What is it about a business turning five that makes it feel like such a milestone? Possibly because the likelihood of a company surviving five years is a staggering 42.5%. These are pre-pandemic numbers, and it is highly likely that the ‘death rate’ of businesses during 2020/21 will be far higher. Still, if the odds of a company surviving more than five years are less than half, it’s definitely a good excuse to celebrate our fifth birthday.
In reality, the business is much older; Tabitha’s skills and experience in delivering marketing and transformation certainly are! But April 2016 was the official date we went Ltd. Before that, we had been providing marketing services to London law firms for a couple of years, and before that working with start-ups, artisan goods, FMCG, online supermarkets, and riding the highs of twitter when it still felt shiny and new. So perhaps it would be more accurate if we were celebrating our 9th birthday!
But after what increasingly feels like a lifetime of Covid-19, those early days feel like they belong to another era. The last nine years have seen a seismic shift in the marketing landscape. It’s easy to forget how much has changed and how much continues to change every year. Take Google, for example. Their latest update (being rolled out in June and July 2021) has an increased focus on page experience. Where in the past there was a strong focus on keywords (although thank goodness the days of keyword stuffing are behind us), the world’s biggest search engine now ranks pages on how readable they are, whether they are accessible on mobile phones, and whether they are clunky or annoying. You might have also noticed that when you type in a search term, Google handily highlights it for you in the text. That’s because it reads entire web pages instead of just focussing on the first 200 words. Clever stuff, meaning that anyone in marketing must be on their toes.
Then there’s the birth of social media. When we first started marketing, Instagram and TikTok didn’t exist, and Twitter was beginning to grow, thanks to Ashton Kutcher and NBC racing each other to get a million followers. The growth of social media platforms, considerable advancements in mobile phone technology, and the birth of ‘influencers’ have massively impacted the marketing landscape. Covid-19 has only sped up the impact of digital advertising and marketing with a captive audience sat at home with nothing to do but check their phones, play online games, and scroll through social media. As one person we know from networking put it, “During the lockdown, the state of my mental health was directly comparable to the amount of cardboard delivery boxes in my recycling bin”. Our shopping and socialising habits have all moved online.
But, back to the pandemic, we certainly held our collective breaths along with the rest of the business community. The word “unprecedented”, whilst hideously overused, was an accurate description. We made the decision very early on that we would focus on our existing clients. Doing whatever we could to help them survive; be that free hours to pivot (another word that now evokes far too great an emotional reaction), a critical friend at the end of the phone, a zoom shoulder to lean on when things felt tough, or someone to bring boundless energy, enthusiasm and ideas to the table. Because if there is one thing that Tabs can do, it is think so far out of the box people start looking for the box.
We also never forgot our roots which was in start-ups and small businesses. Alongside that, we continued our push for more corporate social responsibility for our clients, encouraging them to give back to the communities that support them. Some of the work they have done has been staggering; from donating support and laptops to delivering much-needed supplies to local food banks, they made a difference during uncertain times.
And, in the background, we offered free advice and support to small businesses, to-do lists they could try and tackle themselves without the worry of increasing costs due to paying for a marketing agency to do things they could do themselves. The business equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot, but the morally right thing to do.
Did we make the right choices?
From our perspective, yes. While there may have been a financial impact, we have built lifelong friendships, the kind that can only be build when you face and overcome enormous challenges together. And, by being kind, showing empathy, and providing support, we brought in new business. We are about 95% referral based (nothing beats word of mouth), and some fantastic new companies, who we know we can help, were introduced to us. Alongside this, our existing clients, the ones who we helped during one of the most challenging years for businesses, have increased their retainers. Not as a ‘thank you’, but as a recognition that they know what we can do for them, and they want more of it.
So, as we put on our party hats to celebrate our fifth birthday, the breath that blows out the candles on the cake will be one of relief as well as joy. We’ve made it! Now to see where the next five years takes us.
