FACTFILE: AIRA DIGITAL


BACKGROUND: Matt and Paddy knew of each other before they met properly at a SEO conference in Seattle in 2014, where Paddy was a keynote speaker. Matt, who has a degree in Computer Science, had his own small agency and happened to employ Paddy’s wife Ellie. The couple, alongside Matt and his wife Nicola, ended up convincing their new acquaintances to spontaneously extend their USA trip and take a tour of Las Vegas, where Aira was born over a whiskey.


COMPANY DESCRIPTION: Aira is a full service digital marketing agency, providing search engine optimisation, pay-per-click, social media and content marketing services. They help companies to grow their business online through online channels such as Google, paid advertising, Facebook and LinkedIn.


ON JOINING THE CHAMBER: “We wanted to get a better profile in Milton Keynes and we felt that joining the Chamber was the right thing to do. We’ve used the HR service and spoken at one of the events. The amount of services that you can get from the Chamber for a relatively little cost makes it hugely worthwhile. There is something to suit every business’s needs.”


T: 01908 669526 W: www.aira.net


LEFT: Matt and Paddy, centre, with some of the Aira team


ABOVE: Paddy Moogan and Matt Beswick, co-directors of Aira Digital at work...


BELOW: ...and at play


really notice it until you hit about 25 people. We started getting split teams of people and we couldn’t keep everyone as all one team.” In order not to lose quality of work while adding


more staff, Matt and Paddy have inserted an extra layer of management by introducing two main supervisory roles.


Head of operations, Matthew Kay, heads up the


acquisitions side of the business while head of PR and content, Shannon McGuirk, joined Aira in May 2016 - and in less than two years has grown the PR team from just her to nine people. Their appointments have been hugely successful for


the business, with both directors praising the pair as being “genuinely very good at what they do”. But for Matt and Paddy, the change in structure has


also meant a change of tack – and a need to relinquish some control over the company. “It’s taken a bit of getting used to,” admits Paddy.


“Some clients we work for and I know very little about what we do for them but we can’t physically be everywhere anymore.” It’s a big change. In the beginning, Matt and Paddy


were very much the face of the firm. Matt had previously been running a small local agency servicing local businesses, while Paddy worked for a much bigger agency with well known brands.


TALKING BUSINESS


PHOTOS BY JANE RUSSELL PHOTOGRAPHY Matt, 35, said: “We had all the experience in different


areas, on different scales, and we wanted to create something that met in the middle. Really good value with really good quality campaigns.” The blueprint has obviously worked. After just 18


months they needed a new office space at Witan Studios in Witan Gate which now houses the growing team and have recently been shortlisted for a number of industry awards, including the UK Search Awards, the European Search Awards and Bucks Business Awards. Paddy said: “We’ve never done much of our own


marketing which is ironic but we’ve done really well with referrals. We know we can’t rely on that forever, although it hasn’t dried up or slowed down yet. “We know that getting awards wouldn’t get us more


clients but it might get us in the room with more clients.” He added: “It’s good for staff morale as well as


everyone works really hard here.” The directors are now looking at how to reward long-


term loyal staff with career progression opportunities and continue an achievable growth plan. Matt said: “Our growth so far has been really organic.


The first 12 months was a slow and constant pace. “But if you accelerate things too much everything


falls apart. Everything we do is done in a way that is sustainable. “We want to carry on growing. We won’t be able to


do it as quickly as we have done in the past year but we will continue to grow.”


JUNE/JULY 2018 inbusiness 19


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32