Digital innovation has seen North Staffordshire businesswoman Tracy Hollins develop new offices and support more clients, despite the stormy economic conditions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Tracy founded Blink Digital three years ago setting up a work station at her family home in Caverswall. Growth has seen the company take on premises in Queen Street, Newcastle-under-Lyme in 2020, to accommodate its team of seven staff.
The company has continued to thrive despite the pandemic, largely through the development of smart digital solutions for companies such as Stone-based Lymestone Brewery, transforming the brewery’s website within hours of coronavirus lockdown to allow them to move from pub based sales to online.
Lymestone’s Viv Bradford said “Blink Digital saved the Lymestone business” and Tracy explained: An easy to use digital store was built to allow Lymestone to generate revenue in lockdown. It is no exaggeration to say that the company’s beer sales disappeared overnight, with the closure of pubs due to lockdown.
“For many companies, a digital presence can just mean a website but we’re providing much more than that. We look at how our clients operate and devise plans on how to use digital solutions to grow their businesses. This can mean adding an e-commerce solution to company websites or developing intuitive mobile apps to aid growth.”
Tracy says she has been in and around business all her life and believes that’s allowed her to see the bigger picture when it comes to planning growth for Blink Digital and their clients.
“My dad had a successful pottery wholesalers and I started in the company at the age of 16, doing every job from sweeping floors to heading the marketing,” explained Tracy. “This gave me an incredible grounding for when I wanted to start my own company, having had a career break to start a family.
“I began by providing virtual online assistance, PA and bookkeeping services and quickly evolved to offer a wide range of digital solutions to clients. Enabling clients to harness the power of new technology gave them the opportunity to automate processes, saving time and money, and to effectively market their businesses. In turn, this allowed me to develop the Blink Digital brand.”
Tracy began moving her team into renovated offices at 4 Queen Street in January. She said: “No sooner had we begun to put down our roots in Newcastle, we had to close and start working from home. We’d decided to set up the office so that we could work together and enjoy bouncing ideas off each other, but we’d grown the business while home working, so we were in a better position than many companies to work productively through lockdown.
Viv Bradford, of Lymestone Brewery, said: “I cannot recommend Blink Digital highly enough. At the start of the pandemic we didn’t have sales through our website. Our sales were all directed at the pub trade and that disappeared overnight as the government ordered lockdown.
“Blink Digital stepped in and in a matter of days we had a fully functioning website and online shop. This enabled us to get our products out direct to the consumer. There’s no doubt that this prompt service saved our business.”
“Going forward, the website is continuing to grow and change to meet our needs and Blink Digital are with us every step of the way.”
ENDS
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