Last week we hosted our latest BIMA Breakfast Briefing on a subject that’s so important to us and so many agency / digital business we speak to regularly in the North West and around the UK; Growth!
Rightly or wrongly, most digital entrepreneurs want to grow their businesses. They want to build them up to better serve their clients and make the most of their digital capabilities. Many of them start out on their own as a solo operation to one that disrupts, challenges and makes change over time. That’s the idea anyway!
Our CEO, Josh hosted the event. He started J B Cole UK on his own 10 years ago and has built it into the agency we are today, alongside his brother Ollie. Josh was ideally qualified to open up proceedings.
He also welcomed an expert panel, each ready to give their insight on growth.
The right minds for this discussion
Our panel consisted of:
Ian Finch, MD of Mando
“My uniquely balanced experience across sales and marketing, ops and technology adds considerable value when growing Mando and building strategic relationships with customers, partners and wider stakeholders – I have the experience and track record in effecting positive change.”
Josie Saville – Cofounder of 4and20million
“We help people get the most out of their jobs.
We improve motivation, enhance productivity and help create inspiring places to work.
We have a range of products to make this happen, tailored to each organisation we work with.
We measure the impact of our work over time.
And we’re in for the long haul.”
Liane Grimshaw – Founder and MD at SupaReal
“I founded SupaReal, a B2B inbound and content marketing agency in 2014. I lead a small and growing team, as well as driving new business and strategic assignments with our clients. I’m focused on growth, continual improvement and ultimately creating a remarkable business in a growing specialist area of marketing.”
Nick Rhind – Managing Director of CTI Digital
“My role in CTI Digital is to build new business relationships and collaborations using open source technologies. We specialise in Drupal and Magento and have done for several years.”
Craig Johnson – Manchester Director at Kagool
“I have been involved in digital publishing and online marketing since 1996 and have significant experience across all elements of digital, search and social media.”
How do you get your people to truly focus on the task in hand?
We heard that in fact if Germans stopped working on Thursday at 4pm, they’d still have a more productive week than the British working until 5pm on a Friday.
Surely this isn’t right? How do we change it?
Josie Saville believes it’s all about everyone within the agency understanding their own personal value.
https://twitter.com/JBColeUK/status/1047762642218229760
Other insights included:
“Keep your staff, your staff are your engine. People will always invest in your people!”
Looking after your staff
With the conversation focussed on staff and the people within a business, it was very interesting to hear the importance of looking after your staff and their mental health. With Wednesday 10th October being #WorldMentalHealthDay, this seemed very fitting.
Here’s what our panel thought.
https://twitter.com/SuvernChris/status/1047763600205594625
https://twitter.com/19sammy94/status/1047769379788742656
https://twitter.com/JBColeUK/status/1047764514899415040
Key takeaways for Growth
Collaboration is key to grow your business, but also the health of the digital industry (as well as giving clients the best service possible).
https://twitter.com/alicejbcole/status/1047768405703622656
You need to get your roles and responsibilities right as well as engaging with the right investors.
https://twitter.com/bekagool/status/1047772012700155904
https://twitter.com/JBColeUK/status/1047769442145513472
And of course, get out there and network (something that is very close to Josh’s heart).
https://twitter.com/JBColeUK/status/1047769040872124416
We had a fantastic time hosting and meeting new and existing businesses in Manchester. Thank you to everyone who came to the event and of course, thank you to our expert panel!
You can learn more about the events we host at J B Cole UK here, as well as finding everything you need to know about BIMA here.