Creative industry survey 2013the results

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Who Completed the surveyThis document contains the results of a nationwide survey of the Creative Industry, conducted in January 2013 by The Wow Company. Thanks to everyone who took part… the results are really rather interesting.

If you were one of the Digital / Interactive agencies that completed our survey, then you’ll want to find out more about what BIMA can do for you:

BIMA is the British Interactive Media Association, with offices in England, Scotland, and Wales, plus regional representatives across the country. BIMA exists to do three key things:

Support and promote the British digital industry

Share knowledge and best practice

Reward great work and encourage the next generation

If you’re not a BIMA member already, you might want to check them out:

http://www.bima.co.uk

Digital / Interactive

Full Service / Integrated Agency

Design

Marketing / Advertising

TV / Film / Video

Designer

PR

Social Media

Artist

Free spirit (none of the above)

22.8%

22.1%

13.4%

7.4%

6.7%

6.0%

4.7%

2.0%

1.3%

13.4%

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Less than 1 year

1-2 years

3-5 years

6-10 years

10 years +

How long have you been running your current business?10.7%

11.4%

24.2%

18.1%

35.6%

£0-£99k

£100K - £249k

£250k - £1m

£1m - £3m

£3m - £10m

£10m+

Turnover band32.9%

14.8%

24.8%

17.4%

7.4%

2.7%

73%<£1MTURNOVER LESS THAN

OF COMPANIES ASKED

TO SEE AN EVENT WHICH CAN HELP YOU INCREASE

GO TO PAGE 10

PROFITS

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2013 – the year of groWth? 88% of you are either bullish or optimistic when looking

ahead to the prospects for 2013.

Bullish

Optimistic

Pessimistic

Worried

What best describes your mood when looking ahead to the prospects for 2013?

11.6%

76.3%

4.7%

7.4%

I am not expecting to increase turnover

We’ll grow by less than 5%

Between 5-10%

Between 11-25%

Between 26-50%

More than 50%

How much do you plan to grow this year?

11.1%

16.3%

17.9%

25.3%

15.3%

14.2%

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Proactively sell to existing customers

New products / services

Strategic alliances with other creative companies

Recruit new expertise

Increase marketing spend

Focus on vertical niche

Increase prices

More overseas work

Increased use of freelancers

White-labelling your offers to others

Joint ventures with clients (swapping fees for equity on certain projects)

Open another office

Using while-label offerings from others

Licence a product that you have created

Merger or acquisition

Diversify into completely unrelated area

Franchise your business

Reduce prices

How are you planning to grow this year?69.5%

55.3%

41.6%

39.5%

32.1%

25.8%

23.7%

21.6%

17.4%

15.3%

13.7%

10.0%

8.9%

7.9%

5.8%

5.3%

2.1%

1.1%

ARE PLANNING TO10%

ANOTHER OFFICE

24%WILL INCREASE

PRIC£SIN 2013

22%WILL BE SOURCING

MORE WORKOVERSEAS

24%WILL INCREASE

PRIC£SIN 2013

22%WILL BE SOURCING

MORE WORKOVERSEAS

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#1 – proaCtively sell to existing Customers

Get a plan in place – the headlines on one page of A4 is a good start. How do you plan on increasing revenues from existing customers?

Set targets for what you want to achieve and get the whole team involved in hitting them. This isn’t just the job of the Account Managers or Sales Team – everyone should be on the lookout for opportunities.

Don’t give away time for free – if you’re asked to do extra work on a project, charge for it. If you don’t value your time, then don’t expect your clients to either.

Grade your clients and make sure you spend more time with the best ones!

Explore your larger clients – If you’re working with blue chip clients, start proactively making contact with other areas of the business. Draw an organisational chart - who else could you get introduced to?

Hold events – This is a great way to connect with clients to share useful & interesting content (as well as explaining all the ways you can help them)

hoW are you planning to groW in 2013?

Use the Wow Cross Selling Matrix to identify untapped opportunities within your client base. Request your copy by e-mailing: info@thewowcompany.com

Today

2013?

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#2 – neW produCts & serviCesA great way to find out what additional products & services your clients would buy from you is to… ask them! When you survey your clients, as well as finding out how they rate you, ask them what they’d like to buy from you in the future (and how much they’d be willing to pay for it). Market research. Done.

#3 – strategiC allianCes With other Creative CompaniesNearly 50% of creative businesses are planning on doing this in 2013… so what are you waiting for?

Get on the phone and book a few meetings with other creative businesses that you know. Let’s get those creative sparks flying!

hoW are you planning to groW in 2013? continued

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agenCy insight – seCret stats…

PER MONTH

DRAW MORE THAN

£5,000

24%OF AGENCY OWNERS

62%ARE PLANNING ONOF CREATIVE BUSINESSES

ARE EXPECTING TO GROW

RECRUITINGIN 201362%

ARE PLANNING ONOF CREATIVE BUSINESSES

ARE EXPECTING TO GROW

RECRUITINGIN 2013

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What’s holding you baCk?

What is the biggest factor currently restricting your growth?

