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Runway AgencyInternal BuildFull-Service Digital AgencyWest Sussex, England

Nu Media Group

The CRM that Runway was built on.

Nu Media Group is a full-service digital marketing agency in West Sussex. They built Runway to run their entire operation — eight team members, twenty-five modules, an AI-powered salesperson, a full client workspace and a built-in client referral engine — in one system. No external SaaS. No monthly subscriptions. Data owned entirely by Nu Media.

8

Team members

25+

Modules built

AI

Built-in salesperson

£0

Monthly SaaS replaced

375+

Sites managed

100%

Data owned by Nu Media

The challenge

A full-service agency running on too many tools with no single view of anything that mattered

Nu Media Group runs web design, SEO, social media management, videography, branding and hosting for clients across the South East. Eight team members. Dozens of active clients. Multiple service types running simultaneously. Every one managed across different tools that never spoke to each other.

Projects in Monday. Tasks in WhatsApp. Client reporting built manually in spreadsheets every month. Time logged retrospectively at the end of the week — if at all. Social content calendars managed separately from the client relationship. Hosting renewals tracked in a shared spreadsheet. Video shoots scheduled by email. New business prospecting done by hand with no pipeline and no way to know which outreach had been sent to whom.

The commercial consequences were serious. Job profitability was invisible until the invoice was raised — by which point it was too late to fix. Marketing ROI could not be attributed to revenue. And with no client portal, account managers spent hours every week answering update requests that the system should have been handling automatically.

No single view of what all eight team members were doing at any time
Job profitability only visible after invoicing — never live during delivery
Marketing ROI impossible to track against client revenue
Client updates sent manually — no portal, no automation, no self-service
Content calendar, hosting, video and builds managed in separate systems
New business prospecting run in spreadsheets with no pipeline or tracking
Time tracking done retrospectively — scheduled versus actual hours unknown
No team performance metrics, achievement recognition or reward system
No HR system — holidays, one-to-ones and performance tracked informally
Manager had no escalation layer for overdue or at-risk work
Client referrals happened by chance — no system to encourage or reward them

"We were running a digital agency without the infrastructure a digital agency needs. No live profitability, no client portal, no AI, no proper prospecting system, no way to see what the whole team was working on. We were the cobbler's children. So we built Runway — and now we offer the same system to every agency that is in the position we were in."

E

Erin Robinson

Managing Director, Nu Media Group

The Nu Media team — all on Runway daily

E

Erin

Managing Director

K

Katie

Senior Designer

L

Lilly

Developer

J

Josh

SEO

H

Hayden

Videography

E

Elle

Social Media

S

Sadie

Social Media

A

Anastasia

Operations

What was built

Twenty-five modules.
Every part of the agency. One system.

Built in React and Supabase. Every feature exists because the Nu Media team needed it. Used by eight people, every day, without exception.

Management layer

Admin portal and overview

Erin and Katie see the whole agency in one view. Pipeline health, team workload, overdue tasks, revenue vs target, client risk flags and new business activity — all in a management dashboard that is completely separate from the team's operational view. Built for oversight, not task execution.

Team swimlane and workload view

Every team member shown as a lane. Every task across every client visible simultaneously. Capacity management built in — managers see who is over capacity before work gets assigned incorrectly. Colour-coded by urgency, deadline and client. The clearest possible picture of what the whole team is doing right now.

Overdue escalation panel

Tasks that breach deadlines surface automatically into the manager's view. No chasing, no missed deadlines buried in a task list. The system identifies what is overdue, by how much, and which client it affects — before it becomes a client relationship problem.

Week Ahead panel

Monday morning planning tool. Before the week starts, Erin opens the Week Ahead view and sees every team member's scheduled work, approaching deadlines and capacity gaps for the next seven days. Proactive management instead of reactive firefighting.

Manager sign-off workflow

Certain work types require manager approval before delivery. Creative concepts, campaign plans and client proposals surface in the sign-off queue automatically. Erin or Katie review, approve or request changes — all logged with timestamps against the task record.

Time tracking

Time tracking fires automatically the moment a task status changes to In Progress. Hours logged against the specific task, client and project without anyone manually starting a timer. Scheduled hours versus actual hours visible side by side. Real-time utilisation across the whole team — not a Friday afternoon estimate.

HR portal

Full people management inside the CRM. Holiday requests submitted and approved in the system — no email chains. One-to-one meeting notes stored against each team member with full history. Performance tracked against individual KPIs with review records. Staff onboarding checklists, training records and development notes all in one place. A complete HR layer without a separate HR tool.

Client management

Client dashboard

Every active client across all service types in one view. Account manager, service, pipeline stage, active task count, last contact date and account health status visible without clicking into individual records. The full client picture at a glance for the whole team.

