Global education service provider and brand owner of TopUniversities.com, QS Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) have appointed AgencyUK as social media partner. QS is the world’s leading provider of services, analytics, and insights to the global higher education sector and famed for its university rankings, which have become the annual benchmark for universities around the world.
AgencyUK were appointed following a three-way pitch, in response to a social strategy and brand awareness brief set by the QS marketing team. AgencyUK will develop the organic social media strategy for the higher education and student communities around the world and launch a new programme of social media content off the back of it.
The pitch was overseen by Tim Edwards, Chief Marketing Officer at QS. Its purpose was to find an agency team who can support, unite, develop and promote their mission – to empower motivated people anywhere in the world to fulfil their potential through educational achievement, international mobility and career development.
The first wave of activity undertaken by AgencyUK includes strategy and creative that is based on education sector insights gathered from their world-leading independent market research and data analysis. The strategy will extend into the development of a global strategy and social media content plan rolled out in partnership with the QS global marketing team.
Tim Edwards, CMO, QS, said: “We were looking for an agency with strong strategic and creative capabilities and a track record in disrupting competitive markets. QS has grown rapidly through a combination of new product development and corporate acquisition, but we remain focussed on maintaining our market leader position, and to do so means being closer to our target audiences and continually investing in channel marketing.’’
Amy Stobie, Commercial Director, AgencyUK, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been appointed by QS. They are a well established brand with a host of well known digital properties and a continuing ambition for growth. Our social and creative teams are well placed for reaching out to these target communities and we’re keen to get going.”
AgencyUK are an independent brand communications agency with 32 staff based in the UK. The company has demonstrated 200% growth over the pandemic period, largely attributed to the expansion of their healthcare portfolio. QS is the fifth global account win in the past 12-months.
First event: 10th February 1.30pm – 2.15pm
Bristol-based web design and development agency, Unfold has just launched a brand-new events series, Below the Fold. The series centres successful business people, giving them a platform to share learnings from their journeys. Hosted by Unfold’s founder, Harry Cobbold, these events aim to educate and inform attendees with insider knowledge and tips for success.
What it takes to get your business acquired
The first episode in the series will see Gapsquare’s Zara Nanu taking the guest seat, with Harry interviewing her on Gapsquare’s recent acquisition and what it takes to build and acquirable business.
You can catch the event on 10th February 2022 from 1.30pm – 2.15pm. All events in the series will be held virtually via Zoom for the foreseeable future. If you can’t make the date, you can register in any case and you will be sent the session recording following the event.
Register for the event here.
One of the big benefits of Bristol Creative Industries membership is the ability to self-publish content on our website. We’ve seen lots of great content published in 2021 including some brilliant business advice. Here are the 20 most popular posts of the year.
Chase Design Group examines the legacy that COVID-19 will leave for brands, and what newly adopted trends and ways of communicating should stay with us. Read the post here.
Having a strong organisational structure in place is key to growing your digital agency. Janusz Stabik explains your options and how to know which structure will guarantee employee and customer satisfaction and allow you to scale your marketing agency. Read the post here.
Carnsight Communications is one of the most prolific BCI bloggers so it’s no surprise that the business has made the top 10. In this great post, company founder Jessica Morgan outlines what her previous career in marketing taught her about public relations. Read the post here.
After the couple of years we’ve all had, the mental wellbeing of employees is increasingly concerning. Armadillo explains how the approach to mental health in the workplace needs a culture change. Read the post here.
Janusz Stabik makes his second appearance in the top 10 with tips on how digital marketing agencies can attract high-quality clients. Read the post here.
In another post from Carnsight Communications, learn five key things to remember when looking to secure engagement on LinkedIn. Read the post here.
Looking for your business to make headlines? OggaDoon shares top tips on how to write the perfect press release. Read the post here.
Brands can’t lead the conversation on social media, says AMBITIOUS in this great post. Read the post here.
“As joint leader of an independent agency, 2020 meant sleepless nights. But it provided opportunities to inspire others and galvanise our team,” says Andy Brown, chief financial officer at Armadillo, in this post outlining leadership tips for 2021 that will also serve us well in 2022. Read the post here.
