Insights

(What to look for, what it costs, and the common traps) I like to think that hiring a fractional CMO is like hiring a builder. Lots of people can do a bit of plastering, but fewer can look at your whole house, spot what’s wrong and stop you wasting money on a new kitchen when there’s a leaking roof. And.. Read more

Every business says they’re busy, but how do you know if you are busy with the right things? When priorities are unclear, teams default to activity, and the activity that they enjoy personally, not that has the biggest value for the business. Meetings start to multiply, tasks stack up and everyone looks busy. But nothing really moves the needle that.. Read more

When a business isn’t getting enough customers, the default diagnosis is almost always the same: “We need more leads.” Sometimes that’s true, but most of the time, it’s the uneducated choice. I think there are only three levers you can pull to grow customers at this point. So if growth has stalled, one (or more) of these levers isn’t being pulled hard.. Read more

When a business tells me it has a “go to market issue”, it’s almost never about social, SEO or a website that needs a refresh, it’s normally that nobody can answer these three questions

When Google announced its move into agentic shopping, the reaction was predictable: admiration, excitement, and nods. AI agents that search, compare, and buy on your behalf, making shopping a delegated task.

For the past five years at least, I’ve found myself walking into businesses with great marketing functions and having to sell in the importance of brand. It’s always acknowledged, but very rarely prioritised. Performance marketing, on the other hand, has always been an easy sell. Dashboards, attribution models, numbers that give the comforting illusion of certainty. According to the State.. Read more