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Blue Whale Media celebrates the fellowship of their Managing Director to DMA

Fellow Member (F IDM)

Blue Whale Media celebrates the fellowship of their Managing Director to DMA

Blue Whale Media, a leading digital marketing agency in Warrington, is pleased to announce the fellowship of their Managing Director, Gary Sweeney, in the Data & Marketing Association.

The Data & Marketing Association is a prestigious organisation that recognizes excellence in the marketing industry. It provides a platform for marketing professionals to network, learn, and share ideas. Fellowship in this organisation is a significant achievement that recognizes an individual’s contribution to the industry and their commitment to professional development.

Gary Sweeney has played an instrumental role in the growth and success of the company. As Managing Director, he has led the development of innovative digital marketing strategies that have helped businesses across the UK to thrive.

“I am honoured to receive this fellowship from the Data & Marketing Association,” said Gary Sweeney. “It is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire team at Blue Whale Media. Our focus has always been on delivering exceptional results for our clients, and this recognition is a validation of that commitment.”

Blue Whale Media has built a reputation as a leading digital marketing agency in Warrington by providing a wide range of services, including website design, search engine optimization, social media marketing, and email marketing. Their industry-leading solutions have helped businesses of all sizes to achieve their marketing goals and drive growth.

“We are incredibly proud of Gary and his achievements,” said Stephanie Sweeney, Operations Director of Blue Whale Media. “His fellowship in the Data & Marketing Association is a reflection of his exceptional leadership skills and expertise in the marketing industry. We are confident that Gary will continue to drive the success of Blue Whale Media and help our clients to achieve their business objectives.”

About Blue Whale Media:

Blue Whale Media is a leading digital marketing agency based in Warrington. The company provides comprehensive marketing solutions for businesses of all sizes across a range of industries. With a focus on delivering measurable results and exceptional customer service, Blue Whale Media has become a trusted partner for businesses looking to grow and succeed online. For more information, visit https://www.bluewhalemedia.co.uk.

Media contact for Blue Whale Media:
Stephanie Sweeney
[email protected]
03332101218

Awarded by Institute of Data & Marketing. Part of Data & Marketing Association. This is to verify that Gary Sweeney was accepted and enrolled as a member of the Insitute of Data & Marketing: Fellow (F IDM)
Gary Sweeney
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Blue Whale Media celebrates the fellowship of their Managing Director.

Blue Whale Media celebrates the fellowship of their Managing Director.

Blue Whale Media celebrates the fellowship of their Managing Director.

The Birchwood-based Digital Design Agency is delighted to announce that their Managing Director, Gary Sweeney has been awarded a fellowship from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) fellowship is only awarded to marketers who have 10 – 15 years of senior strategic experience with 5 years at the director or senior consultant level.

With over 20 years in the marketing industry, Gary’s extensive experience has lead to the excellent results he has delivered for clients.

A Fellowship is the highest recognition CIM confers on its members, which is awarded to a marketing professional with a proven record of expertise, experience, success and a high degree of responsibility.

 

Blue Whale Media’s Managing Director, Gary Sweeney said: “I am extremely proud to have been awarded a Fellowship by the Charted Institute Of Marketing. It has taken 21 years of hard work and dedication to achieve this award and I could not be happier.

“When working within the marketing industry you have to keep looking at the continuous change in practices and how you can adapt your work and your business. Over the years I’ve learned a lot about the industry and can now put my knowledge and experience to good use. I am very much looking forward to working with the CIM in the future with the training they offer and the wider world of marketing.”

After years of working within the marketing industry and growing from strength to strength, Gary then formed Blue Whale Media in 2011 with collaboration from his wife Stephanie. The couple are both very proud of the awarded fellowship and the success of the business over the past ten years.

The whole team at Blue Whale Media would like to wish Gary huge congratulations on the award of his fellowship from the CIM.

Blue Whale Media has enjoyed an awe-inspiring growth year on year and is now celebrating the company’s ten year anniversary.

