Brand & marketing strategy
Practical analysis for founder-led micro and small businesses, focused on the judgement behind better decisions.
A positioning problem and a marketing problem can create the same symptom: growth stalls. The correct response is very different.
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Articles on positioning, brand strategy, AI and pricing: read the ones that match your question.
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Read the articleAldi’s marketing works because its positioning is absolute, letting the wit stay bold without going off-message.
Read the articleA worked strategic analysis of the outdoor pizza oven brand, using Porter, the five forces and STEEPLE.
Read the articleHow to lead with the customer outcome, then use your method as evidence.
Read the articleHow I use AI to accelerate research, synthesis and drafting while retaining responsibility for every recommendation.
Read the articleGive your team the positioning and practical language they need to explain the brand consistently.
Read the articleA simple framework with a worked example, the common mistakes to avoid, and a quick test.
Read the articleA plain-English guide to what brand strategy is, how much you need, and when to invest.
Read the articleWhat consultants actually do, consultant vs agency vs freelancer, and the questions to ask before you hire.
Read the articleWhen growth stalls, the instinct is to market harder. It is usually the wrong diagnosis.
Read the articleWhat freelancers, studios and agencies typically charge, what drives the cost, and how to buy well.
Read the articleBrand strategy defines who you are; marketing strategy defines how you reach them. The order that saves money.
Read the articleHow a brand was built from a blank page: positioning, naming, tone of voice and content, open to inspect.
Read the articleStrategic notes
Concise strategic notes, each with a complete thought and a practical next step.
There is no fixed amount of brand strategy a business should have. There is only the amount required to make the next set of decisions coherent, and that amount changes as the business grows.
I regularly meet founders who assume brand strategy is something you either have in full or skip entirely. In practice it scales. A founder testing one offer with one audience usually needs a sharp positioning statement and a consistent message, not a lengthy brand document nobody will read. At that stage, clarity matters most.
The calculation changes once a business is hiring, running several offers, or briefing external agencies. Undocumented judgement calls the founder used to make instinctively then have to be written down, or every new person fills the gap differently. The test I use is simple: if two people in the business would currently describe the brand differently, the documented layer is overdue.
Find the right starting point →I use AI to organise research, generate alternative phrasings and test early drafts more efficiently.
Before using it, I define the business question, relevant evidence and decision criteria. I then assess outputs against the market, audience and commercial constraints.
I remain responsible for the recommendation, including the evidence, trade-offs and risks. Strategic Draft Review provides that assessment when you already have AI-assisted material.
Request a Strategic Draft Review →Lead with the significance of the work, then explain the method.
The most common pattern I see, on a website or in a pitch, is the same: a founder opens with what they do, in careful professional detail, and only gets to why it matters several paragraphs later, if at all. That ordering makes sense from the inside, because the method is what you spend your time doing. It rarely works from the outside, because a prospective client's first question is what changes for them, not how you work.
Reorder the message: state the outcome first, then use the method as supporting evidence. Positioning statements that do this consistently outperform ones that lead with process, because they answer the reader's actual question before asking for their patience.
Sharpen a positioning statement →Diagnose the strategic problem before commissioning a redesign.
When enquiries slow down, or the wrong client starts enquiring, the instinct is usually to commission a visual refresh: new colours, a new website, sharper photography. Sometimes that is exactly what is needed. Often it is treating the symptom, because the actual cause, an unclear offer, conflicting promises across channels, or a message a competitor could equally claim, is untouched by better design.
A visual identity communicates whatever position already exists; it cannot invent a clearer one. Establishing what is actually wrong, before paying to restyle it, is the difference between a redesign that finally lands and one that looks better while solving nothing.
See what’s included →Clear entry points make complex services easier to buy.
The businesses I see struggle to convert are rarely offering too little. They are usually offering plenty, described in a single undifferentiated block, so a prospective client has no way to tell what applies to them or where to start. Sophistication in the work does not require sophistication in the buying decision, and conflating the two costs enquiries.
Improve the structure by naming distinct entry points, boundaries and prices, then let people choose the smallest one that solves their actual problem. A tightly scoped service reduces the decision to one question: is this my problem? The reader no longer has to map an entire capability list onto their situation first.
See what’s included →Content creates leverage only when it builds memory and preference. Constant novelty, a new angle every week, usually prevents both.
Content volume alone rarely builds recognition or preference. An audience that sees a different message every time cannot form a consistent impression of what the business stands for, so each piece starts from zero rather than adding to what came before.
Reinforcement, saying the same strategic message in different forms and contexts, is what actually builds recognition and preference over time. That requires knowing the one thing you want to be known for well enough to repeat it deliberately, which is a strategy question that should be settled before content planning begins. A marketing strategy exists to settle that question first, so the content that follows has something worth repeating.
Submit a marketing strategy brief →Apply the thinking
Bring one question to the Focus Consultation or submit a wider brief.
See what’s included