We work with clients who are great at what they do, and who could benefit from more clarity of purpose and ethos.

We have developed a pathway that makes sure this is reflected in every step of their process, all the way to communication with the outside world.

We were founded in 2004 as a traditional agency and, over the years, honed our focus and expertise on B2B comms. Today, we help businesses speak to other businesses in a way that shows that humans do business with humans, because this builds sustainable commercial relationships.

We also help businesses speak to their end-users in a way that brings clarity and understanding.

Times change, the tools at our disposal have changed and continue to change, but people always want to be understood and to understand what’s being said. Ultimately, our goal is to deliver clarity.

We work with clients who are great at what they do, and who could benefit from more clarity of purpose and ethos. We have developed a pathway that makes sure this is reflected in every step of their process, all the way to communication with the outside world.

Who we are

Who we are

Purpose, people, profit.

Andrea

Head of Studio

Camille

Project Administrator

Ed

Head of Brand and Creative

Elise

Content Writer

Ernesta

Lead Marketing Strategist

Fanny

Project Administrator

Kathleen

Office Administrator

Kim

Content Marketer

Laura

Web Project Manager

Laura

Designer

Lisa

Head of Client Services

Luca

Project Coordinator

Luke

Head of Marketing

Maria

Finance

Melissa

General Manager

Naomi

Designer

Nella

Designer

Richard

CEO

Thomas

Creative

We form part of ICOM, the global network of independent agencies.

This means we have a professional (and very social) network of like-minded teams across the globe, brilliant agencies with an entrepreneurial and fiercely independent spirit that we can count on and who count on us.

More about the ICOM Network ›

We form part of ICOM, the global network of independent agencies.

This means we have a professional (and very social) network of like-minded teams across the globe, brilliant agencies with an entrepreneurial and fiercely independent spirit that we can count on and who count on us.

More about the ICOM Network ›

The post About Us appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Furnitubes saw a 29% increase in product enquiries in the span of a year, thanks to improved brand clarity and focused communication, all aiming for better quality leads.

We provided a full-size, fractional marketing department, helping them achieve significant growth. Through a deep-dive CATALYST process, we redefined their brand narrative and executed an integrated marketing strategy across multiple channels, solidifying their reputation as a design-led, sustainable UK manufacturer.

Everyone at Switch is excited to help us share our values and story with the world. The whole team understood us quickly; we share the same language – they picked up our market quickly and how we can best communicate.

Catherine Barratt
Managing Director, Furnitubes

View the full Case Study ›

Furnitubes saw a 29% increase in product enquiries in the span of a year, thanks to improved brand clarity and focused communication, all aiming for better quality leads.

We provided a full-size, fractional marketing department, helping them achieve significant growth. Through a deep-dive CATALYST process, we redefined their brand narrative and executed an integrated marketing strategy across multiple channels, solidifying their reputation as a design-led, sustainable UK manufacturer.

Everyone at Switch is excited to help us share our values and story with the world. The whole team understood us quickly; we share the same language – they picked up our market quickly and how we can best communicate.

Catherine Barratt
Managing Director, Furnitubes

View the full Case Study ›

In the first few months, Furnitubes saw a 9% increase in website engagement time and a 6% improvement in conversion rates.

Find out how our fractional marketing services and unique CATALYST process delivered these results.

Discover more ›

Our process helped Kalon overcome a growth plateau by redefining their
brand narrative.

Our CATALYST process delivered powerful results, significantly boosting webinar registrations and content performance.

Catalyst in action ›

A comprehensive brand refresh for the UAE-based urban furniture leader, Bluestream.

All collected in a brand manual, detailing the reimagined hues, typography, and photography.

Read the case study ›

In the first few months, Furnitubes saw a 9% increase in website engagement time and a 6% improvement in conversion rates.

Find out how our fractional marketing services and unique CATALYST process delivered these results.

Discover more ›

Our process helped Kalon overcome a growth plateau by redefining their brand narrative.

Our CATALYST process delivered powerful results, significantly boosting webinar registrations and content performance.

Catalyst in action ›

A comprehensive brand refresh for the UAE-based urban furniture leader, Bluestream.

All collected in a brand manual, detailing the reimagined hues, typography, and photography.

Read the case study ›

Our pathway starts by defining your business in a way that makes its benefits clear to all your potential clients.

It goes on to build your profile – as a business and as a business leader – to give you the status you deserve.

It tells your team why their efforts matter and attracts the best talent.

We help you translate your technical offering into a language others can understand, forming a solid foundation for ongoing communication.

Purpose. Focus.
Differentiation.

Communicate with
absolute authority.

Employee retention
& branding.

Clear business
narrative.

Our pathway starts by defining your business in a way that makes its benefits clear to all your potential clients.

Purpose. Focus. Differentiation.

It goes on to build your profile – as a business and as a business leader – to give you the status you deserve.

Communicate with absolute authority.

It tells your team why their efforts matter and attracts the best talent.

Employee retention & branding.

We help you translate your technical offering into a language others can understand, forming a solid foundation for ongoing communication.

Clear business narrative.

of individuals who view your content are not looking to purchase right now. Thought leadership turns these into longer-term leads.

* 2024 Edelman Linkedin B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report

of individuals who view your content are not looking to purchase right now. Thought leadership turns these into longer-term leads.

