Working with a digital marketing consultant like me means you get one person who takes the time to understand your business properly, then looks after your marketing as though it were her own. You deal with me directly, we meet face to face where we can, and I am honest about what is working and what is not.
I am Freya Jones, and this article is a personal one. Most agency websites tell you what they do. I would rather tell you what it feels like to work with me, so you can decide whether we would get on. It is a bit like a digital marketing agency with a human touch: the strategy, the data and the technical bits are all there, but the people come first.
If you want the short version: I want to be onboarded as though I am joining your team, I get a real kick out of learning how your business ticks, and I will celebrate your wins with you. Our guiding principle is simple: if we grow you, we grow together.
I love meeting people face to face
I have more than 18 years of experience in digital marketing, across Google Ads, Meta Ads, SEO, analytics and conversion work. Yet the part I still enjoy most is sitting down with a business owner over a coffee and talking properly about their business.
Plenty of marketing can be done by email and video call, and I am very happy to work that way when it suits you. But I have found that the best ideas often come from a proper face-to-face chat. You mention something in passing, such as a customer who always asks the same question, or a service you are quietly proud of, and that small detail changes the whole direction of a campaign.
Being based in Royal Tunbridge Wells helps here. I work with businesses across Tunbridge Wells, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey and London, and I also work with clients UK-wide and internationally. Where meeting in person makes sense, I am glad to do it. Where it does not, we keep things personal in other ways. You can read more about my background on my About Freya Jones page.
I want to be onboarded as though I am joining your team
This is the biggest difference in how I work. I do not want to be a supplier who sends a monthly report and disappears. I would like to be onboarded the way a new member of staff would be, introduced to the people, shown how things run, and told what really matters to you.
That is because marketing only works well when it reflects the reality of the business. If I do not know that your Tuesday classes are always half empty, or that your most profitable service is the one nobody asks about, I cannot build marketing that fixes those things. I would rather ask a hundred questions at the start than guess later.
I also enjoy the nitty-gritty. How do enquiries come in? Who answers the phone? What happens after someone books? What does a good customer look like, and what does a difficult one look like? These details are not boring to me. They are where the best opportunities usually hide.
What I want to understand about your business
Before I touch a campaign, I want to understand five things properly:
- Your customers: who they are, what they worry about, and what makes them choose you over someone else.
- Your products and services: what you sell, what you are best at, and what you would love to sell more of.
- Your profitability: which services make you money and which ones simply keep you busy.
- Your ambitions: where you want the business to be in a year, and what a good year would look like to you.
- Your limits: your capacity, your budget and your appetite for change.
Here is a simple example. Imagine a beauty clinic in Kent that offers ten treatments. Two of them bring in most of the profit, and the clinic only has room for a few extra appointments each week. If I just aimed to get as many enquiries as possible, I could fill the diary with the wrong bookings. Knowing the numbers lets me aim the marketing at the treatments that matter and keep the diary healthy.
The onboarding journey, step by step
Every business is different, so the detail changes, but the journey follows the same order. Here is how it usually goes.
1. Discovery
We start with a conversation, with no pressure and no jargon. I want to hear your story, what is going well, what is frustrating you and what you would like to change. I will ask about your goals and what you have already tried. This is also when you can ask me anything, including whether we are the right fit. If we are not, I will tell you honestly.
2. Meeting the team
Where possible, I like to meet the people who make the business run: the front desk, the coaches, the sales team, the person who packs the orders. They often know things the owner does not, such as the questions customers ask most or the reasons people hesitate. It also means that when I write an advert or a web page, I am using the words your customers genuinely use.
3. Understanding the business
Next I dig into how the business works day to day: your customer journey, your pricing, your busy and quiet periods, your competitors and your profit margins. This is the stage where I want to learn the nitty-gritty. I would rather spend time here than build a plan on assumptions.
4. Auditing your marketing
Then I look at what you already have: your website, Google Business Profile (the free listing that shows your business on Google Search and Maps), search visibility, any existing ads, and your tracking. I am looking for what is working, what is leaking enquiries and what is missing. If you would like to see how this works on its own, my digital marketing audits are a good place to start, and I can also arrange a free digital audit.
5. Building the strategy
With the facts in front of me, I put together a clear plan. It covers which channels to use, what to do first, what it will cost and what we expect to learn along the way. I will explain it in plain English and talk through the reasons behind each recommendation. Nothing goes ahead until you are comfortable with it.
