Meet…&

Together they

created

What Does

Do?

The whole team of

ThoughtShifters are deeply

passionate about working with

companies and charities that make

a difference to the world and

believe that creativity is the key.

Our ThoughtShift

PRISM™ Digital

Marketing Methodology

transform organisations,

doubling, trebling and even

quintupling their size.

We specialise in

Search Engine

Optimisation

(SEO) and provide

digital marketing re-imagined.

What Did You Want to Be When You Grew Up?

AJ

Why Digital Marketing?

Helen: I felt there was a big

future in the internet. I was

working for Thomson’s Directory

in the 90s and we started selling

the additional service of website

listings and companies were like,

website? Why do I need a

website? I would love to see what

those companies are doing now.

AJ: I liked computers so gave that a

go. Through college I learnt the

various bits including website design,

making computers etc and ended up

helping Norfolk County Council with

their first intranet. They liked me so

much they took me on and it went

from there really until I got a job in a

marketing agency.

How Did You Become Business Partners?

AJ: We first met when Helen

interviewed me for a job and hired

me. We were doing 90 hour

weeks and sat at a pub with a

cold pint we thought; “There must

be a better way to do this?”

Helen: At the time we were also working on a pitch

over the weekend for a blood diamond company.

We didn’t want to work with an unethical company

so we ended up inspired to start our own business,

writing our business plan on a till receipt because

we couldn’t find anything else to write on.

What Happened Next?

Helen: Our till receipt plan was coming up with the idea of

running white label SEO so that we could build our reputation

first offering work via partners.

For example we are now working with a

diamond company that offers a lifetime

guarantee and does business ethically.

We knew we couldn’t help them directly but

digital marketing can affect change and

influence so we decided to work with ethical

businesses or treat their customers well.

Because we had been working with the blood

diamond company when we both watched a

documentary showing children in Guana go

through the various rubbish dumped on their

island for scrap, it made us want to do

something.

What Did You Do First?

AJ: The two of us did

planning for six months

and then we hired our

first member of

staff, so there were

three of us in Helen’s

spare room at home.

We both

invested

£100 each which

bought us a couple of

desks, some red paint

and basic supplies

Helen: The room has now been converted to a bathroom

so my old desk is now a bath and AJ’s is a sink. Haha!

How Did You Come Up With The NameThoughtShift?

Helen: The name ‘ThoughtShift’ actually came quite naturally. Now is the time to

reimagine digital marketing as a way of helping people solve real-world problems

funded by brands. If you can think it, you can do it and that's our entire approach,

we first think of a plan to help our clients, then we deliver it.

You're looking at Thought (me) and Shift (AJ) right here. It's all about balance and

we're ying and yang.

The world is going

through a paradigm

shift - the internet is

changing the world.

Why Rainbows & Bubbles?

Helen: Being based in

Brighton the Rainbow is a

significant symbol and we

very much wanted to

express the freedom in

creating our own agency

and symbolise our pride in

being an agency that is

ethical and forward

thinking.

AJ: Yeah it wasn’t so much

a “hey, we’re gay” as a

sign of peace and liberty

and not being afraid to do

things differently. We have

had many different logos

but the thought bubble

demonstrates our focus on

thinking differently.

When Did You Know it Was Going to Work?

AJ: Quite quickly for

me and lately I

frequently think about

how awesomeit is.

Helen: We really did hit the ground running

with our White Label SEO model, so I knew it

was a profitable business early on and

I guess it was when we started to make a profit

in month 4 that I felt confident it was going to

work. We have been making a profit ever since.

What Makes ThoughShiftDifferent?

AJ: We can’t help kids in Guana but

we have helped people carve out

careers through our apprenticeships.

We also do our Do it Different

(DiD) challenge whereby we support

local charities by running events and

using our digital marketing to help raise

funds for the homeless or young

people.

