3D Sports
3D Sports is one of the UK’s leading specialist cricket equipment retailers, supplying grassroots clubs, schools and competitive players nationwide. Their range spans professional-grade bats and match balls through to sight screens, covers and mobile cages; a depth of products that reflects true expertise.
For over four years, Brave has partnered with 3D Sports across SEO, Content, Google Ads and Meta Ads. Our objective has never been to simply “run campaigns”. It has been to build a commercially intelligent, customer-first growth system that performs in a highly seasonal market.
+32%
Organic Revenue YoY
+74%
Page 1 Organic Rankings YoY
6.x
Paid Media Revenue YoY
Cricket retail is defined by demand peaks and troughs. Pre-season preparation, summer competition and promotional periods drive spikes in activity, while off-season months require disciplined spending and tight efficiency.
3D Sports needed greater visibility where purchase intent is strongest, improved paid media control and a more connected acquisition journey. Growth had to be profitable, not just visible.
Our cross-channel audit highlighted a clear opportunity.
Organic visibility was not yet aligned with the commercial strength of the product catalogue. Key categories, particularly high-volume transactional terms, required deeper optimisation and stronger internal linking to consolidate authority.
Paid media was active but structurally limited. Campaign segmentation, product feed refinement and seasonal budget allocation required more strategic oversight. And importantly, Meta Ads had never been utilised. There was no structured paid social activity supporting remarketing or reinforcing promotional campaigns.
The opportunity was not to add noise, but to add structure.
We rebuilt the account with a clear principle: each channel must have a defined role within the wider customer journey. SEO builds authority and captures sustained demand. Google Ads converts high-intent searches efficiently. Meta Ads supports demand generation and remarketing. Together, they form a connected ecosystem.
Our SEO strategy focused on two parallel tracks: commercial dominance and topical authority.
Commercial Search Optimisation
We prioritised high-intent product and category terms, the searches made by users ready to purchase. This required:
Rather than broad keyword targeting, we focused on depth within cricket-specific verticals. Ground equipment, cricket balls, bats and footwear categories were treated as strategic revenue clusters, not isolated pages.
Informational to Transactional Content
Not every customer begins with a product name. Many search for guidance first. We developed educational-commercial hybrid content (buying guides, product explainers and comparison pieces) structured to capture informational queries while seamlessly directing users to relevant product categories.
This approach strengthens topical authority while reducing reliance on paid acquisition. Authority compounds over time. It builds trust, and trust converts.
Google Ads is the primary paid revenue engine for 3D Sports, but scale without control creates risk, particularly in a seasonal market. Our strategy centred on structural clarity and commercial alignment.
Campaign Segmentation
We separated branded, non-branded, catch-all, and Performance Max campaigns to ensure clear budget visibility and performance accountability. This segmentation allowed us to protect high-intent branded traffic while aggressively competing in non-branded search, where ROI justified spend.
Feed Optimisation
Product feeds were refined to improve product title structure, keyword relevance and seasonal range visibility. Priority SKUs, including new season ranges, were surfaced strategically to maximise impression share during peak demand windows.
Seasonal Budget Control
Spend allocation was shaped around demand cycles. During peak pre-season and promotional periods, budgets were scaled with controlled aggression. During quieter months, efficiency and ROAS protection took precedence.
This approach ensures Google Ads functions as a controlled acquisition lever, not a reactive spend channel.
Prior to our partnership, 3D Sports had never invested in Meta Ads. We introduced paid social to strengthen remarketing and support seasonal campaigns.
Meta’s role is defined and strategic:
Rather than positioning Meta as a primary revenue channel, we integrated it as a supporting layer within the wider acquisition strategy. This ensures it enhances overall channel performance rather than competing with search-driven demand.
Creative testing, audience segmentation and campaign structuring are continually refined to align with product launches and seasonal shifts.
The impact of this joined-up strategy is visible in the year-on-year growth trends. Total sessions increased by 19%, while engagement rate improved by 6%, reflecting stronger traffic quality. First-time purchasers grew by 16% and average order value increased by 7%, demonstrating improved acquisition efficiency and basket strength.
Organic search visibility expanded significantly, with impressions increasing 2.6 million and clicks rising by 2.2x year-on-year. Ranking distribution strengthened, with the number of keywords in positions 1–3 increasing year-on-year. This growth reflects sustained authority building rather than short-term gains.
Within paid search, Performance Max revenue increased by 40% year-on-year, while overall paid media efficiency remained strong despite rising CPC pressures. Meta Ads, introduced for the first time, added an entirely new acquisition layer, generating substantial reach and engagement within its first year of activity.
Collectively, these improvements demonstrate stronger visibility, improved acquisition quality and a more resilient growth framework across channels.
With visibility and structural clarity firmly in place, the next phase focuses on conversion refinement and retention optimisation. Mobile performance will be prioritised, given its dominance in session share, alongside deeper CRO enhancements across key categories. Continued alignment between SEO authority, paid acquisition, and seasonal demand will ensure performance compounds year after year – not through short-term spikes, but through a disciplined, customer-first strategy.
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