Marketing expertise available pay-as-you-go to drive your business growth
With nearly 30 years in marketing and more than 12 years working as a freelance marketing director there are challenges that show themselves again and again.
These fall in to two categories. Are you wondering about any of these questions?
What marketing delivers
What do I get in return for the budget we spend?
Is the advice that we receive correct and consequently are we doing the right things?
Are our suppliers doing a good job? In fact, what does a good job look like?
How marketing operates
Are Sales and Marketing operating as a team to deliver the revenue aspirations of the business?
Are my marketing team experienced enough to see the wider business picture and make business related decisions?
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Poor marketing will leave money on the table.
You don’t want that do you?
My promise to you
Your side of the table
As your marketing director I’ll sit on your side of the table – I’m not a marketing agency or just a supplier.
Your best interests
I work with your best interests in mind, I’m not focused on paying the wages of staff I need to keep busy.
The marketing baton
I’ll pick up the marketing baton so you can concentrate on building your business.
My commercial expertise
My commercial expertise will make sure we align marketing with the strategic ambitions of your business.
What success looks like
Our conversations won’t start with tactics like social media, email marketing or search engines. It will start with what success looks like and what we need to do to achieve that.
How I play the game
Creating a stronger, more profitable and more valuable business comes from structure and marketing rigor. Benefits come from all kinds of areas such as:
1
Analysing customer, purchase and product data to identify the best opportunities for growth.
2
Documenting a clear and accessible Mission, Vision and Values which sets the direction of travel and is the catalyst of a productive culture and a high performing business team.
3
Definition of a solid competitive positioning and a clear promise that translates in to messages that hit home with your customer.
4
Development of new products and services that increase revenue and profitability.
5
Speaking fluent Sales and Marketing to get them working co-operatively and productively towards the delivery of the revenue target.
6
Assessment and review of key supplier partners, their skills, recommendations and results so far to get the best returns possible.
7
Development of a skilled and appropriate, in-house marketing capability to deliver what the business needs.
8
Implementation of key systems such as a CRM database, to streamline and automate marketing and business processes, improve transparency and maximise every opportunity.
9
Formulation of KPIs and tracking to demonstrate what marketing delivers.
Experience to lean on
Solid marketing principles combined with big brand and agency thinking is the foundation of my expertise.
I’ve created winning campaigns for so many household names.
Ambitious marketing and creative thinking isn’t just for the big brands though. SME businesses have exciting stories to tell, and I’ve worked with more than 60 of those since starting out on my own.
From textiles, tarmacking and travel to CCTV, construction and tech consulting … the list of sectors is long and wide ranging.
Here are some of the highlights.
ProGARM Ltd
Designing is a matter of concentration. You go really deep into what you want to do. It’s about research. The concentration is warm and intimate and like the fire inside the earth – intense but not distorted.
“… he has helped us on our journey to become market leaders, he is extremely passionate, enthusiastic … someone who will challenge the status quo and help stretch the team to become even better.”
Mark Lant, Head of Sales at ProGARM Ltd
Lindum Packaging
We decided to “deliver less” and our customers loved it. Now we’re “packed with innovation” and we’re proving we can change the environmental game and the conversation completely. Long-term advisory relationship (4 yrs+) that included mentoring and growing internal expertise. Business has more than tripled in size.
“Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow.”
Bernard Sellars, Managing Director at Lindum Packaging
SIL Holdings Ltd
Isn’t UK textiles dead? Not if you make the world’s finest textiles demanded by Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren and export miles and miles of it to more than 50 countries. 4yrs+ engagement assisting the Group MD across the brands and businesses.
“Michael has been fulfilling a part-time role as Marketing Director for us since April, not only guiding the development of our marketing materials but working strategically with our businesses. He works with the business unit heads and quickly get to grips with their business challenges, bringing some great experience to help formulate a plan for growth and success.”
Andrew Seal, Group Managing Director at SIL Holdings Ltd
James Walker Textiles Ltd
Using data analysis and targeting to turnaround a number of years of declining revenues into 30% growth, against the challenges of NHS procurement and budget pressure.
“Having a sounding board like Michael has been invaluable for us and the money we’ve spent has been some of the best we’ve ever spent at JWT. I don’t think I have ever closed for Christmas feeling so motivated.”
James Walker, Managing Director at James Walker Textiles Ltd
FlamePro Global
This minnow challenger business, operating in a “duopoly” wins the biggest tender of the year worth £4.5m. Who knew so much went into a firefighter suit?
“Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow. Quote to follow.”
Nathan Bricknell, General Manager at FlamePro Global
The Original Factory Shop
Assessment of ecommerce business performance and strategic recommendations for multi-channel growth. Defining the opportunities for commercial success for this 190 store high-street retailer.
“Michael brought an expertise in multi-channel retailing that allowed the board to understand the opportunities of online and sign-off on his roadmap. He helped us recruit for the team and choose a roster of enterprise level skilled suppliers to take us on the journey too.”
Colin Leggatt, Marketing Director at The Original Factory Shop:
Doesn’t it make sense to have an experienced and commercial marketer on your side of the table?
Time and again clients have tapped-in to my expertise; saving them money by not choosing the wrong tactics and poor-quality suppliers; saving them time and accelerating their success by hitting the bulls-eye faster and harder!
Video Links
Here’s some interviews I’ve done about marketing – a nice way to bring some of my thinking to life:
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Discussion about the importance of your messaging on the Thrive Agency Campfire podcast (12 mins)
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3sdYHWRnpC2SUZKsl6EpL3
In-depth discussion about how Marketing is mis-understood, using internal versus external resources, accountability and tracking and the role of p/t Marketing Director on the Powerful Marketers (32 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woELo7QlaJk&t=1s
Short customer testimonial from Adam Bennett, MD of John Winter on the experience of working with me through The Marketing Centre (2 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jZ2e8rQTTI
Podcast interview for Powerful Marketers
https://powerful-marketers.com/michael-stewart-why-sales-and-marketing-need-to-be-best-friends/
Interesting debate about the relative importance of sales and marketing and how they should integrate. (44 mins total, debate starts at 7 mins)
https://youtu.be/vCwU7QO_2Go