Beattie puts £250,000 into Only Marketing

BEATTIE Communications is to invest £250,000 to become a full marketing agency in the next year.

The Scottish-based public relations firm, which has offices across the UK, has this weekend launched the website for Only Marketing, which will offer its clients advertising and branding services, direct marketing and contract publishing.

The company will recruit to support its expanded range of marketing services but the move will be based largely on "leveraging expertise" of the firm's existing agency, 11ten, which specialises in education marketing. The firm launched the division last year.

Laurna Woods, managing director of Beattie, said: "The way things are going now in the sector it is becoming much more about marketing communications rather than just PR.

"We are being asked by a lot of clients for a more integrated approach. PR is a fundamental part of that but the wider mix is important especially in challenging economic times when clients want to get more bang for their buck."

The firm said 11ten, which employs 20, brought in more than 1 million in fees in ten months and that 70 per cent of the division's clients were based outside the UK.

"Only will become a global marketing brand. The core marketing team of 20 have an intimate knowledge of country-specific markets around the globe. The company will retain the names of its various business divisions, including Beattie for its PR service, 11ten for the education sector and dmarkable for search engine optimisation.

In the year to the end of July 2009, the firm made a pre-tax profit of 156,050 on turnover of 5.2m. It said the economic crisis had cost it 1m in lost fees but it had cut overheads and won new clients such as easyJet and Panasonic.