Turnover at Hopewell doubles

TURNOVER AT HOPEWELL DOUBLES IN TWO YEARS THANKS TO SUPERB DIGITAL

A city sales and lettings agency has seen turnover double in two years thanks to an online campaign by a team of Bristol digital marketeers.

Hopewell has opened new offices in Clifton Village alongside its Prince Street headquarters, to support growth which has seen turnover jump from £1.4m in 2018/19 to £3m in 2020/21.

The success of the business, originally founded in 2014 by Maxwell Hope and Adam Kershaw, follows work done by Superb Digital, an online marketing agency based in Spike Island on Bristol’s Harbourside.

A new website and domain migration, search engine optimisation, a locally-driven content marketing strategy and a link building programme have all reaped their rewards.

The campaign has seen Hopewell consolidate two operating brands, including a shift away from the Airbnb platform to generate £700k of commission-free, direct bookings.

The turnover increase has enabled Hopewell to set up new services and revenue streams, grow staff numbers from eight to 10 across the two sites.

Future ambitions include Hopewell becoming a brand to rival well-known high street estate agents, starting in Bristol with a target of 200 short lease properties in the city.

“Hopewell is a client that we like to shout about because, against the backdrop of a pandemic that has severely curtailed the market they operate in, they have stuck with us and weathered the storm,” said Paul Morris, managing director of Superb Digital.

“Notwithstanding Max and Adam’s tenacity and acumen when it comes to creating a diverse lettings business that isn’t overly reliant on one type of revenue stream, we like to think that we have played our part in their ongoing growth and success. “ When Max and Adam came to us in 2018, their business was 100 per cent reliant on Airbnb bookings. Today, direct bookings on short to medium term lets are now 22% of their total £3m revenue. That’s certainly some jump.”

Max Hope, company owner at Hopewell, said: “We were becoming overly reliant on the Airbnb platform and it wasn’t a solid foundation for profit and flexibility, so we were keen to generate more business through our website.

“We weren’t doing any other marketing so it was purely thanks to our investment with Superb Digital that we quickly found ourselves ranking very well for highly lucrative terms around lettings, serviced apartments and property management in Bristol.

“Looking to the future we’ve never had a better website and this is something we can continue to keep building on. And, largely as a consequence of the time’s we’re living in, we’re now turning our attention onto the sales and long-term lets side of the business.

“This is a highly competitive market, not without its challenges, but we have every faith that we can continue to make significant inroads in this market.

“We look forward to continuing our fruitful relationship with the team at Superb Digital for years to come.”