Michele Kelsey
Runcorn-based business voted as Best Family Business in the UK
A fast-growing Runcorn-based digital marketing agency has been voted Best Family Business by the judging panel at this year’s UK Business Awards.
The company, Aqueous Digital, impressed the judges, who appreciated that a commitment to caring for one another remains one of the company’s guiding principles more than a decade after its inception.
The family-owned business was started by Jonathan and Emma Guy over a decade ago, with two of their children, Marcus and Gabriella.
“Among the things I told them was that family doesn’t just mean those you’re related to,” said Jonathan Guy, the managing director.
“Rather it’s people who work together to achieve a common goal. For me, that neatly sums up Aqueous.”
“This award hopefully shows the staff they are part of something wonderful, and that collaborating in the style they do – both with each other and our customers – is reminiscent of a close-knit family.”
Jonathan founded the company in June 2011 with his wife Emma. In addition to providing expert SEO and digital marketing services, Aqueous assists clients with reputation management from its base in Sutton Weaver.
Guy said they’re all treated equally, from lawyers and accountants to online retailers and manufacturers.
It is a method that works since 2017 as Aqueous has doubled sales and improved customer loyalty. These customers also spend more on average each month than in previous years.
He further added:
“We stand by our ethical approach, which I believe sets us apart in our sector.
“However, that doesn’t solely apply to who we do business with, but we carry this through to how we deal with our employees too.
“Their happiness and development has helped us to prosper, something we paid careful attention to during the pandemic when restrictions imposed by the Government forced everybody to work from home.”
Further confirmation of Aqueous’ philosophy came in the form of two more nominations for the award.
Jonathan is a regional finalist in the Family Entrepreneur of the Year category at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards.
He was one of more than 5,300 nominees.
