Fixing a seasonal bottleneck

The problem

In December 2024 Norfolk Boards came to us on a recommendation from a previous agency, looking to bring their websites up to date. The sites were dated, but the business had built real search authority on its core product over several years. That was enough to carry its summer sales, including a BBC Sport article that linked to their sites.

What they wanted was more sales. Standing in the way were the dated sites, no social presence, no email activity, and a range that only really sold for a few months of the year.

What we found

In October 2025 they were one of the first businesses through Think First, our strategy workshop. What it surfaced was the calendar. A company selling outdoor games in Britain has a few good months and then a long wait, and more marketing in July does nothing for November.

Think First always ends in five recommendations. Photography was a big one here. The biggest was to extend the range into games that sell when it rains.

What we did

We built three new websites, Norfolk Boards, Cornhole and Shuffleboard, and tightened the buying journey on each. The search work started with the technical foundations, then covered the questions buyers ask before they spend, from how the games are played to which boards and bags to choose. We ran it through the off season so it would pay off the following summer.

On Shuffleboard, a lot of searches were confusing the site with the table game, when they only sell the big floor version. So we built up a set of floor shuffleboard searches that showed Google exactly who the site was for.

We built their social accounts from nothing, and brands were approaching them about partnerships at around a hundred followers. Alongside that came market research, rebuilt product photography at minimal cost, content shoots and a dormant email list brought back to life. In June 2026 we started a complete brand refresh, rebuilding Norfolk Boards around the new board game range. The next phase of search work is on that site, built around board games.

The impact

That recommendation became a new partnership. Norfolk Boards now sell the handmade wooden board games of Michaud Toys, from Ontario in Canada, as their reseller for the UK and Europe. The range has launched and is selling under a new brand image, and they are now bringing the same approach to Cornhole and Shuffleboard. That is a change to what the business sells, and it came out of a marketing consultation.

In search, Shuffleboard’s monthly clicks grew by 143%, from 109 to 265, its click-through rate rose by 83%, and its average position moved from 31.6 to 12.2. It climbed every month from December to July. Cornhole’s impressions grew by 76% season on season, and its average position moved from 10.6 to 6.9.

Why it mattered

The workshop is the part we are proudest of. Working out that the calendar was holding the business back meant the money after that could go where it would do the most, and planning the search work around the following season meant it kept on paying off.