Ask why the money is split the way it is and the answer is usually history. That is what we did last year. That is where the rep called. That is the channel the owner likes.
None of that is stupid — it is just untested. And an untested assumption at the top of a plan gets multiplied by every dollar underneath it.
We would rather spend a little of your money finding out than a lot of it guessing.
Strategy is the plan. Research is how we know the plan is right. Most shops sell one and skip the other, which is how you end up with a beautiful deck aimed at the wrong person.
Planning, research, and modeling — so you know who you are talking to, what will move them, and what it should cost.
What the business needs, what marketing can actually do about it, and what the plan is for the next twelve months. Written down, with numbers, so you can hold us to it.
Qualitative and quantitative — surveys, interviews, and syndicated data. Who your customers actually are, not who you assume they are.
Every step from never-heard-of-you to bought-again, and where you are losing people. Usually the leak is somewhere nobody was looking.
Which customers are worth the most, which are worth chasing, and which are costing you money to serve. Then we aim the budget accordingly.
Where the money should go across channels, and what happens if you move it. We place $2.5 million in media a year, so the model is built on what things actually cost here.
Does the site work, does the message land, does the ad make sense to somebody who has never heard of you? Better to find out before it runs.
You are about to spend real money and you want to know it is aimed at the right thing.
Or you have been spending for years, results are flat, and nobody can tell you why — because nobody ever established what should have happened.
You want a plan with numbers in it, not a deck with adjectives in it.
You already know what you want to do and you want somebody to execute it.
That is completely legitimate — and we will happily just execute. But then you are paying us to build a plan you have already made, and we would rather tell you that up front than bill you for it.
Not what the marketing needs. Revenue, margin, capacity, hiring — the actual constraint we are marketing against.
Research, data, and a hard look at what your own numbers already say. This is the part most agencies skip.
Audience, message, channels, budget, and targets. You approve it before a dollar moves.
Plans are guesses until they meet the market. We measure, and we change what the numbers tell us to change.
Yes. Plenty of clients bring us in to build the plan and then run it themselves or with their existing team. We would rather do the part that helps.
Often less than you would think. A few dozen good customer conversations beats a survey nobody designed properly. We will tell you when research is not worth the money.
A written plan — audience, message, channel mix, budget, and what success looks like in numbers. Not a mood board.
Planning is typically three to six weeks. Research adds time depending on what has to be gathered. We will scope it before we start.
No. A deck is a delivery format. What you are buying is the decision — who to talk to, what to say, and where to spend. The document is just where it is written down.
Both, and we tell you which is which. Syndicated data is cheap and useful for sizing. Your own customers are the only source for why they buy.
Tell us what’s on your plate and we’ll tell you how we’d handle it.
No pressure, no 10-page pitch deck.