The sister act behind a flourishing marketing agency

In the latest edition of Marketing Derby’s Innovate magazine, we meet the sisters behind fast-growing marketing and design agency MacMartin Creative.

Founded in 2017 by Claire MacDonald and Anna Hutton, the Church Broughton-based firm is currently flourishing.

It has trebled turnover in a two-year period, despite Covid, and as a result of its growth, is doubling the size of its office space.

According to the sisters, the success is down to a combination of factors – not least its prodigiously skilled staff.

In the early days, the business employed a staff of four, including its founders. Today, the business boasts 12 expert members of staff.

According to Claire, one of the firm’s keys to success is equipping staff with the skills – and retaining good people by looking after them.

Claire told Innovate: “We have worked really, really hard to get an amazing team of people.

“We very much believe we can teach any skills, we just want the right people.
“Now we have an absolutely incredible team, we want to look after them. We want to make sure they stay with us and that they enjoy their job.”

Unlike many family businesses, Claire and Anna joined forces not through any sense of obligation but because it made pure commercial sense.

And according to Anna, being family does have its advantages.

She told Innovate: “Claire and I have come into this business together, at the same time.

“It’s just so nice to share everything with someone you trust implicitly.

“Maybe if you had a business partner who wasn’t family you wouldn’t want to share things with them.

“Neither of us are easily offended so we can just be brutally honest with each other.

“We are always working towards the same goals. Having a really good sisterly relationship aside from work, we know each other inside out. That really helps.

“I think because we are open and supportive of each other, it’s very easy when one has an idea, to say ‘Let’s try it’.”

To read the full article in the latest Innovate magazine click here.