At this time of year I usually share some advice about planning for the next twelve months, mapping out your marketing activity to start January the right way. Right now, however, planning ahead seems like a luxury. We have no idea what tomorrow will bring...new variants, further lockdowns, school closures; vaccines and immunity; zombie apocalypse... so all plans need to be flexible. Where does that leave your marketing then?

At this time of year we have to renew our HubSpot Marketing software certification, which involves us refreshing our knowledge and sitting an exam. It's done and we are once again certified and continue to be HubSpot partners.

There are some things in life that just don't make sense. Quantum physics, the fact that bumble bees can fly, pineapple on pizza and putting your newsletters on your website.

In a previous life, I had a boss who had a number of great sayings. One of my favourites was, "sales causes marketing". I tried to argue with him on many occasions, mainly when I was trying to increase my marketing budget, but, I have to admit, he had a point.

As well as running a digital marketing agency, I'm also a retained or on-call firefighter. This means I wear a pager and, when my services are required, my pager alerts me and I respond to it. I do this because I live in a rural community and want to help protect the people with whom I live.

Working with a digital marketing agency should be a fantastic experience for both the agency and the company or client, but that's not always the case. Sometimes with digital marketing, the relationship with the agency goes wrong, and it's usually when the agency and the client are not on the same page.

More and more companies are embracing digital marketing including SEO, PPC and content marketing. However, based on my experience there's a big difference between what digital marketing costs and what people think it costs. In this post I'm going to explore and explain that.

I'm going to tell you a story. It's a true story and it has a happy ending. So... are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

If you've read any of our blog posts in the past you'll be well acquainted with the importance of understanding your potential customers' problems, and researching what they search for, and creating useful content to attract them to your website. Unfortunately, that's not the end of it. How do you turn them into customers?

Everyone is talking about GDPR. There's a growing sense of panic as the 25 May 2018 deadline approaches. Clients are contacting us about their privacy policies and lawyers are busier than ever, advising on compliance with the new legislation.

We're all busy. We know customers come first and it's normal to give priority to the people who pay the bills and focus on the work that brings in revenue. However, what if a small investment could make that work much more profitable?

Marketing is one of those industries that's packed full of jargon and buzzwords. Not least of which are the phrases marketers use to describe what we do. There's digital marketing, online marketing, content marketing, inbound marketing... but what's the difference?

Inbound marketing is the art of attracting potential customers, engaging with them and converting them into leads. It's a structured process which involves careful planning and a long term view.

As an agency who help people with inbound marketing and SEO, we get to work with some great people at some fantastic businesses. Unfortunately, we also have to pass on some opportunities because of unrealistic expectations and budgets. In this post, I'll outline the difference between the SEO realists and fantasists.

When you are introducing Inbound Marketing into your business, one of the biggest decisions you have to make is whether to manage it in-house or use an agency.