Sam, Author at Brand Ambition

How the Multi-Channel Approach Solves Traditional Multi-Agency Challenges

by Sam | Dec 20, 2024 | Content Marketing, Market Analysis, Multi-Channel Marketing

In our previous blog, Why Multi-Channel Marketing Should Be Your 2025 Strategic Approach, we explored the transformative potential of integrating platforms like SEO, PPC, email marketing, and content creation into a unified multi-channel strategy. We highlighted how this approach engages prospects at every stage of the buyer’s journey, maximises ROI, and simplifies campaign management.

But let’s face it—moving from strategy to execution is where the real challenges arise. For SME marketing managers like Joanne, who often face tight budgets, conflicting advice from multiple agencies, and the pressure of ambitious growth targets, a multi-channel approach can feel overwhelming. These obstacles can derail even the best plans, leaving campaigns underperforming and managers overworked.

So, who is Joanne? She’s a marketing manager in a mid-sized SME with a £6 million turnover and a team of 40 staff. Her responsibilities include managing a marketing apprentice and a fragmented web of agencies handling everything from social media and SEO to PR and paid advertising. Despite a modest marketing budget of £95,430 (just 2% of revenue), Joanne has been tasked with doubling company revenue—a tall order for anyone.

This blog revisits Joanne’s challenges and shows how adopting a consolidated, multi-channel agency approach doesn’t just address these issues—it creates a more efficient, cost-effective, and impactful marketing system. Let’s explore how Joanne’s strategy evolved and the tangible benefits this approach delivers for SMEs like hers.

1. The Apprentice Problem:

Issue: The apprentice is ambitious but under-utilised, focusing mainly on social media and content without broader development opportunities.
Solution:

In a multi-channel approach, the apprentice gains exposure to integrated campaigns.
The unified content calendar allows them to work across SEO, PPC, and PR, enabling them to contribute to varied campaigns like creating blog posts that align with PPC ads or repurposing PR wins for social media.
With clear workflows, they can assist the digital agency directly, learning broader skills without being siloed.

2. The Paid Agency Budget Push:

Issue: The Paid Agency claims campaigns are “limited by budget” and pushes for trials across additional platforms like LinkedIn, Paid Social, and Bing.
Solution:

The multi-channel agency creates a strategic roadmap based on priority platforms that align with measurable objectives.
Instead of pushing ad spend across multiple platforms simultaneously, they optimise campaigns for high-performing channels first (e.g., LinkedIn and Google Ads).
Regular performance reviews ensure spend is aligned with ROI, reducing wasted budget.

3. Social Media Consultant’s Content Needs:

Issue: The Social Media Consultant requires a constant stream of high-quality content, images, and videos to run effective campaigns.
Solution:

The multi-channel approach centralises content production, with the agency creating assets that work across campaigns.
Blog content can be repurposed into social posts, infographics, and even paid ad creatives.
The digital agency collaborates with the consultant to align messaging, ensuring efficient use of resources and avoiding duplicated efforts.

4. SEO Freelancer’s Website Changes:

Issue: The SEO Freelancer needs website updates for technical performance but won’t handle coding. Hosting and Support charges for these tasks, calling them “Out of Scope.”
Solution:

The multi-channel agency includes technical SEO as part of the retainer, handling both on-site fixes and CMS updates without extra charges.
This eliminates delays and reduces costs, ensuring that SEO changes are implemented seamlessly.

5. PR Consultant and SEO Link Conflict:

Issue: The PR Consultant achieves strong media coverage but without backlinks, which the SEO freelancer insists are critical. Both avoid collaborating directly.
Solution:

The multi-channel agency integrates PR and SEO under one team. PR campaigns are designed to include link-building opportunities by targeting outlets likely to link back.
The agency’s outreach strategy ensures SEO objectives are met without PR compromising journalist relationships.

6. Senior Leadership’s Keyword Concerns:

Issue: The Senior Leadership Team highlights missing rankings for specific keywords they personally search for, creating unrealistic expectations for Joanne.
Solution:

The digital agency educates leadership on actual search behaviour with data-backed insights, showing how target audiences search differently.
They provide live dashboards tracking keyword rankings, traffic, and conversions, offering transparency and shifting focus from anecdotal searches to measurable success.
Campaigns are adjusted strategically based on audience intent rather than leadership preferences.

The Result: A Streamlined, Integrated Approach

By consolidating SEO, PPC, PR, and content creation into a multi-channel strategy, Joanne’s team:

Increases Efficiency: Collaboration between channels reduces duplication, ensuring each effort supports the overall campaign goals.
Cuts Costs: Eliminates fragmented agency fees and out-of-scope charges, reallocating budget toward impactful ad spend.
Improves ROI: Aligned strategies drive measurable results across all platforms, reducing inefficiencies and improving lead quality.
Reduces Stress: Joanne now deals with a unified account manager who oversees all campaigns, simplifying coordination and freeing up her time.

The multi-channel approach doesn’t just solve individual issues—it transforms Joanne’s marketing function into a cohesive, high-performing machine. Let me know if you’d like specific examples or case study additions!

A Theoretical Reality: Multi-Channel Marketing vs The Multi-Agency Approach.

by Sam | Dec 16, 2024 | Content Marketing, Market Analysis, Multi-Channel Marketing

As we mentioned in our previous post, Multi-channel marketing combines strategies like SEO, PPC, email, and content marketing to create a unified customer experience across touchpoints. This approach helps SME B2B businesses engage prospects at every stage of the buyer’s journey. In this blog, we explore how to craft a cohesive multi-channel strategy, make it work on a tight budget, and measure its success effectively.

The Challenge: The Multi-Agency Model

Joanne is a marketing manager in a mid-sized SME. The company focuses on B2B Lead Generation. Traditionally the company has done well through Sales professionals, but as the company has reached a certain size, the Senior Leadership Team have invested in a marketing department over the last few years.

The company has around 40 staff, 6 million turnover and Joanne has a marketing apprentice.

Her marketing budget for the year is a generous 5% of the company revenue. Let’s be more realistic here, shall we.

