Our Story

We recently celebrated 8VA Marketing’s 15 year anniversary.

Anne Lee-Archer started the business in the middle of the Global Financial Crisis in 2009 and it was tough going. In addition to it being one of the worst times in history to start a business, Anne remembers going to a Career Coach for advice, but received very little help that was useful.

The career coaches admitted they had never heard of anyone wanting to start their own business before, so they had no idea how to advise. In the end, Anne ended up providing business advice to other people in her coaching group wanting to start their own business and some even asked her for a job!

It was also before the startup revolution. The word ‘startup’ didn’t exist in the vernacular and starting a business by yourself was seen as madness. Particularly a woman on her own. Anne wasn’t fazed and kept going.

There were no startup groups or accelerator programs back then, there was less information online about starting a business than there is now and a woman starting a business … well that wasn’t spoken about. Female mentors and sponsors were non-existent. There were many women doing the same thing, but we didn’t hear about them or share knowledge as much as now.

Anne’s entrepreneurial spirit picked herself back up time and time again. When other people told her she couldn’t do something, she found a workaround. The story of 8VA Marketing is about resilience, tenacity, vision and patience.

Anne Lee-Archer – Digital Transformation & Online Growth Strategist

Anne is a Certified Practising Marketer and Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute (CPM FAMI) with over 20 years experience in sales and marketing for companies both nationally and internationally, from startups through to enterprise and government. 

Anne has consulted to Telstra Digital, Virgin Money, Zurich Insurance, Aussie Home Loans, Beiersdorf (NIVEA & Elastoplast), Tourism Australia, Cellarmasters (Woolworths Liquor Group), Archfashion, Musica Viva, Fire & Safety Australia, Queensland College of Teachers (QLD Department of Education), Royal Tasmanian Botanic Gardens and many other organisations, successfully optimising their systems, increasing traffic and growing revenue for all companies. 

Anne is a data-driven marketer who specialises in technical SEO, CRO & user journey mapping, IA restructures and software needs analysis, pay-per-click advertising, marketing automation, content strategies, social media strategy and video optimisation, website analytics and the latest martech solutions in personalisation.