My advice on 2023? Rebuild, be brave and believe!

A year which starts with a brain tumour is never going to be a great year. But bouncing back from something like that you can never, ever take anything for granted. In fact, 2023 has taught me a far more optimistic way of looking at life and a determination to do things right like never before.

These lessons are important when the UK market, which has been in the doldrums for at least six months now, still takes its toll. Even last week, UK performance was downgraded once again due to consistently high interest rates.

I’ve heard talk of “bloodbath” among those in PR and marketing, and for sure, this is a recession in all but name. Fortunately for us, we have a loyal and pretty consistent customer base and that’s what also makes doing what we do so much more rewarding.

But for sure, the UK is struggling. As an industry, we just need to hope that 2024 will bring better, as well as work and rebuild and be better ourselves. These tough times are times to differentiate and stand out, and at CommsCo I can see clearly some of the areas we’ve done this: 

• We have a stronger team than before, more connected and experienced.
• We have more services. Every agency has to focus now on lead gen, working harder for clients beyond just tech ‘PR’. We offer newsletters, podcasts, surveys, email marketing, SEO and digital support.
• We have our own CEO podcast. That’s been a lot of fun in the making, thanks to all who’ve been a guest this year, and to Tomisin for being a charming host.
• We have our own newsletter – thanks to Lee we now have 294 followers in the space of a few months. Great to see our following grow.
• We are about to achieve a second landmark feature in the space of a month for two of our clients on Sky News. Stay tuned. It’s great to see healthcare tech get the attention it deserves. In addition to that, we created 3 FT Champions from our scaleup clients!
• We have also just had five clients listed in the TechRound 100 (including the number 2 spot!). A fantastic achievement showing the brilliance of the companies we work with.
• We have just started supporting The Upper Room charity so we can help the socially disadvantaged and overlooked, through basic fundraising activities. 
• We have a fabulous new partnership with ScaleUp Group and will be supporting the team at the Enterprise Awards in 2024. This should be a brilliant opportunity to help UK tech entrepreneurs get the recognition they deserve.
• We have our own event planned at the end of January, for founders in AI. The speaker line up is great, and if you’re looking to stand out in a crowd (key to our core mission) then it’s one not to miss.

The list goes on, and I’m proud of a team who achieves all of this and fights, despite the dreary news and market conditions out there. But adversity breeds excellence and that’s what I firmly believe. If there is ever a time for our “more for less” message it’s now. 

More than ever at the end of 2023, I hope everyone has a healthy and safe festive period, and can look forward to new and better things in 2024. Thanks to everyone who has supported us along the way.