Have you considered international languages to improve SEO for clients?
In 2010, Guido worked in the search marketing department for Expedia in London, covering the EMEA market. There he learned how important it is to develop a different strategy for each country using native speaker specialists. So, in the last few years GA agencyHe invested in building a multilingual team and identified London as making this easier.
Not many agencies can offer multilingual in-house teams, especially those that cover ten languages. It is common to use external translation services to fill this gap and the results cannot be compared to those of local specialists. Guido takes time out from his day to share his journey with Business Matters.
What problem does your company solve?
We provide our customer partners with resources and expertise in the digital space and help them become more competitive in the digital space. Of course, most of the time the ultimate goal is to increase online sales. As part of our work, we also want to educate our customers and try to explain every time why we do this or that.
What products or services do you offer?
We are a 360-degree digital agency, a one-stop shop for customer acquisition.
We have developed into a 360-degree digital agency because customer acquisition takes place on different channels these days. When I founded the agency more than ten years ago, we specialized in search engine marketing (SEO and SEM) as this was the most important channel for acquiring customers in the digital space. Now it’s a different game. Customer acquisition occurs across multiple touchpoints and having just one agency partner to manage all of these touchpoints has been proven to provide significant benefits.
We offer our customers digital strategy, data analysis and reporting and use them to activate various marketing channels such as SEO, SEM, social commerce, programmatic, Amazon marketing, influencer marketing and so on. Also content, lots of high-quality content, be it textual or visual, because that is essential for a successful digital strategy.
What type of company do you work with?
We have built up our expertise with established international brands. More than 50% of our clients are businesses with an annual turnover of over £100 million, but we also work with emerging brands and cool start-ups. We strive for long-term partnerships with our customers and are therefore somewhat selective when choosing the companies we work with. It is important to believe in the project.
What is your USP?
The digital agency market is more competitive than ever and it is important to differentiate ourselves from the competition. The most important USP for us is that we are a multilingual team. Our in-house team covers ten different languages, allowing us to deliver projects in 18 countries.
Our specialists treat each of our customers’ locations as if they were a separate project. It is a significant added value. Of course, this approach won’t work for every company, but it is suitable for medium to large brands with a presence in more than one country.
What are your company values? Have you ever been challenged and if so, how did you handle it?
Probably the most important thing is honesty. If we don’t see an opportunity to achieve good results in a project, we don’t take it. We are here for the long haul and reputation is critical to our business. We never bind customers to contracts. We always keep the option open to terminate a contract without giving reasons with 30 days’ notice. There is no reason to keep a customer if they are not satisfied.
Another value is transparency. For most of our services, clients are billed monthly for hours worked. Each specialist on the GA Agency team logs their hours at the end of each day and compares them to the projects they worked on. We then send the report to our clients on a monthly or quarterly basis to show how they fit into the agreed scope of work.
How do you ensure you recruit a team that reflects your company values?
We’re getting better at it. I started this company three years ago and didn’t have much HR or hiring experience when I started, so mistakes were made. With practice, reading and experience this is no longer a problem. We also hired a human resources manager this year. We have a good process and I am happy with my team. They all reflect the company values, are intelligent, friendly and always helpful. I’m still recruiting; In the final phase, I interview each candidate to find out if they match our values.
Are you happy to offer a hybrid home/office work model?
Yes, 100%. I think it is the best solution. After leaving Expedia, I worked as a consultant for five years, managing everything remotely, and I really liked it. Now we have an office in central London (Soho) with GA Agency and some people come to the office, some permanently, some prefer the hybrid approach and some want to work from home. I agree with this as I have been doing it for many years. I think that working from home shouldn’t be much of a problem these days if you have the tools to control productivity. I also recognize that some people may want to go into the office, especially after the extensive coronavirus lockdowns, so we are offering this option.
Do you have any tips for effective supplier and customer management?
During my tenure at Google and Expedia, I managed supplier agencies like us. My advice is to give the agencies time. 3 to 6 months is a good period for them to properly understand a company’s dynamics, products, consumers, etc. If an agency promises something, with some time it will produce results, but over time its impact will only get better. Therefore, it is important to wait a few months before evaluating an agency.
As far as client support goes, I’ve probably worked with over 100 clients in my consulting and agency business and everything has been largely positive. What I tell my team is, first, to be friendly/polite. They provide a service. In the meantime, try to build a relationship and have a good sense of humor. It’s boring to talk to someone weekly and have an icy relationship.
Second: Always have an answer! If you don’t have it now, do your research and resort to it. You were hired because of your expertise. Make sure you demonstrate it at every opportunity.
Third, respond quickly. My rule is that every email should be responded to in less than one business day. If a long answer is required, respond quickly to acknowledge it and provide an answer after you have completed your research.
Finally, take it one step further. This is a great way to show customers that you care about their project.
Any financial or cash flow tips for new businesses?
My company started with very little capital. I quit Expedia and started as a consultant, but before I quit my job I made sure I had enough savings to last at least a year without income.
Of course, I was a little scared since I had an excellent full-time job with a good salary for my age. But once I started my own business, the freedom and time at my disposal gave me the motivation to create a website, put together a valid service offering and find customers (the most complex and important part). In the meantime, it’s important to keep costs to a minimum; I worked in cafes, not offices.
It is then important to offer services with a retention model that allows for planning. Working on too many individual projects is tedious because you obviously have to look for new clients every time they end. Best avoided.
Another piece of advice is to understand which customers are safe when it comes to payments and which ones can cause problems. With the safe companies, usually well-established companies, you shouldn’t stress them if they are a little late. Send troubled customers a reminder as soon as they arrive late. If they ignore the reminder, stop providing the service.
If you could ask the government to make one change for businesses, what would it be?
In recent years, the hot topics of Brexit and Covid have resulted in many people leaving the UK. This has made hiring digital talent even more complex. So I would perhaps ask about an easier way to obtain visas for foreign workers entering the UK.
What is your attitude towards your competitors?
I am inspired by them and want to learn. When I see agencies in our field doing better than us, I’m not jealous. I want to understand why they are better than us and what we can do to be more competitive.
I spend time looking at their website, history, and service, and start following their company page on LinkedIn. All of this is done with the aim of learning to improve ourselves.
Any thoughts on the future of your business and your dreams?
We have some ambitious goals for this year. We want to continue to grow. To achieve this, we want to hire some more experienced employees to bring more experience to our team; We are looking for people with an agency background who bring new ideas.
We also want to modernize our services with a future in mind. Digitalization is evolving quickly, so it’s important to stay up to date with the services you offer, otherwise they can quickly become outdated. Two years ago we launched Amazon marketing services, last year we started working with TikTok. This year we launched something new (secret…), and we are constantly reviewing and testing new technologies for future use.
Ultimately, we would like to gain more expertise in more markets by adding more international employees to our team.
