Keen is a strategic digital marketing agency based in Cheshire. Established in 2008, we’ve worked with many businesses over the years, some of them are still with us 10 years later.
We forge long-lasting partnerships with brands that we believe in and who see the value in what we do.
The digital world is fast-paced and complex – let us help you through it. We’ve helped many businesses grow through digital marketing and we can do the same for you.
We like to think our approach is pretty unique. Read on to find out how we work and the values we stand for.
Bollocks to the bare minimum
Too much marketing is shallow and lazy, polishing the surface but never really solving the problems. Clients get sent vanity metrics that mean nothing, and agencies just cash their cheque and carry on with all their other client work. Nobody’s invested, nobody’s accountable, and nobody wins. That’s why we don’t work in this outdated way. We’re right there with you, treating your business, brand and growth like it’s our own. Always thinking, caring and optimising.
Approach:
Cover 2 ways:
- In stages e.g., research, strategy, plan, execute, refine
- HOW we work
Both?
Overview
Discovery phase
Learn about the business, its goals, its product or service, financials, competitors etc. Include other research in here too e.g., looking at data, persona development etc?
Strategy
Using information learned in previous phase and taking account of budgets, timeframes, nature of business/competitors etc., resources etc. formulate a strategy for the short- and long-term to achieve goals. Also set KPIs for measurement.
Tactics
Set out a tactical plan to execute strategy. This will likely include work on multiple channels and other areas e.g., improve site speed, quick SEO fixes (where required), landing page content optimisation – quick win stuff. Also, starting to set up other areas of marketing e.g., content marketing (blogs/guides etc.) Google Ads set up/account optimisation, set up retargeting, etc. Also, set up everything required for measurement e.g., Moz for keyword tracking, reports (GA, Data Studio etc.).
Execution
Poss cross-over with above section (and pull tactics into strategy section and rename). This covers the execution side of things.
Analysis, measurement, experimentation
Using data measure efficiency of efforts to far but also to adjust the strategy. Generally speaking, the strategy develops over time as the relationship does in addition to new opportunities arising.
Other stuff
We challenge the traditional client:agency relationship – it’s too arms length, not involved enough, not deep enough, and not collaborative enough. We pull up a chair at the table, roll up our sleeves, and work shoulder to shoulder as part of your team.
We’re small, deliberately. We get truly invested in our clients/clients’ success, and for that reason, we only work with a few clients at a time so that they/you get our full attention.
We don’t pander: we rarely give clients what they ask for. Sure, it would be easier for us to provide purely SEO for the clients that ask for it, but most of the time, it’s not the best strategy, or other services being added makes efforts much more impactful. We’ll also challenge you and call out a shit idea.
We expect your input: if you’re looking for an agency that you can palm off the success of your business to without getting involved, that’s not us. The best results come from a truly collaborative relationship. You know your business, product and clients far better than we ever will, so as much as we’ll pull you over to our side, you need to do the same. We’ll drag it out of you either way 😉
We’re not full service. When we first set up shop, we called ourselves a full service agency, because we kind of were back then. Nowadays, digital marketing is a vast industry, with many specialisms, niches, and technologies emerging every day. We don’t purport to be everything to everybody, but we have a strong grasp of the core services that most businesses need. For anything specialised such as video production, TikTok (bleurgh) blah blah blah, we’ll be able to connect you with an expert or pull them into your project.
Quality over quantity, substance over style: in other words, we go far beyond the surface level stuff which can make it look like a campaign or tactic is working, to ensure that it’s not only revenue-generating, but also profit-generating. For example, we tend to measure POAS vs ROAS because the latter is pretty meaningless.
Purposeful tactics, start small, scale up: it’s very easy to go balls deep into a campaign and blow a lot of money in a short space of time. We treat our clients’ budgets like its our own: we’re careful with it, and we’ll take the extra time to develop campaigns properly, test, and only scale when we know its working.
Marketers first. In other words, we concentrate on what we know is going to move the needle. Too much marketing (effort and cost) is wasted on the wrong stuff.
Marketing effectively is hard work. It takes time, effort and consistency. Plus patience. These days, you can’t just sling a website up and run a few ads and think that’s going to get you anywhere. Customers want more and if you don’t give it to them – your competitors will.