Joanne has been given 2%, had to beg for that and agree to some pretty high ROI targets, the budget also includes her apprentice at £24,570 per annum (Living Wage for 37.5 Hour Week in 2024/5 (non-london), because the company looks after its staff, even at Apprentice level.)

That leaves Joanne with a marketing budget of £95,430 for the year, but a target of doubling the company revenue.

At the moment, they have:

Social Media Consultant – £750 per month – £9,000 per year
SEO Freelancer – £1,200 per month – £14,400 per year
Paid Advertising Agency – £1,500 per month – £18,000 per year
Advertising Spend of £2,000 per month – £24,000 per year
PR Consultant – £1,200 per month – £14,400 per year
Website Hosting & Support – £600 per month – £7,200 per year
Designer – £800 per month – £9,600 per year

That’s a total of £96,600 per year or £8,050 per month. That leaves Joanne with minus £1,170 she will need to adjust the paid media spend during quiet times to accommodate, or accept a bit of a discrepancy.

Now, lucky for us Joanne, is pretty good at the strategic side, but the reporting is a bit of a mess, she has to work with four lead generation agencies all claiming a win on the same metrics.

Other issues Joanne faces:

The Apprentice: Ambitious but under-supported, the apprentice focuses mainly on social media and content tasks. They work well with the Social Media Consultant but lack opportunities to expand their role.

The Paid Agency: Consistently claims campaigns are “limited by budget” and pushes to trial new channels like LinkedIn, Paid Social, and Bing.

The Social Media Consultant: Agrees with the Paid Agency on exploring Paid Social but requires a constant stream of content, including images and videos, to keep campaigns effective.

The SEO Freelancer: Regularly requests website changes for performance improvements but avoids coding tasks. The Hosting and Support provider charges extra for these changes, calling them “Out of Scope.”

The PR Consultant: Secures solid media coverage, but without backlinks. The SEO Freelancer argues this undermines SEO efforts but refuses to engage with journalists to avoid “stepping on toes.”

The Senior Leadership Team: Searches for specific keywords, comparing the company’s rankings to competitors, and sends weekly updates about missing ads or organic listings. Joanne explains that these keywords don’t match actual search behaviour but struggles to change perceptions.

Takeaway: While a multi-channel strategy can’t solve all challenges, it addresses many by improving alignment, streamlining efforts, and ensuring consistency across teams and campaigns.

The Solution: Multi-Channel Digital Agency Approach

Joanne decides to pivot to a multi-channel marketing strategy managed by two complementary agencies:

A Lead Generation-Focused Digital Agency:
- Handles SEO, PPC, and Digital PR to align messaging and ensure channel integration.
- Includes technical website support as part of the retainer, eliminating out-of-scope charges from the hosting company.
Social Media Consultant:
- Maintains the successful relationship with Joanne’s apprentice, focusing on social growth and engagement.

This integrated approach eliminates the fragmentation and creates a unified strategy:

Aligned Campaigns: The SEO and PPC teams collaborate on shared goals, moving beyond bottom-of-funnel keywords to include brand awareness at the top of the funnel.
Repurposed Content: Blog posts and PR campaigns feed into paid social campaigns, while social media videos enrich the blog and on-site content.
Quarterly Campaigns: A structured calendar allows all activities—social, paid, and organic—to work cohesively toward clear objectives.

The SEO contract has also been negotiated to include Digital PR. They will also support with some Traditional Press Releases, when the company has news, but their focus is now on building links.

The PPC expert within the agency works closely with the SEO and PR team to create an Advertising approach.

They are able to expand the campaign to focus not just on the bottom of the funnel converting phrases, but actually work Brand Awareness and Engagement at the Top of the Funnel, which is so important for B2B Lead Generation.

Joanne stuck with the Social Media Consultant, because the apprentice works so well with them, and ultimately they supported the growth in a different way. The new agency is keen to work with the Social Side so that they can align campaign messaging.

The content calendar now has a quarterly campaign approach, with a focus on key service lines. Most importantly this approach has allowed for the use of assets across the full campaign.

The advertising creative supports the social campaign.
The content created supports the blog, the PR and the social campaigns.
The social media videos are used within the blog content.

The Results: A Cost-Effective Strategy

Joanne’s new strategy reallocates the budget for better efficiency:

Social Media Consultant: £750/month (£9,000/year)
End-to-End Digital Agency: £4,000/month (£48,000/year), including:
- A 12-month strategy
- Analytics setup and ad conversion tracking
- Paid advertising across three platforms
- Technical SEO audits and implementation
- Content creation and digital PR
- Design and web development support

This streamlined model reduces her total fixed costs to £57,000/year, leaving £38,430 for advertising spend—a 60% increase in media budget compared to the multi-agency model.

Key Benefits:

Simplified Coordination: Weekly check-ins with an account manager replace the complex web of meetings across multiple agencies.
Improved ROI: Integrated campaigns maximise returns by eliminating siloed strategies.
Enhanced Reporting: A single dashboard provides clear insights into all campaigns, enabling smarter decision-making.

Conclusion: A 2025 Strategy for Success

Multi-channel marketing isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a smarter, more cohesive way for SME B2B businesses to achieve their goals. By consolidating services, aligning messaging, and optimising budgets, Joanne’s business is not only meeting its revenue targets but also setting the stage for sustainable growth.

If your SME faces similar challenges, a unified multi-channel approach could be the solution. Whether you’re managing limited budgets or struggling to align campaigns, a strategic shift can transform your results and simplify your role as a marketing manager.

Ready to explore how this could work for your business? Contact us today.

Why Multi-Channel Marketing should be your 2025 Strategic Approach.

by Sam | Dec 13, 2024 | Content Marketing, Market Analysis, Multi-Channel Marketing

Multi-channel marketing combines strategies like SEO, PPC, email, and content marketing to create a unified customer experience across touchpoints.

This approach helps SME B2B businesses engage prospects at every stage of the buyer’s journey.

In this blog, we explore how to craft a cohesive multi-channel strategy, make it work on a tight budget, and measure its success effectively.