* 2024 Edelman Linkedin B2B
Thought Leadership Impact Report

What I love about this team is that they take on every project with enthusiasm, proactively suggest ways to run operations more efficiently and are always positive, no matter how big the challenge.

Emma Keenan President & CEO, ICOM

It is the process which truly sets Switch apart. It is an absolute pleasure to work with a firm that understands the value of knowing oneself as the key to creating a sustainable business.

Ivan Vella Director, Credence

Quality stands the test of time – when I refer to the strategy documents several years later, and they are still so relevant and fresh!

Christine Gingell CMO, Vivendo Group

Their strategic approach to thought leadership content has elevated our brand and positioned us as authorities in our field.

Abraham Agopian CEO, Tepia

After going through this, we all feel like we understand Cleverbit better than before. It’s made everyday decisions easier, as we now have a solid understanding to build on.

Eman Zerafa CTO, Cleverbit

Professional, consistent, and proactive only begins to describe our experience with Switch. Their relentless pursuit of excellence, alignment with our goals, clear communication, and foresight built a dependable partnership that consistently exceeded expectations.

Rosi Bremec COO, Game Lounge

eBooks

Our work brings us in contact with new industries. And every time we build a bank of highly specific insights and observations.

Dive into the full suite ›

Getting Specified Consistently: A Guide for SME Manufacturers

Take your brand from a one-of-many supplier to the irreplaceable partner for architects and designers.

Download eBook →

The Talent Bet: A Blueprint for winning the iGaming war for talent

This document is a blueprint for transforming your iGaming company from just another option into a true destination for top-tier talent.

Download eBook →

From code to counsel: A playbook for development firms in the AI era

In an age where AI tools are decimating industries left and right, development firms need to find their value – and fast.

Download eBook →

Getting Specified Consistently:
A Guide for SME Manufacturers

Take your brand from a one-of-many supplier to the irreplaceable partner for architects and designers.

Download eBook →

The Talent Bet:
A Blueprint for winning the iGaming war for talent

This document is a blueprint for transforming your iGaming company from just another option into a true destination for top-tier talent.

Download eBook →

From code to counsel:
A playbook for development firms in the AI era

In an age where AI tools are decimating industries left and right, development firms need to find their value – and fast.

Download eBook →

Our intelligence is (mostly) human

We base our work on human insights and speak to human audiences. Just because a business wants to speak to another business, doesn’t mean comms shouldn’t be human. To achieve this, we put our experience, our expertise, and machine learning into a blender and work with the resulting mash-up.

We’re driven
by duty

We are on a mission. We believe there is a better way to do what we do and this keeps us on our toes. We’re our strongest critics which makes us learn together and grow together. And our clients love it – we get to do our best work for them and they reap the benefits.

We like the
way you think

We don’t have hundreds of clients. We start relationships with a few conversations to make sure we are on the same page. This way, we work with clients who are like-minded, who share our values, and who want a partner in their growth journey. It also means that we inevitably have an ongoing and meaningful conversation that lasts for years.

Our intelligence is (mostly) human

We base our work on human insights and speak to human audiences. Just because a business wants to speak to another business, doesn’t mean comms shouldn’t be human. To achieve this, we put our experience, our expertise, and machine learning into a blender and work with the resulting mash-up.

We’re driven
by duty

We are on a mission. We believe there is a better way to do what we do and this keeps us on our toes. We’re our strongest critics which makes us learn together and grow together. And our clients love it – we get to do our best work for them and they reap the benefits.

We like the
way you think

We don’t have hundreds of clients. We start relationships with a few conversations to make sure we are on the same page. This way, we work with clients who are like-minded, who share our values, and who want a partner in their growth journey. It also means that we inevitably have an ongoing and meaningful conversation that lasts for years.

We’re fun
to work with

Does this matter? Of course it does. If you’re getting onto a call or exchanging emails with someone, isn’t it better if you look forward to the interaction? Well, we think so.

We thrive in
challenging industries

Deep understanding and deep knowledge is where we’re at our best. We dig deep, we follow the rabbit holes all the way to where our learning can make us the most useful. As a curious bunch, we thrive on learning and apply this to the very core of the work we do with you. We’ve been happily entangled in industries that span outdoor benches and infant formula, fire trucks and software development, logistics and leisure travel – and we can’t wait to see where this takes us next.

We hate the
Stockholm Syndrome

We do like long-term relationships. We like them when they’re based on mutual benefit. So, we do all we can to reduce our clients’ dependency on us. Very often, we work with our clients’ marketing department to pass on the day-to-day activities that can be handled by in-house resources. We don’t keep working files/code/etc. On the contrary, we document our work in a way that enables our clients to work with any partner and maintain seamless communication.

We’re fun
to work with

Does this matter? Of course it does. If you’re getting onto a call or exchanging emails with someone, isn’t it better if you look forward to the interaction? Well, we think so.

We thrive in
challenging industries

Deep understanding and deep knowledge is where we’re at our best. We dig deep, we follow the rabbit holes all the way to where our learning can make us the most useful. As a curious bunch, we thrive on learning and apply this to the very core of the work we do with you. We’ve been happily entangled in industries that span outdoor benches and infant formula, fire trucks and software development, logistics and leisure travel – and we can’t wait to see where this takes us next.

