The Digitella Marketing story: Triumphing through uncertain times
Meet Daniel Raats and Bob Anderson, graduates of Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington and The Atom and successful entrepreneurs. They founded their company, Digitella Marketing, in 2020 in the middle of a global pandemic. Their story is below.
Daniel Raats studied a Bachelor of Commerce – Management and Marketing, with a minor in Cellular and Molecular Biology
Bob Anderson studied a Bachelor of Commerce – Management and Marketing
How did you get started with Digitella Marketing?
Actually, our original intention wasn’t to start a business. We started by selling a scooter online through Flip. This was the start of our beautiful partnership. From here we got thinking about other avenues, and how we could combine our passions and talents to develop an eCommerce/SaaS marketing business. Bob started working full-time with the new venture, and Daniel part-time. Seeing an opportunity with reduced media costs and opportunities for our initial clients during the pandemic, we quickly got some early client wins – and that is how Digitella Marketing started.
How has the University contributed to your journey?
Although ‘Digital marketing’ was not a specific discipline either of us really studied at the University, we employ our degree/formal education in our everyday. We’re both naturally inclined toward entrepreneurship and knew the proof of concept for it.
Outside of marketing and management theory, which has contributed to our styles, we’ve also found the university network and community vital to our success. Having the support of previous lecturers, tutors and students has allowed us to access the right advice and information at a hand’s reach – meaning we’ve been able to jump from strength to strength.
What advice do you have for young students who feel there is a barrier to entry for entrepreneurship?
“I think the biggest barrier to entry was actually ourselves. We were waiting for the ‘perfect time’ or ‘million-dollar idea’.”
Back yourself – you don't need to have all the answers, you just need the willingness to go figure it out. Now is the time to be bold and take a chance. Either way, you’ll be richer from the experience. Although the thought of a business not succeeding may be paralysing in itself, the experience you gain from putting yourself out there will greatly enhance your chances in future interviews should you need to apply for a job anyway.
Networking – it's great for students who are interested in starting their venture to connect with entrepreneurs as all these experiences happen via networking.
How did you manage any challenges?
Having the right people around us from early on has helped us mitigate the disruption of challenges as they’ve appeared.
Whether it’s been hiring, contracts and legal work, or business support – it’s been surprising how well our university background has helped us manage them.
How has Digitella marketing turned those challenges into opportunities?
We started the business right in the middle of COVID-19. This alone was a challenge as business owners were facing tougher conditions and dealing with uncertainty. But for us, it was an opportunity to start lean and produce some really good results for our early clients as media was so much cheaper due to less competition. It allowed us to get out of the gate with a hiss and a roar – leading to our first couple of referrals and growth of the business.
Networks from the university mean that we have budding lawyers, marketers looking for jobs, and previous entrepreneurs (lecturers/tutors) who we’ve been able to look to for support and capacity when required.
We both have been naturally curious and inquisitive in our previous roles as we’ve both always had that natural entrepreneurial ambition. This has helped us deal with challenges like imposter syndrome, as although we might not have personally faced many of the challenges we’re now running into – we have observed other organisations and those around us go through them, giving us some pre-exposure into what to expect and how to face them.
Where do you see the future of digital marketing?
Platforms are becoming smarter; simultaneous platform providers (Google, Meta [Facebook]) are pushing harder to make ‘quality’ marketing accessible by simplifying their channels and condensing the input needed to get something off the ground.
In the next 2–5 years, we’ll see a big shift on these platforms, with work being more focussed on supplying the right data/information during set-up phases, and then throwing bits of context in the mix to help campaigns ‘do their thing.’
How would you describe the Digitella Marketing work ethos?
We move fast and we get it done. We’re a young team who are hungry to make a name for ourselves and have fun while doing it.
We have a relaxed work culture in the fact that instead of wearing suits and dresses we’re wearing casual clothes (and often sports gear for our lunchtime basketball games), share our music tastes, and catch up daily – creating a strong culture. This is why we’re a tight team as we’re all bought into the common goal of bringing continuous improvement to the campaigns we’re delivering.
We feel we punch above our weight and our team’s experience stretches further than what you’d expect from actual years in the game.
Who would be the ideal employee for Digitella Marketing?
Someone who is the right fit. This means the right candidate brings passion, loyalty, and growth. We found our current team through networking and many of our staff are fresh out of university.
How do you deal with competition, and what mindset do you have around that?
It's rare to have any sort of negativity or coldness. We’re all passionate about the same thing and have had some great advice over the years from fellow digital marketing agencies.
This year we’ve pushed heavily into the SaaS & e-commerce space. This diversification has helped us stand out from competitors and start to make a name for ourselves in the space.
How has Digitella Marketing survived during the pandemic?
For many businesses, lockdown forced them to re-approach their marketing strategy and start taking online / digital more seriously as a channel. This allowed us to work and help migrate businesses across digital platforms.
We recently celebrated our second birthday in October. The majority of our existence has been within pandemic times, and it all seems quite normal to us. We’re lucky that the nature of our business can be handled remotely.
Learn more about Wellington’s newest Digital Marketing Agency, Digitella Marketing