The decision-making layer
Most technical companies skip strategy entirely. They hire a marketer, launch a few campaigns, and wonder why nothing compounds. The tactics are rarely the problem. What’s missing is a plan that connects them.
- A digital marketing strategy engagement covers audience research, competitor analysis, channel planning, a messaging framework and a measurement framework.
- Digital marketing strategy suits pre-launch companies, scaling and post-raise teams, and technical teams with no CMO setting marketing direction.
- A marketing strategy engagement typically takes three to four weeks from kick-off to final delivery, and multi-product or multi-market scopes take longer.
- Strategy engagements are fixed-fee projects, and the fixed-fee audit and roadmap starts from £3,000.
- The marketing strategy is built so an in-house team can execute the plan independently, or I can implement the plan on a retainer from £4,000 a month.
Why most technical companies market without a strategy
Strategy is the part that tells you what to do, in what order, and how you will know it is working. Without it, every channel is running its own experiment.
- No clear positioning
- If you can’t articulate why someone should choose you over the competition in one sentence, your marketing can’t either.
- Tactics without direction
- Running SEO, social and paid without a strategy is like driving without a map. You’ll move, but probably not where you need to go.
- Wrong channels, wrong audience
- Spending equal budget across every channel instead of focusing on the two or three where your audience actually makes decisions.
- No measurement framework
- If you don’t know which metrics matter, you can’t tell whether your marketing is working or just keeping people busy.
Who is digital marketing strategy for?
Companies that want a plan they can trust rather than a deck they file and forget.
Pre-launch companies
Need a go-to-market plan that connects product milestones to marketing activity before you launch.
Scaling companies
Growing fast, but marketing feels reactive. Need a framework that makes every channel work together.
Pivoting companies
Changing direction or expanding into new markets. Need to rethink positioning, messaging and channel priorities.
Teams without a CMO
Developers and product people but nobody setting marketing direction. I fill that gap on a project basis.
Post-raise teams
Just raised and need to deploy budget effectively. Strategy before spending prevents waste.
Teams that can execute
Internal teams or agencies with execution capability that need strategic direction from someone who knows the space.
What does digital marketing strategy include?
Each workstream is designed to move a specific metric, not to pad a report.
Audience and market analysis
Who are you trying to reach? Where are they? What do they care about? I map your audience across the channels they actually use, analyse competitor positioning, and find the gaps your marketing can fill.
Channel planning
Most companies spread budget across too many channels with no rationale. I identify the two or three that will drive the most impact for your stage and audience, then allocate effort accordingly.
Go-to-market strategy
Launches, product updates, ecosystem expansions. I build the plan that connects product milestones to marketing activity: messaging, sequencing, channel activation and community mobilisation.
Measurement framework
If you can’t measure it, you’re guessing. I design attribution models and KPI frameworks that track the metrics your business actually cares about, from awareness signals through to revenue.
How does the work run?
Four phases with real durations. Nothing here is a proprietary framework. It is the order the work has to happen in.
Diagnose
I spend time understanding your product, your team, your current traction and your objectives, and review existing marketing, analytics and the competitive landscape. The output is a clear picture of where you are and where the opportunities sit.
Foundation
Audience research, competitor mapping, channel analysis, keyword landscape. Gathering the evidence that will inform every recommendation, so nothing rests on an assumption.
Amplify
The strategic plan itself: positioning, messaging, channel priorities, content themes and budget allocation. A working document with clear actions rather than a theoretical framework.
Compound
You get the strategy with a detailed walkthrough and the rationale behind every recommendation. Then I either stay to implement it or support your team while they do. Strategy without execution is a document nobody reads.
How much does digital marketing strategy cost?
Most work starts with a fixed-fee audit. Scope moves the number, not seniority: you get me either way.
Audit and roadmap
From £3,000
I look at what you are running now, find what is structurally broken as opposed to merely underperforming, and hand back a prioritised plan you could execute without me. Most engagements start here.
Ongoing retainer
From £4,000
Strategy plus execution across the channels that matter for your stage. Two or three disciplines working together rather than all five at once.
Advisory
£450 per day
For teams with people in place who need someone senior to pressure-test the plan, review the work, and say the unpopular thing.
Questions people actually ask
Including the ones about money.
Written by
Oliver Carding
Marketing consultant in Manchester. Previously Head of Marketing at Improbable and Senior Digital Marketing Lead at eBay; founded CoinJournal and CryptoKaiju. Career, press and references.
Other services
Most engagements use two or three together. A strategy sets the direction; the rest do the work.
Search engine optimisation
Technical SEO, keyword strategy, content optimisation, and authority building. I fix the structural problems that stop search engines finding you, then build the visibility that compounds over time.
Content marketing
Content strategy, thought leadership, newsletters, and distribution. The aim is content that answers the questions your buyers actually have, in places they’ll actually find it, rather than volume for its own sake.
Social media management
Channel strategy, community management, content publishing, and paid social on the channels your audience already uses: X, Discord, Telegram, and LinkedIn.
Paid advertising
Google Ads, Meta advertising, tracking, and bid optimisation. Paid media in crypto is tricky: platform policies shift, audiences are sceptical, and most budgets leak. I stop the leaks.
Digital transformation
Replatforming, measurement infrastructure, and the way a marketing team actually runs. Most problems that look like strategy problems are plumbing problems: the tracking is wrong, the site can’t ship a page, and nobody agrees what a lead is.
AI consultancy
Where AI genuinely improves a marketing team’s work and where it is theatre. Workflow design, tooling, quality standards, and the judgement to say when the honest answer is “don’t”.
AI search visibility
Answer engine optimisation. Being the source an AI cites when someone asks it a question in your category. That is a different job from ranking, and increasingly the one that decides whether you get considered at all.