Lucy Clarke is the co-founder of Get Blogged, a blogger outreach and link-building agency based in the UK. She helps to connect the best bloggers with the best brands so companies can secure glittering coverage and improve their search engine rankings. Lucy co-leads a team of ten staff, as well as overseeing client operations and marketing, and orchestrating creative campaigns. She’s also a mum of three and writes a blog of her own where she covers topics including parenting, postnatal mental health, and family lifestyle. 

Can you tell our readers about your background?

I’ve always possessed a strong creative streak, and been influenced by my entrepreneurial father. After completing a fashion marketing degree where I specialised in graphic design at Solent University, I went to work for a small fashion design brand back in my hometown in Suffolk. There I worked closely with the founder, learning the challenges of running a small business.

I then moved my career to Berkshire where I worked in the web development team for a leading wine company. It’s there I learned front-end web development and honed my graphic design skills, working closely with the marketing team to improve sales revenue and customer engagement.

I then won my dream role as a graphic designer at a fashion trends company based in Mornington Crescent in London. My dream was unfortunately dashed by the expensive and tiring commute into London every day, so it was then I decided to take the leap from being employed to being a freelancer.

Having made lots of connections in previous roles I had a great base of freelance clients and I was doing what I loved. After a few years of freelancing and losing my passion for designing I decided to take a jump back into being employed, and took an opportunity at a leading whitelabel dating platform.

As a Marketing Manager for one of their dating sites, I was responsible for improving membership revenue and engagement rates, and this fast paced, results-led role gave me the buzz I was lacking. After a good few years of not feeling totally satisfied in design roles, it was clear that I was a lot more suited to marketing. It’s there I met my business partner, Ben, and the rest is history.

What inspired you to start your business?

As a blogger, I’d been working with brands on sponsored content and product reviews for almost ten years, so I’d learned exactly what worked, what businesses were looking for, and the essential elements of a successful campaign. My co-founder Ben was a colleague in a previous role and had extensive experience in the technical side of SEO. Together, we knew that we could deliver stellar service and fill a big gap in the market!

Where is your business based?

I’m based in Hampshire in the South East of England, and the entire Get Blogged team work remotely throughout the UK. Managing a remote team is not without its challenges, but it works amazingly for us. It’s allowed us to recruit the very best talent for our roles without geographical constraints, and everyone loves the flexibility of working from home.

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

 It all started with deciding to automate some of the manual processes we were going through when doing blogger outreach. With a strong background in design, web development, and SEO, this process came very easy to Ben and me and we built a platform ourselves from the ground up. We already had relationships with thousands of bloggers, so we onboarded them to our new automated solution and that was the start of Get Blogged!

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

Word of mouth has been an exceptional way for us to attract both bloggers and brands to the platform. Using the methods that we advocate for our clients, we also manage to successfully bring highly targeted traffic to our site via search engine optimisation.

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

Gaining the trust of our community of bloggers has been so important to our success. They’re essentially our suppliers, and it’s so important for us to have a positive relationship with them so we’re able to fulfill our clients’ goals.

Thanks to my own background as a blogger, I feel I’m able to understand what really makes them tick and speak to them in their language. We now have a community of over 17,000 creators, and we’ve built strong relationships via open and honest communication, fair and transparent payment terms, and ongoing initiatives to support the blogger community. We’ve sponsored tickets at industry events for bloggers who might not have otherwise been able to attend, for example, and we regularly create resources to help them to grow their sites.

How do you stay focused?

 Having worked from home for the majority of my working life, I have a strong, disciplined routine. I have a dedicated desk in my house, I set myself daily tasks and deadlines using Asana and make sure that I complete them on time. I tend to dedicate Monday to Friday to work (days, and evenings when I need to) so that I can stay on track, then switch off at the weekends where the downtime refreshes me for another week of work.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

One of our strong USPs is the relationships we have with our bloggers. We regularly work with some of the best content creators in their respective niches, giving brands access to highly engaged audiences.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

Our search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy has ensured that when people are searching Google for the kind of help and support that we can provide, our site appears within the top results. This generates high-quality leads for us on a daily basis, and it’s something that we continue to hone and tweak for the very best results.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

One step at a time. As an entrepreneur, you can get overwhelmed by all the business ideas and initiatives buzzing around your head. Small, incremental steps towards a bigger goal will ensure you are making daily progress without the overwhelm.

Also, no matter how busy you are, make time every day to learn. Whether it’s an online course, an ebook, an audiobook or a webinar, “learning is earning” and it’s so incredibly important to keep absorbing new tactics and skills.

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

Everyone who knows me knows my favourite apps are takeaway ones! When my blood sugar is low I become erratic and can’t focus, and sometimes when long client calls are directly followed by school runs and nursery pickups I need someone to take care of the cooking!

There’s no one favourite blog that I read regularly but I come across all sorts of amazing resources in this industry.

Currently, I am reading ‘Scaling Up’ by Verne Harnish which is a great book to read when you’re ready to or have aspirations to scale up your business. It talks about accountability within teams and company structures to allow for growth and success. The absolute favourite that I recommend to everyone is ‘They Ask You Answer’ by Marcus Sheridan. It’s an amazingly inspirational book to read if you’re planning a content marketing strategy. I always buy the hard copy and the audiobook as I have a very short attention span when reading books (always have) so I like to listen whilst cleaning or cooking or driving, then reference the hard copy when I need to look at diagrams or to highlight parts.

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

Business coaching has been very valuable to me personally and professionally. My coach has built my self-esteem, supported me through mental health issues, and guided me when the business has gone through challenging times. Coaching is a resource that Ben and I both tap into on a regular basis, and have gained a huge amount from.

Who is your business role model? Why?

My business partner, Ben. It might sound corny but I look up to him more than he probably knows! He is a steady, confident, kind human and he knows his sh&t! I admire the way he articulates things and I have learned a great deal from him over the past 10 years of knowing and working with him.

How do you balance work and life?

Being a mum of three young children, I’m not sure I can balance work and life. I do work hard to keep sane, but I do need to step back from work occasionally to get my personal life back on track. I rely on full-time childcare and a part-time housekeeper to keep things running personally.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

Without a doubt, the beach. It’s my happy place. Come rain or shine you will find us at the quietest beaches as often as possible. As soon as I see the sea, I am happy.

When I am not at the beach or at my desk, I have weekly 121 virtual yoga training which returns my zen back to healthy levels!

What do you have planned for the next six months?

We’ve spent a lot of time recently honing our Marketplace solution, which is a self-service option for brands who want to connect with bloggers. Right now we’re really excited to grow this further, and to continue to provide an outstanding service to the businesses who join us!

How can our readers connect with you?

You can find out more about our work at GetBlogged.net.

We’re also on Twitter @Get_Blogged and Facebook Facebook.com/GetBlogged
You can also connect with me on Linkedin - I’d love to hear from you.