How we've helped Sox Digital

Heather and Graham Howe said marketing was their biggest challenge after setting up Sox Digital, just over two years ago.

The pair are passionate about what they are doing – helping small firms get to grips with the digital side of their business. But Heather and Graham needed advice on how to promote the no-nonsense technical knowhow Sox offers clients.

“Nobody likes having to talk about themselves, it’s really difficult,” said Heather, whose background is in project managing. “We contacted Growth Hub because we were really struggling with our marketing. It seemed like an insurmountable mountain and we just didn’t know where to start.”

Growth Hub gave Heather and Graham some basic advice about marketing, talking them through different platforms and techniques, as well as prompting key questions about their business and the direction they wanted it to go in.

“They were really easy to talk to,” said Heather. “Their advice was in plain English. It was just matter of fact. It was very easy to access, very easy to get to grips with.”

Growth Hub also managed to put Heather and Graham in touch with other organisations that could help expand the marketing side of their business.

“The Growth Hub pointed us in the right direction,” said Graham, a developer who has worked on a wide range of small scale and more complex enterprise level digital projects. “They gave us contacts and suggestions on workshops and other groups out there that could help us,” he added.

The early advice the couple received has stayed with Heather and Graham, who say their marketing strategy is now far stronger than it was before they got in touch with Growth Hub.

The plan now is to generate more income streams and the build the business up to a point where Sox Digital could take on another member of staff.

“We would recommend the Growth Hub for sure - and actually have,” said Heather. “We have recommended it to a few people who have said, oh, I need to sort out my funding for my business and I don’t know where to start and we’ve said…talk to the Growth Hub!”

The Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Growth Hub from May 2016 -  June 2023 was part funded by the European Regional Development Fund and match funded by Cornwall Council, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership.  The project received £2,848,591.49 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.