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Team Update: Promotion Announcement

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 11:29:53 GMT

Lauren Promoted to Marketing & Client Services Manager

Halo Marketing is proud to announce that Lauren has been promoted to Marketing & Client Services Manager.

Since joining Halo in early 2023, Lauren has consistently demonstrated outstanding commitment to our clients, often going above and beyond in delivering exceptional results and executing projects. Lauren’s work in developing and evolving our LinkedIn proposition, showing an in-depth understanding of the platform, has been a particular game-changer for our clients.

Lauren’s responsibilities will now involve a wider remit as Halo increases our product offering in 2026, one specific area will be to lead clients on marketing strategy, which has proved to be an in-demand service. Also, as Halo grows, Lauren is integral to ensuring our team maintains the ‘Halo standard’, playing a key part in recruitment and training.

Please join us in congratulating Lauren.

Marketing Trends 2026: Balancing AI Innovation with Human Connection

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 15:56:40 GMT

Soul to Soul

Marketing in 2026 will be defined by a delicate balance: leveraging AI-driven insights to enhance campaigns while keeping the human experience meaningful and emotionally engaging. As technology evolves, brands must learn to integrate it thoughtfully without losing authenticity. Here’s what marketers need to focus on.

AI-Powered Trends

1. AI Agents as Shoppers
AI assistants are becoming a part of the shopping journey, helping people research and recommend products. Marketers should ensure content is easy for AI to understand, so the brand gets noticed and considered.

2. Make Your Brand Visible with AI
Algorithms increasingly shape what audiences see. Clear, well-structured content—from product guides to brand stories—helps AI recommend your brand, boosting visibility and reach.

3. Creative Intelligence Wins
Use AI tools to analyse ad performance, predict engagement, and test messaging variations. Combine these insights with human judgment to select content that performs well and resonates emotionally.

Human-Centred Trends

1. Celebrate Everyday Wins
Small moments make a big difference. Brands that offer micro-experiences, shareable content, or small rewards help audiences feel valued every day.

2. Authentic Inclusion Matters
Audiences respond to sincerity. Marketing that reflects real people, experiences, and communities builds trust and long-term loyalty.

3. Micro-Communities Beat Mass Audiences
Smaller, engaged groups, forums, niche social networks, or brand communities drive deeper connections and meaningful conversations than broad campaigns.

Finding the Balance

The key in 2026 is using AI to enhance human experiences, without losing the personal touch. Brands that thoughtfully combine technology with authenticity, empathy, and relevance will not just attract attention, they’ll create lasting relationships.

Top 5 Industries That Thrive with PPC During the Festive Season

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 09:53:27 GMT

The festive season is a fantastic opportunity for businesses to capture interest and drive revenue, especially with the use of Pay-Per-Click (PPC). However, certain industries stand to benefit the most from PPC campaigns during this period. Take a look at some of the industries that can maximise their return over the holidays.

1. Retail and E-commerce

The holiday season brings a big increase in online shopping as consumers look for gifts and seasonal essentials. People are actively searching for deals, discounts, and unique items, making PPC campaigns highly effective for retailers.

Retailers can run ads focused on holiday-specific keywords like “gift ideas for him” or “holiday sales.” Dynamic product ads and Google Shopping ads can help showcase relevant products and drive high-intent traffic directly to product pages. Retargeting ads are also powerful for reminding shoppers about items they may have browsed or left in their carts.

2. Consumer Electronics

Electronics top many holiday wish lists, from smartphones to gaming consoles. The high value of these items means consumers are willing to spend time researching and looking for the best deals.

To capture buyer interest, electronic retailers can bid on specific, high-intent keywords like “best smartphones for Christmas” or “gaming deals for holidays.” PPC ads that highlight time-sensitive discounts, product features, or bundle offers can increase click-through rates.

3. Travel and Hospitality

Many people plan vacations or weekend getaways for the holiday season, and they often look for deals on flights, hotels, and travel experiences. This makes PPC a valuable tool to capture last-minute or early-bird bookings.

Hospitality brands can create PPC ads that focus on festive travel packages or holiday-exclusive discounts. By highlighting limited-time offers, these businesses can attract consumers planning their holiday travel or looking to gift experiences.

4. Food and Beverage

Festive celebrations often have a need for specialty foods, holiday drinks, and gift-worthy treats. Many people search online for festive meal ingredients, and gourmet options, making this a perfect time for food and beverage brands to maximise returns.

Food retailers can use PPC ads to promote holiday-themed products or gift hampers. For instance, ads featuring “holiday cheese boards” or “Christmas cocktail kits” resonate well with seasonal shoppers.