How to Build a Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy for B2B SMEs:

Understand Your Audience: Map out your B2B buyer’s journey to identify key touchpoints (Awareness, Consideration, Decision).
Choose the Right Channels: Focus on a mix of cost-effective platforms like SEO, email marketing, and PPC for targeted visibility.
Create Cohesive Messaging: Align content, branding, and campaigns across channels for a seamless customer experience.
Leverage Data: Use analytics tools like Google Analytics and LinkedIn Campaign Manager to track channel performance and ROI.
Start Small, Scale Gradually: Begin with 2-3 channels (e.g., SEO, email, and PPC), and expand as your resources grow.
Repurpose Content: Maximise ROI by turning blog posts into social media updates, email campaigns, or downloadable guides.
Measure and Refine: Apply attribution models (e.g., last-click or linear) to identify which channels drive the most value and adjust your strategy accordingly.

In today’s competitive B2B landscape, relying on a single marketing channel isn’t just ineffective—it’s a missed opportunity.

SME marketing managers are often tasked with achieving ambitious growth targets while juggling limited resources.

A well-executed multi-channel strategy aligns your messaging across platforms, maximising ROI and creating meaningful connections with prospects.

This blog offers actionable insights into building an effective multi-channel strategy, understanding the buyer’s journey, and tracking your success.

Bullst Jargon Detected**

To set the stage, let’s define some key terms and concepts:

Multi-Channel Marketing: Engaging customers across multiple platforms (SEO, email, PPC, social media) with consistent messaging to guide them through the buyer’s journey.
Attribution Models: Techniques like first-click, last-click, and linear attribution that determine which channels contribute most to a conversion.
Lead Nurturing: Delivering relevant, timely content to prospects to build trust and move them through the sales funnel.

Why it matters: According to a HubSpot study, 72% of consumers prefer an integrated marketing approach where messaging is consistent across channels.

The SME B2B Typical Issue

Many SME marketing managers face these challenges:

Over-reliance on one channel, such as PPC or email, leading to missed opportunities to connect with prospects at other touchpoints.
Inconsistent messaging across platforms that confuses potential customers.
A lack of clear ROI tracking, making it difficult to justify marketing spend.

Case Example: An SME invests heavily in Google Ads but fails to see returns because their website and landing pages aren’t optimised for conversions.

Without complementary efforts like SEO or email retargeting, they miss out on nurturing leads who aren’t ready to convert immediately.

How Multi-Channel Can Help – Turning Marketing into Lead Generation

Multi-channel marketing addresses these issues by creating a cohesive, connected strategy:

Channel Integration: Combine SEO for organic visibility with PPC for quick wins. For example, using PPC campaigns to test keywords before building long-term SEO strategies.
Consistent Messaging: Align branding, tone, and content across PR, email, and ads to strengthen trust and recognition.
Lead Nurturing: Pair email campaigns with remarketing ads to re-engage website visitors and prospects.

Example in Action: One of our clients, Neill Wine, transformed their revenue streams by combining local SEO, PR, and organic social media campaigns, achieving a 230% ROI within six months

Is it perfect? No…

Just like all strategic approaches Multi-channel marketing isn’t a silver bullet, but it’s about taking a campaign idea and giving it as many opportunities to be seen and be effective as possible.

What it does quite effectively is give you a short, medium and long-term approach, ensuring an overall better Return on Investment vs picking a single medium on its own.

The obvious challenge is that the assumption is that you will spend more, because you’re engaging and relying on expertise across multiple channels (PPC, SEO, PR, Social, Content, Etc) as opposed to a single channel, but, if it is actually the case that you have separate agencies, freelancers and consultants across these different channels, then the likelihood is that a combined multi-channel marketing strategy may actually save you money.

Your paid advertising isn’t working hard enough – The Push-Pull Strategy

by Sam | Sep 5, 2024 | Advertising

When was the last time you shocked your Google Ads account by drastically reducing the budget on a well performing campaign?

Sounds insane? But so does pumping an increasing amount of money into an ad system designed to draw more money out of you. Every algorithm has a sweet spot between blindly throwing money in and getting something out and being made to “work harder”. Too afraid to touch anything in case it breaks is a typical agency approach on this one (just check out this facebook ad article as an example).

Google’s machine learning algorithms are built to optimise for specific goals, like clicks, conversions, or ROAS (Return on Ad Spend). However, they often work more efficiently under constraints that force them to prioritise high-quality traffic and convert at a higher rate. This is the core of the Brand Ambition Push-Pull Audience-Centric Funnel Strategy. (BAP-PACs for short) It’s about strategically manipulating Google’s algorithm to maximise ROI and improve lead generation, particularly in highly competitive markets and the results we get at comparatively tiny budgets are explosive.

The Mechanics of the Push-Pull Strategy

The Push-Pull Strategy leverages Google’s learning algorithm by first allowing a broad learning phase (“push”) and then compressing the budget to focus on high-performance keywords and ads (“pull”). This method ensures that your campaign is continuously optimised, reducing wasteful spend and driving better ROI.

1. Broad Learning Phase (“Push”)

Start by using broad match keywords and a diversified ad set to gather comprehensive data. This phase allows Google’s machine learning algorithms to explore a wide range of search queries and user behaviours, identifying which combinations perform best. The goal is to cast a wide net, gathering as much data as possible to feed into Google’s algorithms (Read more about this at Cobiro).

There is nothing more of putting than these messages from Google about Broad Match. They feel like a dishonest way of making you spend more money, but over the last couple of years, we have seen significant improvement over the relevancy of Broad Match adverts as the Google algorithm and language models as a whole has got smarter.

2. Budget Compression and Focused Targeting (“Pull”):

Once Google thinks it has got away with catching you into a broad match approach, and after sufficient data collection, reduce the budget and narrow the focus to high-performing keywords and audience segments.

This forces Google’s algorithm to prioritise quality over quantity, targeting the most relevant and high-intent searches, effectively making the algorithm “work harder” under tighter budget constraints (Marin Software discuss this and the reasons why here).

You can add more keywords, and more broad match phrases throughout a growth phrase and then repeat this process, continually pushing and pulling your marketing budget back for staged growth rather than just increasing the budget endlessly and not seeing the expected results.

