Hello!
Hi, how are ya, nice to meet you!
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We're Will & Gem, the husband and wife team behind Sussed Marketing.
Having spent the 2010s in London building successful careers in digital marketing, we decided it was time for some fresh air and a fresh start.
So we came back home to the Worthing area, where we grew up, and brought all our skills and experience back with us.
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We're now on a mission to help small businesses in Sussex thrive, by helping them grow their brands and increase their revenue through digital marketing.
Approach & style
Our no-nonsense approach cuts through the jargon and fluff and focuses on empowering you to grow your business, your way, at your pace.
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Our service is bespoke and personal, and we like to get to know the people behind the business. This way we can create marketing packages that don't just benefit your bottom line, but that actually suit you as a person.
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We know your time and budget is limited, so we don't tie you up in contracts and you can pay fees however you like - in one go or instalments, whatever works.
Get in touch
If you like the sound of us and fancy a quick informal chat, get in touch using the form and we'll organise a time to learn more about what you do.
If we think we can help with the challenges you're facing, we'll follow up with a proposed plan of action.
More about us
We both grew up on the south coast and went to the same school one year apart, and had many mutual friends, but it took travelling to the other side of the world in 2010 for us to become a couple.
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By crazy coincidence we ended up checking into the same hostel at the same time in Sydney, Australia, where we caught each other's eye and recognised one another from back home.
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Gemma was on the hunt for an Australian husband - something she'd declare (loudly) to anyone who would listen. We got married a few years later, so half her wish came true.
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After working and travelling together through Australia and Asia we returned to the UK and moved to the Big Smoke to pursue our careers (see more on our experience further down).
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The London life was fun but we're country people at heart: we missed the sea and the downs and the woods - not to mention all our family and friends! - so we came home, back to where we belong.
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We're both travel mad and lucky to have seen a lot of the world, so we can say with confidence that West Sussex is one of the best places in it.
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We believe the area has huge potential for small businesses to grow and thrive - especially as we emerge out the pandemic - and we want to play our part in making that happen.
More about Will
Fresh out of journalism school, I travelled solo to Australia in 2010 with the goal of becoming a travel writer. I set up a blog, which attracted quite a large readership, and shortly after returning to the UK was offered a job as a staff writer for a travel start-up based in London.
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I spent the next couple of years honing my craft before moving into more senior editorial roles, and then full website management. I rose up to become Managing Editor of gapyear.com, the world's biggest backpacking site, and under my leadership monthly visits grew from a few thousand to half a million.
I still write when I get the chance and have been featured in all the national newspapers and many other major publications, including Time Out and Lonely Planet. My work has gone viral multiple times - for example when I said Tooting in South London is a cool neighbourhood, and every media outlet in the land weighed in - but these days I'm focused on making others the centre of attention!
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I've become an all round digital content expert over the years, including in SEO and web design. I build websites that don't just look the part but that actually convert visits into sales and enquiries.
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When I'm not working I can usually be found bashing over the downs on my mountain bike, or paddle boarding on the Arun, or anything else that involves being outdoors in the fresh air!
More about Gem
After graduating from university I started my marketing career at our very own Sussex Newspapers, working mainly across the Worthing Herald, Chichester Observer and County Times.
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After a taste of the advertising world, I decided to explore the rest of the world, so went backpacking for a year, before moving to London.
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I worked in a number of marketing and advertising roles, mostly in the retail and travel and tourism industries.
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I've worked across retail businesses with hundreds of UK stores as well as small e-commerce enterprises, which has given me a well-rounded view of marketing and branding, and how that translates offline and online.
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I'm a chartered marketer (ACIM) and have been thrilled to win multiple marketing awards, including TTG's '30 Under 30 Future Leaders'.
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When I'm not working I can usually be found hanging out with our baby boy, swimming (ideally in the sea!) or catching up with friends for a drink or three.