Why Strategy Comes First

If you’re not sure where to start, overwhelmed by marketing tactics, or feeling invisible to your ideal client, you don’t have a marketing problem.

You have a strategy problem.

This engagement gives you the clarity, message, and plan you need to stop drifting and start growing.

• 1. Discovery Meeting

  We’ll start with a 60-minute kickoff call to clarify your business goals, review your current marketing efforts, and identify your biggest opportunities.

  This conversation sets the stage for everything that follows—and ensures we’re aligned on what success looks like.

• 2. Total Online Presence Audit (TOPA)

  We’ll audit your entire online presence—your website, SEO, content, social profiles, directories, reputation, and more—to surface your biggest visibility and performance gaps.

• 3. Competitive Landscape

  We’ll analyze your top competitors to identify how they position themselves, what tactics they use, and where gaps exist.

  You’ll receive a summary report outlining how to outmaneuver them by differentiating your brand and seizing untapped opportunities.

• 4. Personas & Core Message

  We’ll interview up to 5 ideal customers to uncover the real reasons they chose you, and what makes you stand out.

  Then we’ll craft your core message and build detailed buyer personas, so your future marketing speaks directly to the people most likely to buy.

• 5. Customer Journey Map

  Using our proprietary Marketing Hourglass framework from Duct Tape Marketing, we’ll map out your entire customer journey—from the moment someone hears about you to long after the sale.

  You’ll get tactical recommendations for each stage: Know, Like, Trust, Try, Buy, Repeat, Refer.

  

  Click here to see a larger image of the Marketing Hourglass.

• 6. Editorial Plan & Content Strategy

  We’ll create a high-level editorial calendar built around your goals, your SEO opportunities, and your customer journey.

  This includes hub pages, blog topics, and content formats that support your sales process and help your brand stay visible.

• 7. Strategic Overview & Growth Priorities

  This is where we bring everything together.

  Now we know your goals, what your competition is doing, and how your customers value you. From here, we know how to position your company so that it stands out. 

  You’ll get a prioritized list of the highest-impact marketing activities, customized to your business, that will help you grow faster, convert better, and waste less time on the wrong tactics.

• Findings & Next Steps

  We’ll present everything we’ve learned and built in a final strategy presentation.

  You’ll walk away with a clear, actionable roadmap—and options to either implement it with your team or partner with us to bring it to life.