Growing your business is hard.

You’ve launched your product, paid a designer, got a website live, then … nothing.

It turns out that if you build it, they will not come.

Imagine instead that you have a steadily increasing flow of interested visitors to your website. 

Some of those visitors reach out to you to ask about your offer. 

You’re able to continue many of these conversations, and turn them into sales.

That’s a far better scenario.

I work with companies to turn around stagnant marketing and ignite growth.

I can get you noticed.

When you pour your heart into creating something you believe in, but then nobody pays any attention, it’s tough.

That was me in 2012.

I was working on my PhD, writing what I thought were interesting articles, but no-one was reading them.

I started a WordPress blog and published several articles.

Nothing.

I posted the articles on my Facebook page.

Nothing.

I started a Twitter account and posted links to the articles there.

Still nothing.

I wondered if I was a bad writer writing about a boring topic.

But I was writing about nukes.

Sure, not everyone is interested in nuclear weapons but surely, I thought, some people are.

So I thought about those people.

What would they like to read about nukes?

What would encourage them to read my articles on nukes?

I did two things.

First, I changed my article titles.

I made them more enticing.

Second, I added pictures of mushroom clouds.

Pictures of mushroom clouds invoke an emotional response: they terrify people.

Guess what?

It worked.

I posted the updated articles on Facebook and Twitter and people started to read them.

An email appeared in my inbox a few days later asking if one of the articles could be republished on the website of a major publication.

Sure, I said.

The next day my website got 16,156 views.

I learned an important lesson: Always think about what your audience wants and give it to them.

What drives successful marketing?

The hard truth is that no one really cares about your business.

People care about their own problems and worry about how they can solve them.

Just because you worked really, really hard to launch your business doesn’t mean people will find you and buy from you. 

You need to think about what your customers want and give it to them.

Your business only really matters if other people can see how it’s relevant and useful to them.

And that is marketing in a nutshell:

How does your business reach the people you are relevant and useful to? How do you help them understand the value you offer so they feel compelled to buy from you?

Your growth depends on reaching the right people at the right time with the right message.

In the 8 years since I wrote my viral article, I’ve thought, studied, and worked on how to reach and engage people.

Unfortunately, going viral is not a strategy. I’ve never got 16,000 hits in one day again.

Instead, I’ve learned that you need to deliver value to your customers at every stage of your relationship with them.

You have to give people a reason to engage with you.

You have to give them what they want.

To do that, you need to get out of your own head and think like your customers.

This is what I do now.

You can work with me to help you identify then reach your ideal customers.

I’ll research the specific topics your customers care about.

You get creative marketing campaigns that build trust and convey your expertise.

Most importantly, I find sustainable growth models that get you more customers, built around trust-building content. 

I work best with you:

If you are keen to invest in marketing and see a return.

If you are open to change and aren’t wedded to the status-quo.

If you are ready to try things out and run experiments.

If you care about results rather than your own ego.

I’m not a good fit for everybody:

I work remotely.

I work digitally, primarily on content-based campaigns.

You should be looking to expand online rather than offline.

You shouldn’t expect ‘hacks’ or ‘formulas’. Every project is different.

I’m platform-agnostic so if you have a particular platform you want to use – rather than be open to go where your audience actually is – I won’t be a good fit.

Success with previous clients

When I say that I can deliver results for you, you don’t have to take my word for it.

I asked some previous clients for honest feedback about working with me. Here’s what they said:

“Nick is able to recognize what you need before you do, and this is the case even though we work with him remotely. He delivers promptly, asks for details if needed and his work is of highest quality. Nick only takes on the tasks that he is able to perform, and will connect you to other providers when needed.”

Michael Czarniecki, Partner, BeeUp

“Nick has been instrumental in the creation of articles to address the different stages of the user journey, as well as the different verticals in retail and hospitality, and business sizes we are targeting with our EPOS solution and messaging. Nick came highly recommended, and his approach and expertise have been invaluable to us.”

Andrew Calzetti, CMO, IntelligentPOS (now part of iZettle)

‘After years of confusion and frustration, with web designers creating proprietary structures, your simple, clear and forthright advice about website strategy, design, and a focus on our donors’ needs rather than organizational ego, has paid huge returns.’

Gerry Ellis, Executive Director, GLOBIO

“Nick was an excellent consultant. In conferring with me about how to match digital applications with my specific work needs, he was great about understanding how I worked and what I wanted to accomplish on my terms. He was willing to talk through options and demonstrate possibilities.”  

Ben H., Consultant

“Everyone we spoke to was impressed by the quality literature. So thanks again. We really appreciate your help.”

Colin Q., Director

What’s it like to work with me?

You’ll find that I’m down-to-earth, realistic, and rigorous.

First, I’ll ask lots of questions and listen.

