I’m Hannah Zora Strong, a Google and LinkedIn Ads Specialist with over a decade of experience in paid media! I am the Director and PPC Manager at Zora Marketing, and my focus is helping brands who have local customers to generate more leads, revenue, footfall and brand awareness from their advertising efforts.
I was born in The Lakes, but moved to the NE for uni and have stayed ever since.
I set up Zora Marketing in 2022 after outgrowing the “Head of PPC” role at two digital agencies.
My main inspiration was achieving a better work-life balance for myself, especially around my two children. I launched the business when my son was six months old, which allowed me to manage ad campaigns around breastfeeding and picking up my 2yo daughter from nursery.
I’d started freelancing when I fell pregnant with my daughter in 2018 – they signed via referral from an SEO consultant friend. Since then, and going full-time with the business 4 years later, the majority of my clients still come from existing marketing consultant contacts, previous agency clients, and channel-specialist referrals. Earning accolades from the EU Search Awards for Best Local Campaign, recognition through Google’s Women in Search initiative and speaking at BrightonSEO in 2025 have also been great for my visibility.
That success isn’t just down to “myself” – I collaborate extensively with copywriters, SEO specialists, developers, and designers. The day-to-day ads optimisation involves more than just managing campaigns; it’s about providing insights into landing page effectiveness, competition, industry benchmarks and brand messaging/ consistency.
Managing work-life balance was my primary motivation for starting Zora Marketing. I don’t believe in “balance” – because that implies there’s a certain “peace” to achieve! I prefer to think of it as a blend. Life shouldn’t compete with work i.e. I attend networking events to expand my business network, but also to fill up my social cup (as solo working from the garden office can be lonely).
My essential tools are the core advertising platforms: Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and Microsoft Ads. I also use SpyFu for competitor budget research, Keyword Planner for new search term ideas, and AgencyAnalytics for client reporting and dashboards.
As a business, I use FreeAgent to track my time, raise invoices and keep track of least/most profitable clients.
From Jan 2022 until May 2025, I worked from a windowless garage conversion (as no windows were available when we had this installed mid-Covid!)
But now, I have a wonderfully light and sunny garden office which is glorious! I work better without music or background noise, so find coworking spaces or coffee shops a bit overwhelming when I’m doing focused, deep work.
Aside from referrals, I’ve had 3 main sources of new clients; the BIPC, being signposted from a North East Growth Hub interview and a Facebook community called Mums In Marketing (MiMs).
I was one of the first women to join MiMs, so I’ve cemented myself as the go-to for ads support and even delivered a masterclass for their resources.
I’m also an Expert in Residence for the BIPC, where businesses can have a free 1:1 with me to discuss their ads challenges or startup ideas. From April to October 2025 I’ve spoken to 27 North East businesses, which has been super fun and interesting.
I’ve been working with many of my clients for years – which is great as I’m able to increase their ad spend as their business expands, and keep the account inline with ever-changing best practices. I strive to provide more than just in-account optimisation; providing competitor analysis, industry trend reports, new revenue opportunities (i.e. flagging to clients when the ChatGPT Shopping beta was open for application) and staying ahead of ad format news to support clients outside of Google/LinkedIn Ads.
I track “hard metrics” like my revenue, average hourly rate, number of businesses supported, number of charities supported.
But also ask myself: how many lunchtime walks have I been on this week, can I support my daughter’s class on a field trip, can I have a day off without feeling guilty or backed-up with emails upon my return? Very strong contributors to freelance happiness!
I love projects that involve local targeting – aka working with businesses to implement Store Visit tracking, which allows them to truly measure the foot traffic driven by online ads. I also enjoy my ‘Power Hours,’ which are like ‘ads therapy’ sessions, where a client and I will snoop around their account together to diagnose and fix complex, long-standing campaign woes in just 60 minutes.
I also support a handful of UK charities to access and manage their $10k Google Ad Grants; which helps me give back to local communities. Partnering with local organisations, Junction Point and North East Charity Freelancers has helped me grow this offering.
I’m looking forward to continuing to evolve and implement new advanced Google Ads tactics for my clients. And also getting out and about through continued speaking engagements – both to small businesses and on marketing conference stages – watch this space!
The best way to learn more about my services, philosophy, and expertise is through my website, Zora Marketing. You can also find me on LinkedIn at hannah-strong-ppc, email me directly at hannah.zoramarketing@gmail.com, or request a 1:1 with me via the BIPC.
