Berkshire, March 5th, 2025

Rawnet is a digital agency known for its dynamic and innovative approach to crafting digital solutions. Specializing in web design, development, and digital marketing, Rawnet works across diverse industries to offer tailored strategies that cater to the unique needs of each client. The agency’s philosophy revolves around creating high-quality, results-driven work while fostering lasting relationships with clients. This combination of creativity, expertise, and collaboration has allowed Rawnet to establish itself as a leader in the digital services landscape.

Samantha Love, Joint Managing Director at Rawnet, brings over 19 years of experience in the digital industry. Her journey at Rawnet began as a Digital Producer, where she was responsible for driving client projects from conception to completion. As she progressed through roles, from Account Manager to Group Account Director, Samantha developed deep relationships with clients and played a pivotal role in the agency’s growth. Since stepping into her current role in 2024, she has continued to shape Rawnet’s trajectory, focusing on business strategy and client partnerships. In an interview with TIA, she shares her experiences, the challenges she faces as a leader, and her insights on work-life balance, sustainability, and the impact of emerging technologies such as AI on the digital space.

What’s one must-do experience for someone visiting Berkshire?

We have recently moved away from our Ascot office, where we were for 13 years, which was a brilliant location. We saw so many fascinating sights during Royal Ascot race days, in particular the Royal family, which always adds a bit of variety to the working day! An obvious experience for anyone visiting Berkshire is a trip to the racecourse, even if not to see the horse racing as I appreciate it’s not something everyone is interested in, but the building itself is beautiful and there is a lovely walk round the heath at the back where you can take the architecture in.

Can you tell us about your journey at Rawnet and how your role has evolved over the past 12 years?

I started at Rawnet as a Digital Producer when we had 21 people in the agency. I would work on projects with clients from their inception to define what the solutions were, from wireframes and user journey planning to specifications. As part of our process at that time, I tended to move on to new projects once that phase was over, but I really missed the client relationships I had built up each time. After about 2 years, our previous MD asked me if I wanted to be an Account Manager as we didn’t really have anyone focused on that role or to develop that area of client services. I grew to Group Account Director over the preceding 8 years, working on our largest key accounts on their strategies and partnership development. When I moved into the Joint Managing Director role in 2024, this has continued and the support I have received from our clients since the change has been really touching. So with my keen interest in relationship development, I am in a role now where I am able to really play a part in driving growth for the agency and everyone involved in it.

Please describe what a typical day looks like for you.

I ensure every day that I take my daughter to school, then I am good to start my working day either at home, in the office or with a client. I love the variety! Usually a fair few calls are involved on any given day, and then some head-down work, either on client accounts and partnerships, or a whole myriad of business-based actions and strategies to lead the agency alongside the management team.

What does Rawnet mean to you?

I have been at Rawnet through a lot of personal milestones, and learnt so much professionally that has also added to my personal development, so it’s become a big part of my life. I have also met some of my favourite people and been lucky enough to make some life long friendships through working here. I feel very lucky that I happened to google “Digital jobs in Berkshire” 13 years ago which landed me in the Digital Producer role. Rawnet has brought me mentors and people I look up to which I hope lasts a lifetime, and has also introduced me to a whole heap of brilliant people through working relationships externally. When I came back from maternity leave in 2018, and came to the office for a keep-in-touch day, I honestly felt like I had come home – the feeling wasn’t something I expected but that’s what makes Rawnet special as it’s a very inclusive place.

What are some of the most memorable projects you’ve worked on, and why do they stand out to you?

One of my first major projects at Rawnet was for an outdoor expedition company for teenage school children here in the UK. I was the producer on it at the time, and it involved a whole new website estate consisting of a front-end marketing site as well as a customer portal which had a complex CRM integration – so a lot of technical and creative work but also a significant amount of planning, data mapping, specification writing which I spearheaded at Rawnet. We worked closely with another 3rd party for the CRM, and what stands out was the incredible collaboration between the companies to get to an end result. It was really rewarding. What I learnt from that project and experience has stayed with me ever since, and partnership development has always remained a strong focus for me.