5. Home Decor and Furnishings

The festive season often inspires people to redecorate their homes and create a cosy atmosphere for holiday gatherings. Home decor items and festive lights become highly sought after during this period.

Using PPC can highlight seasonal products like holiday-themed pillows and decorative lights. Targeting keywords related to holiday decor, and leveraging remarketing campaigns can help.

Key Takeaways

The festive season is the perfect time for businesses in retail, electronics, travel, food, and home decor to amplify their PPC campaigns. By tailoring their strategies to highlight seasonal products, limited-time offers, and holiday themes, these industries can make the most of increased consumer spending and holiday cheer.

What is PPC Advertising?

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 13:35:19 GMT

What Is PPC Advertising?

PPC is a widely used tool when it comes to growing your business. Whether you are using it to build awareness or increase sales, it can have a large impact. PPC comes in many shapes and sizes, from LinkedIn, to Google and even Meta. Often users won’t even realise the content is an ad. Looking for a new way to promote your business? Look no further.

Ad Types

Depending on what kind of PPC you embark on, your ads will look very different. Meta is incredibly creative, with bold colours, catchy headlines and crazy offers. LinkedIn can be very informative, offering services that you are in dire need of. Google is much more targeted to what you are looking for in the moment. From search ads that are a few lines long, to 30 second skippable videos you see on YouTube, PPC can take many forms depending on your aims and KPIs.

Brand Awareness

A key factor of marketing is ensuring your brand is recognised. With PPC, you can measure brand recognition and brand recall, tweaking your campaigns to reach the best results. Creating consistency with brand colours, logos and messaging across all platforms can aid in making users remember you. A meta ad can grasp the attention of a user, who may then see a YouTube video and then land on your site. PPC and Social media advertising work hand in hand to produce a wider audience who are aware of you.

Lead Generation

Making your business profitable is the first aim for any company. Although PPC requires initial investment, it is a great avenue for drumming up interest from those who would be interested in your product or service. With quantifiable results available with correct conversion tracking, your efforts can be traced back to the ad and keyword in question. Like with any investment, PPC needs to drive results. ROAS targets can be used to ensure you are receiving the returns you want to see.

Other Sources

PPC works hand in hand with other marketing. It aids the overall progression of the lead cycle and pushing users to make a conversion. When used for brand awareness purposes, it can be the first time someone notices your brand, leading them to google your brand and learn more. Social media posts can be shared to a new person who wants to learn more. Once your brand is known, ads can appear at the key moment to produce action. Displaying ads in direct comparison to your competitors.

Is PPC Advertising right for you?

PPC can aid any business with gaining more leads or boosting sales. PPC has different avenues to ensure KPIs are reached and ROAS is maximised. When considering PPC, take into consideration your aims with advertising, what do you hope to achieve? With this in mind, define your budget. The higher the budget, the more data and learnings you can derive. This allows you to improve your campaigns and continually increase conversions.

Halo Marketing Bolsters Pay-Per-Click and Paid Advertising Offering

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 21:44:40 GMT

Lauren Stubley Joins Halo Marketing

Hampshire-based Halo Marketing, is strengthening its team with the addition of Lauren Stubley, who will head up Pay Per Click and Paid Advertising moving forward.

Lauren joins Halo with four years’ experience working with some of the most renowned digital agencies on the South Coast.

Established in 2014, Halo provides strategic marketing, design, social media, videography and web-build, adding PPC as a service in 2017. Since then, it’s become a significant growth area for the industry. Clients are predominantly B2B including Southampton General Hospital, DP World and Winchester Science Centre.

Lauren comments, “The opportunity to join Halo at such a significant time is very exciting, they have ambitious growth plans and I’m looking forward to being at the centre of that. Halo has a strong reputation for creative design and customer service, so I’m eager to get started.”

Luke Bower, Halo Marketing Founder and Managing Director adds, “Lauren 100% levels-up Halo with her PPC and paid advertising experience. Her track record of delivering in this department over the last four years will be an incredible asset to Halo.

Halo’s steady growth over the last two years (post-pandemic) in particular is testament to the value provided across all our marketing services. A significant demand area has been PPC and paid advertising and now is the perfect time to bolster the department.”

Something Brand New?

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 13:40:47 GMT

When a brand isn't a brand and when a brand isn't just a logo...

We've all been there.

The conversation turns to discussing a 'brand' and you find yourself politely trying to steer the terminology away from the term 'logo' and instead redirect it to consider the 'brand' as a whole... the equity, values and personality - everything that makes a brand a brand, not just the logo.

