Blue Thirst

Director | Blue Thirst

Redweb

In my current role i have built a very successful online marketing department in a well established web build agency.

I have also been involved in mentoring a project with a local school that has won 2 BIMA awards and a Times Educational Supplement nomination.

Specialties
Online Marketing working in the following Large Ecommerce,Retail, Travel, Finance, Storage, Software,and Public Sector.

Manager of the Search Marketing Department.

- Creating traffic for clients sites through, SEO, PPC, Re-marketing, PR distribution, Social Media Marketing, Email marketing and other online channels.

- provide insight into best practice for new sites being developed by Redweb design a build team.

- Managing the Search Department at Redweb.

Search Manager | Redweb

Virgin Media ntl:Telewest Business

Online Marketing Manager | Virgin Media Business

Inwards ltd

- Brand development using online media, including email marketing, ppc seo, rss etc
- Statistical analytics
- Project management of design of bespoke CMS/CRM system
- Database management and segmentation
- New online media development - utilizing new forms of online media for marketing purposes.

Online Sales | Inwards Marine

Whitecap Leisure

Ahh the good old days when a board meeting meant time on the water.  My hair was long and board shorts were my work clothes.  Windsurfing, Sailing, Canoeing Instructor.

Also ran/managed corporate team building events

Windsurfing Instructor

A CMO & CEO. Dedicated to driving growth and promoting innovative marketing for businesses with bold goals

With over 20 years of experience in digital marketing, I excel at crafting high-impact strategies that drive growth and success for well-known brands. My unique blend of technical expertise, extensive management experience, and real-world business acumen make me an invaluable asset to any project.

Having served as the CEO of Blue Thirst, I led my team to achieve prestigious industry certifications, and I've masterminded innovative marketing strategies for renowned brands.

🔸 Proven success in delivering multi-million-pound revenue streams
🔸 Extensive experience in managing and developing high-performing teams
🔸 Demonstrated ability to drive growth and innovation in various sectors

AI should help you work smarter, not add noise.

Start small. Use AI to summarise long search term reports into clear action lists. Automate alerts for wasted spend or missing sitelinks. Build templates for ad copy ideas and creative briefs.

The best automation is invisible. It saves time without changing your voice.

#AI #PPC #MarketingAutomation #DigitalMarketing #Productivity

Martin McAndrew

Are your Google Ads campaigns truly built around intent or just structured by habit?

Search intent is the most powerful yet underused concept in Google Ads. Many accounts still group keywords by theme or product line, ignoring what the user actually wants in that moment. The result is wasted clicks and poor relevance.

Start by classifying your search terms into three categories: Learn, Compare, Buy. Then adjust your ad copy, extensions, and landing pages to match the mindset. Informational intent needs clarity and education. Commercial intent needs reassurance and differentiation. Transactional intent needs proof and urgency.

When you align ads with intent, you stop selling and start serving. The ROI shift can be dramatic because every click feels like an answer, not an interruption.

If your search terms look messy, your intent map probably is too.

#GoogleAds #PPC #Ecommerce #DigitalMarketing #MarketingTips

Your ads might not need a full rebrand - just new creative energy.

Our creative sprint condenses a full refresh into two weeks. We test multiple hooks, angles, and formats built from your existing assets. The result is a refreshed ad library that performs stronger and lasts longer.

You get fresh insight, new assets, and a creative system you can maintain.

See how our sprints work at https://lnkd.in/e8_MDCvq

#MetaAds #PaidSocial #Creative #DigitalMarketing #Growth

Testing creative is not about changing pictures. It is about learning fast.
 
 Set a testing cadence. Each week, test one variable hook, angle, or offer. Keep everything else stable. After 7 days, analyse the results, keep the winners, and rotate. Over time, this process builds a creative benchmark that protects you from performance dips. 
 
 Consistency beats chaos. 
 
 #MetaAds #CreativeTesting #PaidSocial #DigitalMarketing #Ecommerce

The silent killer of Meta Ads performance is repetition.

Every advertiser fears audience fatigue, but few measure it properly. Frequency over 4 is often the first warning sign that your ads are wearing thin. Cost per click begins to rise, and engagement drops off.

Set up a weekly check in Ads Manager. Look at frequency, creative age, and CTR trend together. If performance is sliding, rotate in new hooks or angles rather than rewriting the entire ad. Even small creative refreshes can reset engagement and protect brand health.

Audiences do not mind seeing your ad again. They mind seeing the same idea without evolution.