How can an entrepreneur attract the perfect investor? Gravitywell outlines six qualities investors look for in tech startups. Read the post here.
Want to post your own content on the Bristol Creative Industries website? Become a member.
Some B2B brands find social media a challenge but there’s lots that you can do as this post by AMBITIOUS shows. Read the post here.
The winning agencies will be the ones with an uncompromising focus on their culture, looking at how they can support their people to be their best selves and do era-defining work, says Tonic Creative Business Partners. Read the post here.
If there’s anyone who knows about being successful at blogging, it’s Helen Savage from Blog Write Ltd. She shares some great tips. Read the post here.
OggaDoon shares a list of 10 essential features you didn’t know you could use with Google Ads. Read the post here.
Sparro House Creative Ltd outlines three tips to improve your content marketing. Read the post here.
If your primary audience is other businesses, then case studies are the perfect tool for creating authority, building trust and delivering social proof. George Devane shares some tips. Read the post here.
The phrase ‘SEO; now covers optimisation strategies and techniques on a wide range of different websites including Instagram. Varn outlines how to improve your SEO on the social media platform. Read the post here.
Leaders and managers have often received little to no training in how to have a ‘difficult’ conversation and so we end up avoiding the situation altogether until it becomes really serious. That can mean getting into performance management, grievance procedures or even worse. Jonathan Rees shares advice. Read the post here.
Chris Thurling from Armadillo provides his advice on what to consider when seeking out a marketing agency that’s suitable for your business. Read the post here.
As you prepare to hit send on your latest business mailing, ask yourself whether it would pass the ‘hover test’. Here are five easy ways, shared by Carnsight Communications, to make sure it does. Read the post here.
Please respond to our new survey about the creative industries in Bristol and Bath. It will help us design – and advocate for – future support for the creative economy in our region.
Those extra special legacy clients were the reason you were able to build your agency up to what it is today…but are they now limiting your continued growth? Hear me out.
In my experience, a lot of digital agency owners have a number of legacy clients on their books, clients they’ve worked with for years and years, with who they love and who have really positive relationships. The trouble is, these clients have been around since day-dot and all these years later, they’re still paying day-dot prices which are breakeven at best, and entirely unprofitable at worst.
This is troublesome for a few reasons, some more obvious than others.
Firstly, these clients are unprofitable and are costing the agency money – but the long-standing relationship actually means the agency owner feels beholden to them so they keep the work and grin and bear the cost of doing so – which impacts your bottom line.
Secondly, in an agency environment, the service on offer is essentially time – time spent by your employees to complete certain tasks for your clients. When these legacy clients, who are already getting an absolute bargain, start to encroach on their fair share of the agency’s team and billable time, the loss to the business compounds.
Suddenly these breakeven clients are costing money, and worse still, everyone in the team is tied up servicing them and there’s no capacity left to service the profitable ones.
I’m referring to the Pareto Principle (or 80/20 Rule). Which in this instance, means that 20% of an agency’s clients, should be generating 80% of the overall revenue.
While this is essentially just a model, in my experience the Pareto Principle absolutely rings true for digital agencies – if you have doubts, export your own client list and test this out for yourself!
With that in mind, and given what we’ve just unpacked in the paragraphs above, it’s clear that the revenue potential and the path to success lies in the hands of an agency’s top 20% of clients.
Allocating your resources (human or otherwise) to servicing those highly profitable clients, rather than the unprofitable/breakeven clients, is what’s going to grow your agency.
This doesn’t mean over-servicing these clients and doing more billable work for free. Instead, think about what your team can offer in order to maximise your client’s business. Perhaps you have a PPC team, who up until now were tied up servicing an unprofitable client – you could pitch your PPC service to your profitable client to complement the SEO work you already might be doing.
Offering more services to these clients will a) make your client’s know you have a genuine interest in the success of their business and b) generate more profitable revenue for your agency.
Raise your prices, drop your unprofitable clients & make the profitable ones feel like royalty.
Start by exporting your client list, sort them by revenue and then calculate their gross margins. You’ll be able to see quick-smart which accounts are profitable and which ones are not. From there, your next step is to raise your prices to a profitable level so that both your clients and your business are winning.
