MARKETING
Growth – Outrank has seen its recent year-on-year turnover jump by 42 %.
REWRITING THE RULES
How Outrank’ s bet on SMEs is fuelling record-breaking growth
WORDS: PAUL FRASER PICTURES: TOM BANKS
Most digital marketing agencies chase the bigger corporate clients, dismissing small and medium-sized enterprises( SMEs) as low-margin stepping stones.
Middlesbrough-based Outrank is rewriting that rulebook – and reaping the rewards.
By actively targeting the SME market and powering its operations with custombuilt proprietary technology, the Teesside agency has unlocked unprecedented year-on-year growth.
Today, Outrank occupies a commanding industry position, delivering mid-tier agency quality at accessible SME prices.
The secret to Outrank’ s scaling lies in a strategic pivot away from expensive, outbound client acquisition.
Outrank CEO – Stephen Robinson.
Instead, the agency has built a massive, owned ecosystem of databases. This demand engine generates more than 1,000 inbound opportunities every month, completely eliminating the need for paid acquisition or traditional outbound sales activity.
Operations director Francesca Kosina said:“ Historically, many agencies have shied away from the SME market because the accessible price points make it difficult to maintain profitable delivery margins.
“ That space, however, has become our bread and butter. We’ ve scaled rapidly by managing to deliver high-quality services at a price SMEs can afford.
“ We successfully targeted this market when others overlooked it, supporting our delivery teams by building our own in-house proprietary tools to drive productivity and efficiency.”
Outrank recently cemented its yearend position for 2025, demonstrating remarkable resilience.
Francesca said:“ While there have been economic and market challenges across the board, we are still seeing month-onmonth growth.
“ In fact, we are seeing our clients actively increase their marketing spend with us because the strategies we implement are directly making them money.”
54 | Tees Business