How often are you reviewing your frequency data?

#MetaAds #PaidSocial #FacebookAds #DigitalMarketing #MarketingStrategy

If your retargeting campaign only focuses on abandoned baskets, you are missing most of your warm audience.

Effective remarketing goes beyond cart recovery. It includes people who viewed multiple pages, engaged with your content, or watched product videos. Each segment deserves its own message.

At Blue Thirst, we design retargeting layers that speak to behaviour, not just conversion stage. This approach keeps frequency sensible, creative relevant, and results consistent.

A strong retargeting funnel turns passive browsers into active buyers. Discover how we structure our campaigns at https://lnkd.in/e8_MDCvq

#MetaAds #Retargeting #PPC #Ecommerce #DigitalMarketing

Ranking high is not the same as performing well.

SEO teams often celebrate traffic growth, but the smartest marketers celebrate conversion growth. The key difference is intent.

Start by reviewing which keywords actually generate enquiries or sales. Build clusters of content around those themes. Then look at how people behave once they land on your pages. Are they scrolling, clicking, or leaving? Use that data to refine both content and calls to action.

SEO that stops at ranking is half the job done. SEO that converts is where long-term profit lives.

#SEO #DigitalMarketing #LeadGeneration #Analytics #SearchMarketing

Today we’re sharing a short Christmas video built specifically around the Muc-Off brand, featuring Santa preparing his sleigh with the help of Muc-Off before Christmas Eve.

This piece isn’t just seasonal content, it’s an example of how brands like Muc-Off can now use next-generation AI video tools to:

- Produce high-quality creative fast
- Feature new products or offers instantly
- Run rapid A/B variations for performance testing
- Refresh paid social and digital ads at scale
- Increase ROAS through continuous optimisation

We created this concept to demonstrate the type of bold, performance-driven creative we would develop if we were supporting Muc-Off across social, paid media and digital.

If scaling creative production, improving paid performance and testing more ideas faster is a focus for 2025. This shows what’s now possible. Once the dust of black Friday has settled drop me a DM and i can show you more.

Oli Rudgard Simon Holloway Alex Trimnell Mark Rooks

#Ai
#DigitalMarketing
#Googleads
#PerformanceCreative
#PaidSocial
#BrandGrowth

Great results from a great client

#ppc #digitalmarketing

How Blue Thirst Helped Picniq Grow Revenue by £3M While Cutting Costs by 20%

When Picniq, a leading UK ticketing and “days out” platform for families, came to us, they faced a familiar challenge:
- Rising advertising costs
- Increased competition
- Campaigns struggling to keep pace with Google’s constant changes

Our brief was simple: grow sales, reduce waste, and future-proof performance marketing.

Here’s what we did 👇
- Took full control of their Google Ads account to improve efficiency
- Rebuilt campaigns from the ground up to align with Google’s latest best practices
- Introduced rich media assets to boost engagement
- Transitioned from Merchant Center to the new “Things to Do” formats
- Expanded into new verticals – including holiday packages and theatre ticket sales

The results over the 2025 season speak for themselves:
- £3M increase in revenue
- 20% reduction in CPA
- 2 new channels launched

And here’s what Picniq had to say:

“Martin has played a key role in transforming our approach to performance marketing, helping us achieve greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness. His insight was especially valuable during our transition to new campaign types.”
- COO, Picniq®

Blue Thirst is proud to support Picniq as they continue helping families across the UK make memories together - with marketing that works just as hard as they do.

#GoogleAds #PerformanceMarketing #eCommerce #CaseStudy #DigitalMarketing #BlueThirst

Do you really know what your ads are matching to?

Broad match can scale your reach, but it can also destroy your intent structure. Create separate ad groups for exact, phrase, and broad. Use negative keywords to prevent overlap and confusion.

Run a search term audit once a week. Pause what does not align with your offer, and feed learnings from high-performing phrases into your content and creative strategy.

Smart structure is not about volume. It is about clarity.

#GoogleAds #SearchMarketing #Ecommerce #PPC #MarketingTips

When was the last time an expert looked inside your Google Ads account?
 
 We offer a free review for advertisers investing more than £10k a month. You will receive a short report covering structure, bidding, audiences, and creative health. You can apply it yourself or ask us to help. 
 
 Either way, you will leave with clarity. 
 
 Request your review today: https://lnkd.in/e8_MDCvq
 
 #GoogleAds #PPC #MarketingAgency #B2B #Growth

Stop chasing Quality Score like it is a prize.

