The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 42: April/May 2019 | Page 18

TECHNOLOGY
New faces join team at Swindon’s
innovative digital marketing specialist
Digital marketing specialist
Smarter Media has welcomed
two new team members to meet
growing demand as the company
goes from strength to strength.
Smarter Media, based out
of Crowood House, in Swindon,
offers search engine optimisation
campaigns, social media
marketing, digital sales funnels
and strategic digital content and
has grown steadily over the last
seven years.
Their clients include Trak
Employment Solutions,
Moovahome and 24HourGym.
Business owner Karl Paul, 37,
said, “In 2018, we grew 120% and
we’ve now expanded the team,
going from two members of staff
to ten, including building up our
board of directors.”
Joining the team are business
development manager Nataley
Fryer and finance director Martin
Baker. Swindon entrepreneur
James Phipps also joined the
board as non-executive chairman
last year.
Nataley, 36, has had a long
career with Newsquest and
Global Radio and helped with the
digital relaunch of Swindon’s Link
magazine.
The mum-of three, who did
business and media studies at
Swindon College, said, “In today’s
cluttered market, businesses are
often faced with too many options
to consider in order to make their
business stand out. Everyone at
Smarter Media shares the same
vision to really understand a
business’ digital needs.
“To be able to advise and
implement a strategy that delivers
results and being part of this team
is a culture I am passionate about
working in.”
Financial director Martin, 51, is
Swindon born and bred and has
joined the team to help Smarter
Media grow further. Martin became
an accountant in 1992, working
for companies including Allied
Dunbar, Burmah Castrol and BP.
He said,“I met Karl through
networking and this job was a
great fit for me and in an area that
interests me. I like Karl’s attitude
to work and his ethics. He has a lot
of integrity and looks after people
well – he wants to do business the
right way and that appeals to me.”
Karl, a former St Joseph’s
School pupil, says he expects
Smarter Media to continue its
upward trajectory in the year
ahead.
He said,“2019 is looking good.
We’ve had a strong beginning and
signed five or six new clients in
one week alone. We’ve also just
launched our new version of our
sales funnel, the previous version
of which provided most of our
growth last year, and this is a step
up so I’m confident it will deliver
double the return at least. Our plan
is to go out and build up a client
base locally. One of the things
we’re very keen on is the more
profit we bring into the business
the more we can support the local
community. We support a lot of
charities and are extremely keen
on giving something back.
Last year we supported
organisations like the Younite
Foundation, Threshold Housing
and the Horseshoe Gym, and we’ve
just sponsored Abby Miles who’s
got a place on the England Under-
21s netball team so we’re going to
help her on her way to Cape Town
in the summer.”
For more info:
www.smarter-media.co.uk
Celebrating 35 years of supporting business
Since 1984, Bath-based 1st Office Equipment
has been working across the South West with
sole traders to multi-nationals, with their
photocopier, managed print solutions, archive
and retrieval software and hybrid mail services.
2019 is a special year for the firm, celebrating
35 years of success.
Office Managing Director Andrew Jones with Sales Directors Peter Norman and Richard Kite
1st Office supplies industry
leading equipment into a number
of key sectors including finance
and education. They partner
with top brands such as Ricoh
and Lexmark and have been the
country’s largest Olivetti dealer
for the last five years. The firm
deals in technology from £350 to in
excess of £100,000, but regardless
of the price point, customer service
@1stOffice
18
is at its heart. Their strapline
is ‘Where service matters’ and
director Andrew Jones believes
their commitment to this has been
key to their success. Andrew said,
“We employ 36 of our own in-
house engineers who work across
the South West. They are trained
by our manufacturers to ensure
if there is any downtime from
equipment, business interruption
01225 337600
THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2019
is kept to a minimum and clients
can resume usual practice.”
In the last 12 months, a rise in
confidential document and print
management has boosted the
business alongside cloud archive
and retrieval software. With the
introduction of the new General
Data Protection Regulations
(GDPR), companies have been
investing in new equipment
and systems to ensure they are
compliant.
Hybrid mail is another growth
area for 1st Office. In 2018 they
launched Print2Post UK. The
service allows users to print
and post a letter at the click of
a button- without dashing to
any mailroom to fulfil it, all for
less than the cost of a 2nd class
Royal Mail stamp. Andrew said,
For more info:
www.1st-officeequipment.co.uk
“Print2Post is all about ease of
use. Our simple online hybrid mail
toolkit lets you mail out documents
including letters, invoices, mail
shots, recall letters, newsletters,
postcards and greetings cards
from just 45p.” You can visit the
dedicated Print2Post website to
find out more:
www.print2postuk.com