Rise at Seven COO Stephen Kenwright explains the deliberate decisions made to take an agency from 0 to £1.5m revenue in a year without spending any cash whatsoever...covering positioning, strategy, sales and marketing.

1. How to grow a
£multimillion SEO
agency without
spending a penny
on marketing
@stekenwright

2. What I’m going to talk about today at #brightonseo
@stekenwright
JAN 2019
FEB 2019
CARRIE
APPLIES FOR
THE
APPRENTICE
APPRENTICE
BUSINESS
PLAN +
AUDITIONS
MAR
KENWRIGHT
STARTS NEW
JOB / CARRIE
DOESN’T GET
ON THE
APPRENTICE
APR
KENWRIGHT
AGREES TO
START RISE
AT SEVEN
MAY
1.
PLANNING
FOR
LAUNCH
JUN
LAUNCH
JUN 2020
2. GROWING
TO £1.5M
REVENUE IN 1
YEAR
WITHOUT
SPENDING ON
MARKETING
JUN 2021
£4M REVENUE / 70
PEOPLE / 3
OFFICES / 2
COUNTRIES

3. Let’s start from the beginning
@stekenwright

4. 1. Planning for launch
@stekenwright

5. Know yourself
@stekenwright

6. Decisive Interactive Stabilising Cautious
Demanding Gregarious Patient Cautious
Driving Persuasive Predictable Perfectionist
Forceful Inspiring Passive Systematic
Daring Enthusiastic Complacent Careful
Determined Sociable Stable Analytical
Competitive Poised Consistent Orderly
Responsible Charming Steady Neat
Inquisitive Convincing Outgoing Balanced
Conservative Reflective Restless Independent
Mild Matter-of-fact Active Rebellious
Agreeable Reserved Chaotic Careless
Deliberate Introspective Spontaneous Challenging
@stekenwright

7. Decisive Interactive Stabilising Cautious
Demanding Gregarious Patient Cautious
Driving Persuasive Predictable Perfectionist
Forceful Inspiring Passive Systematic
Daring Enthusiastic Complacent Careful
Determined Sociable Stable Analytical
Competitive Poised Consistent Orderly
Responsible Charming Steady Neat
Inquisitive Convincing Outgoing Balanced
Conservative Reflective Restless Independent
Mild Matter-of-fact Active Rebellious
Agreeable Reserved Chaotic Careless
Deliberate Introspective Spontaneous Challenging
@stekenwright

8. Decisive Interactive Stabilising Cautious
Demanding Gregarious Patient Cautious
Driving Persuasive Predictable Perfectionist
Forceful Inspiring Passive Systematic
Daring Enthusiastic Complacent Careful
Determined Sociable Stable Analytical
Competitive Poised Consistent Orderly
Responsible Charming Steady Neat
Inquisitive Convincing Outgoing Balanced
Conservative Reflective Restless Independent
Mild Matter-of-fact Active Rebellious
Agreeable Reserved Chaotic Careless
Deliberate Introspective Spontaneous Challenging
@stekenwright

9. Personality assessments
Innermetrix - not free Crystal - free
@stekenwright

10. Values
@stekenwright

11. Know others with Crystal Chrome extension
Innermetrix - not free Crystal - free
@stekenwright

12. We learned to respect each other’s strengths
@stekenwright

13. @stekenwright
Read this even if you don’t have a co-founder 👇

14. Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)
Visionary Integrator
Big picture
External relationships
Creative problem solver
Innovation
Connect the dots
Pulse on the industry/target market
Clarity and communication
Repetition is OK
Holding people accountable
Remove obstacles and barriers
Steady force/consistency
Integrates the leadership team
Inconsistency
Short attention span
Organisational “whiplash”
Reluctance to let go
Resistance to following process
Foot on the gas pedal
Thankless job
Accusations of pessimism
Bad guy
Lack of recognition
Says “no” a lot
Being accused of moving too slowly
@stekenwright

15. Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)
Visionary Integrator
Big picture
External relationships
Creative problem solver
Innovation
Connect the dots
Pulse on the industry/target market
Clarity and communication
Repetition is OK
Holding people accountable
Remove obstacles and barriers
Steady force/consistency
Integrates the leadership team
Inconsistency
Short attention span
Organisational “whiplash”
Reluctance to let go
Resistance to following process
Foot on the gas pedal
Thankless job
Accusations of pessimism
Bad guy
Lack of recognition
Says “no” a lot
Being accused of moving too slowly
@stekenwright

16. Before EOS
Digital PR Digital Strategy Creative Content Technical SEO
Product development Carrie Carrie Carrie Kenwright
Marketing (lead gen) Carrie Carrie Carrie Kenwright
Sales Carrie Carrie Carrie Kenwright
Client Service Carrie Carrie Carrie Kenwright
Strategy Carrie Carrie Carrie Kenwright
Delivery Carrie Carrie Carrie Kenwright
People/HR Carrie Carrie Carrie Kenwright
Process Carrie Carrie Carrie Kenwright
Compliance Carrie Carrie Carrie Kenwright
@stekenwright

