Chris Dunkerley of moocreations celebrates 10 years in business this August. Here he talks about his journey from university graduate to establishing his own successful marketing and design company.
“Pretty much every business in the Design & Marketing sector starts out with at least one Director who has significant experience within the creative sector. Their experience either provides a structured framework for, or indeed a complete, ‘How To’ recipe book, on all the different stages a creative business needs to perform effectively.
“When I started moocreations in 2006, I had £1000, 2 clients, very little Agency experience and was by no means a leading designer amongst my peers. I had graduated in 2004 in Graphic Design and worked within the design department of a sportswear business for 2 years before deciding that going alone was worth a shot. I have always been creative and UCLan taught me the importance of ‘The Big Idea’, but how to run and build an agency were lessons I had yet to learn.
“For the first 6 years I traded as moo creations, choosing which new services to develop and which specialists to bring in to support project delivery – a complete trial and error nightmare, predominantly filled with 14 hour days of stress and my limited, personal design style. Since becoming moocreations Ltd in 2011 and building an internal team, the last 4 years have seen a much more structured and positive development of services, as well as a reduction in daft hours and improved management.
“Over the last 10 years we have developed our own approach to deliver a higher level of service and to add more value for our clients. In June we attended the Lancashire Business Awards for our shortlisting among 4 others for Best PR & Marketing Agency, but we actually do so much more than that for our clients.
“Typical design or marketing companies often push their favourite or strongest areas of service, for example social media, branding, email marketing, PR or website design.
“Our approach however, is Business orientated.
“In comparison to the Graphic Design & Branding services we started out with, today we have a much clearer, well-defined approach that targets return on investment with business and marketing strategy at the top of the pile.
“Our focus is two fold, firstly on improving sales for our clients; and secondly on the individuals who make up the target markets of our clients and their user experience with digital or printed communications.
“Today I employ 2 full time designers at our offices in Preston who have allowed us to step up our design style and allowed me to lead as Managing Director. We also have a trusted partner network of Photographers, Copy Writers, Website Coders, Social Media Specialists, Printing Suppliers, Data Providers and Telemarketing Teams who together amass to over 40 people and allow us to offer full capability to our SME market place. These are the businesses that have made it through our 10 year selection process and value quality control, as highly as we do. All our partners remain our responsibility to give our clients piece of mind, less supplier management problems, and in return, give us greater flexibility to adapt to different client business needs.
“There have been some significant lessons along the way, but we recognize that continual learning and improving the way we deliver services for clients, is exactly how the business should continue to grow. It will be our 10th Birthday in August 2016 – a significant waymark for our business development and accomplishments.”
Contact moocreations Ltd on 0800 690 6835 or visit www.moocreations.co.uk
