As we head towards the end of 2024, the Year of the Dragon, I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of our clients, partners, suppliers and the wider network for all your business, encouragement and support.
This year is special in quite a few ways, but I want to start by saying that this year is our 10th year anniversary! Yes, we finally hit the two-digit milestone; it has been an amazing journey to get to where we are.
It sometimes feels just like yesterday when I look back at how Ignite Search all started; 1st September 2014, with just me, in a small bedroom, in Willetton, Perth:
And then fast forward 10 years to where we are now, based smack bang in the middle of East Victoria Park, with Australia’s largest hand-drawn Phoenix and Dragon mural as part of our interior design…!
In 2024, there were many moments that I believe were significant; I won’t be able to list them all, but will highlight three key milestones below:
We Hosted The Prime Minister At A Black Tie Ball!
In February 2024, we were appointed Event Marketing partner for a 1,000-guest Chinese New Year event at Crown Perth, which includes high profile dignitaries such as the Prime Minister of Australia, and the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Australia.
It is the highest profile event marketing project that we have ever spearheaded, and I deeply appreciate the trust placed upon us by the organisers to allow us to take the lead; the event was an absolute resounding success.
We Won a Prestigious National Marketing Agency Award!
In August 2024, we were announced as the winner of the national Business Xcellence Award for National Agency of the Year, against hundreds of our marketing peers.
This came as a huge surprise to us, and was an absolute testament to not just my amazingly capable team, but also to all our clients and partners that worked together to make it happen.
We Launched Our Podcast Series: The Way With Cheech Foo!
Another first for us is the completion of our first full year of episodes with our own podcast series called The Way With Cheech Foo. Suffice to say, we were absolutely green when we started the podcast episode. The learning curve was insanely steep, and long hours by all Igniters were put in, to ensure that we were able to deliver an experience that is worth the listeners time.
Our vision is to sit down and chat with high-performing humans, to understand their Way in life, to not only learn how they succeed in business and their area of expertise, but also get to delve into their backstory, and how it shaped who they are today.
Special thanks to all our guests that have graced our podcast studio: Soo Wang, Kelvin Ha, Helen Cripps, Angela Tran, Kay Terry & Judith Cousins, George Mittal, Henry Habekost & Julie Richards; they bravely allowed their Way to be told to a global audience, thank you from the bottom of my heart for entrusting me and my team with your story.
Next year is going to be bigger and better, with more amazing speakers lined up, so make sure you subscribe on all major podcasting platforms and stay tuned, and if you wish to be a guest on the show, do reach out 😉
Final Thoughts
As a marketing professional or a business owner, what does 2025 bode for the world of branding, design, websites and digital marketing?
See below some actionable insights from the brains trust within Ignite Search on what to look out for in the coming year.
My Best Digital Marketing Tips for 2025
Content Writing: Write in your own voice. The brand you have built has shared your journey with you and your customers will respond to your words better than any AI generator.
Branding and Design: AI tools are streamlining tasks like image editing, resizing and colour correction. However, designers still need to bring creativity and understanding of brand identity for designs to truly shine!
Search Engine Optimisation: In addition to focusing on strong fundamentals such as research, quality content and strong domain authority, the SEO SERPs layout is changing faster than ever. Pay close attention and optimise for new real estate, such as the advent of AI Overview (AIO) visibility within the SERPs.
Website Design and Development: With AI becoming more advanced, personalised user experiences will become more common, with websites tailoring content, design and recommendations to individual preferences and behaviours.
Social Media Marketing: The Social Media algorithms have changed to favour interaction and community over regular posting. If you want your brand and reach to grow, then start mingling on social media by liking or loving a post, following like-minded people and leaving a comment that contributes to the conversation.
Chinese Marketing: Little Red Book aka LRB aka Xiao Hong Shu aka XHS remains the most effective social media platform for brands to be discovered (brand awareness), while WeChat is more skewed towards brand education. KOLs will still be great for ROI, especially at the 5k-20k follower mark.
Overall Hot Tip: Start marketing through LinkedIn Newsletters, a feature within LinkedIn that can now send out emails of all your posted content, with 100% reach, to all your subscribers, pseudo-replacing email providers. It is experiencing insane engagement rates across our own client portfolio at the moment!
Wrapping Up A Great Year And The Beginning Of A Better One!
To all our partners, you’ve been amazing and we can’t wait to collaborate on more projects together.
To all our existing clients, we appreciate all your support to date, and here’s to a bigger and better 2025 together.
And finally to those who know about us but haven’t yet joined our family of brands, come and chat with me, and let’s transform your visions into results and reality 🙂.
Once again, thank you for this extraordinary year. I sincerely wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2025.
See you all on the other side!
Cheech Foo,
Founder & Director of Ignite Search Group
