Digital Willow

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Digital Willow's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Digital Willow is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

The Rt Hon Lord David Blunkett, MP

The Rt Hon Lord Eric Pickles, MP

53DIGITAL WILLOW |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019

CEO Amber Williamson won

Best Woman in Business in

London Southwark 2018

Southwark project

Digital Willow is a growth marketing consultancy;

generating leads and growing sales for businesses.

They specialise in digital marketing and media, crafting

a winning strategy, digging deep into customer data and

utilising their “superpowers” to deliver clients a return on their

investment. Founder and CEO Amber Williamson is a successful

entrepreneur whose dynamic leadership is increasingly being

recognised nationally and internationally. The success of Digital

Willow saw her named as winner of the Adelaide Smith Best

Woman in Business and the Best Woman in Business award at

the Southwark Business Excellence Awards in 2018. Amber tells

The Parliamentary Review

more about its success.

I have specialised in marketing for my entire career, specifically focusing on digital

and growth marketing in the last 11 years. I have led digital marketing strategies

for MNCs including Microsoft, Burberry, Honda, MasterCard, Xbox, Cadbury,

LVMH, Mondelez and Exxon, but in 2010 I left a senior global partnership role,

managing marketing budgets of more than $200 million across 72 countries, to set

up my dream business in London Bridge.

Today, I spend my time helping ambitious businesses in a variety of sectors (from

professional services to entertainment) grow and flourish into market leaders. It

was a massive decision both financially and emotionally, with a lot of sacrifices

along the way. Yet I dreamt of creating a business that looked after their staff,

wasn’t interested in office politics, delivered quality work and results and really

FACTS ABOUT

DIGITAL WILLOW

»Founder and CEO

AmberWilliamson

»Founded in 2011

»Based in London Bridge, with

offices soon to open in Dubai

»Services: Delivery of digital

marketing services actively in

over 45 countries, specialising

in professional services and

entertainment and leisure

»No. of full-time employees: 10

»Turnover growth in September

2018 was 72 per cent increase

on the previous 12 months

»www.digitalwillow.biz

Digital Willow

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

54 | DIGITAL WILLOW

cared about helping other businesses

grow. Bringing my dream to life has

been perhaps the most rewarding

experience I could ask for.

I am passionate about helping people

and businesses grow into the best

version they can possibly be. This is

how I behold the life of a marketing

professional and a CEO. To lead is not

always to be the toughest person in

the room. I believe it is essential to

show your vulnerability. Painting my

world rose-coloured doesn’t connect

with people. As a leader I do my best

to be open about the challenges the

business and clients are facing and to

be inclusive about the decisions I am

planning to take. I am highly driven

and conscientious – most often the last

to leave and always looking for that

sprinkle of special sugar that will make

our strategies beat the rest.

Nurturing and empowering

Our mantra is that there is always

a solution to every problem, and

that applies in all aspects of life.

The world is open to possibilities if

you stay focused on the goal. Find

your courage, make a decision and

learn from your mistakes. Leadership

requires ever-green learning and focus.

I believe leadership is the fine balance

between nurturing staff, inspiration,

providing a vision, upholding high

standards and setting clear boundaries.

As women, we are often taught

to be crowd pleasers, displaying a

willingness to serve and comply.

Saying yes, however, doesn’t always

lead to the best outcome. Not every

customer is right for every business.

We identify best fit by identifying

those interested in a value exchange,

maintaining Digital Willow’s culture

and highstandards.

A happy workplace perpetuates

loyalty, quality and productivity.

Shawn Achor’s book

The Happiness

Advantage

resonated with me and

highlighted what was missing during

my years in corporate advertising. I

encourage both clients and the team

to be inquisitive, collaborative and to

approach the day with a smile and a

sense of mischief. As Eleanor Roosevelt

said: “Well-behaved women rarely

make history.”

Working in the space of digital

technology and digital marketing

demands innovative at pace. We

are committed to vigorous learning.

For example, it is mind-blowing that

13 years ago YouTube didn’t even

exist and now it forms a key part of

communication plans. Every growth

plan that we create for clients includes

an element of “test and learn”. Ideally

this is about 10 to 15 per cent of the

total budget set aside purely for trying

new things. Usually this will involve

a new website, ad format, software

or experiment that we explore every

couple of weeks. We are always

optimising and improving, because the

landscape is changing quickly, and the

winners adapt at pace.

Our marketing philosophy

Seller-centric business models don’t

work any more. Instead, we aim to

always be helping, whether turning

around a declining sales pipeline

London Bridge-based

office

Find your

courage,

make a

decision and

learn from

your mistakes.

