me.
Today at 6pm I’ll be giving a talk on Creative Confidence by Right Aligned. Where I will talk about my journey, challenges and ways to overcome them.
Get your tickets at https://lnkd.in/eVrAbDPE
From dance floor to studio – the team behind Rhombus have a long history with the venue, from their first-ever club experience to running multiple high-profile events at Lakota in later years.
The rebrand took them on a dive into the club’s 90s golden era, combining their passion for music and design into a euphoric exploration of rave culture.
As a nod to Lakota’s immense heritage, part of the venue lives in the new identity, which draws inspiration from the club’s original logo, building architecture, and rebellious, 30-year history at the heart of Bristol’s underground scene.
Trip-hop & Massive Attack. Acid house & Carl Cox. Drum and bass & Goldie. There’s no doubt about it: Lakota is truly the beating heart of Bristol’s rich and longstanding music scene. Sitting proudly on Moon St. in the city’s historic St Paul’s area, the venue represents one of Bristol’s only black-owned venues.
Free-spirited and fiercely independent, Lakota has always promoted progressive programming and ethereal dance floor moments.
Now, after 30 years as the heart of the city’s underground music scene, Lakota needed a modern brand for their new chapter. One that acknowledged their past, set the tone for their future, and represented the increasingly diverse events they’re putting on: from club nights to live music, circus, drag, pop-up food and more across three spaces within the venue, the original Lakota club, Lakota Gardens and Coroners Court.
The Rhombus team are Bristol born and bred, and as regular ravers and promoters at Lakota since our younger years, the project took on a very personal approach. The deliverables were a brand identity and architecture, custom-built website, animation, brand launch and rollout, but getting there would start with hours and hours of research into the club’s history.
From poring over archive photography to studying old rave culture and multiple trips to the club exploring the architecture and original features, including the rough and ready floors and exposed walls, the team developed a modular brand system inspired by the venue’s heritage, ethos and vision. A language that could easily showcase a huge range of events, from underground club nights to immersive circus performances, and a brand that could flex into new ventures outside of the traditional club space.
Part of the venue lives in the identity. The primary logo uses shapes from the iconic original logo, constructed alongside geometric forms from the venue’s floor plan, to represent a symbol of culture, a frame for established and emerging artists and a window into the space.
The elements of the venue, the iconic sticky floors, worn walls and stonework are the background for a lot of the textures used in the new brand, while the wordmark was custom built using the same angles and shapes found in the emblem – which work in unison, but are strong enough to work independently too.
Encapsulating the energy of the DJs, artists, performers and dancers that make the venue was crucial, so the primary pattern is built using the venue’s motif. The secondary patterns are constructed from the motif and the feather, giving the brand further flexibility and nodding to the heritage.
The palette combines technology with history, taking aspects from the club lighting whilst also looking back at film photography of the venue. The colour system helps give each space its independence. Lakota club utilises the primary palette, Coroners Court is confidently black and white to compliment the nature of the space and the Gardens uses more vibrant colour combinations to showcase the culture and performances.
The new language and tone of voice centres around the idea of rebels with a cause – a nod to the rebellious past but with a purposeful new attitude underpinned by the venue’s focus on community and heritage. When it came to the type system, the rebrand puts Formula by Pangram Pangram front and centre, flexing between Condensed (loud) and extended (energetic) for contrast, combined with Apercu in the body copy for clarity and accessibility.
“With the Lakota mark and visual identity established for nearly 30 years, changing it was no easy feat. However, Rhombus understood our heritage, history and future vision.
Their past experience running their own events was an added bonus and gave them insight into the sector and its challenges. We are thrilled with our new identity. The motif and wordmark have real versatility and reflect our values; we hope they will see us through the next 30 years.”
Cassara Jackson – Lakota
Check out the full case study here
Istoria Group, the Bristol-based collective of creative agencies, has announced two new Group-level appointments. Silka Mitchell is the new Group Creative Director, whilst Bryn Isaac has been named Group Financial Director.
Istoria Group, which became a B Corp last autumn, is comprised of exhibition and events specialists Ignition, known for being sustainable pioneers and as recipients of The Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development 2020-25; hospitality and retail designers Phoenix Wharf, known for their work for regional operators such as Yeo Valley, The Bristol Loaf, Better Food and Spicer + Cole, as well as for national retailer SpaceNK and Apprentice winner Harpreet Kaur – and purposeful digital transformation experts Tiny Spark, whose virtual exhibit expertise during the pandemic helped Istoria Group survive the period’s challenging business conditions.
Silka Mitchell
‘Creative Director at Group level was an important role to fill and it was proving difficult to find the right candidate’, Sam Rowe, Istoria Group’s CEO commented. ‘We were delighted therefore to be introduced to Silka Mitchell, who brings not only top London agency experience as a former Director of both Brinkworth and Neu Architects, but also broad international experience, delivering projects in the commercial and public realms across Europe, Western Asia and China. Silka is German-born and has lived and worked in both Germany and in the UK. Her languages and multi-disciplinary, cross-sector experience will bring fresh energy and a new level of design sophistication to our studio.’
‘My ambition is to help Istoria Group grow and develop an even stronger 3D identity’ Silka Mitchell commented, ‘becoming known for creative originality and excellence. I look forward to unlocking further potential from the talented studio and to bringing in the next generation of talent to complement my vision. I further hope to instil creative leadership, inspiration and motivation and improve processes and the working environment through creative intervention and dialogue. I’m really excited to be working with a business with such a wealth of knowledge, strong ethics and a truly sustainable ethos.’
Bryn Isaac
New Group Financial Director Bryn Isaac is Bristol-born and bred and brings great expertise in and knowledge of regional markets and business to his role. Bryn joins Istoria Group after 8 years as Financial Director of We Are Fearless, an integrated marketing agency specialising in sports, culture and music sponsorship and partnerships. He has also worked with both start-up and group-owned agencies previously, including TBWA/Worldhealth, Momentum Worldwide and Given London. For Istoria Group, Bryn will provide the financial lead within the business across all the agencies in the Group and will manage financial planning covering both opportunity and risk.
‘I aim to use my experience of young and dynamic businesses to update processes and modernise systems at Istoria Group to help all parts of the business become more efficient and productive’ Bryn Isaac commented. ‘I’m looking forward to working alongside the leadership team to plan future strategic business growth, both operationally within the internal team and externally as the business grows in size.’
‘I am delighted that Bryn has joined us as Finance Director’ Sam Rowe added. ‘Bryn’s relevant knowledge and experience are vital as we continue our ambitious plans to grow and develop sustainable creative solutions for clients. As a B Corp, our ambition is to grow in the right way – with the right clients and the right team in place. These two new senior appointments are a huge leap in the right direction.’