Work out what marketing needs to do.
Not every business needs a new marketing strategy. Quite a few need to make some choices. The market may have changed. The business may be entering a new sector or geography. Growth may have made the old approach less useful. There may be plenty of activity, but no obvious agreement about where marketing should concentrate. I can help turn a broad commercial ambition into clear marketing priorities, whether that means go-to-market strategy, deciding where to focus or working out how brand and demand should support the business. The output depends on the question. I’m much more interested in getting to a decision than producing a strategy document because strategy documents are apparently what strategists produce.
Make the business easier to understand.
Sometimes the problem is the story. The proposition has grown complicated. Different teams describe the business differently. The website says one thing, sales says another, and customers seem to value something slightly different again. I work on proposition development, positioning, messaging and brand direction when the business needs a clearer account of what it offers, who it matters to and why somebody should choose it. That may mean substantial strategic work or something more immediate, such as sharpening the proposition before a launch or giving a sales team a better way to explain the offer. I can direct brand work and work with designers, writers and other specialists to turn the thinking into something real.
Turn direction into demand.
A strategy isn’t much use if it never makes contact with the market. I work across go-to-market, demand generation, account-based marketing and integrated campaigns, particularly where those things need to connect better. The work might involve choosing the right audiences or accounts, shaping a campaign, joining up account-based marketing and sales activity or working out why apparently competent marketing activity isn’t producing enough commercial movement. I’ll often create the first useful version myself: enough to turn an agreed direction into something the team can run with. The point is to close the gap between deciding what should happen and actually making it happen.
Strengthen the way marketing works.
Sometimes the marketing itself is fine. The problem is how the work gets organised, owned or connected. A growing team may need more structure. Sales and marketing may be working from different versions of reality. Useful knowledge may be spread across the CRM, old decks and people’s heads. I can help improve the operating side of marketing: responsibilities, processes, CRM, automation, measurement and the systems that connect information to action. That increasingly includes practical AI systems where they help organise knowledge, apply agreed thinking consistently or reduce repetitive work. The technology is the means, not the proposition. If a spreadsheet and a sensible meeting fix the problem, I’m not going to recommend an AI system for the excitement of having one.
Add experienced capacity without rebuilding the team.
Not every gap needs a permanent hire. I can take temporary or fractional responsibility for marketing, strengthen an existing team or own a defined piece of work that the current team doesn’t have enough capacity to lead. That could mean solving a specific strategic question, leading a project over several weeks or months, or becoming part of the working rhythm of the business for a while. I’m comfortable joining a capable team without needing to take it over. Equally, if something needs an owner, I’m happy to own it.
I also work with agencies.
I spent a significant part of my career on the agency side, so I know the particular joy of discovering that a major pitch, difficult client problem and important piece of strategy all need doing in the same week. I can step in when an agency needs additional experience without making a permanent hire. That might involve strategy, senior client leadership, pitches, workshops or taking ownership of a project that needs someone who can get up to speed quickly and work confidently with both client and delivery teams. I’m there to make the work stronger and the agency’s life easier.
The shape still follows the problem.
I don’t expect a client to diagnose the problem neatly before getting in touch. Part of my job is working out what actually needs doing and what kind of involvement makes sense. And occasionally the right answer is that I’m not what you need.
Let’s talk
If something in the business needs more experienced marketing attention than it’s currently getting, send me an email. I can usually work out fairly quickly whether I’m useful from there.