Media contact for Blue Whale Media:
Rachel Foy
[email protected]
03332101218

Taking Calculated Gambles Can Pay Off
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Taking Calculated Gambles Can Pay Off

Blue Whale Media

Growing Pains

I have always thought about growing the internal sales team at Blue Whale Media. The main problem has been I have been thinking about it for 7 years. Ok well, I have not been thinking about it for 7 years all the time, but there have been several times when I have been close to at least trying to recruit. The main reason I have always wanted to recruit another salesperson is that I was fully aware to grow the company and brand we need more than just good old me. You might be thinking why did it take so long to get my arse into gear?? Well, there are loads of reasons I could make up. The truth is there always seemed other reasons to spend money elsewhere.

But 8 weeks ago, I took the plunge and moved one person from another department into sales/appointment making and recruited somebody else to also make appointments and sell. Guess what happened next… More Opportunities, More Pitches, More Meetings, More Sales. The new business brought in within the last 8 weeks has more than trebled and the business has been able to look at expanding on the back of this. Yes, I wish I had done this at least 3 years ago. Just goes to prove you are always learning even when you are the MD.

Increase in New Customers

Bringing in two new sales staff has increased new customers numbers and it’s also helped Blue Whale Media grow in the local market space in Warrington. Locally we have started to do more business with local companies around Birchwood and the surrounding boroughs. It’s also not just small new businesses we are talking to and engaging with. It’s bigger companies that employ 55,000 people with global appeal. I can honestly say this would not have happened if the two new sales guys had not been added to the Blue Whale Media Team. Don’t get me wrong it’s been difficult and both new sales guys have had to have the right mindset and be willing to learn. But this a great mindset to have in a growing company which has new skills and products to sell weekly. I guess I will never know where we would be now if I had taken the plunge years ago. But I can also say it has been the perfect time to do it as everything was in place and ready for when the upsurge in work started.

Dealing with The Effects

It’s great growing the business and it’s even better bringing on loads of new customers. However, with adding more customers in at one end, also means we have needed to add resources to deal with the new demand.

This means two new web designers have also joined the Blue Whale Media Team. Yes, two! The two new creative talents are both very keen and very creative. I have only seen some of the work produced so far but let’s just say competition between the designers is stepping up!

Lack Of Space

“Crap we have run out of room”… That’s what I and the Operations Director said when we added in four more desks for the two designers and two sales staff of the Blue Whale Media Team. It was only 18 months ago we moved into our new lovely offices and even then I thought “this will do us fine for the next five years while we grow”. How wrong could I be… VERY … is the answer.

So now after starting 8 weeks ago by just adding in a couple of sales staff, growing customer numbers and increasing the production team by two people, we have had to start to look for additional space. Not what I had planned 18 months ago but I would not change a thing.

The Future

The future looks bright and if having to grow a little quicker than I first thought is the answer then that’s fine by me.

If the last 8 weeks have taught me anything, it is that sometimes-taking small risks or acting on your instincts can bring good rewards. You just need to not sit on ideas for 3 or 4 years. Instead just take the bull by the horns and go for it like my partner in crime says somethings thinking too hard just makes your brain hurt and doesn’t achieve anything.

Bye for now

So, I said I was going to write a blog once a month for you all, but as this is only my third blog of 2018 I’m going to say I failed that challenge. But let’s all look forward to 2019 and try and push our businesses to greater heights.

Gary Sweeney (Managing Director)

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Blogging Time. New BWM Site. New Products. Still Much to Do.

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Blogging Time. New BWM Site. New Products. Still Much to Do.

My 2nd Blog (Only 12 Weeks Late)

Like I said in my Blog 12 weeks ago, I’m finding it hard to find the time to write blogs, but I wanted to make an effort to write a new blog every week. I also said it was 11.45.pm on a Sunday when I was writing the blog.

Ok so I have failed miserably to write a blog every week. However, its only 9pm on Sunday night when I am writing this blog. That’s progress right?

I still maintain that Blogging is important and luckily writing a blog is not what I am paid to do every day.  Thankfully, Blue Whale has a full content writing team based at the Warrington Office that produces great blogs, articles and newsletters every day for Blue Whale and our growing customer base.