3. Integrate Display and Remarketing Ads:

Use display ads to maintain brand visibility and attract new visitors. Then, deploy remarketing campaigns to re-engage users who have shown interest but haven’t converted. This approach helps refine your audience targeting and increases the likelihood of conversion by focusing on already-engaged users.

This article by Search Engine Land demonstrats how Global brands are thriving despite budget cuts as a result of the use of audience expansion and an insight led approach.

Why This Strategy Works: Evidence and Insights

You don’t need to be a Global Brand to take advantage of audience insights and algorithmic adaption. The tools Google provides are there to be manipulated and set-up regardless of the budget, but the trial and testing of the process, is the most important aspect. For brands that are spending £2k+ on Adwords every month, this strategy works and here are just some of the examples of clients we’ve worked with.

Algorithm Adaptation and Budget Compression:

Experiments and data from 2024 have shown that budget manipulation can significantly impact Google’s algorithm performance. By compressing the budget after an initial learning period, advertisers have observed improved performance metrics like CTR (Click-Through Rate) and CPA (Cost Per Acquisition). The algorithm, having gathered enough data, focuses more narrowly on high-converting opportunities, making each ad pound work harder.

Leveraging Data for Dynamic Optimisation:

Google’s machine learning thrives on data diversity. The initial “push” phase provides a wide dataset from which the algorithm learns and predicts future behaviours. Once this data is available, refining the strategy with a “pull” approach ensures that only the most effective keywords and ad copies are retained. This continuous optimisation aligns with the principles of audience-centric funnel strategies, focusing on user intent and journey. Read more about the Google Learning Phrase.

Enhanced Audience Engagement with Display and Remarketing:

By integrating display ads with remarketing efforts, the strategy capitalises on audience engagement across multiple touchpoints. Display ads help build awareness and attract broad audiences, while remarketing re-engages those who have interacted with your ads but have not yet converted. This multi-touchpoint strategy is particularly effective in maintaining engagement and driving conversions in both B2C and B2B contexts.

Remember the goal for these type of campaigns is typically lead generation, so your display ads need to have a campaign approach. You should have a clear mix of Brand engagement and service level offering to vary the ads.

Applying the Strategy to Different Markets

B2C Example – Solar Energy Companies:

Start with broad keywords like “best solar panels” or “solar energy benefits.” Use display ads with attention-grabbing, billboard-style messaging to attract a wide audience. Once enough data is collected, compress the budget to focus on high-intent keywords and deploy remarketing ads targeting users who have visited pricing or FAQ pages but didn’t convert.

B2B Example – Professional Services:

Target keywords that reflect different stages of the buying process, such as “consulting firms in London” or “engineering solutions provider.” Use display ads on industry-specific websites to increase visibility among decision-makers. Implement remarketing campaigns to re-engage users who downloaded a whitepaper or attended a webinar but didn’t schedule a consultation.

The Trade-Off: Better Results Take More Time

You can start an exact match text campaign tomorrow and get the results you expect. Your only focus is on the quality & relevancy of the ads because you’re bidding on all the same keywords as your competitor. The limitations mean your cost per conversion is typically 25%-30% higher as a result of the CPC (cost per click) being more competitive and higher, but the results are initially more likely. This short-term view is often used for those looking for a quick fix or those not looking to squeeze every penny out of a pound, but we’re a Yorkshire company, so every penny counts.

Conclusion: Maximising Your Google Ads Potential

The Brand Ambition Push-Pull Audience-Centric Funnel Strategy (BAP-PACs) is a powerful method to optimise Google Ads performance by dynamically manipulating budgets and focusing on high-value audience segments. This approach leverages both Google’s machine learning capabilities and strategic ad placement to drive higher engagement and conversions. By making Google’s algorithm work “harder,” you can maximise ROI and achieve more effective lead generation, whether in B2C or B2B markets.

Comparison against alternative approaches

Feature	Push-Pull Strategy	Performance Max Campaign	Smart Campaigns	Exact Match	Broad Match
Manual Control Over Targeting	✔	✘	✘	✔	✘
Automated Bidding and Budgeting	✘	✔	✔	✘	✘
Custom Keyword and Audience Segmentation	✔	✘	✘	✔	✘
Cross-Channel Integration	✘	✔	✔	✘	✘
Broad Learning and Data Gathering Phase	✔	✔	✘	✘	✔
Dynamic Budget Compression and Focused Optimisation	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘
Integration with Display and Remarketing	✔	✔	✔	✘	✔
Real-Time AI Optimization	✘	✔	✔	✘	✘
Cost Efficiency in Competitive Markets	✔	✘	✔	✘	✘
High-Intent Keyword Focus	✔	✘	✘	✔	✘
Broad Audience Reach	✘	✔	✔	✘	✔
Best for High-Volume, Low-Touch Lead Generation	✘	✔	✔	✘	✔
Flexibility in Ad Copy and Creative Customisation	✔	✔	✘	✔	✔
Detailed Audience Insights and Reporting	✔	✔	✘	✔	✘
Suitable for High-Intent, Low-Volume Lead Generation	✔	✘	✘	✔	✘
Automated Creative and Bid Adjustments	✘	✔	✔	✘	✘
Best for New Advertisers or Low Maintenance	✘	✔	✔	✘	✘

Brand Ambition Announces Pedl Digitl as Our Strategic Web Delivery Partner

by Sam | Jul 4, 2024 | Company News

At Brand Ambition, we are always striving to enhance our capabilities and deliver the highest quality services to our clients.

We are thrilled to announce our official partnership with Pedl Digitl as our strategic web delivery partner. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in our journey to provide comprehensive and innovative digital marketing solutions.

Enhancing Our Web Development Capabilities

The decision to partner with Pedl Digitl comes as part of our ongoing commitment to excellence and growth. Pedl Digitl brings a wealth of expertise in web development, helping us to create robust, functional, and beautifully designed websites that drive results.

This partnership enables us to expand our service offerings and deliver even more value to our clients.

