Humans over algorithms

Gaius Kowene, Digital Media Consultant

Digital Media Consultant.

Reach the right people.

Know who you're trying to reach, where to find them online, and how to give them a reason to pay attention.

GET IN TOUCH →

Sound familiar

You're putting yourself out there. But are the right people paying attention?

You post when you can. You try different things. Sometimes people respond. Often, they don't.

The problem may not be how much you post. It may be that you're not reaching the people who need to hear from you, or giving them a compelling reason to pay attention.

Before you spend more time creating content, let's work out who you need to reach, what matters to them and where you can find them.

Track record, not a pitch

I've spent more than 15 years in journalism and communications, helping organisations understand their audiences and communicate in ways that matter.

As head of the BBC's French service, I helped grow overall audience by 41% by using audience performance data to inform editorial decisions.

In 2026, I helped a nonprofit organisation increase its views by 80% in 30 days, without advertising spend, a large team or influencers.

My experience includes work with the United Nations, the African Development Bank and organisations working across complex media environments.

I've also researched internet governance in Africa, contributing to the Internet Freedom in Africa reports (2016, 2017) and the Africa Data Revolution report (2019), worked as an External Relations Associate for a UN agency, consulted for multi-governmental organisations, and advised executives and diplomats on media relations.

I bring that experience to small businesses and nonprofits that need to reach the right people without wasting time or money on guesswork.

15+

Years in journalism & communication

41%

Audience growth at the BBC's French service (GAM 2021)

80%

Growth in views for a nonprofit, in 30 days

€0

Ad spend, no influencers, same 30 days

“

So when I say I know how to find your audience and speak directly to them, that's not a pitch. It's a track record.

I learned to understand audiences before I started helping businesses reach them.

I'm Gaius Kowene, a digital media consultant working with small businesses and nonprofits.

For much of my career, I've had to answer a simple but important question: how do you get the right information in front of the right people?

At the BBC, that meant understanding audiences and making editorial decisions based on what the evidence showed. Today, I apply that experience to organisations that need to communicate more effectively online.

My work starts with understanding the people you want to reach, what they care about, what they do online and where your organisation fits into their lives.

From there, I help you decide what to say, where to say it and how to make better use of the time and resources you have.

I've worked with organisations including the United Nations and the African Development Bank. I'm also pursuing a PhD in Digital Media at the University of Porto, Portugal.

The system

The Organic Audience Growth Engine

You don't need to become a digital marketing expert to reach the right people.

You need to understand who they are, what they care about, where they spend time online and what would make them pay attention to your organisation.

That's where we start.

I bring together audience research, communication strategy and practical execution to help you make better decisions about your online presence.

Sometimes that means finding an audience you haven't been reaching. Sometimes it means making better use of content you already have. Sometimes it means changing how you communicate so that the right people understand why your work matters.

The aim is to stop guessing and start making informed decisions about where to focus your time, attention and resources.

The five services below can be used individually or combined, depending on what your organisation needs.

Audience Profiling & Market Research

Know who you're talking to before deciding what to say.

Your customers, supporters or beneficiaries are not just numbers or demographics. They are people with particular needs, interests, habits and reasons for paying attention.

I help you understand who you need to reach, what matters to them, what they do online and where you are most likely to connect with them.

We'll also look at other organisations competing for their attention, what those organisations do well and where there may be an opportunity for you to stand out.

You'll come away with a clearer picture of the people you want to reach and a more informed idea of how to reach them.

The point isn't to collect more data. It's to know what to do with what we learn.

Digital Campaign Management

Give people a reason to notice, care and act.

A campaign should do more than put your name in front of people. It should give the right people a reason to pay attention and a clear idea of what they can do next.

I help you decide what the campaign needs to achieve, who it needs to reach and how best to communicate the message.

Then I help put the campaign into practice, monitor how people respond and make adjustments where needed.

The focus is on reaching people who have a reason to care about your business or cause, rather than chasing attention for its own sake.

Where appropriate, we prioritise organic approaches that make use of your existing resources rather than depending on paid advertising or influencers.

Content Strategy & Editorial Curation

Know what is worth saying, and where it belongs.

You probably already have useful stories, knowledge, experience or material that could help people understand your organisation.

The challenge is knowing which stories matter to your audience, how to present them and where they are most likely to be seen.

I help you make those decisions.

Together, we'll establish what your content needs to achieve, which subjects deserve attention, what you can reuse and which formats make the most sense for the people you're trying to reach.

Your team gets a practical direction to work from, instead of having to start from scratch every time something needs to be published.

The goal is to make your communication more purposeful and easier to sustain.

Media Coaching & Emergency Communications

Know what to say when the questions get difficult.

When your organisation faces journalists, public scrutiny or a crisis, the way you communicate can affect how people understand what happened and whether they trust your response.

Drawing on more than 15 years in journalism, I help executives and spokespeople prepare for interviews, press conferences and difficult questions.

You'll learn how to explain your position clearly, respond without becoming defensive and recognise when a question needs a careful answer.

If a crisis is already unfolding, I can help you organise your response and ensure that the information going out is accurate, consistent and appropriate to the situation.

The aim is to help you communicate with greater confidence when it matters most.

Media Coaching & Emergency Communications

AI-Assisted Content Production

Spend less time struggling with content. Keep the human judgement.

AI tools can help with research, drafting and adapting content. But they don't automatically understand your organisation, your audience or the responsibility attached to what you publish.

I help your team use these tools where they genuinely save time and support better work.

You'll learn how to get useful assistance without handing over your judgement, losing your organisation's voice or publishing generic material that could belong to anyone.

The aim is straightforward: less time spent on repetitive work and more time for the ideas, decisions and relationships that need your attention.

Real results

Here's what happened when we put the approach into practice.

These screenshots come from a nonprofit organisation's own analytics. In each panel, the flat stretch at the start shows its performance before we started working together. The rise that follows shows what changed.

The figures provide evidence of what changed over the period shown. They are not a promise that every organisation will achieve the same result.

Analytics panel of a nonprofit's page views: flat at first, then rising sharply after work with Gaius Kowene began

Analytics panel of the same nonprofit's engagement (reactions, comments and shares) over the same period, rising after work with Gaius Kowene began

+80%

Growth in views in 30 days, with €0 ad spend, no big team, no influencers.

What could better audience understanding mean for your organisation?

The nonprofit results shown above demonstrate what was possible in that particular situation.

Your starting point, audience and resources will be different. The first step is to understand where you are now, who you need to reach and what opportunities are worth pursuing.

We'll agree on what the work is intended to achieve and how we'll assess progress.

Start with a clear agreement about what we're working towards.

Before we begin, we'll agree on the initial scope, what you can expect and how we'll review the work.

If you decide within the first two weeks that it isn't working for you, you can stop straight away. No cost, no questions asked.

How we work together

Start with what you need most.

You don't need to buy every service.

If you're unsure who your audience is, we can start by finding out. If you know who you want to reach but aren't reaching them, we can look at where they spend time online and how to connect with them. If your message isn't getting through, we can work on that.

Each service can stand on its own. Where several challenges are connected, we can bring the relevant services together.

We'll focus on what makes sense for your organisation, your goals and the resources available to you.

Audience profiling & market research
Digital campaign management
Content strategy & editorial curation
Media coaching & emergency communications
AI-assisted content production

Tell me a little about your organisation, the people you want to reach and what's getting in the way.

I'll read your response personally and get back to you to discuss your situation and whether I can help.

You don't need to know the technical answer before getting in touch. That's what the conversation is for.

Reach the right people.

GET IN TOUCH →

This link will take you to a short form. I read every response myself.