A Lancaster-based digital marketing agency has increased its client base and begun a new strategic recruitment drive after receiving growth mentoring support from Boost; Lancashire’s Business Growth Hub.
Based in Lancaster, novi.digital helps businesses to improve their online enquiries and sales pipeline through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns. Trading since 2011, the agency rebranded to novi.digital in 2016. It has experienced steady growth but the business leaders felt improving their sales and marketing skills would help them better convert prospects into sales which would help them to expand more quickly. Having received Boost start up support in its early years of trading, novi.digital turned to Boost again.
Senior operations manager Ethan Giles received mentoring support from Boost’s Growth Mentoring programme to develop a new sales strategy for the firm. Ethan was introduced to Boost’s Growth Mentoring programme and was matched with growth strategist, Paul Aisthorpe, a leadership and team development specialist. Paul worked with Ethan to devise an onboarding client strategy to help manage online enquiries and to gain a greater conversion of client business.
Ethan said: “Paul led me to a whole new way of thinking when it comes to the sales and marketing side of the business. “We already knew we were the experts in online lead generation, that’s our business, but for our own agency we were struggling to manage the volume of leads, prioritising and dealing with enquiries and converting prospects into clients. “I knew we also had to redefine how we approach larger prospects who can potentially bring greater business to the agency.”
Boost is Lancashire’s Business Growth Hub and is led by Lancashire County Council and the Lancashire LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership). It is supported by funding from Lancashire County Council, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The Growth Mentoring Programme is a fully funded programme where the business is matched with a successful businessperson who’ll provide support to tackle the challenges business leaders are facing in managing and growing their business.
Through Paul’s guidance, Ethan learnt that getting the right people for the job was a starting point to managing the agency’s sales leads. Paul and Ethan developed clear job descriptions for the team and Paul’s guidance helped novi.digital recruit new employees and making sure they were trained in sales and customer services. By hiring people with the right expertise, the agency now has a much greater conversion rate from online enquiries. Paul and Ethan also developed a strategic plan to help build a portfolio of high value clients. With a strong team culture, the agency is now in a better position to forge long-term relationships with its clients, leading to a greater scope of service and revenue.
Ethan added: “It has been challenging to break into major consumer businesses as we are a lean team and need to convince bigger clients we have the infrastructure and resources to support them.” Since receiving the mentoring support, novi.digital has increased its team from 12 to 15 and is currently recruiting to further grow the team with roles in digital marketing and business administration. It now has over 300 business clients including BRITA, Lloyd Motor Group, University of Hull and Bender.
novi.digital’s team is predominantly home-based with the agency providing a co-working space at Fraser House in Lancaster and Cotton Court in Preston for its North West team. It also operates from satellite offices in major location across the UK and abroad. Ethan added: “At novi,digital we prioritise people above and beyond everything else. Whether with employees, clients, or their customers, we understand that relationships matter. “Paul’s mentoring support has greatly contributed to the defining this ethos and ensuring we deliver a reliable and reputable service across our entire client base.”
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