SEO First™ Web Development

Learn More

A Perfect Match for Our Values

At Brand Ambition, we prioritise innovation, quality, and customer satisfaction. Pedl Digitl shares these values, making them an ideal partner. Their dedication to pushing the boundaries of web development aligns perfectly with our mission to stay at the forefront of the digital marketing industry.

Success Stories and Shared Achievements

One of the standout success stories from our partnership is Sophie Wright, a talented web development apprentice who has been instrumental in our recent projects. Supported by The Coders Guild and funded through the Apprenticeship Levy by ASDA, Sophie has transitioned from a designer to a key player in our web development team. Her work, alongside Pedl Digitl, has contributed significantly to our 20% revenue growth this year.

Quotes from Our Leaders

As a growing SME, diversifying our skills and team has been crucial to our success. The team at Pedl Digitl are the best development team I’ve worked with, offering a fantastic set of standard deliverables.

Our clients have frequently commented on the efficiency of their customer service and the positive experience they’ve had with the Pedl team. This partnership has pushed the boundaries of what we thought possible, enabling us to create a new department while maintaining our core focus on SEO and customer service. I couldn’t be prouder of our achievements, and I’m excited to expand the department to include more apprentices in the coming months as a result of our growth.

Sam Raife

Managing Director, Brand Ambition

Working with Brand Ambition has been a highly rewarding experience. Their commitment to innovation and excellence aligns perfectly with our goals at Pedl Digitl. Collaborating on projects with Sophie and the rest of the team has allowed us to push the boundaries of web development and deliver exceptional results. It’s inspiring to see how our combined efforts have contributed to their significant revenue growth.

Additionally, our partnership with Brand Ambition, a leading SEO company, has allowed us to effectively synchronise our technical workflows and project management systems. This integration has enabled us to handle complex web architectures and high-load environments while ensuring optimal performance and search engine visibility.

By merging Brand Ambition’s SEO expertise with our advanced web development capabilities, we deliver robust, scalable solutions that meet stringent deadlines and exceed client expectations, setting new benchmarks in the industry.

Alen Mehic

Chief Technical Officer, Pedl Digitl

Looking Ahead

Our partnership with Pedl Digitl is set to bring numerous benefits to our clients, including enhanced website functionality, improved SEO performance, and innovative web solutions tailored to each client’s needs. We are excited to continue this journey, exploring new opportunities and achieving greater heights together.

We look forward to sharing more updates and success stories as our partnership with Pedl Digitl grows. Stay tuned for more exciting developments!

Get in Touch

Interested in seeing how our enhanced web development capabilities can help transform your business?

B2B Specialist Web Development

See how for one client we’ve already increased conversions by 94% and organic rankings by 300%

Learn More

How the apprenticeship programme supports our web development

by Sam | May 14, 2024 | Web Development

At Brand Ambition, we believe in the power of nurturing talent to drive innovation and excellence. It is built into the core of our culture, we love learning new skills and diversifying our approach to become better, and more knowledgeable marketeers.

Our recent strategic expansions in web development have not only enhanced our service offerings but also propelled us towards an ambitious revenue goal. A key player in this growth story is Sophie Wright, whose journey from a designer to developer has made her a pivotal team member and showcases the effectiveness of government led apprenticeship orgrammes as source for upskilling and training staff members.

What Do The Coders Guild, ASDA, and The Government Have in Common?

These three entities play pivotal roles as strategic partners in Brand Ambition’s impressive revenue growth. The Government provides the framework through its Apprenticeship Scheme, enabling businesses to hire and train new talent in vital skills for the digital age. For more information on how the Apprenticeship Scheme works, you can visit the UK Government’s Apprenticeship page.

The Coders Guild, a key player in this framework, recruited and is currently training Sophie Wright, a standout apprentice who has made significant contributions to our projects. Discover more about The Coders Guild and their training programs at The Coders Guild website.

Meanwhile, ASDA, utilising the Apprenticeship Levy, funds Sophie’s training. The Apprenticeship Levy is a UK tax on employers which is used to fund apprenticeship training. For further details about the Apprenticeship Levy and how it is transforming the workforce, see the overview provided by the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education.

This investment not only supports her professional development but also enhances our operational capabilities, leading to tangible growth in our revenue. Together, these partnerships exemplify a successful collaboration between public initiatives and private enterprise, demonstrating a shared commitment to fostering talent and driving economic growth.

7 Things You Need Reminding About SMEs and Apprenticeships

Extensive Funding: SMEs can access funding that covers 95% of apprenticeship training and assessment costs. The Levy pot can cover the other 5%, so the training is 100% funded.
Extra Incentives: Additional £1,000 incentives are available for hiring young apprentices.
Diverse Training Options: Access to funded training in over 600 job roles allows for significant business diversification.
Increased Productivity: 78% of employers report that apprenticeships boost productivity.
Flexible Training Schedules: The funding system for SMEs offers flexibility in training choices and schedules.
High Retention Rates: Apprentices often stay with their employers, reducing hiring costs.
Untapped Funding: Over £500 million in funding was unclaimed last year, offering significant growth opportunities for SMEs

A Closer Look at Our Web Design Department’s Unique Approach

At Brand Ambition, we’re not just about creating websites; we’re about crafting powerful digital tools that propel your business forward. Our “SEO First™ Web Design” service embodies this philosophy perfectly, ensuring that every website we build is not only visually stunning but also optimised from the outset to enhance your online presence.

Our process begins with a rigorous analysis of your current sales tactics and branding efforts. This foundational work helps us align our web design precisely with your business objectives, transforming your website into a robust lead generation engine. We dive deep into keyword research, competitor analysis, and content strategy from the very beginning, ensuring that when your site launches, it hits the ground running with impactful SEO.

What sets Brand Ambition apart is our commitment to delivering a comprehensive suite of services wrapped into every project. From initial design to content population and ongoing SEO support, we ensure every aspect of your website is meticulously crafted to not just meet but exceed your expectations. Our websites are more than just digital spaces; they are vital, dynamic parts of your sales team, designed to be as functional as they are beautiful.

