A media plan is not a strategy. Neither is a new creative test.

Four decisions and a plan. Product and customer priority, meaning which products, categories and cohorts get funded and which are declined; positioning and proof, meaning why someone should buy this brand at this price instead of the cheaper listing; channel roles, meaning what each channel is for and in which quarter; and budget and measurement, meaning owners, spend and the numbers leadership reviews weekly. The output is a written marketing plan, not a workshop summary.

An agency executes a plan. This engagement writes one, and because we take no media or execution work inside it, the plan can say that a channel should be cut, that a product line should stop being advertised, or that next quarter's money belongs in retention rather than prospecting. The deliverable includes a one-page brief written so any agency, including your current one, can deliver against it. Execution is scoped separately afterwards if you want us to do it.

Because platform ROAS is a channel's opinion of itself. Once cost of goods, shipping, payment fees, discounts and returns come out of the order, the ranking of channels frequently changes and some campaigns turn out to buy revenue at a loss. We rebuild the picture on contribution margin and cohort repeat rate, then decide the plan from that, which is a different conversation from optimising the same account harder.

A fixed fee quoted after a scoping call, with deliverables and dates written down before you commit. It varies with the size of the assortment, the number of markets and channels in scope and the state of your data, so publishing a rate would mislead most readers. For budget context, The CMO Survey puts marketing at 9.0% of company revenue on average across industries, with 33.6% of digital activity run by outside agencies. Book a meeting for a scope and a number.

Not inside this engagement. We specify what has to change so the numbers in the plan can be reported honestly — the events, the cohort view, the margin fields that belong in reporting, the difference between platform-reported and business-reported revenue — and we say which conclusions are solid and which are directional until it is fixed. Marketing operations consulting implements it.

It covers creative strategy: which concepts, claims and formats the brand should be testing, what each one is trying to prove, and how performance is read by concept instead of by asset. It does not include producing the assets. That separation matters, because a plan written by the team that also bills for production tends to recommend more production.

Usually, and the plan will say by how much. Second and third order margin is where DTC profit accumulates, so replenishment timing, win-back, post-purchase messaging and the reason to reorder are strategic decisions rather than email chores. Where the checkout itself is the leak, note that Baymard's documented average cart abandonment rate is 70.22%, and much of that is unanswered doubt rather than lost intent.

Different question. Ecommerce growth advisory looks for the commercial constraint on growth wherever it sits, including contribution margin per order and per SKU, channel roles and repeat purchase economics. Marketing strategy consulting takes the commercial model as given and answers what marketing should do about it: product and customer priority, positioning, channel roles, budget and measurement. Brands that already know their constraint usually want this one.

Yes, and it is one of the more valuable parts. Each channel gets a role in the assortment and the pricing architecture, so the site is not competing with your own marketplace listing and retail is not being subsidised by direct advertising without anyone measuring it. The plan states which products lead in which channel and what the brand refuses to discount.

Yes, within the agreed scope. Repeat customers, one-time buyers and people who returned an order are the fastest route to a positioning claim that survives a product page, and support tickets and reviews usually contain the objection your advertising is not answering. Interviews are short and confidential, and findings feed the positioning platform rather than being published.

A sponsor, usually the founder or chief executive; finance, because margin data decides most of this; merchandising or product; retention; and whoever owns paid media today. Expect around two hours of interviews each in week one and a half-day decision session in week three. If the sponsor cannot attend that session, we move it rather than run it without them.

Yes, and we will say plainly where it limits a conclusion. We work from financial records first, reconcile the store, ad platforms, email and analytics against them, and label which findings are solid and which are directional. Validity's 2026 research found 62% of organisations losing revenue to poor CRM data and 67% having campaigns delayed or scrapped because of it, so this is normal rather than disqualifying.

No, it is often the right first step, because the plan states what the first senior hire has to do and what stays with agencies. Where the question is really about structure and sequencing of hires, marketing team advisory covers it, and where you need someone to lead the function while you build it a fractional CMO is the engagement. Both are quoted separately and neither is required to use the plan.

Yes, and new markets are planned separately from mature ones because they need a different message, a different budget curve and a different measure of success in the first year. The plan states what has to be true before a launch is funded, which products lead, how landed cost and returns change the margin picture, and which numbers tell you at ninety days whether the market is responding.

Your team runs it, and every workstream has a named owner on your side. Many brands book a review at ninety days to check the leading indicators and adjust the sequence, which takes half a day and is optional. Where you want a standing numbers habit instead, scorecard advisory sets one up and hands it back. The parent engagement is marketing strategy consulting, and execution, if you want us to do it, is scoped separately.