A Year of Marketing Growth and the Start of Something New
2025 has probably been one of the most important years of my marketing career.
This year stands out not merely due to a newfound discovery of marketing principles or practices.
In fact, I've been immersed in the world of marketing for a considerable amount of time, honing my skills and understanding the nuances of the industry.
However, what makes this year particularly significant is the shift in how I perceive and approach my own work.
I began January deeply engaged in the ambitious task of rebuilding Aberystwyth Town's digital infrastructure, a project that required meticulous planning and execution.
By February, the new website was successfully launched, marking a pivotal moment in this endeavour.
Within just a few weeks of going live, the website began generating sales and significantly increasing the volume of customer data available to the club, which was a testament to the effectiveness of the new digital strategy.
Following this success, a flurry of sponsorship activities, events, and initiatives unfolded, including the Business Club, the AbeRAStwyth 5K, new kits, Matchday Teammates, and ticketing campaigns.
Among these, one of my favorite and slightly unconventional ideas of the year was the creation of an Aberystwyth Town sticker book, which surprisingly garnered national media attention, showcasing our innovative approach to fan engagement.
In addition to my work with Aberystwyth Town, I have continued to collaborate with various businesses through Red Squirrel Marketing.
Projects such as The Gym and Mama Fay's have provided me with the opportunity to apply many of the same marketing principles I use in sports to entirely different environments, demonstrating the versatility of effective marketing strategies.
While the output might differ—such as a restaurant website rather than football ticketing—the underlying marketing questions remain consistent across sectors.
Who is the customer? What do they need? What makes this organization distinctive? What actions do we want them to take? How can we eliminate friction in their experience? How do we encourage repeat engagement? And importantly, how do we measure the effectiveness of our efforts?
These fundamental inquiries are why 2025 feels distinctly different for me.
Throughout much of my career, I have labeled myself as an ideas man and a problem solver, a description I still find fitting.
Yet, I am now beginning to incorporate a more structured marketing discipline around those ideas, recognising the importance of a strategic approach.
For instance, I have learned to prioritize strategy before tactics, focusing on the customer before selecting the channel, and establishing objectives ahead of outputs.
Moreover, I am emphasising results rather than merely generating noise and balancing long-term growth with short-term activation strategies.
As December approaches, I find myself on the brink of another significant chapter in my career as I transition into a role with Cardiff Metropolitan University and Cardiff Met Sport.
This new position represents a stark contrast to my previous experiences, whether working with a semi-professional football club or consulting for small to medium-sized enterprises.
The audiences, stakeholders, and objectives are markedly different, and the organisational complexity is much greater.
Yet, this complexity is precisely what excites me about this next phase.
I am eager for this stage of my career to go beyond merely producing more content; I aspire to leverage everything I have learned about websites, digital marketing, branding, community engagement, sports, campaigns, events, data analysis, and commercial strategy to operate at a more strategic level.
As I reflect on how 2025 began with the task of rebuilding a website, I realise that it is concluding with a much deeper contemplation of how to construct an entire marketing system.
This transformation represents quite a journey over the course of just 12 months.
And I have a strong sense that this is only the beginning of what lies ahead.
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