Our all-inclusive approach means you’re not left to fend for yourself post-launch. We understand that your website is a living entity in the digital ecosystem, requiring ongoing nurturing to thrive. Therefore, we offer continuous support and consultancy, ensuring your site remains relevant and effective regardless of the ever-changing nature of the digital landscape.

So, if you’re ready to elevate your online presence and drive tangible business results, let’s get started. Brand Ambition is here to transform your digital strategy from ordinary to extraordinary. Contact us today and discover the difference a truly integrated web design approach can make.

Maximising Apprentice Impact in Web Development

At Brand Ambition, Sophie’s transition from a seasoned designer to a burgeoning web developer exemplifies how strategically leveraged apprenticeships can significantly enhance our service delivery. Sophie, while new to development, brought a rich background in design which smoothed her shift into web development, supported by a well-structured apprenticeship programme.

Here’s how Sophie is integrated into our projects:

Strategic Development Partner: We partner with a strategic development expert who works closely with Sophie, guiding her through the complexities of web development. This partnership ensures that our websites are not only aesthetically pleasing but also technically sound.
Internal SEO and Content Teams: While Sophie focuses on the technical and design aspects of website building, our internal SEO team handles content writing and SEO migration. This collaboration ensures that each website is optimised for search engines right from the start, making them ready to rank higher and perform better.
Branding Support: Our internal branding team supports Sophie by providing branding and imagery that align with our clients’ visions. This synergy between design and branding ensures that each project resonates with the targeted audience and reflects the client’s identity perfectly.
Continuous Learning and Support: Sophie’s development is bolstered by continuous learning opportunities and support from her mentors and peers within the company. This environment not only accelerates her growth as a web developer but also enhances her ability to contribute effectively to our projects.

Sophie’s role at Brand Ambition is a prime example of how apprentices can drive real value in a business setting, particularly when their training is aligned with strategic business goals and supported by experienced professionals. Her journey from design to development underscores our commitment to nurturing talent and adapting our workforce to meet evolving business needs effectively.

Looking for Web Dev Support?

If you would like to check out our full range of web support and services, then just click the link below.

Speak to Us Today

The Micro-Goal Method

by Sam | Apr 12, 2024 | Market Analysis, SME, Strategy

How Small Wins Propel Marketing Success

Spring…there’s a surprise, it’s the perfect moment to reflect on our progress and celebrate achievements. This time of year is often a point of reflection with new budgets being set for the next year or a review of strategies placed in Q1.

So how are you doing? Are you on track to hit your goals in 2024.

For us, the first quarter has already slipped by, and if it’s any indication, we’re on a trajectory to a year filled with triumphs and growth.

At our agency, we’ve embraced a philosophy that’s proven to be a game-changer: the power of micro-goals.

This approach isn’t just about breaking down your grand vision into smaller, more manageable tasks. It’s a testament to how these bite-sized objectives can fuel remarkable outcomes, particularly in the fast-paced world of digital marketing.

The Science Behind Micro-Goals

The concept of micro-goals is deeply rooted in behavioural psychology. It draws from the principle that our brains are wired to seek and celebrate achievements, no matter the scale.

When we set and accomplish micro-goals, we experience a surge of dopamine, the feel-good neurotransmitter. This not only boosts our morale but also enhances our motivation, propelling us to tackle subsequent goals with increased zeal and focus.

In the realm of marketing, where every click, view, and engagement counts, leveraging micro-goals allows us to chart a course through the tumultuous waters of digital strategies with precision and adaptability.

Case in Point: E-commerce Success Story

Our recent experience with an e-commerce client illustrates the efficacy of the micro-goal method beautifully. During our initial Explore and Audit phase, we identified the product page content as the key area for improvement across the site.

Ultimately, there just wasn’t enough of the right type of content on each product page. A basic description and a few key bullet points. There was nothing to set them apart from any other competitor.

We then devised a content strategy segmented into weekly micro-goals, ensuring each task was actionable and aligned with our broader objectives. Over two months, this meticulous approach enabled us to craft and deploy over 60 pages of optimised content, setting the stage for an additional 100 pages.

Our process is methodical yet dynamic, adapting to the insights we glean at each step:

SEO Research: We dissect search trends and user behaviour to pinpoint opportunities.
Competitor Analysis with AI Support: Leveraging technology, we uncover gaps and advantages in our client’s market presence.
Content Team Writing: Our creatives translate insights into compelling, value-driven content.
SEO Team Uploading: Optimisation isn’t just about keywords; it’s about ensuring content resonates and ranks.

By the third month, our client witnessed a phenomenal 101% increase in top 10 SERP rankings—a clear testament to the effectiveness of focused, incremental efforts.

Why Micro-Goals Work in Marketing

Clarity and Focus – Micro-goals transform vague aspirations into clear, actionable steps, enabling teams to maintain focus and direction.

Agility – In the ever-evolving digital landscape, the ability to pivot quickly is invaluable. Micro-goals facilitate rapid adjustments based on real-time data and feedback.

Accountability – When objectives are delineated so precisely, it’s easier to track progress and hold each team member accountable for their contributions.

Momentum – Each small win builds confidence and momentum, driving teams forward with renewed energy and determination.

As we continue to navigate the year, we’re excited to apply the micro-goal methodology across our diverse portfolio of clients, each time refining and enhancing our approach to yield even greater successes.

Celebrating Every Victory

We encourage you to embrace the micro-goal approach, whether in marketing or any aspect of business and life. Celebrate every milestone, no matter how minor it may seem, for it’s the sum of these victories that culminates in grand achievements.

We’d love to hear about your experiences with micro-goals and how they’ve impacted your professional journey. Share your stories and let’s inspire each other to reach new heights.

Remember, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step—or, in our case, a micro-goal.

The Power of Storytelling in Content Marketing

by Sam | Jul 18, 2023 | Content Marketing

In today’s digital marketing world, it’s all about genuine connections, not just straightforward selling. Audiences want brands that offer more than just products or services; they want stories that hit a nerve, stories they can relate to. And this is where storytelling comes into its own.

Storytelling is far more than a savvy marketing trick – it’s a key piece of the puzzle for building authentic relationships. By intertwining your brand’s ethos, mission, and vision within an engaging narrative, you’re doing more than displaying what you have to offer.