We hate the
Stockholm Syndrome

We do like long-term relationships. We like them when they’re based on mutual benefit. So, we do all we can to reduce our clients’ dependency on us. Very often, we work with our clients’ marketing department to pass on the day-to-day activities that can be handled by in-house resources. We don’t keep working files/code/etc. On the contrary, we document our work in a way that enables our clients to work with any partner and maintain seamless communication.

ICOM Members & Collaborators

The ICOM Network is an exclusive global marketing network of over 70 like-minded independent agencies with a shared commitment to growth and collaboration.

We are also one of ICOM’s marketing partners, trusted to shape and lead the brand’s internal and external communications.

Connect to Grow ›

ICOM Members & Collaborators

The ICOM Network is an exclusive global marketing network of over 70 like-minded independent agencies with a shared commitment to growth and collaboration.

We are also one of ICOM’s marketing partners, trusted to shape and lead the brand’s internal and external communications.

Connect to Grow ›

Insights

View all Insights ›

A Guide to De-commoditisation for B2B Businesses [Webinar]

Thank you to everyone who joined the live webinar. If you didn’t join live and would like to access the recording, click the Access Recording button below. This webinar explores what commoditisation…

Fractional Marketing:  B2B Marketing Teams for Technical Companies

Unlocking Growth for Complex Products and Services Do you ever feel like you could go hours talking about the technicalities of your business offerings, only to feel like you’re shouting into a…

A Deep-Dive into De-Commoditisation [eBook]

This eBook outlines the four key areas to address and escape the commodity trap: market saturation, feature parity, price-based competition, and lack of brand differentiation. It also covers the common symptoms of…

The Illusion of Sustainability in Real Estate: Why Building Less Harm Isn’t Enough

This article was previously published in Money Mag – May/June 2025 – Real Estate & Sustainability We are not architects, but we are builders – of brands, strategies, and narratives that stand…

Revolution or Evolution: Choosing a New Beginning

Bold moves, or how sometimes new beginnings need Revolution, not Evolution I’m not an engineer or a mathematician, but I appreciate that if you make a number of small improvements to your…

The 4 Day Work Week Initiative, Year 3

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. This is the third year of our four-day work week experiment, and we have an update.  Last year, we increased our four-day weeks to…

Insights

View all Insights ›

A Guide to De-commoditisation for B2B Businesses [Webinar]

Thank you to everyone who joined the live webinar. If you didn’t join live and would like to access the recording, click the Access Recording button below. This webinar explores what commoditisation…

Fractional Marketing:  B2B Marketing Teams for Technical Companies

Unlocking Growth for Complex Products and Services Do you ever feel like you could go hours talking about the technicalities of your business offerings, only to feel like you’re shouting into a…

A Deep-Dive into De-Commoditisation [eBook]

This eBook outlines the four key areas to address and escape the commodity trap: market saturation, feature parity, price-based competition, and lack of brand differentiation. It also covers the common symptoms of…

The Illusion of Sustainability in Real Estate: Why Building Less Harm Isn’t Enough

This article was previously published in Money Mag – May/June 2025 – Real Estate & Sustainability We are not architects, but we are builders – of brands, strategies, and narratives that stand…

Revolution or Evolution: Choosing a New Beginning

Bold moves, or how sometimes new beginnings need Revolution, not Evolution I’m not an engineer or a mathematician, but I appreciate that if you make a number of small improvements to your…

The 4 Day Work Week Initiative, Year 3

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. This is the third year of our four-day work week experiment, and we have an update.  Last year, we increased our four-day weeks to…

Projects

View all Case Studies ›

Furnitubes: Fractional B2B Marketing Case Study

Credence Brand Refresh

iPaymix

Tepia | Identity & Content Marketing

Projects

View all Case Studies ›

Furnitubes: Fractional B2B Marketing Case Study

Credence Brand Refresh

iPaymix

Tepia | Identity & Content Marketing

The post Building better business appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

eBooks

Our work brings us in contact with new industries. And every time we build a bank of highly specific insights and observations. We feel it is our duty to document and share our learnings so that business leaders like yourself can can save time and money. Pick the one(s) that will make a difference. Feel free to pay this forward.

Getting Specified in 2026: A UK Manufacturer’s Guide

The rules for getting specified have changed. Many manufacturers haven’t noticed yet.

Download eBook →

Getting Specified Consistently: A Guide for SME Manufacturers

Take your brand from a one-of-many supplier to the irreplaceable partner for architects and designers.

Download eBook →

The Talent Bet: A Blueprint for winning the iGaming war for talent

This document is a blueprint for transforming your iGaming company from just another option into a true destination for top-tier talent.

Download eBook →

From code to counsel: A playbook for development firms in the AI era

In an age where AI tools are decimating industries left and right, development firms need to find their value – and fast.

Download eBook →

A deep-dive into de-commoditisation [eBook]

Escape the commodity trap: market saturation, feature parity, price-based competition, and lack of brand differentiation.

Download eBook →

Getting Specified in 2026: A UK Manufacturer’s Guide

The rules for getting specified have changed. Many manufacturers haven’t noticed yet.

Download eBook →

Getting Specified Consistently:
A Guide for SME Manufacturers

Take your brand from a one-of-many supplier to the irreplaceable partner for architects and designers.

