David Gargan of Brave Media

We talk to David Gargan of Brave Media, a Digital Marketing Company based in the capital

Based in Dublin’s Guinness Enterprise Centre, Brave Media is a new Digital Marketing company, specialising in social media marketing, SEO, content creation, pay per click, website design and email DavidGarganpic1marketing. Their impressive range of clients include: Energie Fitness Clubs, Renault Ireland, Captureme.ie and Real Estate Alliance.


David – tell us more about Brave Media. How did you go about setting it up?


The setting up of Brave Media was a result of both necessity and passion. Myself and Sean Leamy were working in another Digital Agency together in 2012 and the company closed down, which meant that we were without jobs.

We felt that although there was alot of digital agencies springing up around Dublin, most of them did not provide bespoke packages for start-ups and SME’s. These are the types of businesses that need Digital Marketing Strategies, more so than larger and more established brands, and also the businesses that we wanted to help develop and grow.

We worked from home for the first few months while we got the company up and running. The next step was to find an office space, which led to us moving into the Guinness Enterprise Centre in Dublin 8.



With your background in business development, when did you decide to go into the world of Digital Marketing?

I was involved in a family run website for a number of years and soon realised that running and promoting a website was a lot more difficult than we had anticipated. I was very keen to understand and learn more about the online industry and I found that I was constantly searching for answers to digital marketing related questions so I decided to go to back to college and do a Digital Marketing Diploma.

After completing my Diploma I knew that this was an area that I wanted to be involved in and shortly after I got a job with an Inbound Marketing Agency in Dublin city centre. You learn a lot in a short space of time working in an agency and it allows you the opportunity to work on a wide range of different projects which keeps it both interesting and challenging.


How is the Digital Marketing landscape changing?

The industry is constantly changing and it is vital, as a digital marketer, to keep up to date with the changes that are taking place. It is not that long ago that people were using software to do all their search engine optimisation and social media for business was unheard of. Nowadays a Digital Marketing strategy needs to be flexible and constantly evolving in order for it to be a success. The area of Digital Marketing that I believe is changing the most is consumer’s offline experiences are becoming more important online, this can be seen with the explosion of review websites and Google reviews.



What are you Digital Marketing Top Tips for small business owners?

The best tip I can give to small business owners is do not cut corners when it comes to Digital Marketing. If you take short cuts with SEO or content marketing you will end up worse off in the long run. We get lots of business owners coming to us to fix the problems that were caused by black hat marketers so you should always consult a professional.


Do you have any plans to expand Brave Media internationally?  

Not at present, however there is nothing stopping us from working with companies from all over the world without leaving Dublin. We currently have clients based in the UK and the USA.


What important lessons have you learned, since starting your own business?  

I think the most important lesson that we have learned is to stay true to the principles that the business was built on. At Brave Media we pride ourselves on being reliable, open, honest and flexible with our clients at all times.

We do not have a business without having clients so their happiness and the success of their business is always our number one priority.


What kind of supports have the Dublin City Enterprise Board given you?

Our first year in business would have been a lot more difficult without the support of the Dublin City Enterprise Board (DCEB). Moving from a home office into a city centre office location was vital for us and this would not have been possible otherwise.

We currently receive a Priming Grant from DCEB and are in the process of taking advantage of their mentoring services.


What is the best advice you received?

The best advice I have received is that no matter how much rejection and setbacks you experience along the way, and there will be many, stay focused and true to what you are doing.


Which businessperson (at home or abroad) do you admire most and why?

The business people that I admire most are Irish brothers Patrick and John Collison, the founders of Stripe. Since they have been in secondary school they have been extremely innovative and appear to have made very wise business decisions despite their young age. They have not only developed a product which is used worldwide but they insist on being an integral part of the company’s future growth and development.


Tell us about the digital marketing competition you’re running?

We are currently running a competition with a prize of 3 Months Free Digital Marketing worth over €2,500. This is a wonderful opportunity for any Irish company, particularly a Start-up or SME, with an existing website to get their online business off the ground and to increase their online visibility. All that is required is your name, email address, company name and website URL, this can be done at www.bravemedia.ie/competition. The competition closes on the 21st of March 2014.


Our thanks to David Gargan for taking part in this interview. For more information on Brave Media and to view their full range of services, please visit www.bravemedia.ie