About
Marcus
Hemsley.
I co-founded Fountain Partnership in 2009 and spent 18 years scaling it. Today I help agency founders make more profit with less stress.
The agency
Eighteen years. 51 people. One global prize.
I co-founded Fountain Partnership in 2009. At its peak we were 51 people.
Google reviewed over 1,100 agencies across 58 countries for its global Growing Businesses Online award. We won it. The accounts that won were the ones I set the strategy for.
Today I mentor Fountain's senior leadership team and oversee the outcomes. I'm out of the day-to-day. That was the plan.
Today
Nine boards. Two fractional seats.
I sit on the board of nine agencies. I'm fractional CMO for one company and fractional CRO for another.
So I still work inside agencies every week. I know what's working. I know what's changing.
How I think
Marketing is about profit.
When I work with a business, I ask how much it wants to grow. Specifically. Then I work backwards to a plan that hits the number.
My favourite thing about digital marketing is that you can track everything. Gather the evidence. Waste nothing.
That's why I care about profit. It's the only result that matters.
Where I started
Copy. Search. Direct marketing.
My background is copywriting, SEO, PPC and direct marketing.
Along the way I've been mentored by some of the best agency growth consultants, CROs and sales trainers in the business, and I've trained a fair few teams myself.
The founder
The biggest risk is rarely the business.
It's the founder.
I've been through burnout myself. So I founded Reconnect, a retreat company for stressed-out founders, and I've worked with tens of agency owners on less stress, more impact and more profit.
I've seen too many founders trade their health, family and happiness for growth. I want to stop that.
More profit. Less stress. That's the game.
Beyond the agency
A million trees. And counting.
In 2020, while recovering from long covid, I co-founded the Million Tree Pledge. I've pledged to plant a million trees myself. I gave a TEDx talk about it: What will future generations say about you?
In 2022 BIMA named me in its Top 100 Influencers, Visionary category.
Away from work: my son and Norwich City. I never really switch off.
The record
Where shall we start?
Four ways in.
Agency growth.
Find the number holding you back. Fix that first.
02Fractional CRO.
Senior sales leadership that understands marketing too. Without the full-time hire.
03Fractional CMO.
Marketing measured in profit. Nothing else.
04Introductions.
The right leads, partners and tech. 100% commission. You only pay on a sale.