Meet the MD and founder of The Evergreen Agency
A school-leaver at 16, I had no clue what I wanted to do when I grew up. My late teens and early twenties were occupied with all manner of weird and wonderful jobs. I even worked as a cabin crew for easyJet for a couple years.
It wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I found my calling, I discovered this thing called SEO. It was the mid-2000’s and was emerging as a way of increasing a website's visibility online. I was fascinated and overwhelmed all at the same time and so my love-affair with Search Marketing began.
After working for several agencies on a wide of diverse mix of clients from SMEs through to household brands, I decided to branch out and launch The Evergreen Agency in 2013 and have never looked back since.
When I’m not working, you’ll either find me at the ice hockey, in my garden (I’m a keen vegetable grower and can grow a mean courgette!) or with my family. I’m married with one child, my little man Henry-William who is currently 2 going on 12.
Why the name Evergreen?
In the marketing world, the term ‘evergreen’ means doing things in a transparent, ethical and honest way. It was extremely common in SEO to try and manipulate the system and ‘beat’ Google.
That approach never really sat well with me. Why would I want to try and beat or even compete with Google - the largest search engine in the world - it made no sense and so I focused instead on what Google was saying.
All Google really wants (still to this day!) is for websites to provide great content and be an ‘information resource’ that is of use to its users. It wants information and expertise that will answer questions and provide insights.
This concept is often referred to as ‘evergreen content’. When I wanted to start an agency, I thought, “I want to run an agency and I want to do things in an Evergreen way….” Hence the name: The Evergreen Agency.
What inspired you to launch a digital marketing agency?
Having worked in the digital marketing industry for a number of years, I was regularly frustrated with the working practices. Generally the approach was “get it done in the fastest, easiest way possible” with little to no care about the output, the results or the care of the end product. It was all about getting that client to pay their invoice at the end of the month.
I only wanted to do work I could be proud of. Whether that was links I would want to share with my network, content created that I would boast to my peers about or results I could share with my family and friends. I didn’t want my job to be seen as ‘smoke and mirrors’ and to achieve that level of job-satisfaction, I felt I had no choice but to start my own agency.
How do you set yourself apart from competitors in a busy industry like that?
Being specialists in search marketing and not generalists or ‘full service’ has always been a key differentiator for our agency.
I have always focused on providing value and helping as many people as I can. Over the years I have provided consultancy and assistance ranging into the hundreds of hours for free.
A couple years ago I created a completely free SEO training course that took me 6 months to write, record and publish. I gave it away freely on our website and it has gone on to teach hundreds of startups and small businesses how to do the basics of SEO really well.
A big part of our agency success now is in how we recruit, train and nurture our team. We have a fantastic team of super-talented people from technical specialists to great content writers and one of the best digital PR teams in the UK.
We are one of the fastest growing SEO agencies in the UK and this is thanks in part to our approach, our dedication to our single discipline of search marketing and our excellent team.
What makes a good company culture - how do you achieve this at Evergreen?
Culture is so important. I was very fortunate in my earlier career to work at some small agencies with great team cultures and so in recent years, I have attempted to replicate that.
At Evergreen we place a huge emphasis on team culture. You’ll often see our team out on socials (well, not so much recently owing to Covid). Often it’s the little things that make a big difference when it comes to building a great culture.
I believe the culture of any company comes from the top and so I make a particular effort to check in with my team regularly, whether that is a passing “how are you?” or a WhatsApp message to see how things are going.
I want Evergreen to be a ‘safe place’, a place of contentment, of fulfilment and of happiness in having absolute job satisfaction, the ability to learn, improve and grow and I’d say we’re achieving that pretty well so far.
What plans do you have for your business over the next two years?
In the next two years, we will double in size once more. We’ll increase the size of our team by ⅓ from 12 to 18 and double our turnover.
We will continue to invest in our team’s development and support as many businesses as we realistically can to ensure we are providing the very best performance possible.
At the end of 2020 we will be expanding our Evergreen offices and taking another 1,000 sq ft of space to allow the team to grow. We will be adding more desks and creating more meeting spaces and break-out zones for the team to work (they love a breakout area).
How have you pushed through moments of doubt that all entrepreneurs face?
Great question. For me, I’ve always had an unwavering belief I was destined to achieve something great. Even in my late teens and early twenties I knew I would go on to do something great, even though I had no clue what that would be.
It is hard to explain how I felt and the best way I can think to try and share this is with a little story about when I first met my would-be wife. She was fortunate in that she knew from a very early age she wanted to be a graphic designer. Her mother is creative and she knew what she should do and did indeed end up being a fantastic graphic designer (she still is).
When we first met, conversation quickly turned to what we were doing for work - she explained what she was doing, how she loved it and knew what she would do from a young age.
When she asked “so what about you?”, I was working as a cabin crew for easyJet at the time. I remember firstly saying “don’t worry, I won’t be a trolley-dolley forever” as a feeble attempt to reassure her I wanted more. Not that there's anything wrong with being a cabin crew, it’s a great job, I just couldn’t dress in all orange every day for ever.
I went on to tell her “I know I’m destined to do something great, I can sense it and always have, I’m just yet to find my “thing”, but I will”.
Her response: “Well, I’ll have to help you then won’t I”.
And you know what? She did exactly that. I can genuinely say if it wasn’t for Harriet, I would not be running this agency or writing this bio.
As a business owner, do you know when to walk away from a sale/client?
As like most business owners, I have definitely learned this lesson the hard way. Over the years I have taken on many a ‘nightmare client’. A nightmare because they had wildly unrealistic expectations or because when they signed up they thought they ‘owned you’ and were at their beck and call 24/7.
Fortunately we learn from our mistakes and now I have a good nose for spotting a nightmare and we steer clear as much as possible.
We’re very fortunate to now work with a wide and fantastic mix of great clients who enjoy working with us, as we enjoy working with them.
What one piece of advice do you wish you had when you were launching?
Say no if it doesn’t feel right. It’s better to stay true to your values even if it means turning away money you can ill-afford. Short-term pain for long term gain is the best way to a successful business.
Which social media platform have you found most successful for promoting Evergreen?
Without a doubt it is LinkedIn. I’m a big fan of the platform and use it on a daily basis. The ability to share content, inspire, educate and help others so easily is a luxury we are all blessed to have at our fingertips.
From a marketing perspective, what would be your one tip to grow a business?
Being visible online is without a doubt the most important thing for a growing business and generally you achieve this through helping or educating people in whatever way you can.
If you use your website to offer insight, share expertise, inspire, educate and offer value then you’ll generally find that search engines such as Google will elevate your message and with that comes increased visibility and ultimately more enquiries, leads and sales.
Be of use to Google and it will give you what you want. That is essentially what we do for our clients day in and day out. We turn their websites from being simply shop windows into information resources that search engines want to show prominently in their results.
