Bespoke Celebrates Record First Quarter

Digital agency Bespoke has reported a record first quarter with a highest ever total for contract wins both in terms of number of new contracts and average contract size in the first quarter of 2021.

Established over 20 years and employing 15 staff in both Lancashire and London, Bespoke is a lead generation specialist agency. As well as designing and building websites, the agency also delivers strategy workshops to help inhouse marketing managers achieve the best results from digital strategies.

Bespoke Co-founder & CEO Steve Brennan said: “Back in February last year, we were all set to move from our old head office in Bamber Bridge to new offices in Strawberry Fields, Chorley, when COVID hit.

“We immediately moved all of our staff to work from home and moved our digital strategy workshops online. Like everyone else, our minds were focused by the prospects posed by the pandemic and we decided to get back to basics and make our marketing more tightly focused.

“After pivoting into homeworking, by April we were reporting on our first complete contract delivered from start to finish over Zoom, a new brand and website for a London-based global tech disruptor.

“Its successful delivery gave us confidence going forwards that we should be able not only to ride the pandemic out, but also that the new communication methods it has normalised may actually have some advantages when delivering contracts involving wide geographies.

“As the year progressed, we continued to win new work with new leads coming in roughly 50% from referrals and 50% from our own digital marketing, which resulted in actually making 2020 a growth year for us in terms of overall profit.”

Looking to the future, the agency is now waiting to move into its newly-fitted offices at Strawberry Fields once restrictions are eased.

Brennan says: “While the business has performed well whilst working from home, I still believe nothing can replace the dynamics of the office environment – especially when it comes to working as a team to develop ideas. We’re committed to a flexible hybrid-model going forward where staff have the option of coming in to use the great new facilities or stay home. We believe one effect of the pandemic will be a better work-life balance for everyone as a result.

“Hopefully our success in the first quarter of this year is a sign that the boom in digital marketing brought about by COVID is here to stay and is room for further optimism as the full economy comes out of lockdown.