The time is

now to go

forit

“

55DIGITAL WILLOW |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019

or launching a new product into a

competitive market; once a contract

is signed we become a dedicated

partner and fight for the best solution

for our clients. We offer free growth

marketing advice every week to

the world at large. This content is

published usually via ebooks or posts

and is freely available to whoever is in

need. Sure, some people might take

our secrets, use them and never pay a

penny, but in reality no one has time

to do it all themselves. When crunch

time comes and CEOs think, “I really

need some help if I am going to scale”,

they come knocking on ourdoor.

It is impossible to be amazing at

everything. The concept of an expert

all-rounder no longer exists. CEOs and

marketers have an extremely difficult

job trying to keep up with the fast-

paced change of technology. To solve

this challenge, we are formed by a

team of agile specialists. They extend

their client’s marketing teams and

remove the risk of paying for multiple

in-house salaries and overheads.

Entrepreneurial ethos

I built Digital Willow without

external investment, I used my

extensive industry expertise, drive

and determination to create a new,

fairer way of doing things. As most

entrepreneurs know, starting and

running a business isn’t easy, so there

needs to be this bigger force that takes

you through the dark and difficult

times and keeps you going.

Our success stems from ethical values,

which I am proud of. The customer

is always placed at the very heart of

all thinking, and in such a continually

evolving market, innovation and

new technologies are key to keeping

competitive. Furthermore, having fun

along the journey is a critical factor.

The team is like a second family and

we support each other along the highs

and lows on the pathway to success.

Creating a winning culture

Every year, we go on an all-

expenses-paid trip to another city

to expand our horizons, build better

relationships and learn about a new

culture. This year we are heading

to Majorca in a luxury villa with

two pools and a view to take your

breath way. We spoilt the team

with extra-special accommodation,

as we collectively smashed our

financial goals. During the trip we

spend time working on our future

together. The team examine better

ways of communicating with

different personalities and business

styles, innovating new services and

researching clients we would love to

work with.

The concept of

an expert all-

rounder no

longer exists.

CEOs have an

extremely

difficult job

trying to keep up

with the change

of technology

“

»DIGITAL WILLOW SUPERPOWERS

»Media planning

»Media buying and publisher

negotiations

»Insights, analysis and reporting

»Search marketing PPC

»Audits

»E-commerce

»Social media

»Campaign management and

optimisations

»Proximity marketing

»Brand reputation monitoring

»Lead generation and data mining

»Conversion funnel

»Retargeting

»Display digital marketing

»Programmatic

»Video promotion

»Content creation

»Email marketing

»Reviews and recommendation

marketing

»Conversion tracking

»Advertising research

Annual team trip

“Project Abroad”

The Parliamentary Review Publication, in which this article originally appeared, contained the following foreword from the prime minister.

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By The Rt Hon Theresa May MP

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review. For Her Majesty’s Government, our task in the year ahead is clear: to achieve the best Brexit deal for Britain and to carry on our work to build a more prosperous and united country – one that truly works for everyone.

The right Brexit deal will not be sufficient on its own to secure a more prosperous future for Britain. We also need to ensure that our economy is ready for what tomorrow will bring. Our Modern Industrial Strategy is our plan to do that. It means Government stepping up to secure the foundations of our productivity: providing an education system that delivers the skills our economy needs, improving school standards and transforming technical education; delivering infrastructure for growth; ensuring people have the homes they need in the places they want to live. It is all about taking action for the long-term that will pay dividends in the future.

But it also goes beyond that. Government, the private sector and academia working together as strategic partners achieve far more than we could separately. That is why we have set an ambitious goal of lifting UK public and private research and development investment to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027. It is why we are developing four Grand Challenges, the big drivers of social and economic change in the world today: harnessing artificial intelligence and the data revolution; leading in changes to the future of mobility; meeting the challenges of our ageing society; and driving ahead the revolution in clean growth. By focusing our efforts on making the most of these areas of enormous potential, we can develop new exports, grow new industries and create more good jobs in every part of our country.

Years of hard work and sacrifice from the British people have got our deficit down by over three quarters. We are building on this success by taking a balanced approach to public spending. We are continuing to deal with our debts, so that our economy can remain strong and we can protect people’s jobs, and at the same time we are investing in vital public services, like our NHS. We have set out plans to increase NHS funding annually by an average by 3.4 percent in real terms: that is £394 million a week more. In return, the NHS will produce a ten-year plan, led by doctors and nurses, to eliminate waste and improve patient care.

I believe that Britain can look to the future with confidence. We are leaving the EU and setting a new course for prosperity as a global trading nation. We have a Modern Industrial Strategy that is strengthening the foundations of our economy and helping us to seize the opportunities of the future. We are investing in the public services we all rely on and helping them to grow and improve. Building on our country’s great strengths – our world-class universities and researchers, our excellent services sector, our cutting edge manufacturers, our vibrant creative industries, our dedicated public servants – we can look towards a new decade that is ripe with possibility. The government I lead is doing all it can to make that brighter future a reality for everyone in our country.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Prime Minister