Anthony Barone is the Co-Founder of StudioHawk UK, a specialist SEO agency focused purely on organic growth. After moving from Australia to the UK, he built StudioHawk in one of the world’s most competitive SEO markets and now leads a team serving 70+ brands across eCommerce, retail and B2B. He is also the founder of Dreamland, a brand-led marketing event.
The first time I saw him speak at an event was at SEOFOMO in Barcelona last September!
1. As someone deeply involved in Local SEO and complex campaigns, what’s one area businesses consistently underestimate?
What I find sometimes is that they forget the why behind what they are doing. Whether it’s the service, the quality, operations, people management or marketing for themselves, they forget the broader goals of why and what a certain thing is supposed to do to improve their business, growth, revenue, and operations.
They tend to get caught up in irrelevant things that don’t actually matter to the broader goals. We see this currently with the Shiny Toy syndrome of AI. People think they need to be ranking on AI tools when they don’t even have a functioning website or competent marketing operations and are not using first principles thinking to focus on what can move the needle for their business.
2. StudioHawk’s move to London marked a big step. Was relocating part of a broader strategy to expand across Europe?
Back at the end of 2018, Harry and I spoke about UK expansion in 2021/22 as a reasonable goal, as we’d be on track for around 35 people and 4 million AUD, so we would have the resources and brand name to be able to set up much better to make such a move. In August of 2019, I made the move to the UK, and we thought, why not start the business with me now? And it’s been a wonderful journey to build a business from scratch with no experience in one of the hardest markets in the world.
3. StudioHawk has grown without account managers or middle layers. Why has that model worked so well at scale?
This model is unique as it goes against traditional models of Client > Account Manager > Workers. Typically, the workers were the underappreciated ones and the AMs who typically are great at emails and comms, but don’t really execute. Developing people who do the work and communicate with clients, the clients deal directly with the experts, and they hear straight from the people doing the work. This saves time for the client, improves margins, wages and in the UK, high wages and national insurance can really eat at the ability to run businesses, so combining them develops stronger people, personally and professionally.
4. Melbourne is known not just for being a beautiful vibrant city, but for its SEO talent. How would you compare the SEO ecosystem in Australia with the UK?
The UK (Europe broadly) is still miles ahead of Australia. I have been running the UK for the past 6 years, but with dealing with our Australian arm daily as they grow. They had a period of hiring UK specialists and seniors and transferring them across the world, as the talent isn’t there, the market is smaller, and the competition isn’t as strong and the wages are way higher to the quality level. The talent pool is much bigger and better on this side of the world.
5. Do you think Australia’s SEO industry is on par with the UK, or is there still room to grow in terms of maturity and knowledge?
The UK (Europe broadly) is one of the leading markets for marketing, digital marketing and SEO. I’d say Australia is still a few years behind, albeit StudioHawk is helping to lead the charge along with great SEO’s like Brodie Clark based in Australia. They still have a way to go in terms of talent, events, and community building. It’s a big bubble on the other side of the world; it doesn’t surprise me.
6. The Agency Social Club has been getting a lot of attention. What is it exactly, and how can people get involved?
The ASC is a simple idea that we loved to run in 23 and 24. A cool, fun event with brands and founders of marketing agencies to hang out and hear from some great people. We held it in Shoreditch, a cool, vibrant hipster area that a lot of people don’t spend much time in. We wanted to do one in 2025, but Dreamland took priority.
7. Dreamland stands out visually. The branding feels closer to a live music festival than a traditional conference. Should we expect live music too? 😀
Dreamland was a spinoff of Agency Social Club. We wanted to create a cool event for brands that we’d started to see with Agency Social Cub. The brand events are typically stuffy expensive events that cost 4 figures to go to, or they’re too salesly, or they’re just irrelevant. Brands have limited time; they have a lot on, if they’re going to come to events, you need to showcase the value and the experience. We have talks, sponsors, food, drinks, a cool venue, and the whole experience is focused on making it a valuable and fun day for people.
8. As a co-founder of Dreamland, what kind of experience are you hoping decision makers walk away with?
I hope they walk away with valuable insights around community building, cash flow, conversions and content. As well as meeting other like-minded brands and meeting tools, apps and platforms to help on their growth journey.
9. I lived in Australia for three years and loved the kindness and friendliness of the people. What surprised you the most when you first moved to London?
The sheer volume of people everywhere. When I first stepped out at Liverpool Street on my first tube ride from Heathrow, I was surprised by how buzzy and busy it was. It was a shock to me from little old Melbourne, where you drive everywhere, and it’s half the population of London and much more spread out.
10. What do you miss the most about Melbourne?
I do miss my family and friends, the weather from January to March and the late-night heat when you can have a barbecue, it’s still 25 degrees at night, and you can hang out alongside a fire. I do miss the chill side of Melbourne and driving around everywhere. London has people everywhere you look, there are still some parts of Melbourne that are slower and chill.