Download eBook →

The Talent Bet:
A Blueprint for winning the iGaming war
for talent

This document is a blueprint for transforming your iGaming company from just another option into a true destination for top-tier talent.

Download eBook →

From code to counsel:
A playbook for development firms in the AI era

In an age where AI tools are decimating industries left and right, development firms need to find their value – and fast.

Download eBook →

A deep-dive into de-commoditisation [eBook]

Escape the commodity trap: market saturation, feature parity, price-based competition, and lack of brand differentiation.

Download eBook →

Webinars

If you’re more the audio/visual type, these webinars are for you. Access decades of marketing and business expertise in one-hour sessions that can reset the way you think about your business.

A Guide to De-commoditisation for B2B Businesses [Webinar]

This webinar explores what commoditisation is, why it’s a trap, and, most importantly, how to escape it.

Missed it? Rewatch the webinar →

The Power of Clarity [Webinar]

Your company is brilliant. Your products are solid. So why is it so hard to articulate your value in a way that truly connects?

Missed it? Rewatch the webinar →

A Guide to De-commoditisation for B2B Businesses [Webinar]

This webinar explores what commoditisation is, why it’s a trap, and, most importantly, how to escape it.

Missed it? Rewatch the webinar →

The Power of Clarity [Webinar]

Your company is brilliant. Your products are solid. So why is it so hard to articulate your value in a way that truly connects?

Missed it? Rewatch the webinar →

Insights

Fractional Marketing:  B2B Marketing Teams for Technical Companies

Unlocking Growth for Complex Products and Services Do you ever feel like you could go hours talking about the technicalities of your business offerings, only to feel like you’re shouting into a…

A Guide to De-commoditisation for B2B Businesses [Webinar]

Thank you to everyone who joined the live webinar. If you didn’t join live and would like to access the recording, click the Access Recording button below. This webinar explores what commoditisation…

From virtual meetings to Gozo: a tale of two collaborations with ICOM

If you know Switch, you probably know that our team is fully remote. We’ve got people in Spain, France, Finland, and even one team member bouncing across Eastern Europe (soon to be…

Manufacturing a better future

“Cities were mostly designed by people who didn’t use them.” The nature of our business puts us in touch with some fascinating individuals. The quote I led with is from a chat…

The Illusion of Sustainability in Real Estate: Why Building Less Harm Isn’t Enough

This article was previously published in Money Mag – May/June 2025 – Real Estate & Sustainability We are not architects, but we are builders – of brands, strategies, and narratives that stand…

The strongest foundations are built before the storm

Five months ago, I was diagnosed with stage 1 ovarian cancer. And with it came everything that word carries: surgery, six rounds of chemotherapy, and a kind of exhaustion, both physical and…

Beyond aesthetics: Building a city brand for connection, resilience, and legacy

This article was previously published in Money Mag. Barcelona is a textbook example of genius planning – but that doesn’t prepare you for the overwhelming sensation of being in the thick of…

Revolution or Evolution: Choosing a New Beginning

Bold moves, or how sometimes new beginnings need Revolution, not Evolution I’m not an engineer or a mathematician, but I appreciate that if you make a number of small improvements to your…

Load More

Fractional Marketing:  B2B Marketing Teams for Technical Companies

Unlocking Growth for Complex Products and Services Do you ever feel like you could go hours talking about the technicalities of your business offerings, only to feel like you’re shouting into a…

A Guide to De-commoditisation for B2B Businesses [Webinar]

Thank you to everyone who joined the live webinar. If you didn’t join live and would like to access the recording, click the Access Recording button below. This webinar explores what commoditisation…

From virtual meetings to Gozo: a tale of two collaborations with ICOM

If you know Switch, you probably know that our team is fully remote. We’ve got people in Spain, France, Finland, and even one team member bouncing across Eastern Europe (soon to be…

Manufacturing a better future

“Cities were mostly designed by people who didn’t use them.” The nature of our business puts us in touch with some fascinating individuals. The quote I led with is from a chat…

The Illusion of Sustainability in Real Estate: Why Building Less Harm Isn’t Enough

This article was previously published in Money Mag – May/June 2025 – Real Estate & Sustainability We are not architects, but we are builders – of brands, strategies, and narratives that stand…

The strongest foundations are built before the storm

Five months ago, I was diagnosed with stage 1 ovarian cancer. And with it came everything that word carries: surgery, six rounds of chemotherapy, and a kind of exhaustion, both physical and…

Beyond aesthetics: Building a city brand for connection, resilience, and legacy

This article was previously published in Money Mag. Barcelona is a textbook example of genius planning – but that doesn’t prepare you for the overwhelming sensation of being in the thick of…

Revolution or Evolution: Choosing a New Beginning

Bold moves, or how sometimes new beginnings need Revolution, not Evolution I’m not an engineer or a mathematician, but I appreciate that if you make a number of small improvements to your…

Load More

The post Insights & Resources appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Do you ever feel like you could go hours talking about the technicalities of your business offerings, only to feel like you’re shouting into a black hole? Showcasing your value proposition and strengths isn’t about how much you say – it’s about how effectively you say it. Think about it: technical products are niche by nature, solving very specific problems. Marketing them demands the same level of precision to ensure your solutions are understood and valued.