Helen: We have an ethical approach and

offer a high quality service that ultimately

delivers revenue. We are not about

delivering fluffy rankings results. We are

transparent and we educate our clients

providing free content on our blogs and

offering training. We teach our clients

everything that we teach our employees.

Are You Digital Marketing Rock Stars?

Helen: I am a musician and AJ is passionate

about music so a lot of our branding and

language is influenced by music such as our

‘Thoughtshift Guestlist’

emails, ‘backstage passes’ to our events

and our branded flags, which are

festival inspired.

I think we have let our love of music influence

our direction because it is who we are and if we

are passionate about our company then it will

rub off on our clients.

What Are Your Key Achievements?

…We also made a

popular eCommerce

brand 1 million in revenue

this year.

AJ: 2013 has been a big

year. We started working

with The Law Society,

which is one of the top

associations in the UK

and transformed 5

traditional print

publications to 5 websites

achieving over a quarter

of a million page views for

Gearing Media. However,

one of our biggest

achievements has been

securing our new bigger

offices this month! We

can’t wait to move in!

Helen: We tend to not

think too much about

what everyone else

thinks and just do our

thing. I guess that’s just

our punk attitude!

How Have You Grown Since 2010?

AJ: We have now grown

from just us 2 to 15 in the

last three years, which

isn’t bad going… We now

have an awesome team!

Best memories So far with ThoughtShift?

AJ: Our ‘Walk this Way’ team music

video was definitely a highlight! We

have summer parties and for our last

one after some team building we

booked into a studio in partnership with

Go-experience. We had make-up

artists etc and put together the video, It

was such a laugh and great to actually

be the rock stars we all are at heart.

Check it out …

Why Digital Marketing Architects?

AJ: The digital marketing journey starts

with a digital strategy (a blueprint) and just

like building your dream house, we believe

that our clients need an architect to help

them achieve their vision, to take it from

paper to reality or in our case a digital

marketing architect to take it from

campaign plan to customer-driving

machine.

Helen: Crafting exquisite digital strategies that

increase brand awareness, customer

engagement and new customer acquisition

takes time, this is not something that should be

rushed or you could risk burning your budget.

The last thing you want to do is end up without

having the time to optimise all your marketing

assets for search, social and pay per click (it

would be like building a beautiful house without

any doors to get in)!

Tell Us About the ThoughtShift Academy…

AJ: I am very passionate about young

people and strongly feel that the

education system doesn’t work. There are

too many young people going to

university and coming out with no job

prospects. We offer practical training that

they can utilise in business. Even if we

don’t take on an intern, they are armed

with the necessary skills to get

employed. I would love to run training

workshops in local colleges and help

more.

Helen: Our industry is so new that SEO and PPC aren't even covered in

marketing degree courses so there is a distinct lack of people with

search marketing experience out there. Creating our own training

programme means we get everyone up to the standard we demand for

our clients - which isn't for the faint hearted!

What Are Your Future Plans?

AJ: When we get a big

eCommerce brand like

Selfridges becoming a

client, then can we can

say…

AJ: I don’t think we’re

doing 90 anymore.

Helen: So that’s

something, we can lob

10 off a year!

…And growing the team

to a point that we can

have a less stressful life

and shorter hours.

Helen: Yeah because

that is pretty much how

we started, to work

less hours but it hasn’t

quite worked out.

Although I don’t know if

we are doing 90 hour

weeks.

What Advice Do You Have for Anyone Starting Up?

Helen: It is all in the planning and

financial forecasting. We use a

custom tool for that.

…We use ours to decide if we can employ

another person or get the fancy television

or Xbox.

…If someone took the tool from me I may

have to kill them.

Top Tip for Website Owners?

Helen: Make sure your

website is accessible to

search engines.

AJ: Think about what you want to get from

your website. Before you say “I need a

website”, or design it, or throw it together –

think about who your audience is, what do they

want from your website? And then you plan it.

So it comes back to the planning.

For more about the team, visit our Website: www.thoughtshift.co.uk