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.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

www.digitalwillow.biz

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”

www.digitalwillow.biz

This article was sponsored by Digital Willow. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng

This year’s Parliamentary Review reflects on a tumultuous and extraordinary year, globally and nationally. As well as being an MP, I am a keen student of history, and I am conscious that 2020 would mark the end of an era. It will be remembered as the year in which we concluded Brexit negotiations and finally left the European Union. Above all, it will be remembered as the year of Covid-19.

In our fight against the pandemic, I am delighted that our vaccination programme is beginning to turn the tide – and I pay tribute to the British businesses, scientists and all those who have helped us to achieve this. But the virus has dealt enormous damage, and we now have a duty to rebuild our economy.

We must ensure that businesses are protected. We have made more than £350 billion available to that end, with grants, business rates relief and our furlough scheme supporting more than 11 million people and jobs in every corner of the country, maintaining livelihoods while easing the pressure on employers. The next step is to work with business to build back better and greener, putting the net zero carbon challenge at the heart of our recovery. This is a complex undertaking, but one which I hope will be recognised as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Through the prime minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, we can level up every region of the UK, supporting 250,000 green jobs while we accelerate our progress towards net zero carbon emissions.

With our commitment to raise R&D spending to 2.4% of GDP and the creation of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency, we are empowering our fantastic researchers to take on groundbreaking research, delivering funding with flexibility and speed. With this approach, innovators will be able to work with our traditional industrial heartlands to explore new technologies, and design and manufacture the products on which the future will be built – ready for export around the globe.

And I believe trade will flourish. We are a leading nation in the fight against climate change. As the host of COP26 this year, we have an incredible opportunity to market our low-carbon products and expertise. Our departure from the EU gives us the chance to be a champion of truly global free trade; we have already signed trade deals with more than 60 countries around the world.

As we turn the page and leave 2020 behind, I am excited about the new chapter which Britain is now writing for itself, and for the opportunities which lie ahead of us.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy