DNRG | 2021 Reflection
Well, it’s been another highly turbulent year, we began 2021 in lockdown, but thankfully we didn’t end in one! It’s been brilliant to taste freedom this year and return to a degree of normality. Despite all the challenges we’ve faced from both a personal and a business perspective, here at DNRG we can confidently say we are departing 2021 in an even stronger place than we began. This year has seen a complete overhaul of our branding, including designing a new logo (this was NOT an easy process), a new website and a new outlook on digital. It was important that our branding aligned with the direction we are heading, and we’re happy to say we’ve achieved this.
As we enter a new year, we wanted to take moment to reflect on everything that’s made this year a success and thank all of our colleagues for being so dedicated and supportive.
Office Life
After a long time away from the office it was great to finally make the return in June. As convenient as WFH can be, there’s nothing quite like being in the office to maximise opportunities for collaboration and socialising. We’ve switched to a more flexible approach, working three days in the office and 2 at home, which gives everyone a much greater work/life balance. Away from work we also managed to raise £1798.15 for NHS charities to show our gratitude for everything they’ve been through since the pandemic started!
‘A man (or woman) is only as good as their tools’ – this statement is particularly apt in the digital world. As the software and technology we work with become increasingly complex, we understand the importance of providing our team with the correct tools to give them every opportunity to succeed. This is why we’ve made a significant investment in technology this year. Everyone now has access to top of the range laptops, double monitors in the office and a much more advanced CRM system so we can manage our clients more effectively. This has already helped to boost productivity and we’re quickly seeing the benefits of this investment.
New Faces
We’re on a journey to become the leading UK digital agency and this year we’ve seen a number of new members join the DNRG family who will help us to achieve these goals.
The SEO team saw the addition of Jake, Echdip and Jack (due to reaching our quota of three Jacks, we’re no longer taking any applications for candidates with this name, sorry), and all three have made an instant impact, contributing to our most successful year so far in terms of SEO. Jake and Jack joined as SEO apprentices and Echdip brings a vast wealth of SEO expertise having previously worked at a different agency.
We’ve also taken on two Cameron’s this year. We welcomed Cam Martin on our apprenticeship scheme, who despite being just 20, is already in charge of a significant number of clients, overseeing the rollout of our new Digital Appliance Group project. Cam Davidson then joined in October, tasked with overseeing our own marketing strategy and helping the sales team to build our client base further.
We’re pleased to have welcomed Ian Harbord to our internal sales team very recently. Ian already worked alongside us as an external account manager so it’s great to have someone so knowledgeable join in-house.
The recruitment drive doesn’t stop there though, in the new year we will be actively looking for a Paid Media Manager and an SEO Executive, so if you’re reading this and you’re interested then get in touch!
UK Search Awards 2021
In November we were fortunate enough to head to London for the UK Search Awards, having been nominated for four different awards. This is a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone within DNRG, and it’s an honour to be recognised amongst the best and brightest in our industry. All the feedback we received was extremely encouraging and shows that our campaigns are being noticed and having an impact.
Although we may not have won an award this year, everyone that attended had a fantastic night away in the big city and we’ll be back next year to pick up some awards!
Partnerships
2021 has been the year of the partnership. We’ve established some brilliant connections that have helped us to cement our reputation as an industry-leading agency. Through the tireless efforts of Neil, Jack and Joe, we have become an official partner with the multi-national online brand management service Yext, meaning we can offer a bespoke service to clients and other agencies. We are proud to be one of only two providers of this service in the UK and we look forward to expanding our capabilities. 101 accounts have now gone live and this number will continue to increase as we head into 2022.
One of the most exciting projects to come out of 2021 is our partnership with Championship side Swansea FC. We are the official digital advertising partner for Swansea this season and we have developed a great relationship with their own commercial team, even hosting a workshop in October for their business network at Liberty Stadium. If you take a look at their third kit shorts you’ll also see our logo plastered on their backsides! This has been very exciting, particularly for the DNRG team members who’ve been lucky enough to go and watch Swansea in the Championship this year.
Lastly, we’ve also partnered with the University of the West of England and developed a collaborative relationship whereby we can share our expertise with their students and also tap into their pool of talented graduates. We’ve already welcomed one student, Tamas, on an internship which has been brilliant so far and we look forward to introducing a graduate scheme later in the year.
Clients
This year we’ve focused on improving our service to existing clients, whilst also welcoming some exciting new clients. The web department has been very busy, with 122 projects throughout 2021. We’ve seen a considerable increase in the quality of our websites, with our web team working tirelessly to create aesthetically stunning yet highly functional websites for our clients. Check out some of the more recent websites we’ve completed below.
https://www.thegolffactory.co.uk/
https://www.bristolwindowsltd.co.uk/
https://www.bscsummerschool.com/
Our SEO team now works with 114 different clients and have been focusing on how they can expand their offering to maximise results. This has included the introduction of automated KPIs and sending quarterly strategies put to clients, meaning they know exactly where their money is being spent and how effective their campaign is.
They have produced some excellent results, particularly working with Golf Factory, Multicare and EuroTaxis. JC has a clear plan to generate further improvement in 2022 so we look forward to updating our clients in the coming months.
Over on the Paid Media side of things, we’re proud to say that we’ve seen an increase for each of our KPIs whilst increasing our average order value. One member of the team deserves a particular shout out, with Ajmal showing some outstanding retention rates despite the fact he holds the largest portfolio of clients! With 2x UK Search Award nominations, it’s great to see that our work from the Paid Media team is getting the credit that it deserves.
New Products
As part of the drive to expand our services we’ve introduced a number of new products this year. These include NRG Connect which utilises our partnership with Yext to offer bespoke online brand management, RapidTalk which helps clients to connect with their customers and offer real-time customer service as well as our Complete SEO & Smarter Performance packages that give SEO and Paid Media clients access to a wider range of products at an unmatched price. We will continue to roll these out to all of our clients throughout 2022 so if you’d like to find out more please get in contact.
What lies ahead?
2022 is going to be a great year! We have a number of exciting projects lined up in the new year. We will finally be rolling out the DNRG academy, giving our own colleagues and those outside DNRG the opportunity to brush up on their digital skills and become the best marketers they can be. This fits into our aim of becoming T-Shaped marketers, where every member of DNRG has a fundamental understanding of each part of the business, helping to give our clients a more holistic view of their marketing strategy.
We continue to develop our reporting methods, making them as valuable to our clients as possible, ensuring they’re always kept in the loop and making the whole process as transparent as possible. With a number of events lined up in the New Year, we will continue to share our knowledge with the wider community as we look to become leaders throughout Bristol and the South West.
We’d just like to finish by firstly saying a massive thank you to all of our clients for sticking with us through such difficult times and we look forward to repaying your loyalty as we move towards greater things. Lastly to all of our staff at DNRG, you’ve all been incredible this year and we really do appreciate all the dedication that you show. Here’s to a brighter 2022!
