Vocabulary Ninja enjoys sales boost after Colehouse Communications support

A digital start-up has been tipped to have “a massive long lasting impact in supporting education” following an investment that bosses say has helped boost demand.

Vocabulary Ninja has experienced a five-figure uptick in year-on-year sales growth and a 35 per cent increase in annual subscribers.

Officials say the increases come after the company, based in Billingham, near Stockton, enlisted the help of digital marketing agency Colehouse Communications to develop its online platform and brand presence following funding from the Tees Valley Collaborative Networks Fund.

With an aim of benefiting vulnerable and deprived pupils across the Tees Valley, Colehouse worked with the ed-tech start-up – which supports pupils, teachers and schools by offering resources across vocabulary, reading, spelling and grammar, curriculum, maths and writing – to expand its digital platform and existing educational content.

Conducting a full customer experience review, Colehouse overhauled Vocabulary Ninja’s marketing strategy, refreshing the overall brand identity and developing a new e-commerce website.

Most recently, Middlesbrough’s Colehouse has also created four online games aimed at Key Stage One students, bringing Vocabulary Ninja’s teaching resources to life through gamification.

Steven Cole, Colehouse managing director, said: “We began working with Vocabulary Ninja founder Andrew Jennings during the first lockdown and were immediately excited by his passion for both education and students in our region.

“Andrew had already done a fantastic job in building a great reputation within his industry and getting Vocabulary Ninja to a strong position, but it was at the point where the online experience had grown out of control and become really disjointed.

“Our aim was to come in and bring everything together by creating a more positive user experience, particularly given the focus on remote learning at the moment, as well as increasing brand presence.

“We’ve had so much positive feedback from schools across the country.

“We know it’s going to have a massive long lasting impact in supporting education and I couldn’t be more proud of the team and our ongoing work with Vocabulary Ninja.”

Andrew, who founded his business in April 2017, added: “The current demand for online learning is growing everyday and will only grow at a faster rate due to the pandemic we find ourselves part of.

“Colehouse has helped us to really improve our existing offering and the skills from Steven and the team have been invaluable.

“Being able to work with someone local has also been a huge bonus; Steven understands the Tees Valley landscape and his success with other regional businesses is one of the main reasons I chose to work with him.”