SEO is a tool that can reap rewards in tumultuous times – only if you’ve optimised it months (or even years) before you need it! The companies who have mastered SEO for the long run have been able to adapt to the current shift towards eCommerce, an observation that Digital Marketing Specialist Rob Young has seen with many of his clients.
Rob heads up Alfred & William, a digital marketing consultancy who work with clients such as Moo, Timeout and Bookatable. He joins Alex Marriner for episode 3 of the “Scale of One to Tech” podcast, where we hear their thoughts on how faltering footfall has affected businesses’ spend on digital marketing, people’s ever-evolving app usage habits, and the tech that Rob’s clients are using to propel their digital growth.
This episode covers
Links & references:
Alex Marriner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/digitalmarketingrecruitment/
Acquire Digital Talent:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-marketing-recruitment-london/
http://www.acquiredigitaltalent.com/
Rob Young: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertpaulyoung/
Alfred & William: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alfred-&-william-ltd/
https://www.alfredandwilliam.com/
Episode highlights:
“I prefer the consumer side, I feel like it moves faster with shorter decision processes. I only work for businesses I feel passionate about and I’m genuinely interested in so it helps getting closer to the customer in that way.” – 4:28 – Rob Young
“I saw businesses losing all their trade, so there’s no footfall for the stores and that was affecting how much they could afford to spend on their digital operations. That was a bit of a killer.” – 9:35 – Rob Young
“It’s those businesses that perhaps are stepping back, reflecting on their offering and putting the customer first that are doing better.” – Alex Marriner
“When people had anything from an hour to four hours traveling to and from work every day, it’s a lot easier to sit on the train and go through your phone, play on apps or use shopping apps, Facebook or Instagram. But when there’s less engagement throughout the day and less interaction with people, it’s not quite so much of an escape.” – 18:25 – Rob Young
“In terms of tech, I’m working with a lot of smaller brands at the moment, which I quite enjoy. I think it’s good for the soul! A lot of them are Shopify-based.” – 20:28 – Rob Young
“The businesses that put in the effort 12 to 24 months ago into SEO, they’re killing it. That’s not something that you can whip out during the pandemic to rely on. One company I work with, 65% of their revenue comes from SEO.” – 22:00 – Rob Young
“It’s easier to develop a cult following if you’ve got subscriptions going out. People are more likely to repeatedly post what they’re receiving, or talk about it and it becomes more it comes cemented in their lives.” – 26:47 – Rob Young
“There’s always been a ‘Learn fast, fail fast’ mentality in the startup world, and I don’t think has ever applied as strongly as it does now. Because you could be sitting on plans and sitting on ideas; with so much change going on at the moment, it’s a great time to test everything, as wild as it may seem.” – 30:23 – Rob Young