In my experience, there are three potential outcomes when it comes to proposing a price increase – so here’s my advice for every eventuality:
Everybody Says Yes – Great, now all your clients are profitable and your agency will continue to grow, and they’ll continue to receive high-quality service as you can now afford to do so.
Some Say No/Some Say Yes – Fine, losing a handful of unprofitable accounts won’t impact the profitability of your agency. The reality is, they were costing you money, so by letting them go, you’re still in the black.
The ones you have retained, have agreed to your price increase. You’re now making a healthier margin that covers the cost of any clients you had to let go of.
Even better, the time your team were spending to deliver the service for the unprofitable clients, can be reallocated so you can give back to your top 20% of clients who are generating 80% of your revenue.
Worst Case Scenario, They All Say No – Another positive outcome. These clients were costing you money and now they’re out of your hair. With fewer clients, you might have to slim some costs and reduce the size of your team – now you have a leaner agency that is easier to manage.
This might sound a little counterproductive, but you’re still guaranteed to be generating the same profit because you’re no longer losing out on the unprofitable clients.
What I’m trying to get at is, don’t fret about losing some clients who aren’t prepared to pay you the margin that a) your work deserves and b) you need in order to grow your agency. Chances are, your loyal, legacy clients will want to support your business and continue working together and will happily agree, which will cover the cost of any who might say no.
If you need any help increasing the profitability of your agency then Get In Touch with my team at Digital Agency Coach.
We’ve helped hundreds of clients achieve stratospheric growth through strategies just like this and we’d love to help you too.
Me and my team of experienced and dedicated Coaches are here to help you understand your business better and the best growth strategies for you, your agency and your team.
In a recent value-packed webinar about what the high performing agencies do, I shared the importance of knowing, understanding and keeping on top of your gross margins and the impact this has on your agency’s long-term success.
I’ve plucked out the key takeaways from the presentation and put together a valuable and actionable guide to gross margins, to help you accelerate your agency’s growth.
In this article, I’ll unpack exactly what gross margins are (and are not), what a good gross margin looks like and how to fix your gross margins if they’re not up to scratch.
When it comes to digital agencies, gross margin is a simple calculation using the direct costs of delivering a specific service and the price at which you sell it out – the gross margin is what’s left in the middle.
In a product-based business, like a chippy, the gross margin will be what the customer pays for the chips, less the cost of the potato and the labour required to peel & cut them. It might cost the chippy £1 to buy the potatoes and 50p in labour to prepare them, which means when they sell them for £2 the gross margin is 50p (or 25%).
Whereas in an agency, where the offering is service-based, the question is how much are we selling our time for and how much does that time cost?
It’s crucial you calculate your gross margin against the separate groups of revenue within your agency. For some, this might be geographically (UK vs US) or by industry (eCommerce or Lead Generation), while for others this could be the individual services (PPC, WebDev, Design etc.)
For example, if you’re an agency that delivers PPC, and you charge £1000 per month for PPC, and the salaries and freelancer fees for your PPC team are £500, then your gross margin is £500 (or 50%).
Your gross margin considers the revenue the service generates and the direct costs associated with getting the job done. What your gross margin won’t include, is all your general overheads, like your office, accountancy fees, utilities and so on. These still have to be deducted in order to understand your Net Profit.
In order to make sure there’s still plenty leftover in your net profit, you need to ensure your gross margin is healthy enough to allow for all your general expenses. If your services are unprofitable at a gross margin level, then there’s no hope for your agency to be making any money at a net profit level.
In my experience, a lot of agency owners muddle the waters when it comes to their gross margins, direct costs, overheads and net profit – which is how they end up providing unprofitable services and losing money.
The key learning here is that your salaries and contractor or freelancer fees must be attributed as direct costs to the associated service, not in your general overheads. Remember you can also factor in partial salaries of team members such as account managers, who spend only a portion of their time on chargeable client work.
This enables you to look at your services objectively and understand which ones are actually profitable. Rather than taking note of a huge gross margin number on your P&L sheet that tricks you into thinking your services are 95% profitable because you haven’t calculated the wage bill.
