Who you'll be working with
Why I went fractional, what came before, and what I stand for. Book a 30-minute strategy call
The selling side of marketing taught me what brands get sold. The client side taught me what they actually need.”
How I got here.
I started on the advertising desk at the Yorkshire Post in 2002. Within a few years I was running a team billing a million pounds a year. I learned SEO in 2007, when it was still a dark art. In 2012 I founded My Social Agency, from a hammock in Thailand. It became one of the UK’s first ten social media agencies, with a team of fifteen in Leeds. In 2019 it was acquired by a larger agency, where I ran digital for some of the biggest brands on the high street until 2020.
Then I went fractional. Agencies sell hours and headcount. What most brands actually need is one senior person who sets the direction and knows what good looks like. Someone who can do the work, without the full-time salary. Six years and a lot of boardrooms later, that’s still the job.
How I work
Some of the brands along the way.
What I stand for.
Six principles I’ve worked by for twenty years. They decide what I take on and how I run it. You’ll see every one of them in the first fortnight.
The six.
Do good /
Digital makes it easy to profit from harm. I won’t. No gambling, no payday lending, no fossil fuels, whatever the budget. If the work makes the world a bit worse, I’m not the person for it.
Be different /
Best practice is where everyone ends up, which is why it stops working. Digital moves fast and the gains go to whoever moves with it. If you want to try something nobody in your sector has, you’ve found your lead.
Deliver experience /
The results are the job, but I want working with me to be the best part of your week. No ego, no jargon, no drama when things go wrong. I turn up, I listen, I get on with your team, and I’m reachable when you need a straight answer.
Create quality /
Quality in marketing is detail. The tracking tag that’s set up right, the page that loads fast, the email checked before it goes to fifty thousand people. Get those wrong and the strategy doesn’t matter. I take pride in the small things, because that’s where campaigns are won or lost.
Dare to fail /
Nobody finds the winning idea without a few that don’t work. The trick is to find out fast and cheaply. I test small, measure everything, and kill what isn’t working before it costs real money. Twenty years of that is why I can spot a dead end early.
Drive results /
My job is to turn your digital assets into revenue. I measure what can be counted, report it plainly, and leave the vanity metrics to the agencies.
What clients say.
Let's talk, get in touch“Mark is creative, organised, and able to deliver complex projects to short deadlines. We were delighted with the process, from start to finish”
Dave Curtis, Jack Daniel's“We chose Mark over other consultants due to his creative ideas and flexibility to meet our needs. He reinvented our online shopping experience and I would highly recommend Mark’s strategy process to others”
Rob Fairhurst, iCandy Pushchairs“Property is a highly competitive industry, but Mark made us really stand out from the crowd online. He is straight talking and gets results”
Sharon Lewis, Hunters Estate Agents“Not only is Mark highly intelligent, experienced, and strategic, but he’s also a pure professional and personable. It was an absolute pleasure working with him over the years at Robert Half”
Sofia Qureshi, Robert Half RecruitmentResources