Storytelling increases the value of products by up to 2,706%. You’re inviting your audience on a shared journey, helping your message to cut through the digital chatter.

In essence, storytelling puts a face to your brand’s name, turning it from a faceless entity into a familiar figure. It’s the difference between simply promoting your brand and creating shared, unforgettable experiences that can help cement long-lasting relationships with your audience.

Mastering the Art of the Story

At Brand Ambition, our storytelling approach starts at the very core of our brand values.

We extract the essence and weave it into an engaging story, serving as the guiding light for our marketing initiatives. This is not just a solitary narrative, but rather an overarching theme that breathes life and uniqueness into our entire brand communication.

Harmonising Emotion with Business Goals

Marrying the emotional aspect with business targets in storytelling can feel like a delicate balancing act. But we at Brand Ambition are adept at creating narratives that find that sweet spot.

Our stories, while being emotionally engaging, subtly steer the narrative towards the benefits our brand offers.

Consider Dove’s groundbreaking “Real Beauty” campaign.

In a bid to redefine beauty norms, the company started featuring everyday women in their advertisements instead of professional models. Dove released a series of emotionally-charged short films, each celebrating the diversity of women’s natural beauty and challenging traditional standards. These films prompted a global conversation about the concept of beauty.

At its core, the campaign had an emotionally resonant message: Every woman is beautiful in her own unique way. Dove cleverly crafted this narrative, highlighting their commitment to creating products for ‘real’ women and not just for those who meet conventional beauty standards.

In essence, the “Real Beauty” campaign is a perfect example of the fine balancing act we at Brand Ambition strive to achieve in our storytelling.

While our narratives are crafted to engage our audience on an emotional level, we subtly steer the message towards the value and benefits our brand provides, striking a balance between emotion and business objectives.

Ensuring Consistency

We weave our story into every piece of content we create, be it a blog post, social media update, or advertising campaign.

This narrative consistency helps underscore our brand’s values, resonates with our target audience, and differentiates our brand from competitors. We find that this pushes our message broader and deeper with our target audiences. As consumers, we see this every day, with big brand campaigns. At Brand Ambition, we aim to achieve the same results, on much smaller budgets with much tighter niches.

An example would be our competitive analysis process, which offers crucial insights into maintaining this narrative consistency across various content formats.

Unifying Multiple Narratives

Coordinating various teams managing different channels can pose a significant challenge for maintaining a unified brand narrative.

Our approach? We develop an overarching theme based on our brand story. This theme then gets rolled out across all channels, from social media to email marketing, ensuring our audience receives a consistent and unified brand message.

A Sustainable Innovation example.

Suppose we had launched a campaign around “Sustainable Innovation”.

This theme, derived from our brand narrative, serves as a compass guiding all teams. Be it a tweet, an email newsletter, or a blog post, each content piece would revolve around “Sustainable Innovation”.

This strategic roll-out ensures our audience experiences a unified message across all platforms, maintaining brand consistency even amid multiple channels. This approach is how we at Brand Ambition keep our brand narrative coherent and impactful.

1. Social Media

Our campaign would kick off with a series of thought-provoking posts on various social media platforms.

This would consist of short videos highlighting our clients’ sustainability efforts, infographics detailing our sustainable initiatives, and quotes from our leadership team expressing our commitment to innovation in sustainability.

2. Blog Posts

We’d craft articles providing a deeper insight into our clients’ sustainable practices and their role in driving innovation.

These could feature case studies on successful sustainable projects, interviews with the team members leading these initiatives, and thought leadership pieces discussing the future of sustainability in their industry. This focuses on E-E-A-T Practices for SEO. For more on how we use E-E-A-T in our SEO approach check out this post.

3. Email Marketing

Our email newsletters would be specifically tailored to underline different aspects of our “Sustainable Innovation” campaign.

This could include sharing exclusive content such as in-depth articles, early access to our sustainable initiatives, or personal invitations to attend events discussing our innovative practices.

4. PPC Campaigns & Banner Advertising

We would develop targeted pay-per-click (PPC) & Display / Remarketing campaigns with carefully crafted ads, highlighting our commitment to sustainable innovation.

These ads would be strategically placed on search engines, social media and websites frequented by our target audience, guiding them to our dedicated “Sustainable Innovation” landing page.

Utilising banner ads and other forms of digital advertising, we would visually communicate our “Sustainable Innovation” narrative. Using compelling imagery and succinct, powerful text, we’d capture the audience’s attention and guide them towards our website for more information.

5. Press Releases

We’d reach out to a broader audience via press releases detailing our “Sustainable Innovation” campaign.

These releases would underscore our commitment to sustainability, demonstrate how we’re pushing the boundaries in our industry, and present our vision for a sustainable future.

6. Website

We would create a dedicated section on our clients’ website to house comprehensive information about our “Sustainable Innovation” efforts.

Visitors could find detailed descriptions of our sustainable projects, testimonials from clients who value our commitment to sustainability, and an overview of our journey in innovation.

One narrative, multiple channels.

This multi-channel approach ensures we present a consistent narrative around a campaign, in this example the idea of “Sustainable Innovation”, effectively engaging our clients’ audience across various touchpoints, whilst reinforcing their position as a market leader committed to sustainable practices.

Leveraging Technology

At Brand Ambition, we harness the power of technology to streamline our storytelling process and create compelling narratives.

Actually, we use a lot of technology, but we use a lot of human experience too.

We use AI-driven content generators and analysis platforms that aid in maintaining narrative consistency and enable us to craft narratives that resonate with our target audience while standing out in the crowded digital space.

Our technology stack follows one of our core principles; Efficient Through Innovation.

This simply means, that as technology evolves, we adopt it as quickly as possible to make ourselves more efficient, ensuring that our clients get more for their money.

Another principle of ours is to focus on Planet Saving Digital Disruption, meaning where possible we identify sustainable practices in our technology approach.

The Power of Storytelling: By the Numbers

Still not convinced about the power of storytelling?

