DIGITAL MARKETING MACKAY
With a great digital marketing strategy you can turn more customers into leads and it doesn’t have to be expensive
‘Business is Brutal’- ACCC
In 2002 Matilda complained to the ACCC about Telstra’s predatory tactics.
They had an advertised price, but if the potential customer mentioned they were using Matilda Internet, Telstra would suddenly offer a massive discount to try and win them back.
A price we could not compete with.
We thought it was illegal. We thought it was unfair.
Did the ACCC do anything?
Yes (said sarcastically)
They wrote back saying
“Business is Brutal”
In other words:
“Don’t come crying to us – deal with it.”
So we did. We adapted then, and like you, we’re adapting again now.
Fast forward and along came Covid-19. A once-in-a-century event. Overnight we all scrambled to do four things:
Isolate. Keep safe. Work. Transact online.
Most of us made it through. But that crisis changed business forever. It wasn’t just a blip. It was the turning point.
Today, the new reality is clear:
- Customers expect you to be online 24/7.
- They Google before they buy.
- They read reviews before they trust.
- They expect speed, security, and connection.
And now in 2025, another wave of challenges is here:
- Queensland’s royalty taxes and lower coal prices are squeezing the mining industry, forcing companies to slash costs. That ripples down, and our local suppliers and contractors are the ones who feel it most.
- Housing in Mackay is scarce and expensive, making it hard to attract and keep good staff.
- Global uncertainty from U.S. tariff policies creates more instability for local businesses trying to plan ahead.
- At the same time, AI, automation, and rising ad costs are rewriting the rules of competition.
- And the old ways of reaching customers like TV, radio, print; they no longer work. Live TV audiences have collapsed. People don’t sit through ads anymore. Instead, they turn to their phones for everything: shopping, news, banking, entertainment, talking with friends, even planning their next big purchase. If you’re not showing up there, you’re invisible.
The truth?
If you don’t have a strong online presence, a clear digital strategy, and a way to stand out, your business risks becoming extinct. Not just gone, but leaving debts behind.
The good news?
You’re here. You already know this matters.
Matilda has been helping businesses in Mackay, the Whitsundays, and across Queensland get online, grow online, and stay online since 1997.
Back then the buzzword was “The Internet.” Today it’s “Digital Marketing.” Tomorrow it’s “AI-driven growth.” Whatever it’s called, we’ve been here through every wave of change, and we’ll help you ride the next one.
What we do now:
- Build websites that rank and convert
- SEO and local SEO so you get found where it matters
- Manage your online reputation and reviews
- Create social and content strategies that keep customers engaged
- Use data, analytics, and AI tools to give you the edge over bigger players
Charles Darwin said it best:
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”
Matilda exists to help Queensland businesses adapt, survive and flourish.
WHAT WE’LL DO FOR YOU
We’ll help you increase your digital presence and respond to the once in a generation change quickly!
And we won’t charge you an arm and a leg
This is what we’ll do:
1. Understand your business
You may think you need a Website or a Blog or Facebook etc and we could easily do those things for you, but we go beyond that, we try and understand your business and what you really need.
So we get to know your business we ask questions like:
Who are your customers and what are your most profitable products.
What do people love about you? What needs improving?
Digitally – how do you rate?
2. Analyse your competitors
Next your competitors. Who are they? How are they doing, what can you learn from them?
The old sayings is keep your friends close but keep your enemies or competitors closer.
We’ll help you analyse why a particular competitor is doing better than you.
Need to monitor any changes in their website or be alerted to any changes in Facebook or online announcements. We’ll show you how to do that.
3. Produce and implement a Digital Marketing Plan of Attack
So after we’ve understood your business, and checked out your competitors we’ll analyse, prioritise and make some suggestions.
Does your Facebook need improving, Do you need to take orders online? Will a Blog help?
Does your Website work? What’s your Google ranking?
Should you use email marketing or Google Ads?
How about an Instagram/Pinterest account?
Does this all seem overwhelming?
Don’t worry.
We’ll do the things that have the greatest impact first ie we will prioritise and execute, assess with you the success of what we have done, and only move to the next item, with your agreement.
You are always in charge
SUCCESSES
1. Soap Maker
Regionally based – works from home. Customer chose the right name for their domain which Google absolutely loves. We optimised Google search words. So when potential customers typed certain search words the customers website came up top every time.
Now that in itself is no big deal if the search words are not used very often however in this occasion absolutely thousands of customers google these particular search words each month, and there are no google ads to compete against at this stage.
The website was essentially the only form of advertising ie a finely tuned website and an online shop and the right keywords The customer doesn’t even pay for Google Ads words.
Unbelievable result:
The product that this customer produces probably sits under the radar of the major manufacturers which is really strange given that it’s such a profitable and large segment of the soap industry.
Turnover is more than $200,000 per annum just from the online shop alone.
An incredible success
SUCCESSES
2. Florist
A local florist approached us as they didn’t want to spend another $6k per annum on a “yellow” pages type directory. We analysed their business and competitors and found that their competitors we working google ad words really well in Mackay. Their competitors were actually headquartered in Melbourne and used google ads to get the local Mackay business then subcontract the business to local florists. What we did was optimised their Adwords and optimised and redesigned their online shop.
