7 Gold. 1 Silver. 1 Bronze.

That was the medal haul for Team GB Track Cycling at London 2012 Olympics.

It's fair to say they annihilated the competition.

They won nearly 80% of the races they competed in, 70% of all Gold medals and won a medal in 90% of the disciplines. Competitors were left scratching their heads, crying “foul”.

How did they achieve such dominance?

By washing their hands properly. And sleeping on the right pillows.

Yes, seriously.

On the last day of competition, Dave Brailsford – Performance Director for Team GB Cycling & architect of their domination – appeared on Breakfast Television. And he revealed their secret:

Marginal Gains

The difference between 1st & 2nd. The difference between Gold and Silver.

Factors such as getting proper, quality sleep, vital to both performance and recovery. Which means finding the best pillow for each rider and taking it wherever they travel.

Or learning how to properly wash your hands to minimise the chance of illness.

Or spending hours in the wind tunnel to pinpoint the least wind resistant position on the bike which will result in a few hundredths of a second speed advantage.

Marginal gains make the difference between winning and losing.

It's the same with your Digital Marketing.

Small advantages – across the board – add up. And not only do they add up, they have a compounding effect.

And the result is domination of your competitors.

Isolate the points that matter. Then execute them better than your competitors and you will never need worry about getting new customers and be free to grow your business at whatever pace you choose.

For instance, here's just a glimpse of what we do to get the "edge" for our clients.

SEO : Tighten up the “on page” ranking elements better than your competitors. Improve the site structure so “link juice” flows correctly. Add “Tactical content”. Backlinks are the fuel that fires your rankings, so we investigate competitors backlink profiles, then go bigger and better, with high value authority links.

Google Ads: Write creative ads that get clicks and test, test, test. Small changes in clickthrough rates - just 0.5% improvement – can drastically affect the costs you pay. Build & test better landing pages, to increase conversion rates: Doubling your conversion rate will halve your customer acquisition cost, allowing you to out manoeuvre your competitors.

Competitive Research: We use cutting edge technology to get a birds eye view of your market and track your competitors rankings over time, revealing who the “movers & shakers” are and enabling us to hone in on what the specific “marginal gains” are in your market.

Analytics: Tie it all together with actionable data from your website. Knowing where customers are coming from, what paths they take through your website and where the weak spots are.

Conversion Rate Optimisation: We strip down our clients conversion processes and rebuild them so they are finely tuned to maximise every website click.

Why do we do all this?

Because Digital Marketing is a “Zero Sum Game”.

And, like Marginal Gains, this is a vital concept to grasp.

There are only so many first page positions on Google. Around 10 or so – give or take - plus a few ads. And 95% of people rarely venture past page one.

This means that for every winner, there is a loser. Much like investing in the stockmarket, or conducting a legal case.

If you're going to court, you want your lawyer to be better than your opponent's.

If you're investing in stocks & shares, you want your portfolio manager to be better than most other peoples.

The same is true in SEO, Google Ads and Digital Marketing.

If you want good Google rankings, the company that invests wisely and engages the best specialist is going to win. The business that engages a “Stack 'em high, sell 'em cheap” SEO company (or offshore supplier) is going to come off second best.

And their investment is pretty much wasted.

Our clients know this.

We give them the Edge. The Digital Edge.

Successful organisations know their success is determined by the right people. Premiership football clubs don't skimp when it comes to hiring a manager. Successful companies don't hire the cheapest lawyers, accountants or other key advisors.

Successful companies have an investment mindset. They invest in the best. They view marketing as an investment.

Mediocre companies have a poverty mindset. They look for the cheapest. They view marketing as a cost.

There are several areas of business where choosing the cheapest won't do you any harm. Stationery & office suppliers. Vehicle leases. Gas. Electric. Telephone. Cleaning services. Photocopiers.

But then there's the areas where you absolutely shouldn't skimp.

Accountants. Lawyers. Financial Advisers.

And Digital Marketing.

What do they all have in common?

They can impact your bottom line. Good ones will make you money. Poor ones will cost you money. Lots of it.

Next Steps

If the above resonates with you, complete our enquiry form to see if your business is ready to get the edge.