Why We Believe in a Fractional Marketing Team (And Why We’re Biased)

At Switch, we’ve seen firsthand the power of fractional marketing teams for technical SMBs. It’s true – we’re biased because this is one of the core services we provide. But our belief in this approach isn’t based on what we do, it’s based on what we’ve seen work. We chose to focus on this service because we believe that it’s the best way to grow a business sustainably.

Too often, businesses tend to look for piecemeal solutions to solve an immediate need (or want): a one-off SEO audit, a standalone content strategy, some social media content, or sporadic ad campaigns. These services can help in the short term, but they rarely address the bigger picture. Marketing isn’t just a collection of tasks – it’s a cohesive, long-term effort that connects your brand with your audience, strengthens your positioning, and enables you to partner with clients at a strategic level. By aligning your marketing with your business objectives, you unlock the potential for more meaningful and sustainable growth.

When we work as a fractional marketing team we don’t commit to a certain number of tasks, but instead we promise to put a team of experts together to help you build, and run, a long-term marketing strategy for your brand. Since they’re not contractually beholden to a certain number of posts or efforts, they will do whatever it takes to help you grow your brand. 

With more traditional agreements, if you buy a set of services from an agency, it’s hard for them to come and tell you they’re not working, because the implication is that you’ll reduce their business. So while a long term contract for 8 posts a month might be a very comfortable thing to have for an agency, it’s absolutely not in the interest of the client to have something so rigid in this day and age.

Explore Our B2B Marketing Services

Discover how Switch’s fractional marketing team can help your business grow with tailored strategies designed for long-term success.

The Growth Bottleneck in Technical Companies

Technical businesses thrive on precision, innovation, and problem-solving. But marketing in this context is rarely straightforward. Business leaders often face three key challenges:

1. Complex Products Need Clear Narratives

Your audience doesn’t just need to know what you do, they need to understand:

• Why it matters,
• How it’s different,
• And why it’s better than the alternatives.

Communicating this effectively requires a mix of industry insight and creative storytelling, which is an uncommon combination that’s tough to maintain in-house.

2. Overloaded Teams and Leadership

Marketing often falls to internal teams who are already stretched thin or to C-suite executives whose focus should be elsewhere. This creates a bottleneck:

One of our early conversations with a now-client highlighted this challenge perfectly. Their issue wasn’t closing deals – once they got in the room with potential customers, their conversion rates were exceptional. The problem was getting into those rooms in the first place.

Inconsistent outreach and sporadic communication left their sales team struggling to secure those all-important initial conversations. Marketing gaps weren’t just frustrating, they were holding the business back, even though it was clear where the problem originated from.

3. Fragmented or Inconsistent Communication

When marketing becomes an afterthought, it shows. Inconsistent messaging:

• Confuses potential clients,
• Undermines trust,
• And ultimately reduces conversion rates.

The Case for Smarter B2B Marketing

Whether in-house or outsourced, effective B2B marketing is built on a few key principles:

• Clarity Over Complexity
  Technical products often address niche problems. Simplifying your messaging ensures that your audience understands your product while also seeing its relevance to their challenges.
• Consistency is Key
  The modern B2B buyer engages with brands across multiple touchpoints. A consistent voice and regular communication build trust and keep your company top of mind.
• Strategic Resource Allocation
  Marketing today requires expertise across a range of disciplines: SEO, content creation, paid media, analytics, and the ability to craft thought-leadership content that provokes meaningful conversations. 

Building an in-house team with this breadth of knowledge is a significant investment. Outsourcing gives you access to these capabilities without the overhead.

Why We Think This Works (And Why It’s Different)

Many agencies offer marketing services that feel templated: a fixed number of blog posts, a standard ad package, or off-the-shelf SEO recommendations. These services might fill a gap, but they don’t solve the problem.

What we’ve found works better is an approach that’s deeply tailored to the business. At Switch, this means starting with your business objectives, understanding your technical product, and building a narrative that aligns with your goals. This clarity forms the foundation for every piece of communication, ensuring all efforts – whether content, design, or lead generation – work together to move your business forward.

It’s not about quick fixes; it’s about creating a sustainable strategy that grows with you.

The Switch Way

We work with purpose-driven, innovative B2B companies in technical sectors, to align their marketing with their broader business objectives. From building unique narratives that capture your value, to creating marketing strategies that attract your ideal clients, and executing a plan that provides you with concrete and tangible results, we’re here to work side by side with you in the long term. And we’re committed to helping you grow in a sustainable way with all of the tools you need.

We know outsourcing isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay. But for companies ready to focus on their core business while letting a dedicated team drive their marketing forward, it can be a game-changer. And, based on what our clients say about us, we don’t feel like an outsourced team. We feel like we’re part of your team, your favourite part, most of the time.

A Transparent Invitation

We’re upfront about it – this is what we do, and we’re passionate about it because we’ve seen it work. If you’re exploring how to make your marketing more impactful, let’s have a conversation. Whether or not working with a fractional team is the right step for you, we’re happy to share insights and help you think through your options.

The post Fractional Marketing:  B2B Marketing Teams for Technical Companies appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

If you didn’t join live and would like to access the recording, click the Access Recording button below.

This webinar explores what commoditisation is, why it’s a trap, and, most importantly, how to escape it.

