By Samuel Marriott-Dowding
After a strong finish to 2022, Marriott Communications hit the ground running in 2023. Not only did we win Agency of the Year 2022 in the Northern Enterprise Awards, I was also named FSB’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2023 for the North East which was a tremendous honour – these industry commendations have been followed by increased growth for our agency including an expansion in services and the development of our United States client roster.
We ended 2022 with the development of our tiered communications packages, which were developed to offer high-quality and accessible marketing and communications solutions to businesses on a budget.
These packages have proven to be extremely popular amongst local and regional start ups, many of whom are able to enjoy the benefits of working with a marketing agency but without the long-term commitment and often high-price tag. Following the success of this service, Marriott Communications are looking to develop new tiers into the service to cover other areas of marketing, including Crisis & Risk Management and Event Management.
Accessibility is extremely important to us as an agency and we are always looking at new ways of ensuring that our services can be utilised by everyone in one way or another, and one of these crucial ways is through ecommerce. The creation and development of our ebooks and training guides aim to inform and guide either businesses looking to take their marketing strategies to the next level, or enable fellow marketers to improve and expand their own knowledge of the industry.
Alongside our internal and external service developments, a high-priority target of this year was to identify and explore international markets and opportunities. With knowledge and support gained from working with the Department of International Trade, we were able to identify potential markets within the United States where our specific type of communications service would be of value to US companies looking to expand or develop their own services within the UK. Through this route, we would be able to successfully manage our capacity, the differences in consumer markets, all the whilst working with international businesses and organisations. Following this new route to market, I am pleased to share that we have secured our first US client based in Philadelphia, the contract of which will commence in late August. Our agency will be providing Crisis & Risk Management services alongside Reputation Management. For the rest of the year, our agency aims to grow our local and regional client foster, specifically within the Third Sector, Hospitality, and we are also looking to support more North East Start Ups.
It is an incredibly exciting time to have a business here in the North East, the business space feels energised and dynamic, and you do not have to look hard to see that there is a monumental amount of development happening here, and alongside development comes opportunity, so I am thrilled to see where the rest of the year will take Marriott Communications.
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