Purpose Media reflects on 2021 and the year ahead
When asked what I think about the current economic and political landscape there are no doubt plenty of business owners saying “it’s tough” – except most are probably using a much stronger expletive instead of ‘tough!’
However, as I reflect on 2021, I can honestly say I’m really proud of our business and the resilience of our team. Yes, 2021 started in waves of positivity and negativity in line with changing restrictions, but since February it has been business as normal. We’ve been able to plan, recruit and pay staff normally and we are now as busy as ever with lots to look forward to in 2022.
The reason for this stability is due to the growing demand for digital marketing expertise. Companies that had already embraced these tactics within their marketing toolkit wanted more – and those who previously thought them unnecessary realised that lockdowns, store closures and people working from home required radical changes to their marketing strategy.
Businesses have been forced to make changes in order to counteract the loss of in-store and face to face interactions and the brand profile lost from traditional sponsorship or advertising at empty venues. Those affected have simply had to embrace the use of websites to sell online or offer click-and-collect services, as well as use email marketing, social media and digital PR in order to communicate with customers.
With demand so high, I’m really thankful to our staff, the goodwill and loyalty they have shown in response to us giving them financial security by protecting their jobs at the height of the pandemic. This continuity in account management has meant that our existing client relationships have gone from strength to strength, more so during 2021 as the success of strategies implemented in 2020 become even more apparent.
This client confidence means they now really trust us to create campaigns that engage audiences, inspire customers and the ROI we’ve delivered has led to them wanting to invest even more in our digital marketing, web development, creative, video and PR expertise.
Not only would I like to thank our staff, but also our customers who have stuck by us and trusted us for the past year and more so the last 18 months since Covid became an issue for everyone and the unknown kicked in. There have been some clear winners from a client perspective who have really kicked on during Covid and likewise we have had other clients who have found it much harder going in certain sectors. However, all the clients have carried on in some form and I can only thank everyone for their support and custom over the last year. It’s been a pleasure dealing with you all and getting even closer to your businesses to make sure the team at Purpose Media can make a difference where and when it really counts.
So as we head into 2022, I can assure you that we will be doing everything to ensure this stability continues.
I think it’s clear from a Covid point of view, that this issue isn’t going away anytime soon and it will keep rearing its ugly head at certain points. What I would say, is that after living with this for the past 18 months it seems a bit more predictable from a business point of view either in terms of what the government will do at certain points or the trends for Covid in terms of time of year.
Although, this is still far from ideal, we are in a very different place to when Covid first hit which really was the unknown at the time.
I also still think 2022 is going to be another “tough” year for many businesses. Inflation will get higher, interest are rates going up, and we still haven’t really solved all the problems of Brexit. When these factors are also linked to staff shortages across the board and the ongoing roller-coaster of Covid, we may have the beginnings of a perfect storm and a requirement to be nimble and act quickly as things change.
So my prediction is that it won’t entirely be plain sailing for everyone, and it will be hard for many businesses, including our own, to avoid being impacted in some way as the above issues pan out over the next twelve months or so.
The above said, these circumstances are no different to what the past 18 months have thrown at us, and any good business simply adapts, deals with the issues and kicks on – which is something we will certainly continue to do, and likewise we will be standing side by side with all our clients to help them do exactly the same.
What Purpose Media has to do as a company is to listen and tune into to what our clients actually need to help them generate a true “return on investment” by helping them engage with their audiences, inspire customers which in turn leads to driving results for all our clients.
Never before has a cohesive marketing plan, that embraces digital marketing tactics been more important, and rest assured our team of specialists is here for all our customers to help them achieve their goals for 2022.
I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a very prosperous Happy New Year.