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Russell Hirst, the 25-year-old entrepreneur that built up and sold the Valueflora.com business, is looking to establish what he sees as a new breed of digital marketing agency in Manchester.
Despite his tender years Hirst is a veteran of the digital domain and believes that his hands on experience in building online brands gives him a unique perspective when it comes to helping others with their digital marketing. Hirst started Valueflora with £10 in 2003 and by the end of 2007 had grown it into an enterprise with 40,000 regular customers worldwide and a turnover of £1.5m. In April 2007 – after collecting the Natwest International Business of the Year 2006 gong - he decided that the time, and the interest, was right to sell the firm on. Enter an undisclosed firm in the South and a fresh start away from flowers. Hirst received what he calls a “reasonable amount” for his troubles and took a few months off to consider his future. Now, after due consideration, he’s launching Moom. “I didn’t want to get into the internet to sell flowers,” he told How-Do. “I was interested in online marketing and the process of building brands primarily – it’s just that it was flowers that presented the best opportunity for me.” Understandably, Hirst claims to have learnt a great deal from his online experiences and is now looking to translate that into a consultancy of sorts. Moom (which is Online Marketing – OM – reflected back on itself) aims to help e-commerce entrepreneurs, and those looking to drive sales and leads to their sites, take advantage of a through the line approach that delves further than purely cosmetic digital enhancement. “It’s something that will help people develop their brand online from the ground up,” he explained, “from the strategy, through to the supply chains, through to the delivery. I think that’s something a bit different to what a lot of existing companies are offering right now.” Hirst says that he “wants to do this properly and start from scratch” so at present Moom is just him with a group of freelancers on demand as and when. “It’s the same approach I used with Valueflora, doing everything myself at first and maybe building up a permanent team later on” he noted. “That seemed to work. So, it’d be nice if I could do the same thing this time round with Moom.” http://www.moomroom.com Something to add? Then leave a comment below or email us now.
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