Swansea-based AD Marketing has started 2023 with a new office and a new look, as they look to build on the successes of the last five years.
Established by experienced digital marketer Alix Charles in 2018, the firm began as a small freelance operation from offices in Neath Abbey, as Alix explains.
“I had always wanted to run my own business, and after many years working for some of the largest agencies in Wales, I decided to venture out on my own, so secured funding from the Development Bank of Wales and set up Alix Digital.”
Alix Charles and Caitlin Howells
Having managed the PPC advertising and SEO for some of the UK's largest businesses, Alix used her knowledge and skill in this area of marketing to offer a similar suite of services to local businesses, and very quickly, the company expanded.
“In order to secure new clients, I initiated my own Pay Per Click campaign and very quickly, I began getting enquiries,” reflected Alix, “and in a short space of time, I was not only dealing with new clients throughout the UK but actively growing my in-house team as well.”
Alix was soon joined by two other PPC and SEO specialists and by 2022, the team had grown to four full-time members of staff servicing a portfolio of clients across a range of sectors.
However with this success came a new set of challenges, most notably the team were quickly out-growing their Neath Abbey offices and with more and more clients in the Swansea Bay City Region, the decision was made to move.
“The plan has always been to expand the team and create a competitive digital marketing agency, so we began looking for offices that gave us a central location, as well as space to grow over the next few years,” said Alix.
And in the late Autumn of 2022, Alix and her team moved into Urban Village, at 220 High Street Swansea, which also gave the business the opportunity to rebrand.
“Alix Digital was a great identity in the early days as it was just me, however, as we are soon to be a team of five, with another recruitment drive on the way later this year, the move was the perfect time to reflect on our brand.”
After a productive discussion with team members and close clients, AD Marketing was born and along with it, a new set of corporate colours to represent the firm's commitment to operating in an environmentally friendly way.
“We are not only delighted with our new address but also the look and feel of our new brand, which encapsulates perfectly our service offering, as well as our core beliefs and ethics as a business,” she said.
With Google as the main platform through which AD Marketing delivers its services, the Swansea company is not the only one to make changes.
“Google's roll-out of Google Analytics 4, or GA4 as it's known, has meant many businesses and marketing agencies have been slow to move across to this new platform,” explained Alix.
“And as we are accredited Google Partners, we are delivering training courses to businesses and agencies on how to use GA4 before the older, Universal Analytics, is switched off later this year,” she continued.
With a new office, new brand, new staff and plenty of new opportunities for the Swansea-based digital agency, the future is certainly bright for AD Marketing.