What strategies do you employ to ensure that your team consistently delivers high-quality service to clients?

I think a crucial element is embedding client value in our mindsets across the agency, and when we are all on the same page of that importance, everything we do then aligns. We measure client satisfaction through ongoing benchmarking, as well as carrying out in-person 1:1s.

Rawnet works with clients across various industries. How do you tailor your approach to meet the unique needs of each sector?

It’s really interesting the similarities we see across different industries. We are agnostic in our approach to working with different types of businesses, and our B2B digital skillsets apply across all industries. One company may need product strategy to digitise their offering, whereas another might be facing a huge issue with lead generation and getting new customers, so digital marketing expertise is required. Or it may be that a company needs all of that, plus ongoing design & development services and so our approach doesn’t differ as such but the services that clients commission may – we are not a one-size-fits-all agency.

What role does sustainability play in your work at Rawnet, and how do you integrate environmental initiatives into your projects?

My role in particular means that I focus on ensuring we are a sustainable business environmentally, socially and economically and our practices touch a lot of these factors already. For example, from an environmental perspective, a core part of developing digital products is to optimize them without unnecessary blockers or boundaries, which not only benefits someone’s experience of a platform it also optimizes digital products for lower energy consumption. Things like compressed images, efficient UX design and fast rendering time are elements that are just common practice for us. We also give all employees a day out of the office every year to spend doing charity work of their choice and we have seen a lot of people helping with environmental causes, which is really great to see.

When engaging with clients for a new project, how do you initiate the conversation about their expectations and goals?

Making sure we are clear on the challenges that our clients are facing and ensure we are exploring both direct and indirect difficulties. We also make sure we are all clear on what success means for them and how that’s measured. Our whole team is commercially minded, so we wont suggest something just because it looks nice or is just trendy. It needs to yield results, be that impacting the bottom line, generating quality leads from a client’s ICP or otherwise. We exist to play a part in making our clients a success so really understanding what that is, in order to make it a reality, is imperative.

What excites you most about the potential of artificial intelligence in the next decade, both professionally and on a personal level?

There are some obvious threats to us as a digital agency and so keeping abreast of the fast pace of AI development is really important. Businesses are being transformed in many positive ways using AI, from increasing productivity and using it to diminish previously manual tasks, right through to the creation of new personalised and tailored solutions. I personally can’t see how AI can fully replace humans in some roles, especially where empathy or human soft skills are required, but I expect I will be proven wrong! Seeing how it’s aiding in making efficiencies for the better in our business right now is so interesting and we are dedicated to embracing it, so much so that we have a dedicated role now in place to lead our innovation forward, to test and learn with AI and automation.

Balancing a demanding career with family life can be challenging. How do you manage your work-life balance?

I work 4 days and have done so since returning from maternity 6 years ago. It has been a game-changer. I work Monday – Thursday so my Fridays (when my daughter is at school) separate my working week from my home life at the weekend. It took a lot of getting used to when she started school, as I was just programmed to think that I must work 5 days otherwise I am slacking. But why? I feel like I have never been so productive. I live by the rule that when you take time, and take things slower, you get to the end point or result quicker because you have time to think, to reason and to be creative.

You’ve mentioned your love for netball and stand up comedy. How do these activities influence your professional life?

I have played netball since I was around 9 years old. Research suggests that participating in sports helps develop key leadership traits such as confidence, resilience, teamwork, and problem-solving which are all areas that I identify with in terms of where my career has taken me. With standup comedy – I can’t say it has influenced my professional life, but who doesn’t love to go somewhere for a good laugh every now and again 🙂

As someone who enjoys challenges, is there any lesson you’ve had to learn multiple times?

Delegate, delegate, delegate. I am not Super-Woman. As hard as it is, I have had to learn to let go and let others take on responsibilities. I am much better at doing that nowadays, but it has taken a long time to get used to!

Please share a fun-fact that not many people know about you.

I used to do synchronised swimming … although I had to quit as it became harder and harder to not sink!! Big respect to those that can do it so well!

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