My Why - About Make Way Media, myself and how I can make your business work better
I love roses! These are in my garden in Essex, however, I work with clients nationally and internationally.
Hi, I'm Danielle.
Marketing strategist. Professional photographer. And someone who wants to know why before throwing more marketing at the problem.
Because more marketing isn't always the answer!
I've spent enough time working in marketing to know that doing more isn't necessarily the same as doing better.
A business can be posting consistently, writing blogs, updating its website, trying to improve its SEO, sending emails and jumping on the latest marketing advice and still not really know what's working, what's worth the time or what should happen next.
That's where my brain tends to kick in.
I want to know why.
Why aren't the right people finding you? Why are they finding you but not taking the next step? Why is one piece of content flying while another disappears without a trace? Why does your marketing feel like a collection of separate jobs rather than something that's actually helping the business?
Sometimes you need better content. Sometimes the website is getting in the way. Sometimes the message isn't clear. Sometimes there's an opportunity sitting right under your nose.
And sometimes you need to stop doing something altogether.
That's why I diagnose before I prescribe.
Make It Real - More than a decade of actually doing the work
My approach comes from more than 10 years of paid experience across agency, in-house, charity, education, freelance and self-employed roles.
I've worked across marketing strategy, organic social media, content and copywriting, SEO-led website and blog content, PR and media relations, campaigns, website content, analytics and reporting, community communications and professional photography.
I've managed 80+ client campaigns, worked with organisations including Dogs Trust, Seevic College, Ikea, Elvie and Hearts Milk Bank, and I've been running my own photography and marketing business since 2014.
At Dogs Trust, I worked across social media and PR, with Instagram growing by nearly 60% and Twitter engagement increasing by 20% during my contract. I also originated the story of volunteer Maisie Green and her hand-knitted dog coats, which went on to receive international media coverage.
I've had work featured in publications including The Independent and The Echo, and I've photographed businesses and people professionally for more than a decade.
More recently, my work with The Gluten Free World has included strategy, content, social media and website activity. One Facebook post reached 257,870 people organically, while recorded website comparison periods increased from 223 sessions and 162 unique visitors to 1,638 sessions and 1,295 visitors.
The point isn't that every business needs all of those things.
It's that I've worked across enough of marketing to look at the whole picture rather than automatically recommending the service I happen to sell.
Make It Work - Strategy is useful. So is getting your hands dirty.
I'm a strategist, but I'm also a doer.
I don't particularly enjoy producing a beautiful marketing plan that gets saved somewhere and never looked at again.
Once we know what actually matters, I can help implement it too! Whether that's improving website content, developing an SEO-led article, planning a campaign, writing copy, creating social content, approaching the media, analysing what's working or photographing the business properly.
And if something sits outside my expertise, I'll say so.
I'd much rather recommend the right next step than sell somebody work they don't need.
Make Way Mummy - The human behind the business
Make Way Media is a one-person business, so if you work with me, you work with me.
I'm also a professional photographer, a mum to two girls and someone who is almost incapable of seeing a piece of marketing without wondering why somebody made that particular decision.
Photography has been part of my working life since 2014 and it's probably one reason I'm particularly interested in how strategy, words and visuals work together. Good marketing has to make sense as a whole.
Outside work, life is considerably less strategic. I love live music, making things, taking photographs simply because I want to, and I once appeared in a zombie film.
That last one has contributed absolutely nothing to my marketing expertise, but it's considerably more interesting than telling you I'm passionate about helping businesses thrive.
Make A Stand -What I believe
I believe businesses deserve to understand why they're doing their marketing, not just be given another list of things they should be doing.
I believe useful strategy should lead to action.
I believe evidence matters, but numbers without context can be just as misleading as having no numbers at all.
And I believe good marketing should ultimately do something useful for the organisation behind it; whether that's creating demand, making it easier for the right people to find and choose you, strengthening a campaign, improving communication or giving a team some much-needed direction.
That's really the why behind Make Way Media.
Work out what matters. Then make it happen.
Make Your Way - Something about your marketing isn't quite adding up?
You don't need to know what's wrong before you contact me. Working that out is rather the point.
The Marketing Clarity Review is my £495 strategic review for established and growing organisations that are already doing marketing but aren't convinced it's working as well as it should.
I'll look at the bigger picture, identify what's getting in the way and give you a focused action plan built around the 3–5 things that matter most.
[Take the 60-second Marketing Reality Check]
or
[Explore the £495 Marketing Clarity Review]