Now to the bit we’re all here for – what does a good gross margin actually look like, what should you be aiming for in order to grow your agency and become one of the high performers?
In our experience, agencies with gross margins anywhere above 50% are doing great. North of 60% and you are doing brilliantly. On the contrary, if you’re numbers are anywhere less than 40% then you have some serious work to do to ensure your agency is still profitable once you get to your net profit.
Now that you’ve calculated your gross margins and know exactly what each of your services is generating, you can take an objective view about what’s actually making your agency money (and what isn’t for that matter).
For any services that are underperforming – ie. the cost (salaries & tools) associated with delivering them are higher than the revenue they bring in, you need to ask whether you can fix them. If you can increase your prices and/or decrease your costs by making the service more efficient and your team more productive and grow your gross margins back up to 50-60%, then brilliant.
If you can’t make these changes, then it’s time to drop the service and refine your offering to focus on the services that are actually generating a healthy gross margin. Without taking this action, your agency won’t be growing anywhere.
Digital Agency Coach is a team of coaches, consultants and mentors servicing digital agencies across the globe. Led by me, Janusz Stabik, we’ve helped hundreds of agencies transform their agencies to achieve more revenue, more profit, more time and less stress.
My team and I use this blog to publish insightful, valuable and actionable insights on a weekly basis. To make sure you never miss a tip – subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to know once a new article arrives.
The new ‘Intro to Game Art’ short course will give you an insight into the world of game art, exploring the range of roles and essential skills needed to get you started when exploring a potential future career in game art. There is a host of exciting modules that your tutor will guide you through, including:
Planning and producing work to a design brief.
Working in the games industry
Concept art for computer games
Modelling for computer games
This new and exciting programme is designed to equip individuals (aged 19+) with the technical skills, knowledge and understanding needed to produce digital content across several platforms, ensuring you can use social media most effectively for your small business, sports team or trade.
This course will provide a great opportunity for you to develop graphic design techniques, such as designing and producing a brand identity and branded graphics for Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and more. There is a host of exciting modules that your tutor will guide you through, including:
Planning your Project
Typography and Layouts
Working with Illustrator and Photoshop
Creating a Brand
We can’t think of many businesses that don’t need some sort of digital presence these days. For many a dedicated business website is essential to sell, collect leads, provide brand awareness, or company information.
For this website to work well for the business it needs to be found, and it needs to stand out from competing websites. This is where the search engines come in, and SEO. Unfortunately, the world of SEO can seem impenetrable to the inexperienced, with its secret algorithms, computer languages and technical knowhow. It is a highly specialised discipline that most companies need help with on a regular basis. A particular challenge is often how to get the balance right between SEO, eCommerce and usability in your page content. You may need the support of SEO experts for this, hence a proliferation of national and local SEO Agencies.
All SEO Agencies promise higher rankings and more traffic for your site, so how can you be sure you are hiring the best, the one that will be able to deliver on that promise and more? There are no professional accreditations, no formal qualifications for SEO. But there are things you can do to make sure you are hiring a great SEO Agency to work with you.
Step 1 – Research SEO Agencies that have a similar client profile to your business
This might be similarities in the industry you work in, or in company size or budget size, or even in ethical outlook or company vision. Have a detailed look at their website – is it professional, useful, knowledgeable, and engaging? And where do they rank for terms relevant to their business like ‘SEO Agency in [INSERT CITY THEY ARE IN]’, ‘SEO Agency in [INSERT INDUSTRY THEY WORK WITH]’
If they can get their own website to rank well for highly competitive terms like these then they know what they are doing!
Step 2 – Make a short list
Research and make a shortlist of 3 or 4 agencies, including a mixture of maybe regional and national, or large and small SEO firms and call them to arrange a telephone or face to face interview.
Step 3 – Watch this excellent video
Have a watch of ‘How to Hire an SEO Agency’ from Maile Ohye, who was a top Google representative. If you don’t have time to watch it below, (11 minutes) we have outlined all the main points in the next section of this article.
Step 4 – Ask for references
Testimonials and case studies are useful however, these may not always give a complete picture. Ask for a few references of their current or past clients and drop them a line or call. If other clients are willing to take a few minutes to recommend the agency’s services, then that is a great thumbs up.