17. After EOS
Digital PR Digital Strategy Creative Content Technical SEO
Product development Carrie Carrie Carrie Carrie
Marketing (lead gen) Carrie Carrie Carrie Carrie
Sales Carrie Carrie Carrie Carrie
Client Service Carrie Carrie Carrie Carrie
Strategy Carrie Carrie Carrie Carrie
Delivery Kenwright Kenwright Kenwright Kenwright
People/HR Kenwright Kenwright Kenwright Kenwright
Process Kenwright Kenwright Kenwright Kenwright
Compliance Kenwright Kenwright Kenwright Kenwright
@stekenwright

18. 2x Integrator or 2x Visionary won’t grow
@stekenwright

19. Choosing our home
@stekenwright

20. Agencies employing 100+
Leeds
● Jaywing
● Stickyeyes
● Home
● Search Laboratory
● Delete
● twentysix
● Elmwood
● IDHL
● CDS
● All Response Media
● iProspect/Carat
● Mediacom
● Intermarketing
Sheffield
● Jaywing
@stekenwright

21. Sheffield has two universities and nowhere for students to go
@stekenwright

22. Physical location isn’t essential anymore…
It’s a perk
@stekenwright

23. SWOT
@stekenwright

24. SWT
@stekenwright

25. Everything is an opportunity when you’re new
@stekenwright

26. Templates: https://scalingup.com/growth-tools/
@stekenwright

27. @stekenwright
SUN TZU SAID
Attack what is weak

28. What most agencies talked about in 2019
@stekenwright
Data
Performance Marketing
Experiences Results
Digital Experiences
Attribution
Digital transformation
Custom tech
Proprietary tools
Brand safety
Consultancies
Transformation
Connected experiences
Ad fraud Big data
Clarity at speed
Omnichannel
Integrated
Full service

29. What we talked about instead
@stekenwright
Creative

30. HOW TO POSITION YOUR BUSINESS
X for Y
@stekenwright

31. DON’T WANT TO SPECIALISE SO MUCH?
X for Y with Z point of view
@stekenwright

32. OUR INITIAL POSITIONING
The creative SEO agency for people who want more
than they get from full service agencies
@stekenwright

33. Intro: https://2bobs.com/podcast/positioning-cheats
@stekenwright

34. 2. Growing to £1.5m revenue in 1 year without spending on
marketing
@stekenwright

35. 447k
SOCIAL MEDIA
IMPRESSIONS
1,378
NEW FOLLOWERS
23
JOB APPLICATIONS
16
INBOUND LEADS
Our first week
@stekenwright

36. What we do...
Regular blog posts
Speak at Industry Events
We vlog
Appear on podcasts
We tweet… a lot
Win awards
WE ARE LOUD ON SOCIAL
AND WE PUSH OURSELVES AS
INDUSTRY LEADING
EXPERTS
@stekenwright

37. Choose your platforms
@stekenwright

38. Connect your accounts with Linktree
@stekenwright
All marketing
Digital PR

39. Build on social media? Get used to hate
@stekenwright

40. Set yourself up for future channels
👉
@stekenwright
● £12 per user per month
● Plugin automatically saves email
conversations
● Simple
● Free
● Plugin automatically saves email
conversations - and tracks opens
● Complex

41. Find your audiences using Followerwonk
Digital
Marketing
Content Marketing
Social Media
Digital
Agency
SEO
Content Creators
Digital PR Account managers
Technical SEO
Online Marketing
Marketing Consultant
Media Manager
Founders Entrepreneurs
Creative
Bloggers
Lifestyle
Fashion
Tech
Journalism
@stekenwright

42. Know where they live
@stekenwright

43. ...and find out what resonates
@stekenwright

44. Participate
@stekenwright

45. Choose work that will make you famous
@stekenwright

46. ...consistently
@stekenwright

47. ...and explain how you did it
@stekenwright

48. ...again
@stekenwright

49. ...and again
@stekenwright

50. Celebrate your wins
@stekenwright

51. Every single thing you do is an opportunity to make your
agency famous.
@stekenwright

52. Shoes
Cupcakes
Pinata
Spotify playlists
Filters
Games
Spotify
Cupcakes
Pinata
Twitter Accounts
@stekenwright
Even recruitment

53. Finding great people is the hardest thing
@stekenwright

54. Being a place people want to work makes this easier
1Look after
people
23,000
applications
in 1 year
3Operate a
waiting list
@stekenwright

55. Let’s finish with some realness
@stekenwright

56. The hard parts
1Get used
to risk
2Get used to
trolls
3You can’t
delegate this
@stekenwright

57. It’s worth it
@stekenwright
JAN 2019
FEB 2019
CARRIE
APPLIES FOR
THE
APPRENTICE
APPRENTICE
BUSINESS
PLAN +
AUDITIONS
MAR
KENWRIGHT
STARTS NEW
JOB / CARRIE
DOESN’T GET
ON THE
APPRENTICE
APR
KENWRIGHT
AGREES TO
START RISE
AT SEVEN
MAY
PLANNING FOR
LAUNCH
JUN
LAUNCH
JUN 2020
GROWING TO £1.5M
REVENUE IN 1 YEAR
WITHOUT SPENDING ON
MARKETING
JUN 2021
£4M REVENUE /
70 PEOPLE /
3 OFFICES /
2 COUNTRIES

58. @stekenwright
Thanks for inviting me to #brightonseo!