A recruitment agency based in Hale has increased annual turnover by 67% to £1 million following support from GC Business Growth Hub.
Halecroft Recruitment provides bespoke executive-level recruitment services and work across different sectors, including human resources and accounting, on a local, regional and national level.
Wanting to ensure that the business continued to grow, owner Tricia Bullman contacted the Hub, part of The Growth Company, looking for support developing a new marketing campaign that utilised social media and other digital channels.
Having undertaken an audit of the firm’s digital resources, digital growth advisor Chris Murphy helped the company by redesigning and relaunching its website so that the site would perform better in online search results. Furthermore, Chris also trained the Halecroft staff on how to use e-mail marketing software, so that the company would be able to distribute its content and have the means to analyse the success of the mailshots. Finally, Chris also helped the agency to more effectively utilise its social media platforms, showing Tricia how to use paid targeted advertising on both Facebook and LinkedIn to find potential candidates. By using the detailed audience-building tools both platforms offer, which allow advertisers to target users by a range of factors including demographics, geography, interests and behaviours, it meant Tricia and her staff were able to target ads at the right people, improving the Return On Investment (ROI) of the firm’s advertising budget.
As a result of Chris’s support, Halecroft’s website traffic has increased by 1,000%, with site conversions increasing by 70% and enquiries into the business increasing by 80%, thereby meaning turnover has now reached the £1million mark.
Such has been the breadth of the company’s new digital marketing efforts, it became clear to Tricia, who had been carrying out most of the marketing activities herself, that it was time to hire a dedicated marketing executive too. Given the company’s new digital know-how, Halecroft has now launched its own digital marketing arm, helping other companies find the people they need to ramp up their own online presence.
Tricia Bullman said: “I initially contacted Business Growth Hub as I wanted to get our message across to a completely different audience and reach out to new markets.
“All the practical support from the Hub has been fantastic, with Chris helping us to set clear objectives and a strong call to action with our new digital messaging.
“Even more helpful has been the encouragement we’ve gotten though – the phone calls and emails, congratulating us or suggesting something new we might want to try really have made a difference.”
Chris Murphy said: “I really enjoy passing on my digital expertise to help businesses in the region grow, and it’s always satisfying to see that support result in such clear improvements for those I have helped.
“Tricia and her team were very receptive to my suggestions and have acknowledged the importance of digital marketing by taking on a new staff member to ensure these efforts are maintained going forward.”
Businesses looking to access specialist support can visit the Business Growth Hub website for more information about the organisation’s extensive range of services. This and other GC Business Growth Hub projects are part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the GM Business Growth Hub project designed to help ambitious SME businesses achieve growth and increase employment in Greater Manchester.
