1. Introduce yourself.
Hello BIMA community, I’m Aaron Thomas – managing director of digital PR link building agency Hive19. We’re based in Brighton, and have been a member of BIMA since early 2022.
2. Give us the elevator pitch for your company.
We are a digital PR specialist earning coverage through targeted content marketing campaigns that build topical authority for clients, predominantly in the fintech, SaaS and medical space. We are also an outsource partner to a range of SEO agencies in need of expert off-page support to boost the brilliant on-page work that they provide for their clients.
3. Tell us about a typical day – or – something interesting that happened recently in your company.
Digital PR is surprisingly admin heavy, utilising many methodical processes and software integrations. My business partner (Louisa Delpy) has built a range of lean, automation processes that minimise the strain and repetition… but a typical day would still involve many of the same tasks at the same time each day. As the company has grown I have moved further away from these, but as my core skills are in website analysis and content marketing, I’m still heavily involved in many of our client campaigns.
My day is now peppered with client meetings, partner meetings and working on some of the projects we always have going on. Right now in March 2023, we’re about to launch a brand new website – so that has been a huge focus over the past few months.
4. What do you love most about what you do?
Hard to pick one thing, but I would say the growth – in terms of the company itself and the team we’ve built. Hive19 started during the pandemic around a kitchen table, and the journey we’ve been on ever since has been very exciting (most of the time!)
I also really enjoy working with our clients. It’s a very niche product that we offer, so the relationships we’ve built with many of our clients are extremely strong, and as a team we all really enjoy the work – especially when a huge piece of coverage lands, or the client sees big gains in authority and rankings.
5. What is your motivation or reason for being part of the BIMA’s Internship programme?
There are many reasons, I’d say. It started as an invitation to meet other Sussex based agencies at an event, and blossomed into providing an opportunity for the next generation to gain digital marketing experience. The sense of community built with the other participating agencies is a huge positive, and a joy to be part of.
As well as providing work experience to the next generation, from a business perspective it would be ideal if one of the placements is a success, and we could potentially find our next hire.
6. What do you hope the Interns will gain from the experience?
I think it is a highly unique opportunity for the 5 candidates, to get a taster of digital marketing at 5 different agencies. I wish I’d had that chance!
From their perspective, they not only have the opportunity to learn about the different activities, processes and software that agencies use to create value for clients – but also the differences between studying and office-based work. This will help prepare them for the next step in their career, as well as learn more about what interests them most in digital marketing.
7. How do you help your employees develop and grow?
Hive19 is still a relatively small company in terms of staff numbers, so it’s a very open platform where discussion is encouraged. Our internal meetings are often very data driven, and we all learn from trying. Once you understand the basics, in terms of software usage and how the industry works, it’s a creative, innovative field where tiny changes could make a big impact down the line.
We very much encourage new technologies, new software and new ideas to help increase productivity. We’ve learned a lot over the last few years and gotten good at what we do, but the most exciting part is that there’s still so much more to learn through trying.