About

Our Story

What can we tell you about McGowan Marketing that you don’t already know through following one of our social media channels (you do follow us, don’t you?)? 

We are a three-generation, female-led family business, based in Galashiels, in the beautiful Scottish Borders. The business was founded in 2017 by middle family member, Emily McGowan, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing with over 25 years of experience in public, private and third sectors.  

Emily was first joined by her mum, Christine, in 2017. Christine quickly developed her role as Office Manager, which proved invaluable as our service offering expanded and our team quickly grew. 

Our journey has been ambitious, and since establishing, we have evolved to become the largest multi-disciplinary marketing agency in the south of Scotland, offering twelve different services and giving our clients a one-stop shop for all their marketing needs. 

As our business continues to grow, so does our team, and the latest member to join is Emily’s daughter (Christine’s granddaughter), Lara.  

With three strong-minded family members in the mix, there’s rarely a dull day at MMHQ, our listed building on Bank Street in Galashiels. We like to call it The Corner…why don’t you pop in to visit us sometime? Any one of our team members would be delighted to make you a cuppa and have a chat. 

Our Team

Emily is team MM’s fearless leader. With over 25 years’ of industry experience, and an infectious drive to keep up to date with what’s new, she leads the way with enthusiasm and innovative thinking.
Christine is Emily’s mum and oversees keeping the office and team MM in check. Having previously worked in support services in Higher Education, she is well-versed in running a tight ship.
Lara is Emily’s daughter and is team MM’s, Account Manager. She is super organised by default and has planning tasks, projects, and campaigns down to a fine art.
Niall is the technical mastermind of team MM, taking great pride in creating high-quality, eye-catching websites that are as user-friendly as they are beautiful. He’s your man for all your web development needs.

Our Values

Underpinning everything we do, our values guide our work with you as the client and provide a framework as we nurture and grow our team. At the core of all we do is a collaboration which is why we were delighted to work with friends, family, and colleagues to choose six words that we feel provide insight into who we are:

Empathetic

 You, the client, are the very heart of all that we do. We promise to take the time to gain an in-depth understanding of who you are and what you need before helping you do the same for your brand’s clients and customers too. 

Enthusiastic

Eager to encourage and eager to engage, there’s one thing we hope we can do for every client, and that’s to leave a passionate and everlasting impression. We love what we do and hope it shines through in our every action. 

Energetic

Going above and beyond, we promise to pour all our love, enthusiasm, and energy into every project. Marketing is a dynamic business; we aim to be dynamic in our approach to the work we do for all our clients. 

Inspirational

We wholeheartedly encourage our clients to take an alternative approach. Nothing new ever came from doing what’s been done before. Take an inspirationally different approach, receive inspiring results.

Intuitive

So often people comment on our instinct for recommending and delivering just what is needed. We trust our instincts to lead us to the best of outcomes for all our clients, using our intuition as our marketing sixth sense.  

Loyal

Last but certainly not least! We always promise to consistently support our friends, family, clients, and colleagues. We practice what we preach here; brand loyalty must come from within the brand itself first and foremost. 

Corporate social responsibilty

At McGowan Marketing, we very much believe that we ‘do well by doing good’.

Our main focus for ‘the good’ is through our voluntary work in supporting young people with the development of transferable skills, whether these are professional marketing skills or general life skills. For a few of the team members, it can be a stretch to think back to the time when we made the transition from education into the world of work, less of a stretch for others, but we all agree that it was a nerve-wracking time and that we would all have benefitted from someone from industry to take time to inform us, support us, mentor us or give us an opportunity to experience real working life.

So, that is what we decided to do; anyone, irrespective of age or stage in life, can reach out and ask us for support, either directly or through one of the organisations we regularly volunteer with and embark on a journey together. In truth, the work we do in supporting others is often as equally beneficial to us as it is to them – it’s a win-win all around.