A Tees Valley public relations agency is planning increased growth and new services thanks to a funding boost.
Harvey & Hugo, which has headquarters in Darlington, offers a range of PR, social media and content marketing services for clients across the UK and beyond.
The firm, owned by managing director Charlotte Nichols, will be investing £60,000 in sales and marketing consultancy, including working with sales consultant Steve Pugh, to capitalise on its current growth.
Charlotte said: “Like everyone, we’ve been – and continue to be – affected by Covid, which has slowed and disrupted much of our usual activity.
“Despite this, we’re on track for our best financial year and this funding will help us to keep up the momentum and take us to the next level, including bringing on a number of new members of staff.
“Working with Steve will help us upskill in new areas of marketing, filling in the gaps to help us attract more clients, and I’m very excited to see what the next 12 months will bring.”
Steve added: “I have known and respected Charlotte and Harvey & Hugo for a long time so it is a real pleasure to get to work together.
“The team are genuine leaders in PR, social media and content marketing, and I am excited to help bring an extra focus towards business growth and sales, working hand in hand with the team, playing my part in helping them achieve that growth.”
The firm received funding worth 55 per cent of the investment from Tees Valley Growth Fund, and was supported in the application by Nudl, a Middlesbrough-based business support consultancy.
Chief Nudl Shak Asghar, who launched the company earlier this year, said: “Our job here at Nudl is to help businesses who need funding to access it – it’s as simple as that.
“There are so many firms out there who are in a great position to scale up but just need that extra injection of cash to help them reach their true potential, and that’s what we can help with.”
Charlotte added: “Being a small business, I’ve always applied for funding where I can, but it’s a time-consuming process with no guarantee of success.
“Nudl know exactly what they’re doing and are experts at this, so it gave me more certainty we’d be successful while also taking the application off my hands to help me spend more time on the business.
“They were great to work with, so friendly and helpful, and I’d 100 per cent recommend them to others – in fact, we’re already working with them again on another consultancy project.”
The grant was accessed through the Tees Valley Growth hub at TVCA and it is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund.
Charlotte continued: “I’m so grateful to the Tees Valley Growth Fund for supporting our business and so many others in the region to come out of the pandemic stronger than ever.”
Harvey & Hugo, which celebrated its 12th anniversary in June, also recently launched its own e-commerce platform, Pay-as-Hugo.com, offering its services on a fixed-fee, flexible basis.
For more information, visit www.harveyandhugo.com