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Marketing Strategy & Planning

Deciding what to do before deciding what to spend.

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Most local marketing problems are not execution problems. They are sequencing problems — money going into advertising before the website can convert, or into social before anyone knows the business exists.

A strategy engagement produces a written plan: who the customer is, what they are worth, which channels reach them, in what order those channels should be switched on, and what each is expected to return. It is deliberately short and specific enough to act on.

What the work covers

  • Market and competitor research — Who else is competing for the same customer, what they are spending on, and where the gaps are.
  • Customer and offer review — What a customer is worth, how they buy, and whether the offer itself is the constraint.
  • Channel selection and sequencing — Which channels to run, in what order, and which to deliberately skip for now.
  • Budget allocation — How the money splits across channels and what each split is expected to produce.
  • 12-month roadmap — Quarter by quarter, with the decision points where the plan should be revisited.

Who it suits

Businesses about to increase spend significantly, launch a new location or product, or that have been burned by an agency and want a plan before committing again.

What it is not

It is not a 60-page deck. If a plan cannot be summarised on two pages nobody will follow it.

How we actually run it

The order matters. Each step below has to be finished before the next one is worth doing.

1
Discovery

A working session on what you sell, who buys it, what a customer is worth and what has already been tried.

2
Market and competitor research

Who else competes for the same customer, what they spend on, where they are weak and what they own that you cannot cheaply take.

3
Channel modelling

Estimated cost per enquiry by channel for your category, so the plan is built on arithmetic rather than preference.

4
Sequencing and budget

What runs first, what waits, and what the split should be — with the reasoning written down so you can argue with it.

5
Written plan and walkthrough

A short document you can act on, plus a call to go through it line by line.

Mistakes we fix most often

These come up in almost every account we take over. None of them need a bigger budget to correct.

  • Spending on advertising before the website can convert
  • Choosing channels by what a competitor does rather than what your customer does
  • Setting a budget as a fixed monthly figure with no relationship to customer value
  • Running everything at once, so nothing gets enough budget to produce data
  • No written plan, so every month becomes a fresh argument

How we measure whether it is working

These are the numbers on your monthly report for this service — and the reason each one is there.

What we trackWhy it matters
Cost per enquiry by channelThe only fair way to compare one channel against another
Customer valueWhat you can afford to pay, which sets every other number
Payback periodHow many months before a customer covers what it cost to win them
Share of enquiries by sourceTells you how exposed you are if one channel stops

Typical timeline

Week 1Discovery session and data pull
Week 2Research and modelling
Week 3Written plan delivered and walked through
AfterRevisit quarterly, or sooner if the market moves

Tools we work in

  • Google Analytics 4
  • Search Console
  • Google Keyword Planner
  • SEMrush or Ahrefs
  • Meta Ad Library

Accounts are set up in your business name wherever the platform allows it, and you keep administrator access throughout.

Questions we get about marketing strategy

01.Can I take the strategy and implement it myself?

Yes. It is written to be actionable by anyone, including your own team or another agency. We would rather you use it than sit on it.

02.Do I need this if I just want ads run?

Not necessarily. If the offer is proven and the website works, we can go straight to building campaigns.

Works well with

Other Services

Marketing Audit

A written review of your website, ad accounts, listings, tracking and reviews — with a prioritised list of what to fix and what it is costing you.

Read more →

Analytics & Conversion Tracking

Analytics, conversion events, call tracking and reporting installed and verified, so every enquiry can be traced back to what produced it.

Read more →

Search Engine Optimisation

Getting found when someone searches for what you sell — without paying per click. Slower than ads, but it compounds and keeps working after the budget stops.

Read more →

Want a straight answer on whether this is right for you?

Fifteen minutes on the phone is usually enough. Consults are free and there is no pitch deck.

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