BRAVA today announces the appointment of professional voice actor and performer, Sally Bailey, to the coaching team
Sally has been a professional voice actor for the last 11 years, working at a high level across narration, commercial and characters. Her impressive career spans over 30 years across radio and TV, starting as a breakfast presenter on Galaxy 101, moving on to co-host the network evening show, Core/Music Control, for GCap Media plc and then co-hosting the breakfast show for Capital FM, South Wales.
Sally moved to voice acting full time in 2012 and has voiced hundreds of commercials for clients including Pukka, GAME, Costa, Coca Cola, Thornton’s and Cartoon Network. Her TV presenting credits include a series of animations on historical figures for BBC Bitesize and documentary narrations for Channel 5 & Everyman.
Sally will join principal coach, Melissa Thom, as senior commercial coach at BRAVA.
Melissa Thom, CEO and founder of BRAVA said:
‘We are delighted to welcome Sally to BRAVA. She has been a colleague for many years and the breadth of skills and expertise she brings to our offering as a professional voice actor and performer, is impressive. She has exactly the right approach as an educator and is a genuinely lovely individual. Sally will help us develop our offering to provide personalised training in voice acting, at the highest level.’
Sally Bailey said:
‘I am over the moon to be joining the BRAVA team. Being a voiceover is one of the best jobs in the world and working with people embarking on their career is both tremendously exciting and a complete honour.’
To find out more about BRAVA go to www.brava.uk.com
Unfold are a design and development agency based in the heart of Bristol. We work with the founders, marketing or technical leads of SMEs, startups and innovative corporates to help them increase revenue and profitability or save them time (or ideally both!).
Over the past five years Unfold has seen a lot of change. We’ve grown as a team, embraced new challenges and opportunities, and welcomed many new clients along the way.
We felt it was time to take a moment to properly reflect on our journey and how we’ve evolved as a business; to understand who we are, why we love doing what we do and how we make a difference to our clients’ businesses.
Today, we are thrilled to share our newly revamped website with you, showcasing our full range of services, the impact we create for our clients, and ultimately the Unfold way of doing.
Unfold started five years ago with the objective of building beautiful, user-centred websites and web apps, which provide exceptional experiences for end-customers and fantastic results for businesses. This mission remains at the heart of what we do, but has evolved significantly as we’ve expanded our expertise, knowledge, team and client base.
As a result our service offering has grown to encompass five key areas:
Our method for analysing and refining concepts, using the latest insights and trends, will show you where the big opportunities lie, reduce risk and produce real results.
Together we define, develop and deliver different design solutions by putting the customers’ needs at the centre of your website.
Our expert team of engineers are experts in dealing with complex requirements and creating intelligent, flexible solutions to match.
We’re serious about growing your business by providing the CRO tools you need to engage and convert higher-quality leads.
We don’t shy away from taking over existing projects and fixing difficult bugs, in fact it has become a core speciality of our team.
Day to day that means we work with the founders, marketing or technical leads of SMEs, startups and innovative corporates to help them increase revenue and profitability or save them time (or ideally both!).
At Unfold we take a user-centred approach to our clients’ work. Meaning that we seek to put the end-customer at the heart of everything we do, from design, right through to development. This approach enables us to produce outstanding and technically complex websites and platforms that have a real impact for customers.
We push boundaries and challenge thinking to transform our clients’ vision into reality. We’re focused on building close, transparent partnerships that drive innovation and achieve shared goals.
We’d love to hear what you think of the new site! Please feel free to get in touch and share your thoughts with us.
Do you have a project in mind or would you like some expert advice? Perhaps you know a friend or colleague that might benefit from working with us? If so get in touch and see how we can help you achieve your goals.
We’re also in the process of expanding our team. If you’re interested in working with us we’d love to hear from you!
And finally, stay updated on the latest news events and valuable resources from our team by following us on LinkedIn and Instagram.
The inaugural Tim Marsh Memorial Award has been announced by Bristol-based creative business Istoria Group. The award was set up in memory of former team member Tim Marsh, who sadly passed away after a short illness in 2022.
About Tim Marsh:
Tim Marsh was formerly a Co-Founder of and the Head of Technical at Solverboard – an Istoria Group Incubator Hub business. Istoria Group’s Incubator Hub supports fledgling businesses based on great ideas in their earliest stages, helping them develop and explore their potential until they become independent.
Management innovation platform Solverboard was a great success for all concerned, going on to be purchased in 2022 by AIM-listed global software and services company Sopheon, where the innovation product was re-branded as Acclaim Ideas. Tim led the programming team on the platform’s entire development, drawing on expertise from his impressive background in large-scale technical projects for the Royal Mail, the Post Office and the RNLI.
‘Tim was an exceptionally talented person’ Istoria Group CEO Sam Rowe commented. ‘He was highly regarded by his peers in the tech world and also hugely appreciated on a personal level by all who came across him because of his kindness and constant readiness to offer support and mentorship. Tim was a born educator and never happier than when sharing his expertise and helping bring people of all ages and backgrounds forward to realise their potential.’
About the Award:
The award is intended to further Tim’s legacy of ‘using tech for good’. When creating the logo for the new award, the design team at Istoria Group referenced Tim’s love of birdwatching, incorporating a bird icon into the identity.
The award will encompass an intense six-month programme of mentorship, aimed at helping an incipient tech business become market-ready. The mentorship is offered at Director level by Istoria Group’s in-house experts and will cover every aspect of developing a tech business, along with marketing expertise and a web and brand refresh by sister agencies Tiny Spark and Phoenix Wharf respectively. Half a dozen ‘Ask Me Anything’ sessions with Tim’s Co-founders at Acclaim Ideas – Phil Atherton and Charlie Widdows – are included, ensuring the recipient gets the very best real-world business advice.
The First Recipient:
The first recipient of the Award for 2023 is Bristol tech company Founder Angela Loveridge, whose initiative, Better Together, supports parents in keeping their children safe online by signposting them towards practical tools, techniques and resources, as well as by facilitating safe spaces for those awkward safety conversations and coaching parents so they are empowered to respond, not react, in a way that will keep channels of communication open with their kids and encourage constructive conversations.
Angela’s innovation is to recognise that people have very different parenting styles, meaning that safety guidelines need to be approached without judgement and adapted to and aligned with the unique needs of the child or children in any household.
‘We first met Angela as a finalist in our women-led Micro Business Incubator Hub Competition’, Sam Rowe explained, ‘and were all very impressed by her as a person and also by her vision for her business. We knew at once Angela was someone we wanted to support, to help ‘Better Together’ reach its full potential. When we launched the Tim Marsh Memorial Award, Angela immediately came to mind as the perfect fit.’
Angela Loveridge commented ‘I am absolutely delighted and truly honoured to be the first recipient of the Tim Marsh Memorial Award. Although I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting Tim myself, I can already sense that he was clearly a remarkable individual, both in terms of his talent and his commitment to using technology for good. The award is a wonderful initiative and the incredible benefits that come with it are very exciting. I look forward to working with the team so that Better Together can empower more parents to keep their children safe online.’
Award-winning art collective Squidsoup reveals innovative artworks ahead of immersive exhibition
Introducing “Beyond Submergence”, a landmark art exhibition presented by award-winning art collective, Squidsoup. Inviting visitors to experience awe-inspiring installations of light and sound as they step into Propyard starting July 1st.
The exhibition will feature a retrospective of Squidsoup’s acclaimed light installations on a huge scale, curated into a journey through the huge industrial space of Propyard.
Masterful in their use of light, space, sound, scale, movement and technology, Squidsoup creates immersive experiences that invite an emotional response from guests.
The spectacle starts with Granularities, a series of wall art that use Musou Black, a paint that absorbs up to 99.4% of all reflected light, giving an almost perfect black. This creates a flat darkness set against a backdrop of bright white to create a hypnotic juxtaposition of absorption and reflection.
A miniature spectacle, Aurora uses the lightest known solid Aerogel, which was developed by NASA to collect space dust. This other-worldly exhibit is beguiling and beautiful, embodying both digital and physical material, evoking images of icebergs or the Northern Lights.
Collective Isolation will also welcome visitors, outside the main exhibition space, where an array of sound and light will give them a moment to collect their thoughts and a hint at what is to come in the exhibition.
As you step into the darkness of the main exhibition, visitors are greeted by Circular Echoes. This circular form is a symbol of completeness and wholeness. An endless line with no beginning or end; is it the journey itself, a representation of freedom, or is it the border across which we cannot travel, the fence that surrounds us?
