Kristin Atkinson, the managing director of Stockton-based digital marketing agency Integrity Search, believes that the assistance and support offered by DigitalCity since he set up his company in 2010 has helped propel it into the finals of the Northern Digital Awards.
The awards recognise leading digital talent from across the north of England and Integrity Search’s work to improve the search engine rankings of a digital printing company has been shortlisted in the Best Low Budget Campaign category.
Kristin founded Integrity Search four years ago and enlisted the support of DigitalCity, based at Teesside University, when he wanted to grow the company.
DigitalCity and the University’s Graduate Recruitment and Placement scheme (GRAP) helped Kristin recruit two graduates and also provided financial support and advice as the company expanded.
Along with several contractors, it now employs seven full-time members of staff and its recent nomination for a Northern Digital Award is proof of how much it has achieved in a short space of time.
The Best Low Budget Campaign award recognises campaigns which have used creative methods to deliver excellent results within a budget of £1,500 per month.
Integrity Search was enlisted by Irish company Pixaprint to help get its website listed on the first page of Google for more than 40 search terms including top-level search terms ‘Canvas Prints’ and ‘Canvas Printing’ within 12 months.
The Integrity Search campaign employed a variety of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and social media and content marketing techniques to make the Pixaprints.ie website compliant with Google’s technical and quality guidelines and attract links from high quality, high domain authority websites.
One of the principal parts of the campaign was an online quiz based on the popular TV series Orange is the New Black which encouraged people to ‘like’ the company on Facebook or follow it on Twitter.
The campaign was so successful that the Pixaprints.ie website went from no listings on Google to more than 40 first page listings within six months – half the required time.
In addition, its website saw in increase in traffic of 313% with a resulting increase in orders of 206%.
Kristin said: 'The assistance, support and funding we’ve had from DigitalCity over the last few years has been incredible. It has played an integral part in our expansion and growth.
'We’ve come a very long way in a relatively short space of time and we’re delighted that now we’re being recognised for the quality of our work and the results we achieve for our clients.
'The Northern Digital Awards attract some of the biggest agencies from across the north of England so it’s fantastic that we’ve been shortlisted.'
Michael Ryding, Director of DigitalCity, said: 'Integrity Search is a real success story and we are proud to have played a part in helping the company to grow.
'We are delighted that Kristin and his team have made it through to the finals of these highly prestigious awards.
'They deserve every success for the creative and innovative way in which they tackled this campaign and we shall all be rooting for them when they attend the awards ceremony later this month.'
The finals of the Northern Digital Awards take place at the Royal Armouries in Leeds on Thursday, 22 January.