Of course, the logo is an element of a brand, sometimes the most recognisable part, but what does that logo invoke in you? Does the Starbucks logo make you dream of sitting in a warm, leather chair when it's bucketing outside, drinking a hot pumpkin spice latte, whilst being politely asked your name. Good vibes, great brand personality, a sprinkle of brand loyalty and of course the green mermaid logo.

You'll go back to Starbucks because the brand represents so much more than the logo - it's how you feel.

Truth is developing a brand and raising its awareness is a multifaceted job, imagine being tasked with making someone feel something. Making them feel repulsed is easy, making them feel something more positive if far more difficult in a sceptical hyper-consumer world.

This is where the reader will recoil... because the word consistency comes into play. Consistently displaying and communicating your brand values and personality in a multitude of touch points will equal brand awareness, acceptance and ultimately loyalty. The formula is simple but far from easy to achieve.

Here's our 5 tips:

Spend time on your brand at the very beginning; specifically your brands story, values, voice and personality. It'll help you focus moving forward.
Give it time. A brand isn't built in a day.
Don't get too impacted by negativity around your brand, specifically on social media, remember it's how you react to it that counts.
Don't focus on your competition, instead place all emphasis on you, your brand and what you're trying to achieve.
Don't covet EVERYONE'S opinion. Use a singular, experienced sounding board, but be resolute in your resolve that the buck stops with you.

Why PPC is Better Than SEO

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 09:48:48 GMT

A Comprehensive Analysis

In the realm of digital marketing, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are two dominant strategies that businesses use to enhance their online presence. Both have their merits, but there are several compelling reasons why PPC might be a better choice for your business. Here’s an in-depth look at why PPC often outshines SEO.

1. Immediate Results

One of the most significant advantages of PPC over SEO is the speed of results. With PPC, you can launch a campaign and start receiving traffic almost immediately. As soon as your ads go live, they can appear at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) or across various online platforms. In contrast, SEO is a long-term strategy that can take months to show significant results, as it involves optimizing your website and building authority over time.

2. Guaranteed Visibility

PPC ads are displayed at the top of SERPs, above organic search results. This prime positioning ensures that your ads are seen by users, even if your website is not ranking highly organically. With SEO, there is no guarantee that your site will reach the first page of search results, especially in competitive industries.

3. Targeted Audience Reach

PPC allows for precise targeting based on demographics, location, device, time of day, and even specific interests or behaviors. This level of targeting ensures that your ads are shown to the most relevant audience, increasing the likelihood of conversions. SEO, while also targeting relevant keywords, cannot provide the same level of granular audience targeting.

4. Cost Control and Budget Flexibility

With PPC, you have complete control over your advertising budget. You can set daily or monthly limits, and you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. This pay-for-performance model allows for efficient budget management and the ability to scale up or down quickly based on performance. SEO, on the other hand, requires ongoing investment in content creation, link building, and technical optimization, with no guaranteed return on investment.

5. Better Data and Analytics

PPC platforms, such as Google Ads, offer detailed analytics and reporting tools that provide insights into ad performance, audience behavior, and conversion tracking. This data allows for continuous optimization and improvement of your campaigns. While SEO tools also offer valuable insights, the data is often less immediate and harder to attribute directly to specific actions.

6. Enhanced Brand Exposure

PPC campaigns can significantly enhance your brand exposure. By appearing in prominent ad placements, your brand gains visibility among a larger audience, which can lead to increased brand recognition and recall. SEO efforts, while beneficial for long-term brand building, may not provide the same immediate visibility boost.

7. Flexibility and Adaptability

PPC campaigns offer greater flexibility and adaptability compared to SEO. You can quickly adjust your ad copy, targeting parameters, and budget in response to market changes or performance data. SEO, however, requires more time and effort to implement changes, and the results are not as instantly visible.

8. Competitive Advantage

In highly competitive industries, relying solely on SEO can be challenging due to the time and effort required to achieve high organic rankings. PPC provides an opportunity to compete effectively by allowing your ads to appear alongside or above competitors’ organic listings. This visibility can be crucial for gaining a competitive edge.

Conclusion

While SEO remains an essential component of a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, the advantages of PPC make it an attractive option for businesses seeking immediate, measurable, and targeted results. By leveraging PPC advertising, you can achieve rapid visibility, precise audience targeting, and a flexible approach to budget management, all of which contribute to more effective and efficient marketing campaigns. For businesses looking to maximize their online presence and drive growth, PPC offers distinct and compelling benefits that often surpass those of SEO.

Halo Reaches Ten Year Milestone

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 10:39:29 GMT

Ten Years. Just Done It.

