在十大网博靠谱平台数字公司, we like to interview members to find out a bit more about their passions to help you get to know them.
本周我们采访了约翰·基廷, MD and Founder at Dark Horse who runs a search Marketing agency specialising in helping ecommerce companies grow. Dark Horse launched in December 2019 and now employs 28 people, with clients all over the UK.
让我们从头开始. 是什么让你经营一家经纪公司的?
Dark Horse诞生于失望之中. 我的另一家公司, Databroker, 受到了几个“顶级”数字机构的平均爆炸式增长的影响. 承诺会有伟大的成果，但新出现时却被忽视了, 大客户来了，我们被交给了小客户, 没有前瞻性的想法, 虚荣指标被用作继续付费的结果和理由. This was from “award winning agencies” with “celebrity” MDs lauded on the speaking circuit. It takes a paying customer to know the truth – not from those who have never given them a dime but “like” and repost their content. 结果是, I was determined to create an agency that acknowledged and rejected the elephants in the room, 糟糕的做法和舒适的环境. #One area is the expertise we have on ecommerce platforms – we’ve studied them forensically. The aim is to know how to get the best from digital marketing on them as over 50% of our client’s businesses are on these ecommerce platforms. Dark Horse不是为那些最富有的人准备的. Our clients are in all different sectors; Clothing and fashion, 运动与营养, 家，生活和许多其他的. 我们提供的是黑暗中的希望. 当你厌倦了平庸，想要反击时，我们就是你的求助对象.
成立这个机构，我决定只有一个价值观. 我讨厌“价值”这个词, it’s agency specific marketing nonsense; it’s not a decal on the wall, 这不是为了吸引人才而挂在我们网站上的绝望标题, 这更像是一封挑战平庸的公开信. 我们已经跑了3英里了.5年了，我们仍然坚持这个价值. 事实上, it’s even more important as we grow our client base and focus in on our niche of ecommerce businesses. 我们感觉到了，这很简单——做正确的事. 我们的每一个团队都要面对这个. We don’t just hire experts in PPC, SEO and 缴纳社会, we hire people with integrity.
让我们以点击付费广告为例. 该团队是谷歌的主要合作伙伴. 他们的PPC在全国排名前5%, yet we are in the bottom quartile for accepting Google recommendations (according to the big G themselves) - which is actually a stat we prefer. 团队只会为客户提供最好的服务. 毕竟, 拥有超过63年的团队经验, 我对他们做出的决定和产生的结果充满信心. 每次都遵循一个价值观——做正确的事.
2)当时的运营和现在有什么不同?
现在更难了. The candidate market killed a few agencies off and it now dictates the need for a “文化” line on payslips. 如今，代理机构变得更加友好了, 总的来说，这显然是一件好事, 但这是多么真实啊, 是有争议的. The candidate market talked about “文化” and now it’s the most important thing in the world albeit the must have on job descriptions is salary and not a 文化 section. 如果你, 作为一个机构, are not offering a 2-day working week and paying for monthly trips to the Maldives then you are capitalist, 严厉的, 维多利亚式的济贫院粥. 期望已经明显改变了. 但这都是十大网博靠谱平台可持续性的.
为什么现在的机构都是为善而活? 2019年的情况并非如此——运营它们的仍然是同一批人. 那时候不需要大声说出来，但现在需要了. The rise of personal 品牌ing and the candidate market has made the truth even rarer and more polarising than ever. I feel that to be able to push on at max speed you need to embrace the mob 文化 and mathematical majorities whether you believe them or not.
Dark Horse在当时会拒绝这种心态，而我们现在这样做了. 我们不会牺牲我们的原则. 从种子开始成长相对容易——销售和现金流, 它提供了激光般的注意力和动力. 创造机会，成长, that is a different set of pressures; process, 品牌, people and reputation is the space we are in now and it’s way tougher to keep that initial momentum and growth trends.
虽然我们已经有了一些，但Dark Horse的首要任务是让自己知道. 我们从一家没人知道的公司发展而来, to one that competitors are aware of and crawling our site daily to see what we will do next, 免费. We are known for all the right reasons and none of those agency bad practices we had been subjected to in the previous life. 随着我们的不断发展，我们有望变得更加出名. 我们希望给客户和我们的竞争，不眠之夜.
在内部，我们有一种开放的文化，但我们不需要大声疾呼. 员工们很享受，这就是我所关心的. 证据就是我们的流失率——非常低. 这些都是我满意的数据.
工作中最让你兴奋的是什么?