24.2%

16.8%

13.7%

13.2%

11.6%

4.7%

2.1%

13.7%

Reduced client budgets

Finance / Cashflow

Economy

Finding talent

Reduced number of client projects

Increased competition

Government regulations

Other

TO FIND OUT HOW TO BREAKREAD ON DOWN THESE BARRIERS IN 2013

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breaking doWn the barriers in 2013 continued

reduCed Client budgetsIf you’re feeling the squeeze from clients when it comes to budgets, attend this event to find out how the UK’s fastest-growing creative agencies are overcoming this challenge in 2013:

event…building a super-profitable Creative agenCy

Thursday 16th May (5-8pm) Brettenham House, 2-19 Lancaster Place, London, WC2E 7EG

finanCe/CashfloWIt’s been a long time since small businesses could rely on banks to provide funding. However, the gap left by the traditional lenders has been filled by a myriad of alternative ways of financing your business.

Attend this seminar to get the inside track on the very latest ways to raise finance:

event…raising finanCe... the alternative Way

Wednesday 17th April (5-8pm)Brettenham House, 2-19 Lancaster Place, London, WC2E 7EG

Click here to book your place: www.raising-finance.eventbrite.co.uk

Click here to book your place: www.profitable-agency.eventbrite.co.uk

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let’s talk teChAs well as the stats, this survey also gave us an insight into the technology solutions and providers that you’ll be using in 2013 to drive your business forward. We thought it would be useful to share some of the names that cropped up the most:

BasecampAdobeCloud DropboxGoogle Docs

StreamtimeTwitterXEROWORKFLOW MAX LinkediniPAD Magento

SALESFORCEZendesk

Skype Social Media

BasecampBusinessCloudCMSDropboxGoogle

StreamtimeTracking Software XEROWORKFLOW

Docs INTERNET Linkedin PlatformsiPAD MobileiPhoneProject Management SALESFORCESkypeSocial Media

try something neW todayBeen thinking of implementing any of these solutions into your business? Maybe now is the time to make it happen? Those that made the leap 12 months ago certainly haven’t looked back:

What one pieCe of teChnology has made the biggest differenCe to your business in the past 12 months?

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is your head in the Cloud?If you are one of the 51% of businesses planning on purchasing technology hosted in the cloud in 2013, it’ll be more important than ever to ensure that you’ve chosen the right hosting provider. We recommend you talk to Peer 1 Hosting – we’re always hearing good things about them from our creative clients. Click on the logo below to find out more.

let’s talk teCh continued

All on-premise

Mostly on-premise, with some in the cloud

Mostly in the cloud, with some on-premise

All in the cloud

Is the software you use to run your business...24.4%

45.5%

22.2%

8.0%

On-premise

In the cloud

The technology you purchase in 2013, will it be mostly...

49.4%

50.6%

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Where did all that profit go?If you are one of the 47% that don’t use project management or time tracking software, you might be missing out on a trick. Our research shows that there is a direct correlation between profitability and using a project management system. So, what do people recommend? Well, agencies are using a number of different systems, but the name mentioned most often (and with the biggest praise) was Streamtime. Find out more about them by clicking on the logo below.

let’s talk teCh continued

Yes

No

Do you use project management or time tracking software?

52.8%

47.2%

THERE IS A DIRECT CORRELATION

AND USING A

PROJECT MANAGEMENTSYSTEM

BETWEEN PROFITABILITY

THERE IS A DIRECT CORRELATION

AND USING A

PROJECT MANAGEMENTSYSTEM

BETWEEN PROFITABILITY

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using sage or spreadsheets? it’s time to Change...Spreadsheets are great to start with as they are simple to use and don’t cost you anything. But once you become VAT registered then you’ll need something more to help you keep your finger on the financial pulse of your business.

It’s hard to choose from the many accounting software options available, so we thought we’d make it nice and simple for you and recommend one that is LOVED by our creative clients: Xero. And for the 25% of you using Sage, we also think you’ll be amazed by what Xero can do for your business. Click on the logo below to find out what Xero has to offer.

let’s talk teCh continued

What accounting software do you use?

26.5%

22.9%

18.8%

7.1%

5.3%

2.4%

1.2%

15.9%

Sage

Spreadsheets

Xero

I still use paper records

QuickBooks

FreeAgent / IRIS OpenBooks

KashFlow

Other

XERO IS HERO

If you’d like a free 30-minute demo of Xero, e-mail info@thewowcompany.com

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With thanks toA huge thank you to everyone who completed The Wow Company’s Creative Survey 2013. We hope you found these results useful and that the insights will help your creative business grow even faster in 2013. We’d also like to thank some people who helped spread the word about the survey:

www.bucfe.com www.schoolforcreativestartups.com www.creativeengland.co.uk

CheCk out What’s Coming in future BenChPress rePorts:

PrediCtions – What does the future hold for the creative sector?

intervieWs – With the UK’s top-performing agencies

adviCe – On how to grow quicker & more profitably

stats – Including:

Average profit per agency

Wage spend

Directors’ remuneration

Hourly rates

Growth figures, by size, by geography

Quartile analysis – where do you fit in?

Click here to receive future reports

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