Trying to be as original as possible with this blog but it’s a subject that doesn’t come round that often (about every ten years in fact).

This year, Halo is Ten.

Ten years old.

And to say it’s gone by like a flash would be an understatement.

The company (which was originally Take Aim Media) only began because it seemed like a good idea. I had contacts within the pharma industry, a desk (which I still use), a dodgy printer (which I still have) and a plan. Granted it wasn’t much of a plan, but it would make sure if I could get through the first 3 months, I was confident we’d have a strong chance of being around a year after.

So here we are, ten years later. We started on a farm in Droxford with what felt like ‘dial up’ WIFI and now we’re in a slightly bigger office in Whiteley with much better WIFI. Oh, how times have changed!

We’ve had a load of brilliant days and a handful where I was about to throw my laptop out the window. The good have far, far outweighed the bad.

I suppose the best thing has been how we’ve evolved as a company, changing personnel and our offering as technology evolves (don’t get me started on Chat GPT). Being adaptable is what kept us fresh and ensured we offer value. As always, it’s never just one person, so thanks to everyone who contributed to this journey and got us where Halo is now, except the Govt (increasing corporation tax rates) and Covid – they are well and truly in room 101.

I’m keeping this deliberately short as I haven’t won an Oscar or done anything exceptionally special, we’ve simply been around for ten years… so we must be doing something right.

Here's ten things we've learned:

Creativity is at the centre of everything - surround yourself with amazing creatives and life is much easier
Learn - develop the people around you and yourself, go on a course, learn a new skill...
Keep optimistic - difficult at times, but stick with your path and the journey will unveil itself, may not look exactly like you thought it would but it's a journey nonetheless
Take the risk - be calculated obviously but whether it's moving to a new office or committing to a large project - just do it
Take a chance on people - people are brilliant, surround yourself with nice, dedicated and honest people
Don't think too far ahead - this can lead to worries you don't need, focus on the now, with only a small eye on next month
Momentum is everything - when everything is going well, ride the high as much as possible, there will always be a come down but make hay whilst the sun shines
Don't undervalue yourself - if you don’t understand your value how can you expect a client to?
Walk away - if the client doesn't feel like a good fit, never be afraid to walk away
Be you - don't change who you are to please a different sector or client, chances are the person you are is the reason you're talking to them anyway.

A Thread on Threads

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 00:04:06 GMT

Deep Drive on Threads

With the recent self-inflicted Twitter debacle where users were limited to viewing 300, then 600 tweets - which severely limited scrolling capability, the launch of Meta-operated Threads seems like a wonderful coincidence that fell neatly into Mr Zuckerberg's lap.

Firstly, it looks a bit like Twitter, smells a bit like Twitter, but this ain't no Elon Musk plaything. The initial take up of 100 million users in the first week alone has set it apart as the fastest growing social media platform in history - however as history has also taught us there can be a quick retreat when a platforms seems to be too similar or perform the same functions as others we're traditionally used to (see Google Spaces).

Simplicity.

Herein lies the biggest issue, it's linked to Instagram, which on the face of it means a quicker sign up, replicate profile option and your off to the races. But it's when deleting your Threads profile you realise, you're deleting your Instagram profile as well - apparently this is a fault to be fixed. But the good folks at Meta must have seen abandonment rates at other platforms and considered ingenious ways of keeping people on Threads... or is this us just being pessimistic?

Meta Backed

Threads hasn't taken a group of bitter old Twitter engineers and brought them onboard, it's been developed by a Meta team, and with a Meta team comes the power of WhatsApp, Instagram and of course Facebook - whilst this doesn't guarantee success, it does mean significant investment will have gone into development, marketing and a strategy to make on Twitter.

Pay as you Play

There's no doubt monetising these platforms is the ultimate goal. Musk has his $8 blue tick, Threads will no doubt harness the power of advertising spend it has already developed on other platforms. This is where our B2C clients will have the opportunity to submit ads to a exact criteria a-la Facebook.

It's New

Which isn't such a great thing. People LOVE familiarity and Threads, whilst simple in design has subtle differences that a Twitter-friendly user may find difficult to navigate. For example looking at someones profile picture - on occasion you can't see who has followed you or identify them from their handle, so you'd have a quick look at their pic, not on threads, you'll need a magnifying glass.

Find out why we don't worry about work life balance at Halo Marketing

Mon, 04 Jul 2022 12:41:17 GMT

Find out why we don't worry about work life balance at Halo Marketing

These days we are hearing a lot of people openly talking about work life balance and the importance of mental health, which we love at Halo Marketing, but what happens when you genuinely love what you do and don’t consider it a chore?