Step 5 – Be prepared to give it time
SEO is a mid to long term marketing strategy. It is unlikely you will see positive results immediately – we recommend 6 to 9 months is the absolute minimum time you should wait before assessing the outcomes and next moves with your chosen agency. If you jump ship too early you may end up losing all the SEO advantages you have just invested in. But do expect to be kept fully informed on progress on a regular basis.
If you have not got the time to watch the video, then do have a read of our synopsis of the advice from Maile Ohye, in the official Google video on finding the best SEO company for you. You can read the helpful tips and advice all about selecting the right SEO agency for your business.
If you would like any more advice, or to discuss a technical SEO audit or what we feel our SEO agency can offer you, then please give us a call and talk to our SEO experts. We are a specialist SEO agency for Bristol and would like to understand your business and help you to achieve your goals. We have SEO clients who are happy to provide references for us and give you the low down on their results and what it is like to work with us, so if you would like to chat to one, we can put you in touch.
When many people think of SEO they think of Google and other search engines and how to higher up in the ‘rankings’ on their results pages.
Whilst this is still crucial and for many the cornerstone of the industry as a whole, there has been a lot of evolution in other platforms as well and the phrase SEO now covers optimisation strategies and techniques on a wide range of different platforms and sites including:
Essentially, you should be thinking of SEO whether you are uploading your latest company podcast or sending out your next company tweet. There are plenty of opportunities to get your content in front of a wider audience without focusing too much on the orderly nature of rankings.
Here we have compiled a guide of actions, strategies and quick wins that you can implement to improve the SEO of your Instagram page and start to create an audience that will support your growth as a business.
For the sake of time we will assume that you already have an Instagram page set up and ready to go with a good idea of the content you are looking to share, so where do you start with your SEO on the site?
One of the main steps you should take is to optimise your Instagram profile page. Not only will this help your SEO, but it will also add valuable content that will help visitors to the page work out who you are and what you are about. Below we have listed some of the steps to take to optimise your Instagram page for SEO.
If you want to optimise your profile for Instagram then including some primary keywords within your name and username will help increase your searchability, although it should be stated this is not the be-all and end-all for Instagram SEO. It is also worth noting that snippets from the profile bio’s are also pulled through, strengthening the case for having some target keywords within the first line of your Instagram bio.
Try to avoid ‘keyword-stuffing’, just like Google, this can be a spammy tactic that will not get you anywhere on a platform like Instagram where content is key and optimisation comes in as a supporting function.
Captions are a big part of Instagram SEO, and if you write keyword optimised captions you will make it easier for the Algorithm to pick up your posts and share them with the relevant people. It is worth noting that the content will be shown to different people depending on their interests, if you are a coffee company, your posts will be more likely to be shown to people who have expressed an interest in coffee, particularly if you are including relevant keywords within your captions.
Alt tags are fantastic if you are looking to upgrade your Instagram SEO, and whilst they are less important in the eyes of Google, they can still have a considerable impact on the social media platform. Much like on your website, alt tags will help visually impaired audiences and you can use #hashtags and competitor handles in your alt tags to improve visibility and be found alongside your competitors and other relevant content. Make sure the alt tag is descriptive enough to be of value to potential audiences.
Additionally, a recent talk from Digital AdDoctor’s Freya Jones at BrightonSEO confirmed that #hashtags should be included within the caption of your Instagram posts as opposed to the first comment to drive better engagement. This is crucial if you want your #hashtags to be picked up by the Algorithm to improve your Instagram SEO.
Whilst #hashtags are very important in Instagram just like other social media networks, you no longer need #hashtags to search for people or accounts, the information you have in your username and bio has become more important.
Whilst you may be tempted to use certain ‘black hat’ SEO tactics in Instagram like buying followers and likes, we recommend avoiding it at all costs. Much like Google, the Instagram algorithm will get better at weeding out companies employing poor tactics and punishing them accordingly.
Once you have implemented a good Instagram content plan optimised for SEO you will want to find a way of tracking your progress. Find a good analytics provider and measure your results, we recommend not putting too much focus on vanity figures like followers as these can be misleading, although they are still very useful as a starting point.
