Digital Marketing From The Coalface

This week Dave and Stu discuss websites, account based marketing gone wrong and Red Bull.

In this episode, Dave and Stu discuss, among other things, how switched-on businesses use consultants as salespeople—if they can find them. In other words, the day of the order-taker salesperson has, perhaps, gone for good.

In this episode, Dave and Stuart discuss how the nuclear industry got its messaging wrong and how it's addressing that. We also discuss all sorts of subjects tenuously linked to digital marketing.

Well the after party following episide 150 went on, quite literally, for seconds which meant recording this episode was all a bit of a blur. Needless to say Alex rants about AI, in a different way, and Dave does his best to calm him down by taking the p**s.

The big deal with some digital marketing is it's ability to stalk the right audience and only pop up to annoy them, and nobody else. But it's broken and gets it spectacularly wrong. There's also a lot of self congratulatory drivel with this being Episode 150.

Alex tells us about how someone with whom he'd had several conversations and had a meeting on the calendar with them that day sent him a "Hey, we think you're a good fit for what we're selling" message. Such an abysmal fail. We obviously talk about other stuff as well.

Ever had service that felt like the company providing it just couldn't be arsed? We discuss that in this episode. We also thank super fan Amy AGAIN, and recommend the best curry you can have delivered to your house anywhere in the UK, no really, it's simply the best.

Marketing, messaging and signalling are all important aspects of your business. But with digital marketing it's easy to send out all the wrong signals. Also, Dave gets all excited about getting FTTP broadband and super fan Amy gets a namecheck!

As marketing becomes ever more embedded in AI and data are we getting to the point where people think that being able to use the tools is the clever bit? Because it isn't. We also discuss digital stalking and being bombarded with emails from people who want to do all our work for us.

In this episode, ALEX and Dave discuss dishonesty in business (and politics) and get into why playing it safe with your marketing might not be the smartest approach. We also discussed inauthenticity and finished off with a little anecdote about our local council phoning it in.

This week we have a rather nice time discussing faking it till you make it - or not - gated content and why people are so angry all the time. We also wander off and discuss the Chancellors' CV, more fake it till you make it, and whatever else takes our fancy.

It still surprises us how many great businesses are floundering with or even failing to engage with the opportunities presented online. We discuss that as well as the usual politician bashing and drivel.

This week Julie Mitchell-Mehta joins Dave for a chat about digital marketing stuff that's amused us, bemused us and annoyed us. There's the usual unrelated chatter and, thankfully, no Alex.

Marketing seems to attract self proclaimed gurus who spout utter nonsense. Well there's none of that here with these two clueless idiots.

In our first episiode of 2025 we talk about playing it safe, being like all the rest and then just wang on about all sorts of things. In other words, it's more inane drivel from Alex and Dave.

In our final stream of consciousness of 2024, we talk about Google struggling, Alex being rubbish at quizzes and more other stuff than is good for us.

In this episode, we talk about inbound marketing, awful HubSpot sales reps, fantastic HubSpot software, politics and anything else that came into our tiny little heads. Vive La difference!

Rory Sutherland said that we choose certain brands, not because we think they're the best, but because we think they probably won't be sh*t. We loved this idea and talk about it and plenty of other things - some of them marketing related - in this episode of the show. We enjoyed it, we hope you do too.

This episode is excellent and gives a (mostly) non-technical overview of the work of some of our dev team. We talk about things such as being given third-party designs to work with and some of the challenges the devs face in their day-to-day endeavours to create the outcomes our clients need.

Google perhaps means well, but their Ads Platform is now so complex, that following their advice will almost guarantee your bank account empties while your sales pipeline also remains empty. Anyway, Alex has got things to say about that. We also discussed the pressure agencies are under to deliver, why not assigning enough budget is a false economy, AI - obviously oh and our journey towards BCorp certification.

We got it wrong and an engagement went badly. In this episode we unpick that and discuss why hiring a specialist then telling them what to do is dumb. We also unopick a "12 Steps" type SEO help list we were sent and turn it into plain English.

In this episode, we discuss how easy it is to get online marketing wrong and how to avoid doing that. We also, as usual, wander off into politics and other inane nonsense. If you like listening to Alex and Dave make it up as they go, this is for you. If not, go metal detecting or something.

I some niches it's hard to find meaningful data to help with your content marketing initiatives. It's some thing we come across and in this episode, alongside the usual drivel, we discuss the techniques we deploy. It's way more enjoyable than this p**s poor introduction makes it sound.

This week, amoung all the usual drivel, we discuss the tendency for businesses to create what amounts to digital landfill in their desperate attempt to create "useful content". Also, Dave tells us why he's feeling down in the dumps and Alex, for once, rocks up semi-prepared, with actual notes.