It covers:

• Understanding commoditisation
• Recognising the symptoms
• Strategies for de-commoditisation
• Switch’s Journey & the CATALYST Framework
• Q&A

Presented by Richard Muscat Azzopardi, CEO at Switch

The post A Guide to De-commoditisation for B2B Businesses [Webinar] appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

The post Thank you for registering: Escaping the Commodity Trap Webinar appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

I’m not an engineer or a mathematician, but I appreciate that if you make a number of small improvements to your system, the cumulative benefits can be monumental given enough time and progress.

For years on end we focused on this, tweaking parts of the engine to squeeze out some profitability here and there, to reduce costs, to increase efficiency. We looked at every aspect of our business until we got to a stage of diminishing returns. 

As we made progress, the market changed. There was more competition and budgets were squeezed from clients who constantly seemed to be going through a cost-cutting exercise. The tiny incremental moves we made were just about helping us keep afloat. They were changes that became necessary to keep us in business, not to thrive.

And there’s very little you can do to squeeze out more when you’ve been improving incrementally year on year and you’ve looked at every aspect of the business.

Evolution is important, but from time to time you need a revolution. Sometimes you need to strip your business down to its core and make some bold moves to get yourself out of a rut. Because, as someone bright once said, the definition of insanity is trying the same thing twice and hoping for a different outcome.

Over the course of the next few paragraphs, I want to share some lessons I learned from one of our boldest moves ever as an agency, definitely one of the boldest moves I’ve ever made in my career, and seeing it pay off has been extremely satisfying. It’s also been a good lesson on the importance of bold moves, the pitfalls around them, and the benefits you can reap. Looking back, there are a few lessons that I wish I had known before.

Should we make bold moves? How should we make bold moves? What are they, and how can we know if we’re prepared for them?

Let’s start at the beginning.

The Bold Move at Switch

Our bold move was pretty radical, and it was multifaceted, we had to make multiple moves at once for it to all make sense together. First, we took a decision to reduce the number of services we offer to just two, then we also chose to only focus on one type of business to offer it to (B2B clients). The benefits we saw were major, but they would take a great amount of courage because to get to our destination we had to accept that we’d be refusing business from our traditional client base.

It’s been a couple of years now, and it’s not always been easy, but now we can confidently say that we’ve moved past the hardest thresholds of the bold move, we’re now only onboarding clients in the two areas we’ve chosen to focus on, and it’s put us in a position where we’ve effectively moved away from being seen as a commoditised service provider. There are far fewer potential clients for us locally, but we’ve built a reputation that allows us to go after our ideal clients no matter where they are in the world.

Triggers for bold moves

Triggers for bold moves can be both internal and external:

On a macro level, external triggers that might signal the need for a bold move include geopolitical ones, and larger events outside your control (wars, pandemics). These can be easy enough to spot when they’re as dramatic as a war or a pandemic, but there are other signals that creep up on you at a much slower pace (a country’s ethnic mix changing gradually). Other external factors include changes in the market, or new technological shifts (generative AI, anyone?). On a smaller scale, you can have opportunities opening up more directly, such as a competitor going out of business or, on the other extreme, buying out another of your competitors and consolidating.

Internally you can have quite a few catalysts that might require bold moves. An employee (or a whole department) resigning can be devastating, especially if they had a skill that was unique to your business. You could have too much cash in the bank, or not enough (this is always riskier, but potentially a better catalyst for change), or you could have simply witnessed a plateau for a few years and want to jolt the company out of it.

Each one of these motivators has a different effect on us, as business leaders, yet in most cases, each one of them can be equal parts terrifying and exciting. Rocking the boat is never something that most of us are naturally inclined to do, so we’ll make all the excuses we can to keep things as is, improving ever so slightly wherever we can.

Building the courage to act

This can be the hardest part. The fear of pain is often even worse than the pain itself. Think about all the time you spent thinking about your next dentist’s appointment. I’m pretty sure you spent far more time anticipating, and fearing, the pain than the time you actually spent in pain. And I’m also pretty sure you felt much better once you were done, too (or at least I hope so, for your sake).

Bold moves with business are pretty much the same. We tend to spend too much time overthinking them and fearing failure than we do actually taking decisive action. This is not to say that you should rush into major decisions without giving them the proper consideration, but neither should you postpone the move indefinitely.

Prepare yourself psychologically, and if you can place proper risk management strategies in place. In some cases, if you’re lucky enough, you can run a test, or a series of tests and mitigate the risk. On our end, for example, we effectively ran a small separate agency within Switch that specialised in our new areas before actually shifting all our business externally.

The benefit of breaking the move into smaller pieces is obvious. It makes it easier to test out your hypothesis. However, this brings a major drawback with it: it can potentially slow down how well you can judge the changes you’re making. Once again, looking back at our bold move, the longer we took to make the shift, the harder it was to serve both kinds of clients, to attract both kinds of clients, and crucially, to work on both sets of services at once.

Types of Bold Moves

I can’t possibly list every kind of bold move for every possible business, but in general, some of the bold moves I’ve seen when working with businesses across all walks of life include mergers and acquisitions, shifting products or services sold (or, as in our case, reducing the number of products or services to specialise), exploring new distribution channels or simply deciding to hire someone new to start on your journey to expansion.

