MD at Friend Digital Ltd.
United Kingdom
- Current
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- MD at Friend Digital Ltd
- Past
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- Head of Digital at WAA
- Founder and MD at WebXpress Ltd
- Consultant at Sun Microsystems
- Education
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- University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
- Recommended
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4 people have recommended Chris - Connections
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78
connections
- Industry
- Marketing and Advertising
- Websites
Chris Tomlinson’s Summary
Chris is currently MD of Friend Digital Ltd. An agency specialising in Social Influence Marketing, Online Reputation Management and Online PR.
Chris setup friend in April09 with other leading Social Media experts to help businesses in the West Midland and beyond build equity in this emerging marketing space.
Chris was formally Head of Digital at WAA, one the UK’s top 50 Advertising Agencies*. I was responsible for all aspects of WAA’s digital offering and for advising clients on their digital strategies. In recent years, I have worked with clients including Habitat, House of Fraser, B&Q, Intercontinental Hotels, Marketing Birmingham, Willis, NEC Group, Birmingham International Airport, and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
In 1995, founded Internet consultancy, WebXpress. Tracking the Internet's evolution into a mainstream marketing medium, I transformed WebXpress from a simple ISP to a digital marketing agency, culminating in its acquisition by WAA in 2005.
Prior to this spent nine years in sales at Sun Microsystems in the UK and Middle East.
I am a prolific blogger on the subject of using Internet technologies to engage with customers and have a weekly column in The Birmingham Post, the Midlands’ leading business daily newspaper.
Chris Tomlinson’s Specialties:
Digital marketing strategies, online brand engagement, search and social media, website design/development, email marketing, online display advertising, Online PR, Social Influence Marketing.
Chris Tomlinson’s Experience
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MD
Friend Digital Ltd
(Privately Held; Marketing and Advertising industry)
April 2009 — Present (4 months)
friend is a digital marketing agency specialising in social media and influence marketing. We help businesses and brands to be active in the social media space so that they are engaging audiences in a human way through good content and great conversation.
Based in Birmingham UK, friend's services include:
- Digital marketing strategy
- Social Influence Marketing
- Content and campaign creation
- Online PR and blogger outreach
- Online Reputation Management
- SEO
- SEO PR -
Head of Digital
WAA
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)
2005 — August 2008 (3 years)
I now have overall responsibility for achieving the agency’s digital sales and profit targets by increasing the agency’s digital capability and reputation and incorporating digital solutions into the agency’s integrated offering. This includes sales relating to: digital creativity (e.g. websites, display ads) digital consultancy (e.g. e-marketing/e-commerce strategies,) digital project management (e.g. e-marketing campaigns,) programming, maintenance, hosting, analytics, search (e.g. SEO and PPC campaigns) and social media (e.g. web 2.0 and viral apps).
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Founder and MD
WebXpress Ltd
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)
January 1995 — January 2005 (10 years 1 month)
WebXpress initially specialised in the development and hosting of high usability, search engine friendly ecommerce websites but later diversified into Email and Search marketing.
Some of the larger contracts we gained included The NEC Group, whom we helped take their first steps into online ticket sales, and developing Marketing Birmingham’s first online presence.
In 2006, while working for WebXpress, I was contracted by Habitat to create their ecommerce strategy, which they are currently still implementing.
With the WebXpress team, I developed content management solutions and other innovative ways for SMEs to maintain their own websites and drive traffic to them.
After being approached by several large traditional marketing agencies, I sold WebXpress to WAA in 2005 with a staff of ten and a turnover of more than £500,000. -
Consultant
Sun Microsystems
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; SUNW; Computer Hardware industry)
January 1988 — January 1995 (7 years 1 month)
This was primarily a sales support role for one of the pioneers of Unix based network computing.
This included devising and selling networked computing solutions for large blue chip companies such as Rolls Royce, British Aerospace the Hilton Hotel Group, Rover and most of the UK’s leading universities.
More latterly, I was employed by Sun in the UK and overseas as an independent system management consultant.
While at Sun I won three consecutive “Sunrise” wards for outstanding contribution to sales.
Chris Tomlinson’s Education
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University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Bsc (hons) , Electronics , 1981 — 1984
Additional Information
Chris Tomlinson’s Websites:
Chris Tomlinson’s Interests:
Skiing, sailing, watching rugby and cricket, blogging and socialising
Chris Tomlinson’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
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- reference requests
- getting back in touch