Since my last Blog (when I spoke about how important content is to running a successful website) I have seen even more new business and existing businesses contact our content writing team asking for help to create Engaging, Google Friendly Content for their websites.

All I can think is that the whole “Content Is King” saying is catching on with all different types of businesses. Trust me, keep creating content and you will see your website improve in the organic search results.

New Blue Whale Media Website Goes Live – Nothing Is Ever Finished

Firstly, I would like to thank the whole Blue Whale Team for the effort and time in getting the new Blue Whale Media Ltd website finished and live. Every member of staff in every department has worked long and hard on getting this new site right and ready to go live.

It has taken 9 months to get the site to a stage where we said “ its go to go live”. I have to admit, we did not anticipate it would take 9 months and I definitely have drove everybody up the wall with my input and suggestions. So for that I am Sorry guys.

Staff and Friends have asked me “you must be happy the site is finished?”

my response – “Yes I am happy its live” … “No its definitely not finished.”

Now you may be thinking… Why put a site live if it is not finished?

A Website is Never Truly Finished

The answer is really simple. A website is never finished. A website is how your business is accessed by the rest of the world which yes includes your local customer target market. So why would you not update and add to your website to keep it fresh and current?

You don’t let your business stagnate, so why would you let your businesses portal to the rest of the world become boring and dated. Remember, your website is used daily by people who do not know how brilliant your business is so DON’T let them see a boring and stale website.

In short, I have loads of ideas and plans for the new Blue Whale Media website. I simply just need time to plan and build the features. My team at the office reading this blog will probably be reaching for the hard stuff thinking .. “No more ideas Gary, please.” But the truth is, we all know we have so much to offer the internet and this new website is just the start of some amazing things to come. Stay tuned and visit the site again soon.

New Products!

Look I am at 572 words already and time is ticking, so I will keep this brief for now as I could write a whole blog on the new products we are working on. However, I can give you a little insight into what will be coming soon.

We are working on a new way for existing customers and potential new customers to understand more about SEO and purchase SEO Services without feeling lost or unsure. I want to smash the smoke and mirrors myth about SEO and give people that are using our site a place which showcases all the different available SEO products clearly.

Each SEO product will clearly state what it aims to do and why it forms part of any SEO strategy. This new section to the website will be different to anything else you may find online. Forget the Gold, Silver, Bronze packages nearly every SEO company asks you to pick from. I want to make SEO easy. Does easy mean cheap? No it does not.

However, did you really ever believe you will get No:1 spot on Google for a generic search term by going with the “Gold” package… Sorry but let’s get serious. White Hat SEO takes time and costs money on a monthly basis. Don’t kid yourself that paying £99.00 as a one off fee is going to produce the miracle 1st page result.

Once our new SEO Products and Section has been created, it will be like a high quality product SEO Pick and Mix. Each product will be backed up with the truth about what it does and how it works. Then simply pick the products and prices that suit your needs or contact our team to help you understand what will work based on your expectations and budget. If your budget does not work for your search terms, then we will tell you.

Well that’s it for this blog. Keep an eye out for my next one. Hopefully it won’t be anther 12 weeks.

If you have any questions- contact the team on: 01925 552 050 or Email: [email protected]

See you next time.

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MD’s View - My Background and Content Writing
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MD’s View – My Background and Content Writing

MD’s View - My Background and Content Writing

MD’s View – My Background and Content Writing

My first thought and response was, ‘No chance I pay people to do the bloody content writing’ followed by ‘I won’t have time’. Yet I now find myself sat on the bed at 23.15 on a Sunday writing my first blog after getting back from being away with the family for the weekend. By family I mean Fiancé Stef and 3 Dogs Molly, George and the latest addition Sid (He is a Pug, hopefully that explains the name.)

Never Written My Own Blog

Anyway back to this Blog that I am trying to write. Firstly, I guess I should explain who I am and why I am writing a Blog for the first time in my life (considering I have worked 17 years in the web development industry). My name is Gary Sweeney and I own Blue Whale Media Ltd. My official tile is Managing Director however you could say I am the Water Boy, Tea Boy, Sales Guy, Lunch Runner, Sales Trainer and now Blogger/ Content Writer. Anybody reading this who runs as small business will understand what I mean when I say I am not just a Managing Director, if only life was that easy.