And in the end…

Bold moves aren’t about reckless risk-taking – they’re about calculated actions that can transform your business. You have to have the courage to implement something that might feel like it’s out of your comfort zone, but if you do you’ll find success. 

The post Revolution or Evolution: Choosing a New Beginning appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Client Profile

Client Profile

Furnitubes International Ltd is a well-established British manufacturer specializing in outdoor and street furniture with over 70 years of industry experience.

Visit client site

Furnitubes International Ltd is a well-established British manufacturer specializing in outdoor and street furniture with over 70 years of industry experience.

Visit client site

Primary products:

Modular seating and planter systems, security bollards, litter bins, cycle stands, and other outdoor furniture essentials.

Key Differentiators: 

• Modular solutions are durable and versatile with easy installation and maintenance.

• All-domestic manufacturing using 100% recycled steel and environmentally friendly timber such as Endura Thermally Modified Ash and reclaimed tropical hardwood.

Key product lines:

Railroad, AKRI, Uniun, Elements, Bell Bollard

Market position:

A significant player in the British urban landscape sector, with their products being implemented across major public realm projects in the UK, along with private shopping centres, educational institutions and commercial developments.

The post Furnitubes: Fractional B2B Marketing Case Study appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Tap into the expertise of an entire team of dedicated specialists that cover the core areas required for a successful B2B marketing strategy. Add all it takes to implement it. And only pay for the time and the services you need.

Tap into the expertise of an entire team of dedicated specialists that cover the core areas required for a successful B2B marketing strategy. Add all it takes to implement it. And only pay for the time and the services you need.

Inbound

Permission & Email Marketing

Design

From Sketch to Screen & everything in between

Audience

Lead Nurture & Retention

Strategy

Results through creative strategic thinking

Traditional

Media Buying

Brand

The defined foundations

Social

Content Development and Audience Building

Story Telling

Copywriting with Heart

Business & Digital PR

Corporate communications
that work

UI/UX

Customer Journey Design

Digital

Performance marketing focused on ROI

Brand Sites & eCommerce

Simple Presence to Online Business

Inbound

Permission & Email Marketing

Design

From Sketch to Screen & everything in between

Audience

Lead Nurture & Retention

Strategy

Results through creative strategic thinking

Traditional

Media Buying

Brand

The defined foundations

Social

Content Development and Audience Building

Story Telling

Copywriting with Heart

Business & Digital PR

Corporate communications that work

UI/UX

Customer Journey Design

Digital

Performance marketing focused on ROI

Brand Sites & eCommerce

Simple Presence to Online Business

Our team has decades of experience across disciplines that include brand, brand strategy, communication strategies, social media expertise, performance marketing, inbound marketing, graphic design, photography, copywriting and content creation, authority building, product development, and more.

This à la carte approach allows you to boost the areas of your marketing function that you need, only when you need it.

Outsource to the experts today. Let’s schedule a call ›

Our team has decades of experience across disciplines that include brand, brand strategy, communication strategies, social media expertise, performance marketing, inbound marketing, graphic design, photography, copywriting and content creation, authority building, product development, and more.

This à la carte approach allows you to boost the areas of your marketing function that you need, only when you need it.

Let’s schedule a call ›

The post B2B Marketing Services | Switch appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Of the 5% of businesses that are ready to make a purchase, it is statistically unlikely that they are on the initial day-one list that B2B buyers have in mind when seeking out vendors. 90% of B2B purchases are made off that initial list, where companies land as a result of marketing, strategic influential partnerships, and a robust content marketing plan. 

Challenges for Small and Mid-Sized B2B Organizations

For larger B2B organisations, the cost of doing business, while exponentially higher, can be readily absorbed by ongoing business. Larger B2B organisations are in a better position to play the long game, providing more opportunity to take their time to reach marketing leads, and pivoting when planned returns do not materialise. Smaller B2B organisations, in their initial start-up phase, do not have the luxury of pivoting or big-spend marketing, so the client acquisition decisions are removed from operations until they reach a point where leads start to dwindle. 

The problems arise when those smaller businesses do grow into a mid-sized entity. To move from a mid-sized business to a larger one requires more business, and to escalate to more business, more clients are needed — however the statistics of new client acquisition are far from ideal. 

Smaller and mid-sized entities, with less of a marketing budget, and facing a marketing landscape that is outright difficult to break into, can thus decide that the cost of professional marketing is too high, and attempt to advertise the business themselves. While it’s an effort worth trying for smaller businesses that have some room to grow, mid-sized entities will not see the greatest benefits of marketing with DIY efforts. 

The Importance of Content Marketing and Brand

To quantify the value of marketing, it’s prudent to identify the value of a good brand and a good content marketing plan. 

• Companies that excel in personalisation generate 40% more revenue from those with little or no personalisation. 
• 89% of B2B buyers engage with content before talking to a sales rep. 
• 49% of B2B spending happens online. 
• There is a 55% increase of buyers relying on content to research and make purchasing decisions.  

Content marketing and brand are increasingly serving as differentiators in a crowded and noisy B2B marketing landscape. They function in similar ways to B2C marketing, primarily because the variations between B2C and B2B marketing are narrowing as a new cohort of B2B buyers – millennials and Gen Z – take over decision-making roles.