我可以考虑做一些其他机构和企业主不会做的事情. 这是解放. Most of my impact is on the marketing and commercial side of the business as I am not technically minded. Only about 1% of our ideas see the light of day but it doesn’t stop me daydreaming them. 我很高兴看到我们品牌的发展, Dark Horse并不适合所有人, 我们的品牌正在两极分化——但这就是问题所在, it wants to work with the dark horses within the industries and help those who don’t have the deepest pockets. 我们擅长于电子商务公司，我们对自己所说的一切都进行了备份. 我们让他们看到钱被增加到他们的底线. 我喜欢这样. 进步也是非常令人兴奋的. We have come from a relative nowhere and we are so close to hitting our first financial goals. 如果没有雄心壮志，我们什么都不是，而且我不认为这种雄心会停止. 赚钱是件令人兴奋的事. 我意识到我应该说一些十大网博靠谱平台发展社区的事情, 指导他人或者其他与我们的目标相关的事情. 赚钱不意味着你会增加骂人的次数. 我们可以庆祝——人们关起门来就会庆祝!
我知道有一些很好的机构，我尊重这些机构. 然而，也有很多普通的人赚了很多钱. Clients are more than just money – clients have homes and families/friends to look after. If we allow poor performance and vanity metrics, we aren’t acting with integrity and responsibility. We are about righting the wrongs of the digital world and educating the customers about what they should expect. 平庸不再是可以接受的，我们可以教育和告知更多, 数字营销世界就会变得越好. 潮流的背后是人. 人是争论，是庆祝，是回忆——有好有坏. 我们可以影响结果.
最后，我对这支球队的未来感到兴奋. 有时候，作为房间里的傻瓜，我觉得自己像锚一样拖着他们的后腿. 它们真的会飞，我相信它们会的.
我们期待你们的新产品?
我们最近推出了一个新的PPC培训项目——广告学院. We want to offer a chance for those who don’t have budget to outsource to still have access to expert training. 分享我们的知识，这样他们就可以提高自己的点击付费效果. It is predominantly designed for Marketers or Business Owners looking to start using PPC in-house or those Marketers who are currently using it in-house but want to include the use of more advanced features and tracking. 对于想要晋升的初级PPC高管来说，这也是件好事.
培训课程由我们的PPC主管主持, Dave Karellen who has over 11 years’ experience and he has designed the course to lead the client from basic setup through to tracking, 先进的优化和性能自动化. 他很在行.
本课程的主要目标是:
- 不用离开你的办公桌，就可以从专家那里学习谷歌级别的PPC
- 拥有你的PPC帐户，并在你建立时保存第三方支出
- 用基于视频的模块按自己的节奏学习, with levels starting from beginner to advanced - perfect for those starting out or those who want to spruce up their knowledge
- 在不增加营销预算的情况下增加收入
We feel that everyone should have access to the best resources and this online training course enables people that access. 它也不会使银行破产. 奖金.
谁是你心目中的行业英雄? (或者如果没有英雄，你能推荐谁去追随?)
我很尊敬一些很酷的广告公司，它们的发展非常惊人. I hold in high regard agency owners who grow their company to multimillion pounds without any degradation to quality. 我也很佩服那些走自己的路，不模仿，勇敢的机构. 就人而言, 我在这个行业认识的人不多，因为我的观点不允许邀请我参加活动, 判断，甚至可能建立关系网. 不然我就是个笨蛋.
我建议关注并欣赏任何在社交媒体上讲真话的人. 这包括消极和质疑, 哪个是科学的先决条件, 逻辑, 可以作为基准的数字和东西. 现实生活和文明赖以建立的东西. 不是绝对的小马，比如“不要比较自己”,“幸福不是财富”和其他类似的东西. Those worth following will be accountable, and can have their advice validated by something tangible. 它们将具有你可以证明或反驳的价值, 他们也欢迎好奇的人质疑他们的观点. 简而言之, 如果一个机构的老板使用个人品牌代理机构，或者反复强调要真实, 善良, 文化, 或者任何大多数人想读的东西, 这些人不适合我. 评论史蒂文·巴特利特或贾斯汀·韦尔奇的帖子.
对英雄做出自己的判断，并考虑他们发帖的目的. 例如，来自某机构最新社交活动的图片，这是给谁看的，是给什么看的? 当你揭开面纱的时候就很明显了. 你所看到和消费的一切都是为了外部验证，总是有一个议程.
枪指着我的头? I would say my heroes are anyone with a big social following who would tag back if blow enough smoke. 或者我们想要的客户. 这显然是2023年的正确答案. # Gymshark.
如果不行，莎拉·威尔逊·布莱克威尔，迈克·温内特，丹·凯尔索尔和罗莎·米切尔.