Look at your engagement and find out if your SEO efforts are helping you get greater coverage on Instagram, this will help you work out what the next steps are and how to use the additional coverage to drive better results and revenue for your business.
If you are looking to drive leads and traffic to a site, then make sure you consider that aim when it comes to your Instagram SEO. Whilst this should not be the end goal, getting users off the site and into your databases and lead funnels will help give you more control over your channels, although it is worth noting that engagement on the platform is just as important. Try not to view Instagram purely as a means of driving leads and signups for your business and potential clients.
Whilst having a strong Instagram presence will not directly impact your SEO in Google, it will help you build an audience and drive relevant and engaged traffic to your site, which will help build your overall digital visibility and following.
Make sure you keep an eye on your Instagram and keep up to date with any new SEO changes and tactics the site may be making to ensure you stay ahead of the competition. Of course, if you would like any information on SEO and how we can help, then feel free to get in touch with a member of the Varn team today.
What does the future of PR and marketing look like? Business leaders are planning ahead for 2022 in one of the most unique situations that people have faced. How do you prepare your business for life when dealing with a pandemic?
AMBITIOUS and Insider Media spoke to business leaders in the South West to find out what their approaches to PR and marketing will be in 2022. Which areas will be their focus? Where are they increasing their investment? And, where they’ll be choosing not to spend.
The answers show that business leaders in the South West are planning to invest: engaging with their core customers and visitors more than ever before. And not just their customers. Thanks to a skills shortage across many sectors, using online to source new recruits is alo where businesses will be investing. As a result, online activity is becoming more important than ever for PR and marketing activities.
Life really did move online during the last 12 months and while in-person events are starting to come back, digital has taken the lead on many aspects of businesses. As well as B2C companies, B2B businesses are seeing the value of social media and how to use it for success.
Mike Ribbeck, Insider Media Editor said: “As the purse strings tighten, business leaders look at expenditure and decide which are the most important functions to protect and which areas of the business are expendable.
“The reality is that, rather than bringing the world to a standstill, the pandemic has accelerated many of the trends that were reshaping the world that we all live and work in. The digital revolution has picked up pace and businesses from all sectors and different sizes have made the transition to operating virtually.
“All of that means that the need to get the message out about your business and the services it can offer has never been more important.
“And the channels of communication to potential clients and business partners have continued to multiply with social media playing an even more important role when it comes to marketing and PR.
“According to our survey, the majority of businesses have maintained the level of spending or even increased.
“One of the most interesting findings was where businesses will be concentrating theory efforts. The two main areas that stood out were content creation and social media.”
Our survey has found that there are six core areas where business leaders will be focusing their PR and marketing efforts, including content, PR and SEO. Results from our survey include:
Phil Smith, Managing Director, Business West, said: “In the past 18 months, South West businesses have wrestled with a unique and complex set of challenges as a result of Brexit and the pandemic.
“Whilst business impacts such as social distancing measures are temporary, labour shortages and inflationary pressures look set to continue (at least in the medium term) and could have a stymieing effect on our economic recovery.
“As the government looks to recoup some of the £300bn+ that it spent during the pandemic, SW businesses will no doubt be anxious about potential tax hikes and rate increases.”
It is encouraging that businesses recognise the huge part that PR and marketing play not only in boosting their brand and growing sales but generating awareness of new products and services too.
It is also evident that marketing has a vital role in attracting, engaging, and recruiting talent into the business (as well as helping to retain talent). Indeed, today’s job candidates discover and weigh up potential employers in the same way they find consumer goods, restaurants, and hotels. It is mission critical that marketing budgets reflect this digital shift.
The amount of online content consumed by the average person doubled to seven hours a day. Social media activity increased by 12.3 per cent with the average person spending nearly two and a half hours on social sites.
A clear, resounding message from the businesses we spoke to is that we are going through an accelerated pace of significant change.
The pandemic hit the fast forward button, transforming consumer perceptions, expectations, and behaviours almost overnight. There are no pause or rewind buttons – consumers and the world have moved on. This has profound implications for how we market ourselves. Failure to keep up with the pace of change could mean being left behind forever.
Download your copy of the white paper now.