A parent looking for a school used to begin with a fairly predictable Google search. They might type “independent schools near Oxford”, open several websites and gradually build a shortlist. Increasingly, there is another option. They can ask an AI system a much more specific question. “Which independent girls’ schools...

LinkedIn can create a slightly misleading impression of what business development looks like. Open the feed and there is no shortage of activity. Firms announce new hires, congratulate colleagues, share awards, publish articles, celebrate office anniversaries and occasionally reveal that the entire team spent Friday afternoon building a raft for...

For independent schools, visibility is often local before it is anything else. Here’s how to make sure your school appears when nearby families start searching. For many parents, the search for a school begins before they know the name of the school they are looking for. They are searching for...

Getting more people to your website is usually treated as a good thing, and in most cases it is. SEO is working, campaigns are generating clicks, people are finding the business and the traffic graph is moving in the right direction. The problem comes when none of those visitors actually...

A prospective parent arrives on your website for the first time. They may have found you through Google, followed a recommendation, clicked through from an advert or opened your site alongside four other schools they are considering. Within a few moments, they are already forming an impression. They probably have...

For years, the deal with Google was fairly straightforward. Somebody searched for something, Google showed them a list of websites and they clicked one of the blue links to find the answer. That journey still happens, but not as often as it used to. Google now answers many questions directly...

Selling a professional service is a slightly strange transaction. The client is being asked to pay for something they cannot examine beforehand, take home in a box or return because it looked better on the website. They cannot test a solicitor’s judgement, inspect an accountant’s advice or ask a consultant...

Open days remain one of the most important moments in the school admissions journey. They give families the opportunity to experience the atmosphere of the school, meet pupils and staff, explore the facilities and begin to imagine what daily life there might feel like for their child. Schools understandably invest...

Business owners have spent years thinking about whether their company appears on Google. They may now need to ask a second question: does it appear when somebody asks ChatGPT? People are beginning to use AI tools to research suppliers, compare services and create shortlists. Instead of searching for “accountant Birmingham”...

Referrals have traditionally been one of the best ways for professional services firms to win new work. A happy client recommends you to a colleague, a trusted contact makes an introduction and the resulting lead arrives with a degree of confidence already established. The difficulty is that referrals are unpredictable....