From text and images to video and data analysis, there's no doubt that AI is fundamentally transforming the marketing industry — but award-winning digital content marketing agency, Content Chef, based in Cheltenham, is on a mission to centralise honesty and maintain a strong human approach, while still focusing on results.
SoGlos speaks to founder, Daryl Charman, to find out how his team combines a mix of expertise and empathy to create strategic and purposeful content rather than artificial 'staged perfection' to achieve the best results for clients.
Daryl, tell us about yourself and how you came to start Content Chef
I’ve been in marketing for over 13 years, but storytelling
has been part of me for much longer. If I wasn’t playing football as a kid, I
was usually writing or creating something. After a short stint in radio and
journalism, I found my way into marketing and realised it gave me the best of
both worlds: the ability to tell stories and the chance to help people grow
something they really care about.
I worked across a broad range of roles early in my career,
covering copywriting, social media, SEO, email marketing and paid ads. That
gave me the foundations to understand both B2B and B2C, with time spent at
agencies like Entrepreneurs Circle and Communisis, working onsite with
Barclaycard. I later worked for a pharmaceutical company and a SaaS platform
company before deciding to go freelance in 2017.
That move opened up opportunities quickly. I picked up
clients like Holland & Barrett, Halfords, Rakuten and The Royal Mint and
built my skills even further. But I also started to see the type of agency I
wanted to build. I felt there was too much noise and too many smoke-and-mirror
tactics in the industry. I wanted to do things differently: be honest, keep it human and focus on results.
Content Chef officially became a limited company four and a half years
ago and has grown ever since. It is still surreal to look at where we are now
compared to when I first started out in a flat on the Malvern Hills. I feel
incredibly lucky to have been able to build something that works with both huge
global brands and brilliant local businesses – and to have a team who share the
same values.
Our approach has been recognised along the way, too. We’ve picked up two SME Awards and were highly commended in the Micro Business category at the 2024 Gloucestershire Business Awards. And the momentum hasn’t slowed down. We are on track to almost double the business by the end of this financial year.
What inspired the business name?
Content Chef came to me like a lightbulb moment. It felt fun
and instantly tied to what we do. When I discovered that 'chef' originally
comes from the same word as 'chief', meaning leader, it made perfect sense.
We’re the chiefs of content and it’s given us a brand identity we can really
lean into.
What services does Content Chef offer?
We’re a full-service agency. Our core services are social
media management, copywriting, SEO, paid social, PPC, email marketing and
website design. More recently, we’ve built up a strong brand photography and
videography arm too. Visual content has become central to marketing, so we’ve
invested in talent and tools to deliver this properly.
The difference is that everything we do is strategic and
purposeful. A photo or video is never 'just pretty'. It’s designed with ROI in
mind. That is why we created our Bitesize Brand Shoots, which give startups and
smaller businesses affordable but professional visual content backed by a clear
plan.
We’re fortunate to work with global names like BuzzBallz/Sazerac but we’re just as proud of the work we do with brilliant local businesses, including Sef Steakhouse, Golden Valley Project, Illume Dentistry, Cowork & Country and more. Supporting the local community and telling their stories is a huge part of what drives us.
Can you walk us through your content creation process and how it's evolved with changing client needs and audience expectations?
For us, it starts with the person. We want to know who they
are, what matters to them and what story they want to tell. We sweat the small
stuff and make sure our clients feel comfortable before we ever start creating.
And I think more and more business owners and professionals want this level of
service.
This approach might mean spending time helping someone feel
at ease in front of a camera or stripping away the jargon so we can have an
honest conversation about what they really need. Once we know the story, the
content flows naturally.
It is one of the big advantages of working with a boutique
agency like ours. We care. Everyone on the team is involved in a project and
we approach it with a mix of expertise and empathy. Bigger agencies can
sometimes leave clients feeling isolated or disillusioned by the price tag and
the process.
With us, you get honest feedback, an affordable plan and
the reassurance that if something doesn’t work, we’ll tell you and adjust. It’s
a human approach and one AI or cookie-cutter agencies simply can’t replicate.
The marketing landscape is shifting rapidly – what changes have you seen firsthand?
The rise of video has been huge, as has the demand for
authenticity. People want to see real brands and real stories, not staged
perfection.
At the same time, the flood of AI content has created a sea
of generic material online. Google is already clamping down on low-quality
generated blogs, which is a reminder that originality and human storytelling
are still the most powerful tools we have.
Can you share one of your favourite campaigns to date that has applied these new techniques?
Recently, we’ve worked on big videography projects for
Bristol Grammar School, Cowork & Country and clients in hospitality,
catering and property. These projects brought together our strategy,
storytelling and creative skills and they showed why having a close-knit,
hands-on team makes such a difference.
What current trends do you think are overhyped? Or not appreciated enough?
AI imagery for ads feels overhyped and frankly, a bit
worrying. It can have its place for streamlining tasks or sparking ideas but
replacing real people with AI-generated ones is a slippery slope. At best, it’s
forgettable. At worst, it undermines trust.
On the flip side, I think good old-fashioned brand
storytelling is underappreciated. Everyone’s chasing hacks, shortcuts and
trends but the thing that makes work last is the story at its core and the
willingness to roll up your sleeves and put in a shift.
What’s next for your agency?
We’re continuing to grow in Cheltenham and beyond, taking on
new projects across industries. We’ll be showcasing more of our website design
work, expanding our videography and photography offering and collaborating
with more businesses who want original, purposeful content that gets results.
Most importantly, though, we’re investing in our team – giving them the tools, freedom and opportunities to flourish. If they grow, our clients benefit. And that’s what really matters.