6. Implementing campaigns
This is where the plan becomes real: setting up and managing Google Ads, Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram adverts), SEO (improving your site so people find you on Google) and any website or tracking changes. I do the work myself, and you know who is doing it. Ad spend is paid separately to the platforms, so you always see exactly where your money is going.
7. Tracking performance
I set up tracking so we can see what actually brings in enquiries and customers, not just clicks and likes. A busy-looking report means nothing if the phone is not ringing. I focus on the numbers that matter to your business, such as enquiries, bookings, sales and cost per customer.
8. Ongoing communication
After launch, we keep talking. I will tell you what is working, what is not and what I would change. If a campaign is not performing, you will hear it from me first, along with what I plan to do about it. Good marketing is rarely right first time, and being open about that is part of the job.
Why my psychology background matters
I have a background in psychology and behavioural science, and it shapes almost everything I do. Marketing is not really about adverts or algorithms. It is about people making decisions: what makes someone stop scrolling, trust a business, hesitate, or finally pick up the phone.
In practice, this helps me in small but important ways. I think about what might be putting a customer off, such as uncertainty about price, fear of looking out of place or not knowing what happens next. Then I look for honest ways to ease those worries, through clearer page layouts, better wording, stronger proof and simpler booking steps. It also helps me read what customers are really asking for when they search, rather than assuming.
Honest communication and real collaboration
I value honesty above almost everything else in a working relationship. That means telling you when something is not working, when a plan needs changing, or when you would be better off spending your budget elsewhere. I cannot promise rankings or specific results, and nobody honest can. What I can promise is that I will be clear, open and constructive.
I also see this as a partnership. You know your business, and I know digital marketing. The best results come when we share what we know. You tell me about the new service launching next month, and I plan around it. I tell you what the data is showing, and you tell me what you are hearing from customers. Over time, I become an extension of the business rather than an outside voice.
If you are weighing up whether to hire an agency, a freelancer or a consultant, I have written about that in marketing agency or freelancer: which is right for you. The short answer is that it depends on how much you value working directly with the person doing the work.
I love celebrating results with clients
This is my favourite part. Marketing can feel like a slog, and it is easy to keep moving the goalposts without ever stopping to enjoy progress. I like to pause, look at what has been achieved and recognise it together.
For example, when we ran the 50% off campaign for Halo Gym in Tunbridge Wells, it brought in 100 membership enquiries and 49 new paying members from £474.59 of ad spend. That worked out at £9.69 per new member (not per lead), and a 215% advertising return. Behind those numbers were 49 real people joining a gym, and that was worth celebrating with the team. You can see the full story in the Halo Gym Meta Ads case study, and more examples on my results page. Results vary from business to business, of course, so I never treat these as promises, only as evidence of what careful, joined-up work can do.
Celebrating also matters for a less obvious reason. When a team can see that its effort is paying off, it is more motivated, and the marketing gets better because everyone is pulling in the same direction.
Who I work best with
I tend to work best with owners and managers who want a genuine working relationship, who are open to honest feedback and who care about growing steadily rather than chasing quick fixes. You do not need to understand marketing. That is my job, and I will explain anything that is unclear along the way.
If you are curious about costs, my pricing page sets out what each service costs, and you can find more on how I support local firms on my digital marketing in Tunbridge Wells page.
Frequently asked questions
Will I work directly with you?
Yes. Clients work directly with me, not with a junior or an account manager. When you ask a question, I am the one who answers it.
Do we have to meet in person?
No, but I would love to if it is practical. I am based in Royal Tunbridge Wells and enjoy face-to-face meetings. For clients further away, we can work by phone and video, and still keep things personal.
How long does onboarding take?
It depends on the size and complexity of your business. I do not rush the early stages, because the time spent on discovery and understanding your business saves a lot of wasted effort later. I will give you a realistic idea of timing once we have talked.
Do I need to know anything about digital marketing?
Not at all. I explain things in plain English, and if I use a term such as SEO (search engine optimisation, which helps people find you on Google) or CRO (conversion rate optimisation, which helps more visitors become enquiries), I will tell you what it means.
What does it cost to work with you?
It depends on the service. For example, Google Business Profile management starts from £150 per month, SEO management from £400 per month, Google Ads management from £450 per month and Facebook and Instagram Ads management from £550 per month. Ad spend is paid separately to the platforms. A free digital audit is available if you would like a starting point.
Let's have a conversation
If this sounds like the way you would like to work, I would love to hear about your business. You can get in touch to arrange a friendly, no-pressure chat, or request a free digital audit so I can show you where the opportunities are.
Either way, you will be talking to me, and I will be honest with you. After all, if we grow you, we grow together.
Want help putting this into practice?
