Faqs.

What exactly do you do?

I help good businesses become better businesses. Usually that means finding where you're missing opportunities to attract, convince or convert customers, then working out what needs to change. That could be your proposition, website, messaging, search visibility, advertising or customer journey. I’m not particularly interested in selling you one of those things. I’m interested in finding the things that will make the biggest commercial difference.

Are you a marketing consultant?

Sort of. Marketing is a big part of what I do, but I tend to look at the wider commercial picture. I prefer to think of it as sales and marketing done digitally. The website, Google, advertising and technology are the tools. More customers, enquiries and revenue are the point.

Are you a marketing agency?

No. You work directly with me. I do the thinking, stay involved and bring in good specialists when a project needs them. There’s no account manager sitting between you and the person actually doing the work.

What sort of businesses do you work with?

Mostly established businesses that are already good at what they do but could be considerably better at winning new customers. Often they’ve grown through reputation, referrals and repeat business while their marketing and digital presence have fallen behind. That’s usually where I can make the biggest difference.

What size businesses do you work with?

Generally established SMEs. Turnover and headcount aren't particularly useful measures on their own. I’m more interested in whether you have a proven business, good customers and enough commercial opportunity to make improving things worthwhile.

Do you only work with B2B companies?

No. A lot of my experience is B2B, manufacturing, construction and specialist services, but I've worked with consumer businesses too. The fundamentals are much the same: find the right people, give them a compelling reason to choose you and make it easy for them to buy.

We're already successful. Why would we need you?

That’s often the best starting point. I’m much more interested in making a good business better than trying to rescue a bad one. If you've built a successful company through reputation, referrals or a strong sales team, there may be a lot of untapped growth sitting in how you market and present the business online.

How do I know if you can actually help us?

Give me a look at the business. I’ll look at what you sell, how you present it, how customers find you, what your competitors are doing and where I think opportunities are being missed. If I don't think there's enough of an opportunity to justify doing something, I'll tell you.

Do we need a new website?

Maybe. Maybe not. Sometimes the website is genuinely holding the business back. Sometimes it just needs better messaging, structure or conversion. I’d rather improve what you've got for £2,000 than sell you a £10,000 website you don't need.

Do you do websites, SEO and Google Ads?

Yes, but I see them as tools rather than services I need to sell. If SEO represents a big commercial opportunity, we should probably do SEO. If Google Ads doesn't stack up commercially, we shouldn't spend money on Google Ads. The answer depends on the business.

Can you work with our existing website, agency or marketing team?

Absolutely. I don't need to replace everybody to be useful. I can identify the opportunities, set the direction and work with your existing people to make it happen. Equally, if there are gaps, I can bring in the right people to fill them.

Will you actually implement things or just give us advice?

Both. I can advise, direct, lead or partner depending on what the business needs. Sometimes you just need someone experienced to tell you what to do. Sometimes you need somebody to take responsibility for making it happen.

What would you look at first?

The business, not the marketing. What do you sell? Who buys it? Why do they choose you? Where's the money made? How do new customers currently find you? Where are you losing opportunities? Once we understand that, deciding what to do with the website, Google or advertising becomes much easier.

How do you find the opportunities we're missing?

A combination of experience, data and digging. I'll look at your business, customers, competitors, website, search market, advertising, analytics and customer journey. Usually the interesting opportunities appear when you stop looking at each of those things separately and start joining them together.

How quickly will we see results?

It depends on what we find. Changing a weak proposition or fixing a poor conversion journey can make a difference quickly. Building meaningful Google visibility can take months. I won't manufacture a timescale to make something easier to sell. I'll tell you what I think is realistic.

Can you guarantee results?

No. Anyone sensible should be wary of someone guaranteeing revenue or Google rankings. What I can do is find genuine opportunities, make sensible commercial decisions, execute them properly and measure whether they're working.

How do you measure success?

Ultimately, commercially. Traffic, rankings, clicks and impressions are useful, but they're not the objective. I’m much more interested in whether you're generating more of the right enquiries, customers, sales and revenue.

How much does it cost to work with you?

It depends on the problem and how involved you want me to be. Some businesses need a defined project. Others need ongoing help. Occasionally there's an opportunity where a longer-term growth partnership makes more sense. I'll tell you what I think you need, what it will cost and why before you commit to anything.

Why use you instead of an agency?

Because I'm not trying to sell you an agency. I've spent 25 years running, building and growing businesses as well as understanding how to market them. That means I tend to look at marketing as a business owner would: what are we spending, what are we trying to achieve and is this actually going to make the business better?

What's the first step?

Have a conversation. You don't need a brief and you don't need to diagnose the problem before we speak. Tell me about the business, where you want to get to and what isn't working as well as you'd like. I'll take it from there.