Impression

Limitless ambition meets scalable connectivity.

The best in digital marketing? It's all about first impressions.The digital audience is growing every day. In order to grow, your business needs to have a voice in an increasingly crowded marketplace. But getting to grips with the ever-evolving list of digital channels and techniques can be a minefield.That’s where agencies like Impression come in. Every day, they’re tasked with helping businesses to #VOOM, enabling them to extend their reach by harnessing the power of online search. And what’s their secret ingredient? A cool 100Mbps of connectivity delivered via Dedicated Internet Access.

In today’s digital economy, data is currency, and reliable connectivity is king. For Impression, never has that been more true. Their business depends on solid internet access to deliver their range of services and it’s therefore incredibly important to their reputation and future success.

Working with Virgin Media Business, they have replaced steam-powered broadband with 100Mbps delivered over a leased line; a connectivity solution that can grow at the same rate as their ambition. 

An exemplar of a digital-first organisation, Impression’s founders Aaron Dicks and Tom Craig recognised a gap in both the local and national market, and set up their agency, intent on serving the needs of growing and start-up businesses in an online marketplace.

Their fast growth means they’ve taken on a lot of new recruits and every member of that team needs access to high quality connectivity. That’s why VMB continues to play an important role in their business.

Like any entrepreneurial business, Impression spied the opportunity and plotted their path.

From a standing start in 2013, the business now provides paid and organic search services – such as search engine optimisation (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC), PR, content, conversion rate optimisation (CRO) and web design - to clients across the UK and beyond, from medium sized companies to multi-national corporations.

The team has relocated into new office premises in the centre of Nottingham with their sights set on future growth. But realising their ambition would only be made possible with the agility of the VMB service. 

“Our new premises posed a connectivity challenge, with our incumbent provider only able to offer a bonded broadband option of 8× 1.2Mbps lines. That wasn’t a suitable option for a business like ours; it was actually seen as regression by us,” said Managing Director Aaron Dicks.

“We were fortunate to be able to discuss the options with Virgin Media Business quite early on. It became obvious we needed something specific and that was the install of a leased line into the building, initially providing 100Mbps, but with a 1Gb bearer, giving us scalability for business growth. This has really set us up for the future.” 

Equally important to Impression is their ability to support other digital-first organisations, particularly those in Nottingham. And with digitally ambitious sub-tenants sharing the building, the opportunity to help others #VOOM was handed on a plate. No need to compromise speed or bandwidth, access to the same connectivity with just one line into the building.

All of Impression’s critical back office functions and collaboration tools are made possible owed to MIA. In addition, the introduction of a VPN enables them to mobilise a remote workforce. 

Software is at the heart of the business’ operations, with the team using Google Drive for storage, and their email, ad platform, PR platform, accounting software and project management software all based in the cloud.

With MIA, they get reliable, flexible connectivity that scales with the growth of their business, systems and applications over time. 

Having built a stable business serving SMEs across the UK and a handful of PLCs both nationally and internationally, Aaron and Tom now have a vision to expand both their East Midlands operation as well as their London office, and the Virgin team is seen as pivotal to that ambition. 

With the capacity to scale in their shiny new home, they’ve got eyes on the future, a desire to lead the way and share some #VOOM with businesses in their hometown as they go.