Result effective increase in turnover of more than $30K per annum after paying for all google ad words. Sales were so great that at St Valentines day we had to effectively close down their online store because they sold all their stock 7 days before the big day. Similarly 7 days before Mothers day we were asked to effectively close their store because they had sold out of their increased stocks.
Customer is very pleased and continues to spends money on carefully researched Ad words which we supply.
3. Cake Maker
This is an outstanding digital marketing success story.
A local cake maker was very disheartened because sales had been dropping over a long period of time. The product she produced was very good quality and every cake was unique. Problem was that customer didn’t have the money to advertise and let people know about what they were capable of doing.
Also the customer isn’t digitally savvy and found it difficult to respond to her Facebook interaction
We analysed how many people searched on a monthly basis for their type of cakes and registered a domain name around those results.
Google loves you if you have the same words in your domain name as what people are searching for.
We then built a great website with lots of pix. We optimised the words so that it would rank well and get to page 1 and waited and waited, while tweaking content to get us to the first page. We got to the top of page 2 and basically sat there. We continued working on it and we still sat there. This was very unusual for us. We were used to getting to first page with a few weeks.
The months went by then suddenly our customer got very busy, we just believed that it was a normal up and down movement. However after two weeks of this significantly increased business we looked at her google ranking and you guessed it … they were on the first page in No 1 or 2 position.
They are still there, and business has almost doubled. A nice satisfying result for all concerned. This was great digital marketing in Mackay at it’s best.
4. Vehicle Hire
A customer approached us wanting to buy and then hire certain type of vehicle, essentially working from home. They would get their customers to pick up the vehicle initially from home. We looked at how often in google people searched for hiring this particular vehicle in Mackay and found that it was surprising quite a lot ie google searches were in the few hundred every month.
So we designed and optimised the website name and website site itself as well as facebook presence based on the particular search words.
The Digital Marketing was an instant success. Business has grown so much that they now have a commercial building and have expanded the range of their offerings.
The customer continues to invest in Digital Marketing in Mackay by making sure their website is high up the search rankings and is now the leading company in this field in Mackay and surrounding areas, they now employ several people full time.
SUCCESSES
5. Builder
This is a work in progress and we’ll update as we go along.
A high profile builder contacted us saying that they were unhappy with amount of money they were spending on yellow search directories. We were able to essentially clone their site onto our servers and the customer saved $9K per annum, as we only charge a few hundred a year in hosting.
Currently we are working on a Digital Marketing strategy for them, ie increasing his google ranking and will be using some of the money saved to do some google ads as his work naturally ebbs and flows as construction work does. There is a real opportunity for this customer to be on page 1 of google search result which will undoubtedly increase his business
Stay tuned to read about the journey we are both going through to seek success.
NOT SO SUCCESSFUL
1. Welding Equip Supplier
So three senior very capable shop foremen are essentially given the golden handshake during the recent mining downturn. They are in their early sixty’s still capable of contributing and with a wealth of experience and knowledge.
What are they going to do to keep themselves occupied?
Their idea was to import Welding kits from China and sell them.
They came to us with beautiful logo and a fantastic memorable name.
We sat down with them and analysed their business idea.
What would be your unique selling point we asked? Was it going to be price or service or training?
Service and training they said. We will produce videos on how to weld properly etc and we’ll promote our business via going to local markets etc.
We set up a beautiful website and Youtube videos, the problem was as we advised the customer before we started that they would need some skin in the game. The customers didn’t really promote their business like they should have, they didn’t produce enough video that we could upload to Youtube plus they didn’t get out and to their advertising at local markets etc
Unfortunately the business folded after a couple of years. The lesson from this is that digital marketing isn’t enough in some cases and it’s got to be a part of a smart marketing plan.
2. Tender publication Site
This is sad case. Customer spoke to us about a great idea, create a website where companies registered their interest in buying and providing products for tender, and make commission on handling the transactions.
The customer had small children, worked in a high profile busy job and we could see that it wasn’t going to work as this idea required laser like focus.
The needed focus wasn’t going to happen.
So we actually turned down the $30K website budget that she had set aside. We were friends with her parents and we hoped that she would understand that it was never going to work.
Unfortunately she found another digital marketing company who gladly took her money without really analysing it’s potential success or otherwise
Her business went broke and closed within 12 months. There is an old saying put two people together in a. room where one has the experience and the other has the money and pretty soon the one with the experience has the money and the one who had the money has the experience.
SEO
We can make sure your site’s showing up when your customers are searching for answers to their problems or questions. Contact us for a free SEO Audit of your site.
Content Marketing
We can write engaging, keyword targeted, relevant content for your target audience and to attract new customers.
Email Marketing
Connecting with your customers is more important than ever. We can help you grow your business through email marketing campaigns.
Google Ads
See your website leap to the
top of Google! By using paid search ads we can link sets of keywords relevant to your business. Contact us for more info on Google Ads
Social Media Marketing
Businesses need to engage in social media. Promote your business and engage with your customers through Google My Business, Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter, YouTube