You know more than anyone about your business, what it does, and how it works.

(I might have a PhD but I’ll never lecture you.)

What I’ll do is research your target audience more than you thought possible.

Then I’ll propose some campaigns that will get your business in front of them.

You’ll feel in control.

We’ll have regular check-ins over video calls and we’ll ask each other lots of questions.

Good marketing is about asking good questions.

We’ll explore problems together and I’ll suggest solutions.

I’m guided by the data. The campaigns we work on will be driven by logic, not hunches.

It’s important that we agree on this approach, which is why I always start with a very informal chat about goals, aspirations, and how you like to work.

If we don’t seem like a good fit, we need to acknowledge that up front: I’ll happily refer you to someone else in my network when they’re better positioned to deliver what you need.

If we are a good fit, we’ll establish some realistic goals to aim towards so you can see progress in realtime. I’m not a ‘black box’ solution – you’ll be included at each stage.

Let’s create a marketing plan that delivers.

There’s no reason to accept a poor return on your marketing spend. If you’re not getting the results you expect from your marketing campaigns, you need to fix it.

Don’t wait around hoping for things to improve. Not taking decisive action is limiting the growth of your business now.

Choosing to delay action is costing your business. Why put off additional growth?

Schedule a call with me to talk about your current marketing performance: what’s going well, what’s not? Where would you like things to be?

This is the first step in determining steps that will improve your marketing.

We can identify some quick wins to build some momentum and then develop some longer term solutions that will create a sustainable flow of new customers for you.

Take that first step and arrange a chat with me. Let’s talk about what an ambitious yet realistic marketing strategy looks like for you.

Pricing

How much is this going to cost you? It’s a fair question.

The honest answer is that every project is different.

An audit of your marketing with some actionable recommendations is at a different scale to creating a completely new marketing plan and implementing it.

That said, you are guaranteed to get value from our work together. The work isn’t complete until that’s the case.

Until you see the results that we’ve agreed at the very beginning of working together, the project is incomplete.

I don’t charge by the hour, I charge by results that you’re seeking.

That works best for you: you get the results you want without picking over timesheets.

Every project starts with an honest chat about what your goals are. If I can help, I’ll create a bespoke work plan and quote for you. It’s all quite simple and professional, really.

I expect to deliver clear and obvious value to you, so I don’t ask for anything more than a 30-day commitment. If you don’t see value in our work together, you don’t have to keep working with me.

The first step towards more impactful marketing.

Once we decide to work together, I want to deliver as much value to you as soon as possible.

Work is structured around the deliverables that you need to create a steady flow of new customers. I’ll get those deliverables to you on a schedule we agree.

It means that you’ll start to see value very quickly: you won’t have to wait around long to start seeing results. I’ll make sure you get useful reports so you can monitor progress (no data dumping!).

I know there’s always a bit of uncertainty when you start working with someone new, so I make sure to be very open and transparent about what’s being done. It’s important to build a good working relationship, and I’ll make sure that we do!

You probably have questions

There are a few things you’re probably thinking at this stage that are worth me saying more about:

Why should I pay to work with you rather than spend more on my campaigns?

Clients find they recoup the cost quickly via increased marketing efficiency. Are you running the right campaigns? Have you set up analytics to track performance? Could you improve targeting to get a higher ROI?

You’ll recoup the cost of working with me by lowering your cost per acquisition, increasing the number of converted customers, and improving the lifetime value of your customer portfolio.

How can I be sure that you’ll do what you say?

We agree on what specific business objectives you need marketing to support, and the metrics that demonstrate progress towards that ultimate objective. Progress will be easy for you to track and you’ll be able to see what work has been done and whether it’s working.

Can’t I just get my marketing team to improve their performance?

Yes! But sometimes a team needs a chance to reevaluate their goals and make sure their metrics are defined properly. Then it becomes a technical issue: are the methods of measurement in place to assess progress?

I don’t swoop in and change everything, I double down on strengths and make sure the fundamentals are in place. Teams often find it refreshing to get a friendly outside perspective.

What’s the commitment?

Month-to-month. I don’t make anyone sign long-term contracts. Both sides have to be comfortable with how things are going. We work together as long as help is needed, and no longer.

Better marketing starts with a quick call

If you’re ready to start the conversation about your marketing, schedule a call with me.

The sooner we start talking, the sooner we can start creating that steadily growing flow of new customers.

P.S

There’s no one ‘correct’ marketing mix for your business. I’m not offering lazy, templated solutions. Lasting impact takes time, effort, and experimentation. Yes, there are often quick wins that can boost ROI immediately, but sustainable performance takes work.

If you’re ready to start the process of building a performance marketing machine that brings a steady stream of qualified prospects into your business, contact me today.

Ready to talk? Complete the form below and I’ll be in touch.