Anyway, I was going to talk about how I came up with the name Blue Whale Media and what I did as a job just before Blue Whale Media Ltd was formed, but I think that needs its own dedicated section in my next blog.

Blog Your Way

As I mention in the first line of this blog, I was not keen on trying to put pen to paper so to speak. My initial reaction was poor and after taking a few days to think things through and decide what I wanted to blog about; I actually found myself wanting to make time to pick up the Mac and start my Blogging/Content Writing Career. However, I want to do things differently to how most people with my Job Title write blogs. I don’t see the point in trying to write an SEO Blog to get high rankings in the search engines as to be honest writing is not my strongest area. Which is why I employ very good content writers and SEO consultants to write the professional content for Blue Whale Media and our customers. I want my blog to be personal as well as business like.

Each of my blogs are going to give you an insight into me on a personal level, tell you about my work background, explain what challenges we faced in the first 5 years Blue Whale Media Ltd traded and also cover events that take place right now whilst running Blue Whale Media Ltd.

Before the Blogging

So we had better start at the beginning. I left John Moores University with a 2:2 in International Leisure & Tourism Management. I bet you are thinking ‘is that even a real course?’ Or ‘Has he just made that name up?’ I can honestly tell you it is and my dad can even vouch for me as he had to pay my fees (privileged I know, please forgive me).  I think the only reason I managed to get the 2:2 is due to the IT section of the course, hence my interest in the Internet and computers. 

Straight after I left University it was straight onto a holiday for a couple of weeks and after that, back home to living with my parents. Once I returned home it was made clear that I needed to find a job. After a couple of Interviews and a lot of ‘thanks for the interest but..’ I finally found a job at a company called Freecom.net. Freecom.net is still operating now and is currently ran by a guy called Chris who was just a techy for the company back when I worked there.

Now as I am going to talk about my work history and lessons learned during each of my blogs, I will be changing customer and colleagues’ names as they have no idea that I am writing a weekly Blog.

Freecom.net was my fist ‘proper job’ after getting two ‘thanks but no thanks’. For some unknown reason a guy who I will refer to as ‘Hale The Sale’ finally related and gave me my first Website Design Sales Job. I am not going to lie and say I took to selling websites to small business like a duck to water as I did not. However, this was back in 2001, the Internet was still a baby and businesses still didn’t even understand what a domain name was and that they could buy their own business name.  I can tell you this with authority, as after 2 weeks training I was put in my first Tele Sales Team selling .co.uk and .com Domain Names to new and small businesses. I didn’t even sell websites at this point and there was definitely no such thing as having in house content writers available to craft content for new customers. Pretty far from today’s standards where ‘Content Is King’ in the fight to gain 1st page positions on all the major search engines.

Professional Blogging  Service

This brings me back to why I am writing a Blog. Well as I mentioned at the very start, I was asked by our Operations Director and Social Media Account Manager during a Marketing Review to do a weekly Blog. Considering I tell our clients that they should write their own blogs as well as buy professional SEO Blogs from us, I didn’t really have any grounds to say no. So here I am…writing my weekly blog.

Creating professional blogs and SEO content for websites is Blue Whale Media Ltd  2nd most popular product and its only increasing each month. So, after years of using Content Writers that I know and trust without ever having them employed. It’s now been suggested to me that we should recruit and hire an in-house website content writer. I have to say it’s not something I have ever thought to do as things work great just the way they are. However, as I have previously said I am not always right. Sometimes in life you need to take on board other peoples’ ideas which can increase work output and increase profit and with it being such a growing division, I cannot argue more control would be good. It also might get me out of writing a blog a week…joking of course.

So, after advertising for an in-house website design content writer, we have 8 interviews lined up for next week. I am looking forward to meeting the candidates and hearing what they believe they can add to the mix to help improve our business. I will provide an update on this in my next blog.

Anyway, its 12.49 and that’s my signal to put the Mac away and end my first Blue Whale Media Ltd blog. I’ll check in with you all next week.

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