Taken from today’s Evening Gazette http://www.nebusiness.co.uk/business-news/latest-business-news/2012/01/24/word-is-out-about-services-51140-30183348/

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Online marketing firm Fifteen Digital has landed several new clients in the hospitality sector after launching a social media training and support service.

The Darlington and Stoke-based business has won contracts with several hotels across the country, including the Crown Plaza in Nottingham and the Holiday Inn in Bolton as well as the Moat House Hotel in Stoke, for its social media services.

The company runs in-house social media workshops with hotel staff and management and also offers additional services which support the social media activity operated by hoteliers.

In the six weeks since the firm began working with Moat House Hotel, it has received three wedding bookings, two Christmas party bookings and recruited an events co-ordinator all through its Facebook page.

The group, which has an additional office in the North-east, is now in talks to increase its offering to Moat House while rolling out its services further afield, having already enjoyed success in the North West and Yorkshire.

Business development manager Sarah Mountford said: “This has really helped me and Fifteen Digital as a whole re-establish what we do.

“People have been noticing what we can do and are really keen to get involved and use our online marketing abilities.

“We run regular workshops which have done really well and we are hoping to expand them into the North-east, where we can manage them from our Darlington office.”

Ross Luckett, assistant revenue manager at Moat House Hotel, said: “Initially Sarah was working on our Facebook page to give it a more professional edge and we decided we wanted a more commercial feel to it.

“We didn’t have the knowledge to do it ourselves but Sarah made it look so much better and has drummed up a significant amount of trade through it.”

An article in the Evening Gazette: http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/2011/09/09/expansion-plans-for-web-marketing-firm-84229-29391622/

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AN online marketing firm has celebrated its fifth birthday by planning an expansion.

Fifteen Digital’s turnover is rising due to the increase in the number of services offered to clients, including social media campaigns.

John Borthwick, director of the Darlington firm, which also has an office in Stoke, said: “Fifteen Digital’s technology division has just been accepted as a CCTV supplier for Bourne Leisure Group, which owns Butlins and Haven Holidays, and we will also be running social media workshops for Best Western hotels around the country.”

The company’s Darlington office deals mainly with the online marketing side of Fifteen Digital’s operations, including its IT and web development. This is now the focus of the company’s growth.

Middlesbrough man John said: “With the web design aspect of Fifteen Digital, our focus is going to be on the e-commerce website and integration with Sage accounting software, as we are now approved Sage developers.

“It was pretty risky funding our own expansion, but in the long-term this has actually proved a savvy move as it means we have been able to grow through the credit crunch.

“We currently employ 12 staff members with our thirteenth starting very shortly at Darlington. This shows that we have come a long way from what was just the three of us to now having bigger offices in two parts of the country.”

Taken from today’s The Journal: http://www.nebusiness.co.uk/business-news/science-and-technology/2011/04/28/fashion-boost-for-online-marketeers-fifteen-digital-51140-28594314/

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ONLINE marketing support firm Fifteen Digital is seeing particular interest from clothing companies as it builds its client base in the region.

The Stoke-on-Trent company brought Middlesbrough-bred director John Borthwick back to the North East last year when it set up a Darlington office.

It has since used this outpost to develop a client list including financial services firms, storage companies and retailers. The Darlington office deals with the online marketing side of Fifteen Digital’s operations, which also include IT and web development.

Borthwick revealed the biggest surge of interest had come from the clothing sector, which has seen people increasingly move online from the high street in recent times.

Borthwick said: “We’ve got about four or five clothing retailers on our books at the minute.

“It’s a big growth area for us because the amount of money people are spending online on clothes is increasing massively.

“People used to be worried about what happens if something doesn’t fit, but that doesn’t seem to be as much of a concern any more.

One business that has worked with Fifteen Digital since 2007 is the Greenhouse People, which is now on target to reach a return on its investment of 1,708% compared to 530% initially.

Co-owner Richard Baggaley said Fifteen Digital had turbo-charged the internet growth of the company he runs with his brother Jeremy.

He said: “The efficiencies which we have made in optimising our pay-per-click campaigns have had a speedy pay-back and we also don’t have to commit in-house resources to the detailed work.

“Our e-commerce shop has been successful as we have tested many features in the past to ensure that we are always improving the conversion rate from visitors into buyers.”