• Purpose can be hard to prioritise – but it’s a great new business generator for agencies. Could it help you win your dream clients?
• “Our clients absolutely love it. We got Unilever this year, and we got that sale off the back of our charity work,” says Heather Murray, director of Beesting Digital.
• In this session, Heather shares why she set up her agency to contribute to her passion project, and how her purpose-driven work has helped the business double in size each year.
Purpose can be hard to prioritise.
With costs rising, budgets being squeezed, and a downturn in team morale to manage, the day-to-day of running an agency often takes precedence over creating something truly meaningful with – or within – your business.
But for Heather Murray, it’s a no brainer.
“It’s the driving force. When you’ve had a hard day, and you want to throw your laptop out the window, you remember why you’re doing it and it’s like a little injection of motivation.”
Every year, without fail, Beesting Digital donates 20% of its revenue to Festive Friends, a charity project dedicated to helping isolated elderly people in the UK.
The inspiration came years before Heather started the agency, when she managed a community centre in Bristol.
“I got inspired by all the other people that were running these amazing projects completely for free for people. These unsung heroes who are doing such lovely things inspired me to think, ‘What can I do to actually help?’”
Heather rallied some funds from various businesses in the community, and organised a completely free, three-course Christmas dinner for isolated older people with no friends or family – complete with accessible transport to and from the venue.
This continued for a few years until Heather had to come back to Birmingham. But the idea stuck with her, and soon became the inspiration for Heather to start her own business: Beesting Digital.
“I thought, ‘How can I combine this sustainable, profit-making agency – that’s strong and will grow and has the power to do things with revenue – and combine that with something truly purposeful?”
So, she decided to use her agency to fund Festive Friends.
“From day one, every penny of profit that we made, we took 20% and put it into a pot,” she says. “Then we look at what we’ve got at the end of the year and see what we can afford.”
“Our clients absolutely love it. We got Unilever this year, and they were drawn mostly to the fact we have Festive Friends – we got the sale off the back of that.”
In this session, Heather shares why she set up her agency as a vessel to contribute something more meaningful to the world, and how her purpose-driven work has helped the business double in size each year.
Come along to hear how purposeful side projects can win you your dream clients – and attract great young talent too.