Becky’s Blog: Q1 2021 – A Summary

Every quarter we get together as a team to review how things went in the previous quarter, and to make plans for the quarter ahead. In the pre-covid days we’d normally get out of the office to do this, over the years we’ve been to meeting rooms in London Marylebone Station, stunning hotels in Exeter, whilst also often utilising more local meeting spaces surroundings such as the fabulous Perch Coworking space in Bicester. Alas, we’ve not been able to meet in person for the last few reviews, so have had to resort to holding our reviews online. But, hey, at least we could all wear our comfy slippers and have full control over our own snack situation!

If I could have chosen a venue for our Q1 meet this year, I would have wanted to host it somewhere nice, you know, one of those spaces with beautiful views and lovely interiors. The last quarter was our most successful quarter yet, and whilst I was able to arrange a simple takeaway lunch for us all to have over Zoom, I really do wish we could have actually been together to have a toast over a nice meal to celebrate our achievements.  

I wanted to shine a light on some of the achievements from the team this quarter here because I’m super proud of all the hard work they have put in and what they’ve been able to accomplish. The intention certainly isn’t to boast or gloat, but I want to make sure what we are achieving as an agency is out there and not kept secret. 

🧑‍🤝‍🧑100% Customer Retention Rate

We love our customers! We’ve reached a point where we are working with more businesses and are working across more accounts than ever before. We welcomed 5 new businesses into our management portfolio in Q1, and said goodbye to zero. Customer churn happens, sometimes businesses decide to take the management in house, sometimes they decide to invest their marketing spend into other activities, sometimes the agency/client fit just isn’t right… we’ve seen it all! But right now we’re partnering with some truly awesome companies, many that we’ve worked with well over 12 months (one that we’ve worked with for over 8 years!) that are happy with the service we provide and the results we are able to deliver for them. 

📈 Amazing PPC Growth Stories

During our meets, the account managers in the team present a performance summary for each of our customers, and share what they’ve been doing and what has been achieved. Considering Q1 often can look a bit disappointing against Q4 thanks to eCommerce seasonality, the narrative on the whole was very positive. 

“More Leads”

“More Sales”

“More Revenue”

Better Returns”

Below is a selection of some of the results we have been able to achieve.

Facebook Ads sales for an electrical and homegoods eCommerce store.


Google Ads sales for a garden goods eCommerce store.


Google Ads sales for a specialist lighting eCommerce store.


Google Ads performance for an industrial B2B business


Microsoft Ads performance for a ironmongery eCommerce business

I could go on…

Bravo to the PPC delivery team. You’re truly smashing it!

📣 Increased Digital Gearbox Presence

Outside of continuing to deliver results for our customers, a priority for us as a business in Q1 was to increase the visibility of Digital Gearbox. Without face to face networking and events, it’s been a challenge over the last year to get out there and meet new people, and to spread the good word about how we’re able to help businesses increase their online presence and sales with our expert PPC services. 

To tackle this, throughout Q1 we’ve overhauled and revitalized our output. You can now find regular updates and tips from us across LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or if you’re not a social (media) butterfly you can simply sign up to receive these via our weekly email. We’ve continued to produce new episodes of the PPC Burrito podcast, and have welcomed some fantastic guests to the show. Michael has continued with his role as an ambassador of the Bicester Business Buzz networking group, whilst I have joined another networking group, Opendoorz, to develop some new connections with more local businesses.

One of the biggest projects of Q1 was the development of a new website for Digital Gearbox. We needed a solution that was more user friendly, but more importantly wanted a site that more accurately represented the agency we have become. As a part of this we’ve been busy pulling together more case studies from the work we have been doing, which are now at the forefront of the new site which is now live! I’m really pleased with the end result and hope you like it too. Take a little look around whilst you’re here. 

So, what’s in store for Q2?

Q1 was very busy as you can see, and we’re certainly not taking our foot off the gas for Q2. We’re currently recruiting for some new talent to join the team, we’re pilioting the management of some exciting new PPC channels, and we’re getting ready for a return to office life (hopefully!)  by the end of the quarter. Having continued to grow over the last 12 months, we’ve had to find a brand new Digital Gearbox HQ to house us all. I look forward to sharing the details of our new space with you really soon.

Aside from that, we’ll be continuing to look to help even more businesses with their PPC requirements, whilst working hard to smash some of the performance records we were able to achieve for our customers last quarter. Just watch this space!

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