Why staying local has paid dividends for award-winner Digital Edge
Aycliffe Business Make Your Mark Awards
SERVICE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Husqvarna
FINALISTS
Daniel Wilkinson of category sponsor Husqvarna presented the Service Business of the Year award to Graham Marsh from Digital Edge .
Why staying local has paid dividends for award-winner Digital Edge
Local but expanding – that ’ s how Digital
Edge MD Graham Marsh summarised the state of his business after its Service Business of the Year triumph at the Make Your Mark Awards .
Begun by Graham and Ian Proctor in Graham ’ s conservatory seven years ago , Digital Edge now has a seven-strong team developing and expanding its web design and digital solution services .
And whereas all its business used to be on Aycliffe Business Park , Graham says its horizons have expanded in recent times .
He said : “ We started in Aycliffe and still have a lot of local business – probably around 70 per cent within a five-mile radius – but the rest is around the world . We ’ re local but expanding .
“ I ’ m buzzing tonight – to be a local business and employ local people , it ’ s great to win this .
“ The plan when we started the business was to have fun , enjoy ourselves and not build a typical business .
“ We wanted to build a business that other people would want to join and enjoy , and a place where we wanted to go to work – and that ’ s what we ’ ve done .”
Clients , said Graham , get “ value , collaboration and creativity – and a sense that ‘ you ’ ve done a good job for us and we ’ re going to come back to you ’.”
Graham , who received the award from Daniel Wilkinson , manufacturing manager at category sponsor Husqvarna , added : “ We ’ re trusted – and we ’ ve got an open door policy . “ We don ’ t hide anywhere – if there ’ s a problem , someone can walk in any time of the day . We ’ re transparent and we love what we do .
“ The plan now is to grow more around the world while still staying local .
“ The digital world changes every day with AI , Chat GPT , all those things . You ’ ve got to be on the ball and when clients aren ’ t , you have to service them and help them move into the future .
“ Web and marketing is a very difficult industry – we ’ ve survived when a lot of others have dropped out but we ’ ve been resilient and we ’ ve been on the ball . It ’ s not been easy but we love what we do and we have a giggle doing it .”
AYCLIFFE DAIRY Aycliffe Dairy was launched by Russ Gibson in April 2017 , originally with 80 customers , and started delivering milk to the residents of Newton Aycliffe , focusing on fresh local products from farm to fridge within a 50-mile radius .
During Covid , Aycliffe Dairy continued to deliver products and employed extra staff which they have retained postpandemic .
The firm has since grown to a team of five , servicing more than 1,000 customers , 200 businesses and 20 schools .
Aycliffe Dairy ’ s biggest challenge will always be competing with supermarket prices , but it proudly claims that its excellent customer service and products mean customers are gradually returning to the local milk man .
AYCLIFFE PHYSIOTHERAPY Aycliffe Physiotherapy provides physiotherapy , sports therapy and pilates classes to private individuals and corporate clients on Aycliffe Business Park .
Since taking over the business from previous owners in 2021 , Sarah and Glen Horsborough have grown the business and broadened the offering to the local community .
The clinic has strong links with many of the big-name companies on the park including Hitachi , Mitsubishi , Gestamp , Roman , ALM CoBots , PWS and EOS Framing . Rapid access to high-quality physiotherapy has enabled these companies to avoid sickness absence and comprehensive reports assist to reduce absence and increase productivity .
The clinic is also a registered provider to Bupa , AXA , Aviva , Nuffield Health , HCML , Physio Links , Premier Rehab , Simply Health , TPN , Trauma Care , WPA and Westfield Health .
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