Wave consists of some five hundred individual suspended orbs. These points of presence are brought to life through light and sound, collectively creating a resonant and dynamic audiovisual experience. This is a sustaining space within which each orb resonates in changing harmonies to create an enveloping and entrancing physical presence.
Get ready to be amazed and pushed off balance by Phase Shifter, an immense kinetic, sculptural sound and light composition. The piece is an ever-shifting audio-visual landscape defined by the interplay of a line of 16 moving sound and light sources, together creating an immersive and transcendent dynamic soundscape.
Squidsoup’s famous Submergence is set in a huge industrial setting and invites you to walk through and experience it from all angles. This hybrid environment is where virtual and physical worlds coincide – a fully immersive sensory experience.
The exhibition will feature the largest installation of Squidsoup’s new Sola exhibit consisting of a wall of fresnel lenses and ultra-bright LEDs that simulates the distant but all-powerful sun. Controlled clouds along with a heavy drone will roll into view creating a feeling of flying, power and awe.
This unique experience is the ultimate day out for families and art fans alike. Beyond Submergence’s affordable ticket prices starting at £15 per adult and £35 for a family keeps this summer activity accessible to all those who wish to experience the exhibition and immerse in its magic. Student and OAP discounts will also be launched for the Summer. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit https://beyondsubmergence.com/
The exhibition will also feature a number of wellness experiences hosted at Propyard, alongside the spectacular exhibits, making the experience the first of its kind in the world. These classes include yoga, breathwork, pilates and more with some of the UK’s best wellness mentors.
Bristol-based branded podcast production company 18Sixty is pleased to announce that senior marketing business leader, agency founder and podcaster David Maher Roberts (pictured left) has been appointed as Board Advisor.
This announcement comes off the back of three years of solid growth for 18Sixty where they’ve established themselves as a renowned player in the branded podcast space, working with big name brands, talent and picking up major award wins and nominations for their premium quality podcasts.
Founder and CEO Gareth Evans (pictured right), who launched the business in early 2020 after a decade-long career in commercial radio (Virgin Radio, Absolute Radio) has his sights set on further growth over the next two years. Evans says, “I’ve been aware of David’s reputation in the marketing agency and digital content spaces for some time, having over 20 years experience in board-level roles within PE and VC-backed companies and, impressively taken digital marketing agency Dialect Inc. from a $4m to $30m business in 5 years.” He goes on to say, “having worked closely with David professionally over the last few months, I’m really excited by the prospect of having him on board to help take 18Sixty into the next stage of our growth. Our mission continues to be helping world-renowed brands reach new audiences with podcasts they love listening to whilst having a positive impact on people and planet, pushing the creative boundaries where brand meets audio and to further establish our place as one of the world’s most creative branded podcast producers.”
In addition to his marketing agency expertise, Maher Roberts also has a deep passion for the podcast space, having produced and co-hosted Podworld (a podcast that celebrates the craft of great podcast-making) with journalist and BBC podcaster Louise Blain. Maher Roberts says “I really believe in the unique power of podcasts to engage audiences and provoke thoughtful conversation. 18Sixty has already made a significant impact in the industry and I can’t wait to help further the exciting work Gareth and the team are doing.”
Driving Bristol’s growth as a leading audio hub in the UK and empowering the local economy
Bristol has emerged as a thriving audio hub, fostering numerous globally renowned podcast businesses and housing exceptional audio production talent. In this dynamic soundscape, 18Sixty stands firmly committed to amplifying the audio industry’s impact on the economy of Bristol and the wider South West region.
The surge in demand for exceptional branded podcasts continues unabated. Recent data from hosting platform Ausha revealed a remarkable 17% audience increase for this category in 2022. Notably, brands embracing podcasts as a medium experience significantly higher levels of engagement compared to other forms of media, such as video.
“By nurturing Bristol’s audio landscape, 18Sixty is committed to drive economic growth whilst capitalising on the rising appetite for quality branded podcasts,” said Gareth Evans, Founder and CEO at 18Sixty. “Our mission is to leverage the region’s exceptional audio production talent, supporting their creative endeavours and propelling Bristol as the go-to destination for groundbreaking audio content.”
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!
You need to load content from reCAPTCHA to submit the form. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
More Information