Steve Jaggard is a multi-award-winning creative, marketer, and entrepreneur who has never had a CV. From the age of 22, he’s founded and run a series of marketing agencies from Norfolk, the last of which, Further, was sold to Gravity Global in 2019. Today, Steve runs his one-man consultancy, BlackType, mentoring agencies and marketing teams, and is part of ADifferentView, reimagining museums, galleries, and visitor experiences worldwide — and in this Q&A, he shares the honest truths behind the journey.

You’ve built, scaled and exited agencies. Looking back, is there one decision that really moved the needle for growth?

Hard to pinpoint just one. But I’d certainly say that building an agency with a specialism gives you so much more opportunity than being a generalist. It’s easier to attract larger brands, you can command more premium rates and there are no boundaries geographically. That said, you have to retain a focus - and invest in - being the best; standards are vital to keep and grow clients at this level. If you can, it’ll pay dividends.

Marketing leaders are under more pressure than ever to prove ROI. From what you’ve seen, where do businesses most often trip up?

In recent years, with so many new platforms and channels available, I have seen marketing teams look ‘channel first’ which to me is putting the cart before the horse.
 We seem to have lost the basics of effectiveness; to concentrate on the message, proposition and the ‘stand-out’ first, then to select the delivery channels which will best serve the execution and audiences. ROI only comes with conversions. Conversions only come through effective strategies and messaging.  

There’s always that tension between building a brand and chasing short-term performance. How do you think businesses should approach that balance today?

My belief is – and has always been – that there should be a strategy for each.
 The evergreen and continuous ‘brand-building/awareness’ strand being focused on the single-minded brand proposition to keep growing awareness and keeping the brand front-of-mind. This forms the backdrop and trust points for the ‘tactical’ strand to deliver more effectively with its more tailored ‘sales-focused’ campaigns throughout the year. Sound expensive? Well it is a lot more affordable than it was prior to email, social and digital platforms.

Those of us who remember the days of brand building via print, tv, radio and outdoor also remember massive cost of brand-building, despite the massive wastage. Today we can far better target our brand building to those most likely to buy our products.

You’ve sat at board level and advised leadership teams. What do the strongest boards really understand about the role marketing and design play in growth?

The most effective boards these days have their Marketing lead not only on the Board, but increasingly leading that Board. It has taken a long time, but we seem to be finally realising and recognising the importance of marketing to sustainability and profitability. I’ve also seen so many instances where Sales and Marketing heads and teams battle one another within organisations, one often blaming the other for lack of performance.

My advice going into clients is nearly always to get the two working together, not just at Board, but every day, sharing the same meetings, the same office (where the office still exists). It takes a little time, but the result is a collaborative team effort, whereby everybody works together to understand targets; to create, to test, monitor and hone solutions. It creates excitement, more passion and a genuinely better culture to work within. 

You’ve always championed Norfolk, spent a decade as a Director at Norwich Theatre and now as a Trustee at Historic Norfolk. What makes businesses in this region different and where do you see the biggest opportunities?

I’ve seen so many Norfolk start-up businesses thrive, grow and become market leaders in their sectors both nationally and beyond – not only in marketing but b2b and b2c sectors of all shapes and sizes, tastes and flavours. 
Whether being in Norfolk makes us we feel we need to work harder and smarter to prove to ourselves and the world that we can be the best I can’t say, but it is very cool to see more and more success. It cannot be a coincidence that, at the same time, we have seen a more collaborative creative culture built within the county – and great credit must go to those individuals, networks and organisations who have fostered this, often in their own time. 


As for the future, we must immerse youngsters in this communal spirit at an early age as possible so they grow up recognising it is good to be independent-thinking, creative and brave enough to work hard and take risks. If we can make this happen, then they will be the ones who will themselves spot the new trends and opportunities upon which to start their businesses.

For marketing leaders and business owners asking “what next?” this year, where would you be focusing your energy?

The obvious answer is making the business sustainable – and trying to keep it profitable – in these tough economic times. But we’ve been here before and things will turn around.
 So from a marketing point of view, I’d be making sure you are at the front of mind and front of the queue when it does.

• 
Think about where you are spending on marketing. 

• Review what works and what doesn’t. (No excuses these days!).  

• Times change, habits change, audiences change. Challenge yourself to create a better proposition, to find new audiences.
• Test new ideas with target audiences. Monitor the results.
• Cut out the spends which aren’t performing. Concentrate that budget on what you know is working. (Don’t simply keep doing it because it’s what you’ve done for years.) 



In short, get out a clean sheet of paper and have a good spring clean. You’ll feel better for it.  

What’s one piece of straight-talking advice you’d give to anyone responsible for growing a brand right now?

Don’t throw the kitchen sink at it. Don’t be scattergun. Instead be single-minded. Develop the proposition. Make sure you stand out. Test it with the audience. Then keep with it. Too many brands fail because internally they themselves may be bored with the same look or the same message, so they push out so much diluted messaging because they feel they need to, or their social schedule dictates they need to do so many an hour, a day, a week. Bloody ridiculous! They are only adding to the wallpaper that’s already out there. 


But here’s the real thing. What they forget is that the audience they are trying to attract, engage and eventually convert will have seen that message far far less, if at all. And they are the ones that count! 

As one of my first lessons with the esteemed Dave Trott taught me ‘if you don’t catch attention, you’ve lost before you’ve started’. 
That’s more relevant today than it was back then with endless mundane dross being flung at us from all directions.