I solve
marketing puzzles
Ten years in marketing, from campaigns to running a department, with a solid technical background.I've spent ten years in marketing, from running campaigns to running a department. My technical background comes in handy when a project crosses into data, development or automation.
Working with me
I started out in campaigns, and online marketing is still my specialisation and a bit of a guilty pleasure. These days I work directly with companies and do more than campaigns. I can lead your team and the work with your agencies, run an audit, prepare an entry into a new market or check a company before you buy it. I most enjoy working for people who care more about winning business than about nice‑looking reports.
Marketing audit
Agency reports tend to be full of good news. An audit shows you the rest.
A marketing audit looks at the whole picture from the outside. I find out how strong your brand is and where you stand against competitors. I look at what you tell customers about yourselves and whether you reach them where they actually buy.
Then come the numbers. I go through your budget across online and offline channels, your tracking and your work with agencies. I find out how many enquiries and orders really come in and what they cost you. I rank the findings by what needs fixing first.
Thirty hours of project management on a monthly invoice.
An agency's monthly invoice listed thirty hours of project management. It also included campaign management, reporting, meetings and several other items. The invoice kept growing, but nobody at the company could link those hours to specific work or results.
It might all have been justified. It could just as easily have been fixes, work done twice or tasks nobody had clearly briefed.
In a case like this, I put the contract, the brief, the emails with the agency, the delivered work and the change history in the ad accounts side by side. I compare what was agreed, what was actually done and what was invoiced. The result is a list of items worth raising with the agency and a proposal for making the work simpler.
What I check
- Brand and market positionHow strong your brand is, how people see it and where you stand against competitors. I can tell, for example, from how many people search for you by name, what they say in reviews and what prices you can charge.
- CustomersWho they are, where they come from and what makes them buy.
- SEO and GEOHow easily people find you in search engines and what AI assistants such as ChatGPT say about you. I find out where competitors are ahead of you.
- Channels and numbersHow much you put into each channel, online and offline, whether your tracking tells the truth and what you are paying the agency for.
You get a written summary of the findings, and we go through it together in a meeting. We agree the scope, timing and price in advance.
Online marketing
Campaigns are where I started, and they are still what I enjoy most. I like doing the whole job myself, banners and websites included. For bigger jobs, like a visual identity or a large website, I'd rather not be a one‑man band, so I'm happy to team up with a design studio or developers.
Ad platforms learn from the conversions your tracking sends them. When tracking breaks, the ads learn the wrong lessons and you pay for it. That's why I fix tracking first.
Conversions in the ads dropped, but enquiries kept coming in.
A company was trying to work out why conversions in its ads had dropped month on month and why each one suddenly cost more. Yet the forms on the website were working and enquiries were still arriving.
The fault was in the tracking. The rule meant to report a form submission only covered one of several forms on the site. The other enquiries never reached the ad platform, so for several weeks automated bidding was working from incomplete data.
I find a fault like this by following an enquiry from the ad click through the form to the record in the ad account. I then check the fix with a real click on an ad, because a test form submission never shows up in the ad account.
- Ad platformsGoogle Ads, Sklik (Seznam's ad platform), Meta (Facebook and Instagram), TikTok Ads, LinkedIn Ads and Reddit Ads. I promote apps through Apple Search Ads and Google Ads campaigns that also appear in Google Play. In Google Ads and Sklik I work through tools I built myself.
- SEO and GEOI adjust your website and content so people find you in search engines and in the answers of AI assistants such as ChatGPT or Perplexity. I track how often AI mentions and recommends you with tools such as Ranketta.
- TrackingAdvanced server‑side tracking and a properly configured cookie consent. Conversions from forms, calls and orders are recorded in both your ads and your analytics.
- Creative and websitesI design banners and write ad copy for campaigns. I also build modern static websites and landing pages that load fast.
Afterwards I can hand the accounts over to you or keep managing them.
Marketing management
As your external marketing manager, I lead your team and manage the work with your agencies. I cover both online and offline marketing. Beyond campaigns, that can mean trade fairs and events, printed materials, PR or materials for your sales team.
We agree the goals and budget with your management, and I make sure the work follows them. Usually that means doing fewer things, but doing them properly.
Online marketing is my home turf, so I can check agency reports directly in the accounts and often fix technical problems myself.
If you don't need me to run the work, we can meet for advisory sessions only. Your team does the work and I help you with the decisions.
- A plan the team can follow without meWe set goals with your management and split the budget across channels. We then adjust the plan as results come in.
- Agencies and suppliersI brief agencies, printers and event suppliers and check both their work and their invoices. When a partnership doesn't work, I propose a change.
- Reporting nobody has to defendYou see what each channel costs, online and offline, and how many enquiries and orders it brings.
- TeamI help you hire marketers and set out who in the team is responsible for what.
One‑off projects
Some projects come round once in a blue moon, so nobody in the company has done them before. I can prepare a project like this or lead it all the way through. Each project has a clear brief and ends with handing over the result.
What you can come to me with
- Entering a new marketI look at demand, competitors and prices. Before you spend on a full campaign, I test interest on a small scale.
- Product launchI prepare the launch plan: who to offer the product to, what to say about it and where.
- Choosing an agencyI write the brief and criteria, approach suitable agencies and compare their proposals on the same terms.
- Marketing plan and budgetI turn business goals into concrete steps. For each one it is clear who does it, by when and at what cost.
If you have a different project in mind, write to me and I'll tell you whether I can help.
Marketing Due Diligence
When you buy a company, you also buy its brand, its market position, its ad accounts and its customer data. Before the deal, I check how strong the brand really is, where the company stands against competitors and whether the seller's numbers add up.
He bought two companies and couldn't get into their Google profiles.
A new owner bought two companies and only found out after the deal had closed that he couldn't access their Google Business Profiles. They held years of positive reviews and photos that helped people find the companies in search and on Maps.
The previous owner no longer knew who had set up the profiles or who had admin access. It could have been a former employee, the original agency or someone with a company email address that had long since been closed. The companies had changed hands, but the profiles and their reviews stayed out of the new owner's control.
That's why, in a due diligence review, I check who owns every account, profile and domain and who actually has admin access. "The agency has it" is not a good enough answer. Anything that can't be transferred has to be resolved before the deal closes or reflected in its terms.
What I check
- Brand and competitionHow strong the brand is, where the company stands against competitors and how easily it could lose that position.
- Results and customersI compare the ad accounts, analytics and CRM with what the company claims. I find out where customers come from, what it costs to win them and how many enquiries turn into orders.
- Accounts and accessI check who owns the domains, websites, Google profiles, ad accounts and data, and whether they can be transferred.
- Dependence on peopleI find out what the company would lose if a particular marketer or agency left.
You get a written assessment. For each risk I state whether it needs to be resolved before the deal closes or can simply be taken into account after the takeover.
How we start
You write to me
A few sentences are enough. You don't need a finished brief.
We agree the scope
We settle what you get, when and at what price.
We start
You work directly with me, with no one in between.
Tell me what you're trying to sort out
A few lines about the situation are enough. I'll read them and suggest a sensible way to begin.
Send a message