New Year Clarity

Last updated: February 10, 2025

Aaron Rudman-Hawkins

Aaron Rudman-Hawkins is a dynamic digital marketing expert and a driving force behind The Evergreen Agency's success. With a passion for technology and a deep understanding of the ever-evolving digital landscape, Aaron has become a trusted name in the industry.

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Originally sent out: 02/01/25

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Let me start this week’s T.E.A Break by wishing you a very Happy New Year.

How many times have you gone on holiday and found yourself gaining clarity that otherwise alludes you?

It’s happened to me once again this week, as I’m taking a well-deserved break while the office is shut.

Now, I wasn’t planning on writing a T.E.A Break newsletter this week, but I’ve had one of those ‘aha moments’ while relaxing on the beach, so thought I’d share it with you.

Regular watches of our content will have heard me talk about the BACKBone of Digital Marketing.

It’s a name/concept I came up with some years ago that allows me to effectively communicate how a business can establish its reliance on what I call the ‘four pillars’ of digital marketing.

As a reminder, they are:

B – Buy
– Own
N – Nurture
E – Earn

The four pillars make up B.O.N.E and I likened that to BACKBone, with the thinking being a business needs a strong ‘backbone’ to survive and thrive online.

If it’s a new concept to you, let me briefly explain it. I believe a small business has just four ways to grow online;

  • They can buy leads and sales through ads (Google Ads, Meta Ads etc).
  • They will inevitably own some leads and sales through brand awareness, repeat and returning customers.
  • They can nurture leads and sales via email marketing, social media etc where they are building know, like and trust with their potential customers.
  • Lastly they can earn leads and sales via organic visibility (SEO/Content Marketing).

What I like about this philosophy is that it’s easy to understand and future proofed as all channels, and platforms can easily be grouped into one of these four pillars, regardless of the latest fad or innovation, as has been evidenced over the years.

I’ve used the BACKBone concept hundreds of times when talking to clients, prospects and guests on our podcast.

But I knew I had something even better in me and have felt for a while now that it needed an upgrade.

After almost 20 years consulting small businesses on digital marketing strategy and more than a decade running an agency I’ve seen and heard it all.

I’ve made countless notes and scribbles with ideas of how I might change the BACKBone concept to better reflect today’s digital marketing realities for small businesses, but none have stuck.

Alas, day two of my holiday, I’m sat on the beach my mind wandering, as I look out on the blue ocean in-front of me.

Here is what went through my mind…

“It always starts with brand, I always ask about brand as knowing a businesses online brand equity is vital, as it helps establish a baseline from where we’re working.

Email. That’s another key channel I always ask about and advocate every small business should be doing to stay top of mind with their target customers.

Side note: We’re seriously considering introducing email marketing as an Evergreen service this year. We have already canvassed our existing clients about this and many expressed an interest, so watch this space.

Then there is the big one of course. Paid Ads. Google Ads. Meta Ads and all of the other paid media platforms small businesses are using to generate leads and sales.

The next biggest source of leads and sales for most small businesses is referral. Those all-important word of mouth recommendations.

So it’s really;

B – Brand

E – Email

A – Ads

R – Referral

So BEAR!!

That’s it. That’s the next evolution of the BACKBone.

It further simplifies BACKBone into what I know are the four big drivers of leads and sales into most small businesses.

BEAR. It’s so easy to remember as well. It just works. It’s perfect.

***I excitedly jump up and run to my wife who is in the pool with our son***

“Harriet, I’m changing the BACKBone into BEAR!”

Harriet: “You what? Anywayyy… can you go get me the sun cream for Henry please.”

I’ll tell her all about it another time, in fact she can read this along with you, as she’s subscribed to my newsletter as well.

I love BEAR, it’s precisely what I’ve been trying to articulate for months, without luck. Day two on the beach and hey-presto the calm provides clarity.

You can expect to see me talking about BEAR a lot in our content in 2025 and now you’ll know how it came to be.

New year challenge for you

Look at your own data to see what BEAR is telling you? Group your traffic, sales or leads into the four pillars of Brand, Email, Ads and Referral sources, as best you can. It won’t be exact, but you’ll get a rough calculation.

Do this for all of 2024, then repeat for 2023. You can take it a step further and break this down per quarter to really unearth some interesting trends, if you so wish.

When thinking about growth for your business, it’s incredibly important to know the lay of the land as it exists today. BEAR will tell you this.

It will show you what ‘role’ your Brand is playing.

It will show you how reliant your business is on paid ads.

It will show you what areas of marketing you have overlooked.

It will show you how these channels/platforms have changed over time.

And so much more.

BEAR, like with the BACKBone is a simple, yet extremely powerful way to better understand your online business.

If you would like my help in calculating this for your business, hit reply and we’ll get a call booked in.

Remember, never underestimate the power of allowing your mind to wander.

I’ve still got a few days of this holiday, so who knows what else I’ll come up with…

The office has been shut this past week and the team are taking a well deserved break from our content schedule (we’re back open today with some of the team in), so below I’ve once again included our most recent content, as you may have missed it during the build up to Christmas. Enjoy!

___

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