Here are 10 statistics that demonstrate the immense potential of narratives in content marketing:

Storytelling increases the value of products by up to 2,706% (Significant Objects)
Brand messages relayed as stories can be up to 12 times more memorable than mere facts (Chip and Dan Heath, Stanford)
92% of consumers want brands to make ads that feel like a story (Marketing Insider)
Consumers’ emotional response to an ad has a far greater influence on their reported intent to buy a product than does the ad’s content (Harvard Business Review)
Storytelling can boost conversion rates by up to 30% (Aberdeen)
55% of people are more likely to buy the product in the future if they love a brand’s story (Headstream)
64% of B2B marketers agree that storytelling can significantly help attract a larger audience (Marketing Insider)
Brands that have a consistent narrative in their content marketing could increase the memorability of their content by 118%. (Prezi)
Companies that use storytelling in their marketing have reported a 20% increase in revenue (Forbes)
78% of CMOs believe content is the future of marketing and storytelling plays a massive role in content marketing (Demand Metric)

At Brand Ambition, storytelling is not merely a marketing technique—it’s a powerful tool to forge deeper connections with our audience and reinforce our brand identity.

Your brand has a story too. Isn’t it time to share it?

Self Employment – Is it Caaake?

by Sam | Jul 12, 2023 | SME

Is self-employment a piece of cake? Or does it have hidden layers?

Feels a bit weird comparing self employment to a Netflix TV show, but stay with us.

When you compare it to the hit Netflix show “Is it Cake?” where participants create cakes mimicking everyday objects, the metaphor begins to make sense.

Self-employment, much like the crafty cakes in the show, might look like an ordinary job (or object) from the outside. But once you cut into it, you reveal layers of uniqueness that distinguish it from traditional employment.

Why Self-Employment Mirrors an Ordinary Job

Just like the astonishingly realistic cakes on “Is it Cake?”, self-employment can often mimic the image of a traditional, salaried job.

It features clients, deadlines, and routine tasks. Yet, beneath this familiar facade, the reality of self-employment is as different from a regular job as a cake is from a handbag.

The Office for National Statistics reports that self-employment experienced a 15-year low as a direct result of Covid. In December 2019, self employment experienced a peak of 15.3% of the total UK employment workforce being self employed.

This was just over 5 million people.

Fast forward to March 2022, and although in recent months the figures are on the rise, we are at the same levels as we were 15 years ago for the number of people self-employed at only 12.3% of the working public classed as “Self-Employed”

Credit:ons.gov.uk

Cutting into the Cake: The Reality of Self-Employment

What do we find when we cut into the ‘cake’ of self-employment?

Inside are layers of autonomy and creativity that a traditional 9-5 job often lacks. The freedom to choose clients, set your own schedule, and direct your business is a sweet bite that many are chasing.

In fact, according to IPSE, Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed, 80% of freelancers recorded a somewhat positive impact to their mental health.

The key reasons people go freelance are for the flexibility (88%) and control over work (88%) it offers

The Challenges: Every Cake Has Its Crumbs

Much like any cake, self-employment also has its tougher, crumbly parts. It comes with unique challenges – financial instability, irregular work hours, and a potential sense of isolation.

Funnily enough, studies on the index of happiness for the self-employed are fairly hard to come by but a comparison report of employed vs self-employed during covid published by the national library of Medicine, focusing on EU countries found a few interesting stats:

There was a significantly lower level of life satisfaction among self-employed people (6.10 on a scale of 1 to 10) than among employed people (6.45 on a scale of 1 to 10) during the pandemic.
There was no significant difference in life satisfaction between self-employed people who had employees compared to those who did not (6.15 versus 6.08 on a scale of 1 to 10).
32% of self-employed people reported poor household finances during the pandemic, compared to 20% of employed people.
64% of self-employed people reported a deteriorating financial situation during the pandemic, compared to 35% of employed people.
50% of self-employed people reported worries about work during the pandemic, compared to 27% of employed people.
22% of self-employed people reported job insecurity during the pandemic, compared to 13% of employed people.
Around half of self-employed people reported having a financially fragile situation during the pandemic.
46% of self-employed people reported difficulties in making ends meet during the pandemic.

So we can assume in times of crisis, such as Covid or even the cost of living crisis, that those that are self-employed are more likely to get stressed over finances.

Cake? Not Cake?

Ultimately, being self-employed has provided me with the freedom to spend with my family, set my own hours and I’ve loved seeing the company we work so hard on continue to grow year after year, but from my personal experience, it isn’t all sweetness.

Cake	Not Cake
1. Independence and Control: Self-employed individuals have the freedom to make their own decisions and control their work.	1. Financial Instability: Income may fluctuate month to month, making financial planning more challenging.
2. Flexibility: The ability to set your own hours and work from anywhere can lead to better work-life balance.	2. Irregular Work Hours: Depending on the workload, self-employed individuals might end up working long and irregular hours.
3. Direct Financial Rewards: The potential for financial gain can be much higher, as you directly reap the benefits of your efforts.	3. Lack of Benefits: Self-employed individuals don’t receive benefits like health insurance, paid leave, or retirement contributions from an employer.
4. Personal Satisfaction: Creating and running a successful business can provide a sense of personal achievement and job satisfaction.	4. Isolation: Working alone can sometimes lead to a feeling of isolation.
5. Creativity and Innovation: Self-employment can offer more opportunities to innovate and pursue creative ideas.	5. Administrative Burden: Self-employed individuals are responsible for all aspects of the business, including taxes, accounting, and administration.

Is it Caaake?

So, is self-employment a piece of cake?

Much like the illusionary cakes on the Netflix show, it might appear as a regular job but reveal a very different reality when you delve into it.

It’s a complex recipe of autonomy, creativity, challenges, and risks. As more people turn to self-employment, understanding this mixture can help them navigate this path successfully, savouring the sweet rewards while also handling the occasional bitter bites.

Side note…

This post was inspired/stolen from a conversationI had on Threads app…with @tomjepsoncreative and if you don’t know what the ThreadsApp is, then I’m not sure this was the right blog for you.

For the record, he gave us permission to steal it here.

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