Great news! We’re happy to report that Sowdens are among the roster of prestigious finalists competing at the Northern Digital Awards. We’ve been shortlisted in the Best Small Digital Agency of the Year category and will be representing East Yorkshire against some of the UK’s most innovative digital marketeers.   

What a year we’ve had

The Northern Digital Awards showcase the work of outstanding agencies, teams, and campaigns, bringing together the region’s top digital marketing talent. Securing a shortlist position is the culmination of an incredible year for Sowdens, having increased our overall digital turnover by 59% YoY.  

Achieving this target hasn’t been easy. We’ve had to consistently help our clients surpass their goals through dynamic digital campaigns across a range of industries, including education, green innovation, and software. This has included generating £3.1M+ in student fees, £333,000 record-breaking sales from a modest £9,500 ad spend, and a 460% uplift in Top 10 SERP rankings on Google – the latter contributing to an 82.72% increase in organic search traffic for one client.  

Over the past year, we’ve also secured several prestigious national and international blue chip digital accounts, as well as adding several other new contracts to the pipeline. Stay tuned to our channels, because the ceremony itself is taking place on 26 January 2023 at the Leeds Armouries. Good luck to all the other fantastic agencies nominated – see you there! 

People make the difference

For Polly, the Sowdens team are at the heart of the shortlisting: “Winning the Best Small Digital Agency of the Year award would be an incredible achievement for the people that make the impossible possible. Our team will always be our biggest investment and they thrive because they’re free to do their best work – they bang the drum for Sowdens and push us to achieve more every single day.”

Life begins at 40: celebrating a milestone year 

To cap a perfect 2022 – in which we celebrated our 40th year in business – our very own Paul Sowden was also announced as one of the region’s Top 20 Most Inspirational Business Leaders by BusinessWorks (a list which highlights influential figures from a range of industries). Considering that the average age of a small UK company is 8.5 years and only 5% of agencies have 12-30 employees, it’s remarkable that we’ve reached such a milestone.

While our long history is one of our USPs, there’s a feeling that ‘the best is yet to come’. We had a chat to Paul about what the award nomination means to him:

“Each decade has brought changes and challenges, but we’ve always adapted, evolved and thrived. We’ve relished the opportunities the digital era has brought to one of the most rewarding and stimulating jobs in the world. Above all, we’re still driven by quality and results, and our digital performance has been truly phenomenal.”

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