Let's stop making marketing so complicated.

Misalignment on marketing's role

Marketers can't even decide among themselves what marketing is and isn't reponsible for. Today's academic definitions are less than useful.

Lack of agreement on marketing's business value

What unique capabilities does marketing provide that no other discipline can? Hint: It's not being a revenue source.

Marketing putting style over substance

Marketing is too often driven by disruption, viral moments, awards, and creativity for the sake of creativity, instead of business objectives.

A defined scope for marketing

What the discipline owns, what it supports, and what it declines. Written down, agreed to by leadership, and defensible in a meeting.

Marketing built off established corporate strategy

Positioning, messaging, and guidelines derived from the company's actual objectives, differentiators, and strategy. Not driven by whatever seems "fun."

A working marketing process

Intake, briefs, review paths, approval authority, asset management, and measurement. The unglamorous machinery that makes output predictable.

01 A 30-minute conversation

Free. You describe what's happening. I tell you whether I'm the right person for it. Sometimes the answer is "no."

02 A scoped proposal

A specific problem, a specific set of deliverables, a specific timeline and price. No retainer you can't evaluate.

03 The work

Fractional leadership, a defined project, or an advisory arrangement, depending on what the situation actually needs.