Charlotte Nichols is one of those people who has a constant flow of ideas tumbling out of her head. She was destined for a life in PR.
Her first decision was to launch her own PR and marketing business. The next one was a tad trickier… what to call her business. So, rather than go down the bog standard route of using her name or something totally obscure, she decided to go for what was staring her in the face.
Her two dogs… Harvey and Hugo.
Sorted.
That was in early 2009… in the depths of the recession. Not ideal.
Things could only get better after what was a decidedly difficult time for every business.
Her business flourished. She attracted local and national clients like Ideal Bathrooms, PD Ports, GARDENA and Darlington Building Society. She also built a team around her. And then COVID-19 arrived on our shores.
“It’s weird really, but the one good aspect of the pandemic was that people got used to adapting themselves and their business,” says Charlotte. “Everyone had to be flexible in their approach for the simple reason that it was impossible to carry on as normal. As we now know, ‘normal’, or what is close to normal, wouldn’t happen for 16 months. We continued to support all of our clients and even moved away from our traditional way of operating with clients on a retainer. We went back to the format I used in the early days of Harvey & Hugo by using a ‘Pay-as-Hugo’ approach to PR. Clients certainly appreciated that move and I’m delighted to say that the vast majority have stayed with us.
“We will help our clients in any way we can. We want to be a part of their journey and, as we’ve seen since March of last year, ensure they navigate their way through a crisis.”
And a crisis is what Charlotte has steered her Harvey & Hugo business through. She’s been so successful that the company is on target for its best-ever financial year and she’s recently revealed a £60,000 investment. The money will be spent on consultancy work to grow its sales and marketing as well as implementing search engine optimisers to help with online advertising. She’s also adding additional members to her team. In typical Charlotte fashion, she’s even found time to launch what is, in effect, an updated version of how she started the company.
“‘Pay-as-Hugo’ will frequently be the best solution for many firms. It works for their immediate PR, marketing and social media needs and invariably works so well that they move onto our retained service which ensures a steady flow of input from us. So, we’ve launched an e-commerce platform called Pay-asHugo.com which offers its services on a fixed-fee, flexible basis. It’s our ‘snacksize’ service and eliminates any possible confusion and keeps things simple. Clients contact us and tell us what they need, we devise an action plan, agree on pricing and then put wheels in motion.”
Of course, some firms like to plan ahead so that is where the Harvey & Hugo retained services will be a preferred idea. However, Charlotte still keeps things simple. You have a choice of social media, PR or content marketing… or all three. Harvey & Hugo will then work alongside your in-house team or, as many clients do, work as though they are your in-house team for as many days per month as you require.
Oh, and if you would like to build your own PR and marketing team or keep them updated with regular refresher courses, Harvey & Hugo can help courtesy of their ‘Hugoversity’. Charlotte and her team will deliver bespoke training courses to ensure that your marketing, PR and social media team is superefficient. Either they’ll visit your offices or you spend a day with the Harvey & Hugo ‘Pack’. Alternatively, if you are looking to set-up your own department or are looking to add a new staff member, Harvey & Hugo will do the leg work for you and source the ideal candidate.
If you’d like a taster of what you can expect from Hugoversity, why not attend one of the regular Harvey & Hugo seminars which take place across the region? Now that the COVID situation is easing, these will be resuming in the near future.
Oh, and just in case you think Harvey doesn’t get a look in with all the Hugoversity and Pay-as-Hugo.com, he has his own online newsletter, Harv-e-news, and is the face of the retained services. He’s also known to throw in the odd ‘Harv-price’ offer from time-to-time too.