B2B buyers are online, overwhelmed, and looking for easier decisions to make. Marketing and a strong brand have become a non-negotiable aspect of B2B. 

DIY Marketing: a consideration of price

The reality is that, while B2B brand and content marketing is a non-negotiable aspect, smaller brands can be priced out of the conversation or have to rely on DIY marketing just to get by. This will work until the next growth stage is reached, at which point professional marketing becomes a necessity to continue meeting business demand and scale outside of existing clients. 

While DIY marketing can definitely have a short-term benefit of growth, there are some things that hamstring its efficacy in the long-run for larger businesses. 

1. Time spent on marketing. 

On average, B2B marketers at medium-and-large enterprises spend 82% of their work hours on creating content, including social media posts, newsletters, and blog posts. In addition, they send a significant amount of their time on content strategy creation, managing existing campaigns, and posting content. 

Social media and blogs alone take, on average, 3.4 and 4.7 hours respectively; ebooks, whitepapers, videos, and webinars all average nearly 5 hours. This is a significant amount of time to take out of a packed work day to create content. The hours also do not average out when taking into account that it takes upwards of seven interactions with a brand before purchasing. 

2. Lack of expertise across marketing disciplines.

Effective marketing requires expertise across disciplines, and an eye on current research, trends, and consumer shifts. For an untrained professional to specialise in one aspect of marketing, such as SEO or Google Ads, is possible, but the efficacy of those campaigns can be limited. As the discipline becomes more complex, the reality is that it will be harder for DIY marketing to reach the same level of benefit as professional marketing. 

3. Fundamental misalignment. 

A misalignment between sales and marketing can be difficult to overcome, primarily because it might be considerably harder for a non-professional to identify which of their marketing efforts is producing the misalignment. Regardless of understanding the root cause, a misalignment between sales and marketing can lead to a 10% revenue decline, as discovered by Hubspot. 

It is also one of the most common issues for B2B organisations, with 92% of companies admitting to weak alignment between sales and marketing to Forrester Research, and 52.2% of sales professionals citing lost sales and revenue as a direct cause of misalignment.

4. Inconsistency in marketing efforts 

The B2B buying cycle is fundamentally a personal one, and consistency is key to attracting high-quality leads and triggering the purchase process. Businesses that prioritise lead nurturing and engagement can generate up to 50% more sales-ready leads that they can continue to grow as a result.

Furthermore, brand consistency is another key metric that DIY marketing can struggle with, with consistent brands seeing 10-20% more revenue but more than 47% of brands admitting that they publish off-brand content a few times per year.   

5. Lack of strategic approach.

92% of B2B marketing budgets are spent on short-term, bottom funnel objectives such as lead generation, which has little effect on future buyers, and does not take into account future developments for your business. By targeting engagements that focus only on bringing short-term opportunities through the door, it is likely that the B2B marketing cycle will eventually stop producing leads and new clients, which can be difficult for a smaller business to overcome. A strategic approach ensures that clients trickle in at a steady, manageable pace that allows for the business to scale reasonably. 

6. Cost-effectiveness in the long run.

With an understanding of the right tools to use, the right metrics to monitor, and the time taken to ensure that campaigns are continuously maintained to deliver high results, professional marketing is cost-effective, a promise that is far harder to achieve with DIY marketing. On average, professional marketing will base any marketing on information generated through business operations, allowing them to tailor marketing tactics to generate the greatest possible opportunity for sales. DIY marketing may have access to the same information but without the necessary skills to adapt marketing tactics to serve that information, therefore leading to lost costs. 

Misconceptions about marketing for DIY marketers

While 67% of companies outsource their marketing needs as a matter of course, the ones that prefer to DIY their marketing have specific considerations for why they opt to keep control of their marketing. 

The top two reasons appear to be based on misconceptions. 

1. Lack of control over brand. 
2. Lack of discretionary budget to conform to agency fees. 

These matters are considerable worries, however they can be easily amended by finding the right agency to partner with. Effective marketing partnerships can allow a growing business control over the fundamental aspects of their identity, and merely strategise and build communication around what already exists. 

Budgetary concerns, on the other hand, are a little harder to overcome. For businesses that are still in the primary start-up it can be effective to retain all marketing efforts and keep them in-house – but as the business does start to grow, marketing in-house will lead to a lot of missed opportunities. 

The opportunity to outsource

Over half of B2B marketing teams outsource at least one aspect of content marketing. What this provides the company is the flexibility to prioritise their in-house operations while simultaneously benefitting from the expertise of a fractional agency. Outsourcing marketing activities allows for a better opportunity to generate content that drives leads, and leave the internal team free to continue with the work of running the business. It takes the pressure of the intensive, day-to-day monitoring and content creation away from upper management and puts it into the hands of experts who can focus solely on your content. 

For B2B organisations to thrive within shrinking market share, there needs to be an adjustment made for the state of the industry at the moment. The B2B buying cycle is long and complex, and communicating at the right time and with the right idea will make a significant difference to the business — but that path is time-consuming, and complex in itself. 

Outsourcing your marketing will at least enable you to both prioritise your business and your marketing, without one sacrificed for the other. It’s the most sustainable, economical way forward, particularly for businesses who want to pay for proven results. 

And all it takes to start with this path is the right partner. Get in touch to see how we can help you create lasting growth and success through strategic, results-driven marketing.

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