Mike's first 6 months at Herd

Tell us a little bit about yourself

My name’s Michael Bates PhD, I have 3 A levels, 1 As level, and 10 GSCEs at A*-C grade. I’m originally from the Peak District, and am a proud emigrant to the capital of Yorkshire.

I’ve got plenty of time in the industry under my belt, and I’ve worked across organic media for everything from start-ups to global brands. I enjoy problem solving more than anything, finding solutions to questions to which I don’t know the answer.

I also really enjoy bouldering, I’ve switched brewing beer for coffee lately, and I recently built a giant skeleton called Godfrey in Minecraft.

What have you been up to so far?

What haven’t I been up to? Mostly onboarding [redacted] and bedding in a fantastic SEO team. Some quizzing, auditing sites, and we’re about up to date!

What have you learned about the world of marketing that you didn’t know before starting?

The Vue equivalent of Next.js is called Nuxt.js. That pleased me greatly.

Also that Shopify is far more flexible as a platform when you have the right developers in play. Shopify’s out of the box solutions for SEO can feel limited, but we’ve got a great team who understand how to maximise the platform beyond anything I’ve seen previously.

What are you hoping to achieve in the next six months?

We’ve got fantastic people in the team, now it’s time to play. I want us to grow even more incredible brands – not just by maintaining and supporting their domain, but by growing their content, voice, and brand recognition across platforms.

Quickfire round

Who would be a dream client to work with?

I feel like I’ve already had a few of them in my career! It’d be great to work with someone like Pact, or Rave Coffee – any brand that has a creative approach to the everyday gets my vote.

What is your favourite piece of stationery?

My Sailor Pro Gear Slim Purple Cosmos is up there, but I do love a TWSBI Eco with a stub nib for headings and more dynamic writing!

Tea or coffee?

Nothing beats a well-made coffee. I love a peppermint tea, but a well pulled espresso wins any day.

Favourite marketing tool?

Screaming Frog + Excel any day of the week.

Favourite podcast?

At the minute it’s probably Books that Kill. They break down ‘airport books’ and try to work out why they were successful, and what ideas they have that are good/bad (usually bad).

If you'd like to chat with Mike, get in touch with Herd today!