Client management hub

Individual client records with dedicated tabs for overview, social, analytics, messages, recommendations, check-ins and reports. Everything related to one client in one place. Account managers, designers, SEO and social all working from the same record — no version control issues, no missing context.

Recommendations and approvals

Account managers create recommendations inside the client hub. The same recommendation appears simultaneously in the client's portal under To Approve. Clients approve, reject or request changes from their portal. Status tracked with timestamps. The approval loop is closed without a single email.

Check-ins and meeting notes

Scheduled check-in meetings managed inside the CRM. Notes from every client meeting stored against the client record. Meeting history, action items and follow-ups in one thread. When a new account manager takes over a client, every conversation from day one is there.

Client KPI and reports hub

Monthly performance reports built automatically from live campaign data. SEO rankings, social reach, web traffic, lead generation and campaign ROI — all pulled into one report per client. Account managers add analysis and recommendations. Reports delivered directly to the client portal without anyone sending an attachment.

To Approve queue

All items awaiting client sign-off surface in one queue for the account manager. Artwork, content, campaign plans, recommendations — each with client response status. The account manager always knows what is pending, what has been approved and what has been sent back for changes.

Client portal — full branded workspace

Not a status page. A complete client workspace.

Clients log in to a fully branded portal — Nu Media's identity throughout, nothing that reveals the technology behind it. Inside, everything a client needs to feel genuinely informed and involved. Not a read-only dashboard. An active workspace where clients participate in their own account management.

Artwork and creative approval

Creative work sent directly through the portal for client review. Clients mark up, approve or request changes without email. Approval status tracked automatically. No more "did you see the attachment I sent?"

Content uploads

Clients submit their own photos, copy and assets directly through the portal. Content lands in the correct place in the CRM automatically, tagged to the right client and campaign. No manual handling, no lost files.

Meeting schedule and notes

Clients book, confirm and view notes from every check-in meeting through their portal. Meeting history accessible at any time. No more "can you send me what we agreed?" the morning after a call.

Reporting and campaign tracking

Monthly reports and live campaign performance delivered directly to the portal. Clients see their SEO rankings, social reach, traffic, leads and ROI without requesting anything. Informed clients are retained clients.

Marketing contacts

Clients can see their marketing contact records — who is in their audience, how lists are segmented, campaign send history and engagement data. Transparency that builds trust rather than mystique that breeds suspicion.

Invoicing

Invoices raised by Nu Media appear directly in the client's portal. Outstanding and paid invoices visible in one view. No chasing, no email attachments, no confusion about what has been paid and what is outstanding.

Direct messaging

Clients message individual Nu Media team members directly through the portal without leaving it. Messages arrive in the CRM against the correct client record. No personal WhatsApp numbers shared. No messages lost in email.

Referral and loyalty programme

The portal makes it effortless for happy clients to recommend Nu Media to other businesses. A unique referral link, a simple submission form. Every successful referral earns points — redeemable against invoices. Word-of-mouth built into the system and rewarded automatically.

Team operations

My Tasks

Each team member's personal task view — everything assigned to them across every client, sorted by priority and deadline. Project context visible without switching systems. The first thing every team member opens every morning.

Schedule

Individual scheduling view showing planned work for the day and week laid out chronologically. Time blocking built in. No more "what am I supposed to be doing today?" from any team member.

Team Calendar

Whole team view. Every team member's scheduled work, meetings, deadlines and availability in one calendar. Holiday management and capacity planning built in. Deadline clashes surface before they happen, not after.

Content Calendar

Social media content planned, briefed, approved and scheduled for all social clients inside the CRM. Account managers and the social team working from the same content plan — not emailing briefs back and forth and losing track of versions.

Client Content Submissions

Content submitted by clients through their portal lands here, tagged correctly, ready to action. No manual sorting, no inbox triage, no "I didn't see that come through." Every submission visible, assigned and tracked.

My Rewards — staff achievements

Team members earn points for hitting KPIs, completing work ahead of deadline and receiving positive client feedback. Points unlock real rewards — money off services and tangible incentives. Performance celebrated automatically, not just reviewed annually. The leaderboard shows standings in real time.

Commercial

Job profitability — live

Time spent versus project budget tracked automatically as work progresses. Profitability calculated in real time against team hourly rates. Managers are alerted when a job is running over before the invoice is raised — not after. The difference between knowing you have a problem and discovering you had one.

Marketing ROI tracking

Every campaign, every channel, every client. Revenue attributed to marketing activity directly inside the CRM. SEO performance measured against client revenue growth. Social campaigns tracked by leads generated. Account managers walk into every client review knowing exactly what their work has delivered commercially.

