My approach.

Over the course of my career, I've learned a fair few things. The most important are the foundational rules and practices that are fundamental to effective marketing. Whatever the role, whoever the business, wherever their marketing is, my philosophy and my approach stay the same.

Most often a client's marketing is underperforming because they are inadvertently doing "marketing". It looks and sounds like marketing, but under the surface it is built on a collection of misinterpretations, misunderstandings, and misapplications. The end result is the flawed practice that returns less than it could have done.

To make sure that my clients don't have "marketing" holding them back, I have a set of foundational rules, guides, and philosophies I apply to my work.

Marketing, not "marketing"

Do what's best for business

That means creating and executing the best marketing solutions to deliver commercial returns. It should be focused on generating revenue and improving profitability; all the other metrics and measures a stepping-stones to this end goal.

Marketing is a business function

It's job to is to contribute to business performance, and work with the other functions to amplify the business' strengths and minimize it's weaknesses. It's should focus on collaboration and integration as well as its own internal results.

Know your role

Marketers are not business experts: knowledge of a part is not knowledge of the whole. Too many marketers seem to think they are CEOs, and they overreach and overstep their boundaries. I'm there to help with your marketing issues, not tell you how to run your business.

A little less conversation, a little more action

Marketing is a verb, a job to be done. A lot of fractionals and consultants do a lot of talking, but very little happens; showing knowledge takes precedence over applying it. The priority should be using theory as a foundation for planning and then bridging it into execution.

There are no universal solutions

Every business is it's own context, so it needs it needs a customized approach that works within its situation. A lot of fractionals and consultants mould clients into ready-made and off-the-shelf solutions, which ends up with generic solutions to generic problems.

Best practice is relative

What is best practice for one situation may not be for the next. Resources affect what is realistic to do, and how well you can do them: a small business does not have the means to do the best practices for an enterprise business, so trying to do them would be irresponsible and dangerous.

Embrace imperfection

There is no formula, numbers will never add up perfectly, the market will never do or think exactly what you want it to. Be comfortable with imperfection: marketing is a social science that deals with probabilities and likelihoods, not a natural science that deals with causalities and guarantees.

Complexity does not mean competency

The marketing process is simple, and a good marketing programme is clear, concise, and efficient. To paraphrase Dave Trott, stupid people think complex is clever; clever people go past complex and make it simple. Unnecessary additions just create inefficiency and waste resource.

Take the best of both worlds

The question is not which one, but how much of each. Marketing works on spectrums, finding the right balance between elements, not subscribing to an absolute. Synergies between elements produce benefits, not biases that sacrifice them.

Ends should justify the means

Decisions about approaches, methods, and tools should be made in response to the objectives, not predetermined by the preferences or comfort zones of the marketer. Choose the option that is best placed to do the job that needs doing.

Honesty is the best policy

l'll tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. Even if it costs me the gig. Sycophancy doesn't solve problems, the right solution does.

Ready to get started?