By @SimonCocking interview with Micheal Brennan of SMBclix.com, a Digital Marketing Agency
Describe the company – the elevator pitch …
Our slogan is “we bring you new customers one click at a time” It’s a roundabout way of saying “we’re digital marketers”. Our main focus at SMBclix (Hyperlink to www.smbclix.com) is on driving inbound leads for businesses, through digital marketing channels such as pay per click advertising, search engine optimisation and Email Marketing.
How are you different?
Customer education. We try to help our customers understand exactly what it is we are doing for them and why. The big problem with SEO and digital marketing in general is that there is a lot of “hocus pocus” bullshit, companies try to make it sound like some form of sorcery when in fact, these are skills that can be learned by pretty much anyone. In a lot of cases someone just needs to know more about SEO than you do, to sell you an SEO service, which leads to poor results and a bad taste. We try to be honest with our clients, by telling them what we are doing, why we are doing it and what the results should be from it.
“To any entrepreneur: if you want to do it, do it now. If you don’t, you’re going to regret it.” #Motivation #Quote #Quoteoftheday pic.twitter.com/3ibMCcaJND
— SMBclix.com (@SMBclix) December 21, 2016
Why will the company/product do well?
We’ve been established 3 years and continue to go from strength to strength. The big advantage of digital marketing is that it can be done from anywhere, for someone who is anywhere. I’ve got clients in the US, the UK, Canada, the UAE. I’ve even worked with two businesses in Australia. This means we aren’t limited to the Irish market, which tends to be a bit small for this kind of service.
Where are you based?
Based in Bandon, Co. Cork which is my home town and just 30 minutes from Cork city. I spent a number of years in Toronto during the tougher times before returning in 2014 to launch SMBclix
When was the company launched?
June 2014
The hardest working digital agency in cork
For more information click here: https://t.co/CHIyydp9Xd#digitalagency #seo #PPC pic.twitter.com/NUPOtmMuKw— SMBclix.com (@SMBclix) December 19, 2016
What have been your biggest wins to date?
Signing clients from abroad. I’m based in a small town in Ireland and they don’t know me from Adam, so signing clients who do millions in revenue each year, who are based in world class cities like Toronto and Boston, when they could have chosen someone local to them is always a big win. For all they know I’m just some Irish country bumpkin armed with a shillelagh and a pint of Guinness. (Terrible cliché intended)
What type of people (market segment) are you trying to attract to your product?
Usually Small-Medium businesses. Companies with 5-100 employees or thereabouts.
Tell us about your team?
This is an interesting one, with the exception of me based in Cork, my team is made up entirely of contractors based across the globe. My web developer is based in Bangladesh. I have a virutal assistant based in the Phillipines. Then I have a number of content writers and other contractors based across the UK, US and Canada.
Are London SEO services worth the money?
To read more information click here: https://t.co/Lc9x4x6pqe#SEOServoces #LondonSEOservices #SEO pic.twitter.com/BbuRpFABuZ— SMBclix.com (@SMBclix) December 16, 2016
What are your long term plans for your product/company?
Continued growth. I’ve set up virtual offices in Boston, Toronto and London to try and target those markets. If I had to pick one goal it would be to eventually open a physical office in Toronto so I could get my fix of poutine and hockey each month
What are your favourite tech gadgets?
Definitely my iphone. It allows me to offer support to clients on different timezones the same as if I was in their city. If I get an email from a North American client at 10 at night, I can reply quickly without having to log back onto the laptop or anything. Also I use a lot different SAAS products, all save me time and are worth every penny.
What tech gadgets do you wish you could use to help you?
My ipad. I bought it a few years ago, it was gathering dust for a while and now my son uses it to watch Paw Patrol on. I’m sure it’s powerful and packed with features, I’ve just never seen the advantage.
Anything else you’d like to add/we should have asked?
In continuing with our approach to educate our customers, I’m going to be launching 2 training mini series, one on Google Adwords and one on Search Engine Optimization (ranking your website on Google). Both will be packed with actionable strategies that businesses can use without ever talking to us. I’m re-doing the whole site at the moment, but they should be live within the next 30 days and will be 100% free
How do people get in touch with you?
Visit www.smbclix.com or connect with me on Linkedin
If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at [email protected] or on Twitter: @SimonCocking