The founder and director of a marketing agency celebrating its first successful year has shared three key lessons learnt during the past 12 months.

Ocean View Marketing was the brainchild of Dan Buckley, 29, formerly AFC Bournemouth’s Marketing Manager.

The concept – and name – was inspired by hours gazing out to sea.

Services offered include marketing strategies, branding, digital marketing, campaign creation, social media marketing and data analysis.

Clients include Star Tech, PatientSource, Sports X Consulting, PB Leisurewear, Motive UK, Magic by Alfie and Ultimo GG.

Dan said that although the first year in business was often described as the hardest, he’d found it to be most enjoyable as well as the quickest 12 months he’d ever experienced.

Key lessons were:

• Be agile – “The business set out in my original business plan does not look like the one I have today.

“There are so many hidden variables when growing a business that it would have been impossible to predict what would happen in the first year.

“New opportunities and challenges have meant that I have had to be agile and change course to react to the ever-changing landscape, but it’s through this process that you end up with something even better than you imagined.”

How we reported Dan’s launch last year.

• Don’t grow too quickly – “Steady growth is sustainable growth.

“On many occasions the opportunity to invest in a more aggressive growth strategy has presented itself, but I believe this is an unnecessary risk.

“Taking time to continually improve our services and provide first-class support is the priority, the growth will come with a little patience.”

• Stay true to your values – “No matter what has happened over the last year there are a number of key values that have guided my decision-making.

“This has actually led to turning down work due to a conflict of principles, but it is only by staying true to your core values that you can build a business that people can trust and relate to.

“By doing this we have built even stronger relationships with clients and partners.”

Dan added: “I’d like to thank clients and partners for making year one so special.

“It has been a pleasure working with you all and I can’t wait to see what we achieve together in year two!”

• oceanviewmarketing.co.uk