Meet ‘Shoot The HiPPO’s’ Authors

With just a few weeks to go until our book is ready to hit the shelves, we thought it was about time we introduced you to its authors! We’re so proud of the team at Footprint, and most of them have been involved in shaping our book – whether they’ve proofed, edited, questioned, or even written content for it. It’s been a real team effort!

The key authors for the book are our two Directors, Tom Bowden and Tom Jepson, as well as Head of Marketing Innovation, Chris Green; Partnership Development Manager, Marketa Benisek; and Head of Paid Search, Michael Scanlon. Their combined technical expertise, business understanding, and strategic know how is what makes this book special. We really hope you enjoy it and that it makes an impact on your marketing department!

Tom Bowden – Author

Tom is coming to terms with the reality that he is the guy that wrote a book about marketing. He’d always imagined that he’d write one about something a bit more nourishing to the soul. Nevertheless, he has worked alongside so many brilliant people over the years and gleaned from them a great deal of knowledge. He thought he ought to write it all down. His biggest interest in life is providing opportunities for young people in Malawi. He does this as trustee of Building Malawi (www.buildingmalawi.com) and throughout the last 18 years of his life has built four libraries, two schools and the first and largest sports academy in the country’s capital, Lilongwe. If someone could write a cheque to enable Building Malawi to build more, please do it. Th e world is grossly unfair to young people in that part of the world and you have the power to make life better for them. So give us your effing money! (All profits from the sale of this book will go to Building Malawi.) He has lots of the fearsome big-hitter-businessy accolades that you would expect from an author of a marketing book. He is managing director of a digital marketing agency, he has developed global strategies for clients you will have heard of (Sony, Motorola, Cartoon Network, Google, Legal and General etc etc) and has delivered lectures for universities, trade bodies, and governments. The thing he likes most about running a digital agency is supporting his team to learn, play, and grow both personally and professionally. He also quite enjoys occasionally doing the tea round and if you ask for a green tea he will always present it with a plate and a spoon so you can decide for yourself how stewed you would like it. Tom is the person to talk to if you are interested in understanding the most effective way to build a team capable of adapting to the fast changing digital world (Culture), develop a winning strategy (Strategy), generate business through paid advertising (PPC) and improve the conversion rate of your website (CRO).

Tom Jepson – Author

Tom was one of the pioneers of the service that is now known as SEO and, through 20 years of experience, he has seen search engines become part of everyday life. His intrinsic understanding of how they work has enabled him to help hundreds of companies thrive online and has made him one of the leading minds in the industry. Which is made ever more impressive by the fact that he grew up as the only English guy in his school in Serrekunda, The Gambia. The school only had blackboard and chalk and Tom didn’t get his hands on a computer until he was 14. It may also make him the only industry leading SEO who also speaks Wolof. Nominative determinism is the theory that the name we are given influences who we become. I’m not sure if there is a similar term for people inhabiting the characteristics of people they look like. Tom is the spitting image of Mowgli and embodies this by being resourceful, free spirited, and enthusiastic. He is obsessed with understanding how things work and combines his superb technical knowledge and analytical approach with his exceptional ability to communicate in a way that businesses can understand. He bridges the technical, analytical, and creative and has a fierce reputation for getting results. He is a Director at Footprint Digital, a husband, and the proud father of two beautiful girls; the centre of his world. Tom is the person to talk to if you are interested in understanding the most effective way to invest online (Google Analytics) and improve your site rankings in Google (SEO).

Chris Green – Contributing Author

Chris has been obsessed with digital marketing for over ten years. He’s an author, experienced Marketer, Strategist, and Technical SEO. He has an impressive beard and an even more impressive hairline for someone who has dealt with Google algorithms all of his life (most industry peers have torn theirs out). When Chris delivers a webinar he uses a different voice, something akin to the one your Mum used to use when she answered the phone to someone in authority. His warm encouraging tone makes even the most terrifyingly technical topic approachable and fun. What is rare and special is that, unlike lots of tech geniuses, who prefer to ferret their extensive knowledge away in their own private vaults, Chris loves to share and teach everything he knows to anyone that will listen. Those who do are well rewarded.
Head of Marketing Innovation at Footprint Digital, Chris Green has worked in Digital Marketing & Search marketing for the last decade. Chris’s core focuses have been Technical SEO, Web Analytics, Paid Search, and Digital Strategy. He has spoken at industry events such as BrightonSEO, State of Digital, Search Norwich, Search LDN, and Optimisey and worked with household names, SMEs and one man bands. Chris is a certified trainer for SISTRIX, an Ambassador for OnCrawl, and a contributor for State of Digital.

Michael Scanlon – Contributing Author

Once a year, on boxing day, Michael runs naked into the sea. It is a chastening experience, not least for those that are present when he does it, but, also for those that have had the misfortune of picturing it in their mind’s eye. It is a form of penitence ritual, something to do with the Irish catholic guilt he carries from his youth. It must be that same Irish blood that makes him proficient at all things Google. Sadly Michael’s accent is somewhat undercut by the guttural sounds of his Coventry upbringing, but he is bloody good at paid search campaigns, to be sure, to be sure. Michael believes that digital can encourage communication, creativity and, ultimately, make the world a better place. Head of PPC at Footprint Digital, Michael is the person to talk to if you are interested in the unconventional percussion choices in the music of the late Buddy Holly, the career goals to game ratio of Peter Ndlovu, or the precision of a well formed PPC account.

Marketa Benisek – Contributing Author

Marketa Benisek leads the way in Footprint Digital’s drive to make the internet more sustainable. A top of her class marketing phenomenon Marketa has degrees, awards, and successes spilling out of her ears. Marketa is a certified Climate Reality Leader, and she maintains a blog called Everyday Choices (www.everydaychoices.life) which helps people understand what they can do to contribute to a better future for our planet and ourselves and start making a difference today. She believes we can solve the climate crisis together but, to do so, we must act quickly. Behind her back the team affectionately refer to her as MarGRETA Funberg, Al GOREgeous or, at times, Sir David Quickhide-your-single-use-plastic-batternburg. She also sometimes writes book chapters on digital sustainability. Marketa is the person to talk to if you want to reduce your website carbon footprint (Sustainability) and is the person that will whack-a-mole you with a placard if you don’t.

Alex Eade – Editor

Chief editor of this book Alex Eade once tried to escape Footprint Digital. She ran away to London for two years to work in the marketing department at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants. Footprint gave chase. Unable to compete with discounts on delicious cuisine we instead offered the impossible-to-resist opportunity to open up a London office and lead the Footprint marketing team. Schooled by the master of dishing out foul mouthed obscenities Alex was well equipped to cope with the proof readers’ feedback on the author’s first draft. Alex has lived the entire Footprint lifecycle. After graduating from her masters in business she attended an early version of the Shoot the HiPPO course. On completion she joined the team and ran the content department. She then left. (But please don’t mention it because we’re still not fully over it). She then returned. Alex understands the text from all perspectives and like a good chef has found balance with the diverse flavours within the book to make it palatable and satisfying to all. She’s a self-confessed book worm, and not even the process of editing Shoot the HiPPO has put her off spending far too much money in Waterstones. She is a champion chocolate eater (we can confirm that levels of consumption have dramatically increased during the editing process) and loves nothing better than a long walk, usually to Richmond Park, to spot the deer or fawn over other people’s dogs.