Arren Marketing: The Agency That Measures Success in Outcomes, Not Buzzwords

Arren Marketing aren’t interested in fluff. Their focus? Delivering high-performance digital strategy rooted in results, not buzzwords. With deep experience in SEO, web development and sports publishing, they’ve quietly built a 30-million-views-a-month media network while helping brands scale smarter.

In this interview, founder Rehan Iqbal shares their journey, their mindset, and why they’re ready to partner with the next generation of sport-led businesses.

Let’s kick things off with your story – what’s the origin behind Arren Marketing and what pushed you to start the agency in the first place?

Arren Marketing was born from a genuine desire to raise the standard of digital marketing support available to small and medium-sized businesses.

After working at Google, our founder saw firsthand what real digital excellence looked like – and also realised that this level of strategic expertise was often out of reach for smaller players, particularly in the sports space. Too many agencies overpromised and underdelivered, leaving clients disillusioned. Arren Marketing was created to bridge that gap – offering Google-level insight and execution to brands that needed it most.

You talk a lot about helping brands “cut through the noise” – in your words, what does that actually mean when you’re in the thick of a campaign?

To us, cutting through the noise means staying focused on meaningful outcomes, not just marketing buzzwords. A lot of agencies make noise themselves—promising rankings or traffic, but delivering vague metrics that don’t translate into real value.

When a client tells us they want to improve their SEO, we don’t just send reports about backlinks or keyword fluctuations—we show how many new visitors they’ve gained, what content is driving traffic, and how that’s impacting their business goals. It’s about clarity, not clutter. Results, not rhetoric.

You’re now part of the Behind Sport directory (welcome!) – what’s your connection to the world of sport and what kind of work are you looking to do more of in the space?

Sport has increasingly become the heart of what we do. We own and operate a growing portfolio of sports news websites, spanning football, wrestling, boxing, and the NBA. Collectively, our sites generate close to 30 million page views each month. We understand what makes sporting audiences tick and how to engage them.

We’re keen to continue working with sports brands that want to build, scale, and optimise their online presence – whether through SEO, web development or digital strategy. Our goal is to help great sporting stories get seen by as big an audience as possible.

Can you give us the lowdown on the team at Arren? Who’s behind the magic, and what makes the crew tick?

We’re a compact but highly specialised team made up of passionate designers, developers, SEO experts, and digital strategists. Everyone here brings a high level of skill, but more importantly, a shared mindset: a belief that the smallest details often make the biggest difference.

We pride ourselves on squeezing that extra 1% out of every design, every line of code and every campaign. That’s what makes the magic happen.

From the outside looking in, you seem super flexible – branding, social, websites, content… Is there a particular kind of project that really gets the team fired up?

Without a doubt, web development and SEO are our ‘superpowers’ as well as our biggest passion. Everything else we do – branding, content creation, paid campaigns, etc – is designed to complement and elevate our web and SEO offering.

We love projects where we can take a website from idea to implementation and then help it thrive through smart, performance-led search strategies. Seeing that kind of transformation unfold is what excites us.

Marketing and sport is a noisy space – what do you think sets Arren apart if a company chooses to work with you?

We’re uniquely positioned in that we’re not just a digital agency – we’re an agency that lives and breathes sports publishing. Few, if any, agencies in the UK can match our level of specialisation in this space.

Over the last four years, we’ve built, optimised and scaled sports news platforms that reach millions of readers every month. Our track record, industry insight and ability to combine creativity with performance make us the ideal partner for any brand looking to thrive in sports media.

Do you have any favourite past projects or client wins that you’re especially proud of?

WrestleTalk.com will always hold a special place for us. It was the first major sports news project we took on, and it’s grown to become the largest site in our portfolio. We designed and developed it from the ground up, and continue to manage its SEO today. It recently pulled in over 13 million monthly page views – a testament to the power of strategic development and focused optimisation.

On a personal note, as someone who’s been a wrestling fan since 1990, it’s been incredibly rewarding to help build something that resonates with fellow fans. As Bret Hart famously says – the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be.

You’re based in Birmingham, a city that lives and breathes sport – how much does your location shape the kind of work and connections you’re building?

Birmingham is a fantastic city with a strong sporting culture. But in truth, our work is global. We support clients across the UK, Europe, North America and South America. That said, being based in Birmingham does have its perks – especially for UK clients – thanks to the city’s central location and connectivity. The only downside? Being a Manchester United fan based in Birmingham has never made for easy matchday conversations!

What would your dream project in sport look like? Doesn’t matter how big, bold or bizarre – go wild.

We’d love the opportunity to run the SEO and digital strategy for a major household name in the sports media space. We’ve had some early conversations in that direction, but nothing confirmed yet. If we’re dreaming big – then working with someone like Fabrizio Romano and helping power the online infrastructure behind his news delivery would be incredible.

A global audience, real-time demand and a brand synonymous with trust in football journalism – it ticks all the boxes for us. Failing that, maybe working with ESPN or Sky Sports would do!

Finally, where do you see Arren heading over the next year or two – especially when it comes to growing your presence in sport?

We’re focused on growing both sides of our business – expanding our owned and operated network of sports websites as well as continuing to support external clients with digital strategy and execution.

We’re currently building out new platforms across several sports niches and investing heavily in SEO and performance. Our goal is simple: to become the leading digital partner for sports publishers and brands that are serious about long-term, sustainable growth.

Arren Marketing’s blend of performance, publishing insight and digital craft makes them a standout addition to the Behind Sport directory. You can view their full profile here.

If you’re interested in joining the Behind Sport Online Directory, fill out an enquiry here.