Marcus Richards
We’re a creative digital marketing agency based in Brighton, Sussex. Experts in SEO, PPC and Content Marketing, with measurable, impactful results. We grow businesses by increasing visibility online, allowing them to attract and engage with their target audiences.
We also offer a variety of pro bono work and discounts for charities and not for profits.
At GOAT we have always aspired to be a company promoting those doing good in the world, and this ties in with our status as a certified B Corporation – a company verified by B Lab as meeting high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.
Tell us about yourself?
I started working in marketing in 2007, following completion of my business degree at Bournemouth University. The elements of the course I always enjoyed the most were the marketing aspects, so going into that area was a no brainer really.
I have worked both in-house and, now with my own business, for a range of clients across different sectors day in day out.
I definitely enjoy working with a variety of businesses across industries more than in-house marketing, as you get to learn about topics you would potentially never have encountered otherwise, meaning you get to formulate a wider range of campaigns, be more creative, and help clients reach different target audiences and objectives.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
To keep looking for ways to stay true to your company’s vision.
For us, that’s to work with more and more non-profits and charities, so making as much time as possible to further build that up would be my advice to myself.
What problem does your business solve?
We help businesses that need to improve their online performance – that is to appear higher in Google and other search engines, while ensuring that their website is setup in such a way that’s useful to people landing on it.
Essentially, we help businesses struggling to get relevant traffic and to their website and in turn, boost the number of enquiries.
We also always aim to help businesses to focus some of their online activity or content on sustainability.
We have started focusing more and more on challenging them to showcase – however large or small – what they are doing to minimise or eliminate the impact of their business practices on the environment.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
Our business was inspired by wanting to have full control over the type of clients we work with and to create a culture where we prioritise people – building relationships with others, being kind and offering genuine value in everything we do – over our own profits.
That genuine value comes not only from ensuring that every piece of work we do has a purpose (no doing things for the sake of doing things), but also from how lean we are as a company.
Having worked in larger agencies before, they often have bloated teams that may look impressive in initial meetings but have little impact on your business’ success after that, meaning the cost to the client is huge in terms of unnecessary monthly fees.
We believe if you’re investing in digital marketing, the people you talk to in initial meetings should be the same people who do the work for you, update you on progress, measure results and interact with you ongoing – the ones with the knowledge and expertise and only them – saving clients money in the process rather than paying for account managers and admin teams to play middlemen.
What is your magic sauce?
We only ever recommend work that we know will get results, so you’ll never be sold to or feel like we’re trying to add on unnecessary additional services.
In a similar vein, we also believe we differ from others in our industry in that once we feel our work is done, we won’t try to keep you locked into long term contracts for the sake of it.
If we have achieved your goals for you and feel that you’re in a position to maintain what we’ve achieved yourself, or move onto a new objectives, we will let you know and support you in doing so.
We are interested in the people behind a business – and, while we work with large organisations too, we regularly help small businesses to grow.
In doing so, we must always focus on more than just our own profits, instead going above and beyond to deliver genuine value, be it helping clients to understand in layman’s terms what we are doing, or training internal teams to be able to take more control of digital marketing for themselves.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
We want to make the most of our B Corporation status, to further put our money where our mouth is, so to speak, and increase the number of clients we have who have a similar vision for how business should be done – sustainably and for the good of people and our planet.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
The biggest challenges came in our first couple of years, with everything that comes with starting a business.
From learning about accounts, through to fee setting, getting your name out there initially and building a brand from scratch in a fairly saturated industry.
Having a business teaches you to roll with the punches and find solutions until, before you know it, you have a company and ethos you’re proud of!
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
We’d love to work with more charities and non-profits to help them with doing good in the world. We’d also like to hear from businesses who place sustainability high on the agenda, as we are looking to grow the impact of our digital marketing expertise even further towards people and planet over profit.
To get in touch, simply call 01273 805 499, or visit our website: https://workwithgoat.com.