We know we’re lucky to have amazing and interesting clients in Halo Marketing, our days are varied and tend to keep us on our toes! We pride ourselves on going above and beyond for clients, not just because we care but because we love what we do.

Earlier in June our Managing Director Luke got to spend an evening trying out some state-of-the-art E-Bikes while shooting in the beautiful Hampshire countryside. T he time of evening allowed us to shoot the most spectacular content for an e-commerce website and social media platforms.

We’d like to say we rented a farm, but it was Luke’s fathers, which is coincidentally where Halo Marketing started back in 2014, with a small converted stable for an office and the slowest WiFi known to man.

Make sure to keep an eye on our socials to keep up with our different projects and unique situations we end up in.

Are confidence and boldness only praised when referring to a man?

Wed, 01 Jun 2022 11:38:31 GMT

Are traits like confidence and boldness only praised when referring to a man?

I have worked in many different roles within the marketing and sales sector, working closely with a diverse range of industries and individuals. I appreciate you cannot paint everyone with the same brush, which makes answering a question like this hard.

I've had experiences where I was told my assertiveness and confidence made me "scary". They said I should lower my expectations of my team members and meet them halfway. Through a lot of self-reflection and speaking to trusted mentors, I realised that these were not bad traits but simply not in line with what was expected of me, which changed the descriptive word the recipient was using.

I have also worked with some inspiring leaders whom I would personally describe as empathic, patient and welcoming. They were fantastic mentors within the organisation but were envious of my direct approach. They loved my determination and the competitive buzz I brought to the sales floor.

All these situations are why I started to consider this question and my personal experiences. The best organisations are those that encourage many different traits, whether they are a female or male.

I am lucky now to be involved in marketing which is primarily known for its strong female leaders, but also in a company where I was approached over my skills, how I managed projects and my client rapport. My confidence, determination and consistency were highlighted as positive.

Thankfully the days of "little girls should be seen and not heard" are finally on their way out. We are moving towards rewarding all positive traits no matter the sex, and I cannot wait to see the positive impact it will have on all organisations similar to Halo.

Post COVID-19 Marketing Predictions

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 11:37:25 GMT

Post COVID-19 Marketing Predictions

Let's face it this whole Coronavirus period has been horrible. For business owners, families, people who work on the front line. Ghastly time of uncertainty, fear, homes chooling and Piers Morgan.

In marketing we've seen a combination of bold and brave and cautious and steady.

Here's our Top 3 Predictions for the rest of 2020.

1. Action

Marketing budgets have been frozen whilst the financial outlook of companies has been constantly reviewed. Unfortunately marketing does seem to be the one area that is instantly looked at when cost cutting is needed. However, I learnt many lessons during the 2008 financial crash, one of those was, the more you can spend on marketing during tough times the better the comeback.

There will be marketing budget to spend and a more concise period in which to do it. Agencies will need to be prepared to launch campaigns swiftly, in what will be a more convoluted market place.

Essentially, we'll be busy.

2. Zoom will be the 'go to' meeting option before travel.

With a Global client base we've been exposed to the virtues of Zoom for several years now. Whilst there's nothing better than a nice face to face with a coffee and a rich tea, travel time is expensive, not in the literal 45p per mile sense but the time it takes to travel even short distances.

3. Digital Marketing

Inevitable really, what with people being wary of touching direct mail.

Social Media has been appalling during this period, whether it was the awful 'things will get better' posts or the doom mongers who jumped on any bad news like it was a Royal baby being born. We owe it to our social media channels to be better, deliver content that benefits people not just a passive or hard sale.

Our mantra is 'quality over quantity' when it comes to crafting content - we're pushing this even further with the launch of our digital package that provides video production content each month.

Dance World Cup... England Expects

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 13:40:28 GMT

Dance World Cup

This year our nominated charity is Ocean Cleanup, alongside Ocean Cleanup we also wanted to support a local initiative...

31 dancers, aged 6-24, from Timestep Academy of Dance have been selected to represent England in the upcoming Dance World Cup, which will be held in Rome, Italy.

The team will be competing against over 5,000 of the best dancers from across the world.

By sponsoring these dancers Halo Marketing is contributing to their Team England �� kit, new costumes, shoes and rehearsals.

Luke Bower comments, "Halo Marketing is proud to support Team England and we wish them the best of luck. The opportunity to give young children and young adults the chance to compete abroad, to test their skills was a no-brainer. Having young children myself at home, I think it's our responsibility to financially support them in their endeavours. We hope it is an experience of a life time for them - and of course we want them to win!"