How the work actually works.
No deck of services, no menu of packages. An engagement starts the same way most useful work does — by figuring out what is actually going on, what is actually broken, and what would actually move the business.
Discovery, before anything else
The first conversation is free, and so is the second. The point is not to sell, it is to understand. What is the business doing well? What does the owner suspect is broken? What has been tried? Who are the customers, and how do they actually find their way in?
Most of these conversations end with a clear picture of what would help, and a candid assessment of whether this is the right kind of help. Sometimes the answer is no. A small winery in its first year may not need a fractional marketing leader; it may need a good photographer and a tasting-room SOP. Saying so is more useful than pitching anyway.
When the fit is real, the next step is a written proposal: scope, sequence, timeline, price. No surprises later.
Setup, then run
Most engagements start with a defined setup project — somewhere between four and eight weeks — followed by an ongoing monthly retainer. The setup is where the foundation gets built or rebuilt: the positioning, the customer database, the email program, the content calendar, the basic measurement so we can tell whether anything is working.
The retainer is where it gets run. That means strategic oversight, hands-on execution where execution is the bottleneck, and progressively training the people inside the business to take more of it on. The goal is not a permanent dependency. The goal is a marketing operation that runs whether I’m on the call that week or not.
A marketing department, sized for the business you actually run — built, then handed off as far as it can be.
What sits inside an engagement
The mix varies. The work is shaped to the business, not the other way around. Most engagements draw on some of these:
Why your business, in language that holds up across a tasting room, an email, an ad, and a conversation with a distributor.
CRM and email setup or rebuild, wine club or membership program design, loyalty mechanics — the backbone that turns a one-time visitor into a long relationship.
Website copy, regular email, blog or journal pieces when they earn their keep, and the editorial discipline to keep them from becoming chores no one wants to do.
Search and social campaigns where they make sense, and a clear answer when they don’t. The default is not “run more ads.”
The events you already run, made to do more work; the partnerships you should be building, mapped and pursued.
Honest metrics, reviewed regularly, used to make decisions. Not a quarterly report nobody opens.
Make sure your customers find you, however they’re searching. Stand out everywhere, from Google to Bing, from ChatGPT to Claude.
AI isn’t just changing how customers find you — it’s changing what small teams can accomplish. We show you practical, repeatable workflows that let you do more with what you have. No technical background required.
What is not in scope: graphic design from scratch, video production, or high-volume execution work better handled by a specialist agency. When that work needs to happen, the practice brings in trusted partners and manages the relationship.
How it’s priced
Engagements are sized to what the work actually requires. Some are defined projects — a positioning sprint, an AI training session, a content system built and handed off. Others develop into ongoing partnerships. The right scope has to be clear before the right price can be, so specific numbers come in a written proposal after the discovery conversations.
What stays consistent: the work is built to return more than it costs, in new customers, retained revenue, and improved margins. That’s not a promise — it’s the standard the work is held to. If a fit looks unlikely, that comes up early, not at the end.