Good agencies really want, and I mean REALLY want, the work they do for you to add tangible value. They want the content they create to rank in searches, they want the videos they produce to pursuade strangers to do business with you, and they want the creative work they do to present the best possible version of your organisation. If you don't think your agency are doing this, stop wasting their time. Now, I know this sounds blunt but nobody is winning when there's no trust. In this episode, we discuss what makes agencies tick and why trust is vital for success.

This week we're chatting about what a pain it can be to inherit an awful website and digital footprint and have to make do and mend rather than start over and do it properly. We also talk about customer relationship management systems and why they are so great.

In this episode, we talk about some free tools you absolutely should be using, how to price something that can't be defined and social media moderation. We also talk about the Olympics and some politics, obviously.

We often speak to clients who think they know what they need, but on close inspection don't. We discuss ways to avoid wasting time trying to create a brief when you're unsure what you need. We also discuss Google Search Console data and why it's so wrong - but still useful.

Success online requires stoicism. You're going to succeed sometimes, and you're going to fail sometimes. Expecting to fail and dealing with failure is just part of the digital marketing puzzle and something we're happy to admit to. We also discuss retainers, PPC, measuring less and lots of other things we deal with at the coalface of digital marketing.

In this episode Alex rambles on a bit but finally makes a good point - we think, you decide. We also discuss being consistent with your content. Then, weirdly, we get into some political chat.

The leaking of confidential documentation from Google has shone a light on the tech giant and suggested they have been economical with the truth about how their search engine works. In this episode, we chew it over looking for real world usable take aways. We talk about some other stuff as well.

If you run a business your website should almost certainly generate enquiries or leads. If it doesn't, this episode of our podcast will give you the high-level guidance you need to turn things around. We've spoken about the component parts a lot, with this episode we've pulled it all together into a handy guide. We've also got a great blog post on the subject which you can find by Googling "how to build a lead generation website".

If a web page that's been created to generate business gets visitors but doesn't generate enquiries, experiment with it. This is called conversion rate optimisation but in it's most basic form it's simply about altering a page until it resonates with your visitors causing them to take action. In this episode we talk about this, and other things, in our usual plain English way.

In this episode, Alex illustrates why being stuck on a long train journey with him might become tedious. To be fair, he does share some worthwhile insights about why Google might be treating your website with the kind of contempt normally reserved by Peggy Mitchell towards Pat.

More rants and revelations from Alex and Dave. This week, we discuss, among many other things, businesses that let their half-wit web guy hold them to ransom. If that's you, then stop it, and here's how.

In this week's show we discuss pointless metrics, breaking up, making up and swiping right with new clients. Or something like that.

There's a danger that AI tools are flattering to deceive. Some people seem to think that the ease with which things can be produced is somehow correlated to the quality of those things. However, this podcast isn't about slagging off AI, it's about lots of things, including the way actual people, who are not qualified to make a judgement or decision, are probably responsible for there being so many awful websites out there. Of course, the conversation quickly descends into the usual drivel.

Once again we're a bit moany in this episode. We understand the top people, the so-called C-Suite, in an organisation are very busy and oh so important. But the thing is, digital output is the the face and voice of their organisations so if they're not involved and they don't understand the why, they're setting themselves up for online failure.  

We've just migrated our website to HubSpot and we love it. Other people swear br Craft CMS and some WordPress. But, like our podcast hosts, these are just a bunch of tools. Don't pick a digital partner purely because they can operate some software. In this episode, as usual, we discuss what's been happening this week at the coalface of digital marketing, including HubSpot and nonsense documents pretending to be about strategy.

After a pitch went wrong, Dave and Alex consoled each other and discussed the lessons learned.

Sometimes businesses change agency, it's all part of the game. The way some agencies deal with this is silly. In this episode of the podcast we mention how an agency that took a client off us shot themselves in the foot and cost the client a lot of money.

In this episode Alex and Dave talk about checking your strategic direction and understanding who you are and who you're for.

Selling seemingly boring products doesn't mean you're doomed to creating a boring website. In this episode Alex and Dave will bore you to tears talking about how not to be boring. It's not boring, honest.

In this week's coalface chat we discuss tenders from an agency perspective and Alex sort of rants on about something dull.

Google and most large organisations wax lyrical about how much they value customers while simultaneaouly being utter rubbish at supporting them. Discussing that got top billing this week as well as lots of other interesting coalface chat.

A great e-book thing dropped into our inbox so we discussed it along with another load of old nonsense about our week at the coalface of digital marketing.

More from Alex and Dave as they discuss their week at the coalface of digital marketing. This week subjects include ITT's and viral videos.

In this episode of the show, Alex shows us all what happens when you take the time to prepare.

In this weeks fireside chat about digital marketing, Alex and Dave discuss rescuing businesses from bad agency experiences and lots of other stuff. We like to think of it as inane chatter at it's absolute best.

More chatter with Alex and Dave as they discuss their week at the coalface of digital marketing. This week we start off with a tail about a poor wee scammer.