2020: Our most successful year to date. Like all businesses, Knapton Wright has faced challenges none of us could ever have anticipated. But from adversity comes strength and innovation. We've found new and different ways of working for both ourselves and our clients, and reinvigorated the skills we already offered.
The size of our Brigg-based team has increased from six to nine people since January, and this has fulfilled our ambition to become a full-service agency, offering a range of marketing activities from website design to public relations.
Who's New?
At the start of the year, chartered PR practitioner Lisa Fleming joined the team as Associate PR Director. She has a wealth of journalistic experience, and in the past, her public relations work with the police has earned her a Chief Constable’s Commendation.
The business also welcomed Lizzie Herring as a full-time employee in February, following her short internship. A Leeds University English Literature graduate, Marketing Executive Lizzie creates great content, works on client PR strategies, and builds beautiful websites.
And September 2020 saw the appointment of Tim Pritchard as Creative Development Manager. Tim studied 3D Animation at university and went on to work in Digital Marketing at HBP Systems Ltd for almost 15 years. He has brought with him vast experience and expertise in website creation, graphics, and animation.
What's Changed?
Knapton Wright began life in 2014 as a social media marketing agency. Owner and Managing Director, Alex Wright, worked for Facebook before moving to the area and setting up the business with his wife Louise.
However, the business has evolved substantially over the years, and never more so than in last 12 months.
He said, “Given the impact of Covid-19, we are delighted that our team and client base is expanding all the time.
The early days of my career at Facebook were social media focused, but Knapton Wright offers so much more than this now - a complete range of marketing services that allow the businesses we work with to thrive.
Of course, we still offer social media marketing support, but we also specialise in SEO marketing services, PPC advertising, website development, and PR, and are always happy to arrange training sessions and workshops for businesses and individuals.”
Where we were once just a small part of a client's marketing initiative, we now design and execute annual campaign plans, advise on strategy, and launch business start-ups from scratch using expertise and experience from across the entire marketing sector.
Our Love For Local
Many of our business clients are local which pleases us greatly. We're all part of the same economy, and together we can enable it to thrive and grow. That's not to say we don't love our US clients very much too!
We also support several local community and charitable organisations. Most of the help offered hasn't been triggered by the pandemic - we've been working with some for several years - but this year we prepared ourselves to do more than ever.
Since 2015, Knapton Wright has worked with Caistor Arts and Heritage Centre helping to manage its social media strategy. This year, we designed and created a brand new website for this important community hub, and hosted workshops for centre volunteers on how to run it.
Since 2018, we have designed the programme for every Brigg Town FC home game. It’s become a very popular publication which usually sells out completely, raising valuable funds for the club. This year has sadly been quieter for the club, but now some fixtures are planned, and we hope to help them recoup a little of the money they have missed out on this year.
And over the last few months, we have created a website and launched a PR and marketing campaign to support the Rotary Club of Scunthorpe’s Festival of Christmas Trees. The event, which raises money for Lindsey Lodge Hospice, is being held online for the first time this year. We were more than happy to lend a hand to develop the new format. So far it's been a bigger success than anyone anticipated, and a wonderfully joyful event to be involved in.
Director of Marketing at Knapton Wright, Rob Jefferson, said, “2020 has been a tough year for many businesses but especially the third-sector and charities. Many of us have personal experience of the vital support and comfort these charities offer, particularly in the case of the Lindsey Lodge Hospice, so it’s been great for us to be able to use our skills and expertise to give something back to these valued local organisations. We really hope that 2021 will be a better year for them and that in the meantime our assistance will help them in the best possible way.”
When the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, the current challenges won't be over, but they've helped us grow in many ways. So whatever 2021 throws at us, we're ready.