It is a signal, not a goal. Use it to check relevance between keyword, ad, and landing page. Tighten your message match and ensure your pages load fast. Then ignore the number and focus on cost per acquisition.

Quality Score is an indicator, not an outcome. Profitability is the outcome.

oh and dont get me started on Ad strength!

#GoogleAds #PPC #SearchMarketing #Ecommerce #DigitalMarketing

A slow or confusing website costs you every day.

We run technical SEO reviews that fix what search engines and users hate  slow pages, crawl errors, weak templates, and broken links. You will get a short, actionable checklist to fix your biggest blockers.

Strong foundations make every marketing channel more effective.

Get your site reviewed at https://lnkd.in/e8_MDCvq

#SEO #TechnicalSEO #DigitalMarketing #CRO #SearchMarketing

Are you confident your Google Ads account is as efficient as it could be?

After hundreds of audits, we consistently find 20% to 30% of budgets going to waste through poor match types, broad targeting, duplicate queries, and ineffective bidding rules. It is easy to overlook inefficiencies when you manage the account daily.

Our audit process starts with structure. We look for signal clarity: are campaigns built around intent, not admin convenience? Then we assess bidding alignment and is automation helping or fighting you? We review creative rotation, conversion setup, and audience layering. Finally, we deliver a short, clear action plan. No fluff, no guesswork.

If you manage more than £10k a month in ad spend, a second set of expert eyes could uncover a surprising amount of hidden performance.

Request your review at https://lnkd.in/e8_MDCvq

#GoogleAds #PaidMedia #MarketingAgency #Advertising #B2B

Performance Max works only when your inputs are strong.

We optimise PMax campaigns by cleaning feeds, structuring asset groups by intent, and protecting brand traffic. We then measure incrementality to separate genuine growth from reshuffled conversions.

If your PMax feels like a black box, we can help you make it transparent.

Learn more at https://lnkd.in/e8_MDCvq

#GoogleAds #PerformanceMax #Ecommerce #DigitalMarketing #PPC

Why over-optimising for AI answers will kill brand discovery

Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) and other AI-driven search features are changing how customers find information. Many brands are already asking: how do we optimise for AI answers?

The risk is over-optimisation.

Why this is dangerous

AI answers tend to collapse the customer journey into one “best” option. If you optimise purely for that, you are betting on being the single brand that gets mentioned.

It reduces your visibility across the wider set of queries where customers might otherwise discover you.

Chasing AI snippets often leads to thin, overly engineered content that serves algorithms, not people.

What to focus on instead

Build content that answers customer questions with depth and credibility.

Strengthen your brand outside of search - social, email, PR - so discovery doesn’t rely only on AI.

Use AI search changes as a signal to improve authority and experience, not as a shortcut.

Discovery matters. If your brand is only ever found when someone already knows your name, you’ve lost the battle.

Question: Do you see AI in search as a discovery opportunity or a threat to brand visibility?

#SEO #AI #digitalmarketing

Do you really know what drives your conversions?

Attribution is not about perfect truth. It is about consistency and context. Choose a model, stick with it, and learn from its direction. Watch assisted conversions and trends in brand search. Make decisions with context, not noise.

The aim is not to be right. It is to be informed.

#Analytics #Attribution #GoogleAds #PPC #DigitalMarketing

Another month another huge amount of updates from Google, Meta to get your head around.

Digitial marketing moves fast.  Here are the top stories from last month to keep you up todate

#digitalmarketing #SEo #ppc #ai

Blue Thirst Digital Marketing Update December 2025. The digital marketing landscape is shifting fast and this week’s updates show just how quickly AI, automation, and platform-level changes are reshaping how we run campaigns.
If you’re running paid media, analytics, or growth strategy, these changes will impact how you plan, optimize, and measure performance.
 Here’s what’s new and worth your attention:

1. Meta starts using AI-chat data to personalize ads across its apps
2. Google Ads now auto-generates video ads from existing Demand Gen image ads
3. Better ad-asset reporting for Google Display Ads
4. Google Ads expands Performance Max reporting with new asset and channel features
5. Google Analytics update: improved attribution and renamed data import features
Mobile gaming ad landscape 2025: Interactive ads + AI-led optimization dominate
#DigitalMarketing #GoogleAds #MetaAds #AIinMarketing #PerformanceMarketing

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Martin McAndrew

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Martin McAndrew

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