Marketing strategy
Where the growth actually is, which audiences are worth the effort, what to say to them, and the order to do it in.
Marketing strategy and brand
Marketing strategy and brand in Canberra
Where the growth actually is, what to say, and the order to do it in. Then we stay on and run it, which is the part most strategy work leaves out.
A strategy you do not deliver is just an expensive document
Plenty of businesses have one. It was presented well, everybody agreed with it, and eleven months later almost none of it has happened. That is not a thinking failure, it is a delivery failure, and it is the reason we do not sell strategy as a standalone product by default.
We work out where the growth is, decide what to say, write it down in a form somebody can actually act on, and then run it with you. The plan stays short enough to hold in your head and specific enough to argue with.
Brand works the same way. It compounds rather than converts, which is why it gets cut first and missed last. We have written about why brand storytelling behaves like compound interest.
What is actually included
Scoped to what your business needs rather than sold as a fixed package. Most engagements use some of this in the first quarter and the rest as the year runs.
Brand development
Positioning, identity and the language that makes you recognisable in a category where everybody sounds the same.
Messaging and copywriting
Website, campaign and long form copy written in your voice rather than ours, so the plan survives contact with the page.
Customer experience
Mapping the gap between what you promise and what people actually receive. Usually the cheapest growth available.
Campaign planning
Integrated launches with the measurement plan attached from day one, not bolted on when someone asks how it went.
Events and activations
Turning a room full of people into a pipeline you can follow up on Monday.
How an engagement runs
01
Understand
We read what you already have, talk to the people who sell, and look at what the numbers say rather than what the market deck says.
02
Decide
The hard part. What you are going to stop doing, who you are not for, and the one or two things worth the year.
03
Write it down
Short, specific and owned by name and date. If nobody can argue with it, it is not a strategy.
04
Run it
We stay on and deliver, which is where most of the value is and where most agencies hand you a PDF instead.
What it costs
We publish our rates, which is unusual for an agency and deliberate. There is no version of this where you have to ask three times to find out what an hour costs.
Strategy and consulting, hourly$250
Quarterly strategy session$750
Retainers, from 10 hours a month$1,900
An article, researched and written1.75 hrs
All excluding GST. Billed monthly in advance on 14 day terms, one month’s notice either way, and hours do not roll over. The full ladder is on the pricing page.
Common questions
How much does a marketing strategy cost?
Strategy and consulting is $250 an hour excluding GST. A focused piece of work for a small business is usually a handful of days rather than a project with a five figure number on it, and a quarterly strategy session is $750. If the work is ongoing it sits inside a retainer from $1,900 a month.
What is the difference between brand and marketing strategy?
Marketing strategy is what you are going to do and in what order. Brand is what people already think before you do any of it. They are different jobs on different timescales, and treating brand as a campaign is the most common and most expensive mistake we see.
Do you do the work, or just write the plan?
Both, and we would rather do both. Strategy that ends in a document is a cost. The value shows up when the same people who wrote it are the ones running it three months later.
Do we have to commit to a retainer?
No. Project and hourly work are both fine. Retainers exist because most of this work is continuous and a retainer is cheaper per hour than buying it piecemeal, not because we want to lock anyone in.
How long before we see anything?
Delivery starts within the first month. Results depend on what we are moving: campaign and advertising work reads within weeks, brand and search work compounds over quarters. We will tell you which one you are buying before you buy it.
Who owns the work?
You do. You own the work we create for you, and every account and licence transfers to you on request.
Start with the problem, not the proposal
Tell us what is not working. We will point you at the part worth solving first, whether or not that turns into a project with us.
Prefer to read first? The capability statement covers the three disciplines and how an engagement runs.