Contra deals management

Nu Media clients who exchange services rather than pay cash are managed through a dedicated contra module. Deal terms, services exchanged, valuations, delivery timelines and completion status all tracked formally. No more contra arrangements managed in WhatsApp messages and forgotten.

AI powered — including a built-in AI salesperson

AI prospecting — built-in AI salesperson

A fully automated business development engine. The system identifies websites and businesses matching Nu Media's ideal client profile. Claude AI analyses each prospect's website — scoring design, SEO, page speed, mobile experience, content and conversion potential — and identifies exactly what is underperforming and why. It then generates a professional, personalised outreach email written specifically for that business. Not a template. Not a mail merge. Not spam. An email that references their actual website and their actual problems. Alongside it, a visual mockup of what their new site could look like — generated and attached automatically. The prospect receives a cold email containing a rendered vision of their future website. The team review and send. What previously took a senior account manager half a day now takes five minutes.

AI task suggestions

When a new project is created, Runway reads the service type, client and project stage and suggests the next logical tasks automatically. The right tasks appear without anyone having to think about what comes next. Nothing gets missed because someone forgot to set it up. Nothing duplicated because two people added similar tasks independently.

AI client communications

When a milestone is hit, a campaign goes live or a monthly report is ready, Runway drafts the client update in Nu Media's voice automatically. Account managers review, edit if needed and send in seconds. Routine update emails that used to require someone to sit in front of a blank screen are handled by the system. The account manager's time goes on the work that genuinely requires their judgement.

Specialist add-ons

Hosting management

Nu Media manages hosting for over 375 client websites. Every site tracked inside the CRM — server allocation, renewal dates, technical issues, SSL status and migration history. No separate hosting spreadsheet. No missed renewals. No client calling to say their site is down and the team not knowing why.

Web build capacity

Web development projects tracked separately from retainer management. Build phases, design handoffs, developer capacity, client approval stages and go-live dates all visible in one board. Built for how a web agency actually delivers — not adapted from a generic project management template.

Video scheduling

Hayden's videography schedule managed inside the CRM. Client shoots, edit deadlines, delivery dates and equipment requirements all tracked alongside the rest of the team's work. No double bookings, no missed shoots, no emailing availability back and forth.

Projects module

Larger or more complex work tracked as formal projects with phases, milestones, resource allocation and timeline management. Linked to the client record, the task system and time tracking automatically. One place for everything related to a specific piece of work, however large.

Documents

All client and internal documents stored and accessed inside the CRM. Proposals, contracts, brand assets, reports and briefs organised by client, fully searchable. No shared drives with unclear folder structures. No "where did we save the brief for that project?"

Messages and communications

Internal team messaging with live unread counts. Client messages routed from the portal appear in the same system. All conversations stored against the relevant client record automatically. The agency's entire communication history in one searchable place.

The results

What changed when the whole agency connected.

Up

Client retention since portal launch

Clients who see their own project, campaigns and results in real time stop asking for updates. And clients who stop asking stop leaving.

Live

Job profitability — tracked as it happens

Managers know a job is running over before the invoice goes out. Budget conversations happen when they can still change something.

Auto

Monthly reports generated

Performance reports built from live data, delivered to the client portal. Reviewed and sent in minutes. The monthly reporting cycle that used to take hours takes twenty.

AI

New business — from URL to outreach in 5 mins

Prospect identified, website analysed, personalised email and mockup generated. What took half a day now takes five minutes — and converts better.

£0

Monthly SaaS tools replaced

Monday, separate reporting tools, spreadsheet trackers, email scheduling tools — replaced by one system. Data owned by Nu Media. No subscriptions. No vendor lock-in.

375+

Client sites managed inside the CRM

Hosting management, renewal tracking and technical issue logging for every client site — inside the same system the team uses for everything else.

Formal

Contra deals managed properly

Service exchanges tracked with terms, valuations and completion status. The contra arrangements that used to exist in WhatsApp messages now have a proper home.

Built-in

Client referral programme

Happy clients refer new business through the portal and earn points against their invoices. Word-of-mouth is now a managed, rewarded channel — not something that happens by accident.

"The AI prospecting module changed how we do new business. The team can identify a prospect, analyse their website, see exactly where their digital presence is failing, generate a personalised outreach email and attach a mockup of what their new site could look like — in under five minutes. That used to take half a day. But the thing that moved the needle most on retention was the client portal. When clients can see their own project, their campaigns, their results — they stop worrying. And clients who stop worrying stay."

E

Erin Robinson

Managing Director, Nu Media Group — West Sussex, England

This is available as Runway Agency.

The same system — white labelled entirely to your agency brand. Your clients see your name throughout. All twenty-five modules. AI built in as standard. Client referral programme included.

Setup from £8,500 plus £750 per month. Delivered in 3 to 4 weeks. Onboarding included.