Consulting

The hardest part usually isn’t the plan. It’s knowing what’s actually in the way.

Most companies I talk to already have ideas about what to do next. What they don’t have is agreement about which problem they’re solving.

I work with businesses on one defined marketing problem or initiative: finding what’s really causing it, deciding what to do about it, and staying close enough to the work that the answer holds up when the team builds it.

Tell me what you’re working on See how I diagnose

When it’s worth bringing someone in

Not because the team isn’t good. Usually because everyone is too close to it to see the shape of the problem.

  • Marketing is running and nobody can say clearly what it’s producing.
  • The team knows something needs to change but can’t agree on what.
  • A campaign, website, or launch needs a stronger strategy behind it than it currently has.
  • Tactics keep getting added while the underlying problem stays where it was.
  • You have real marketing capability in-house and need an outside read on it.
  • There’s one specific thing to fix, and it doesn’t warrant an ongoing leader.

A lot of marketing problems look tactical until you get close enough to see what’s causing them.

What we might work on

Engagements start from a business problem, so the work below is what the answer usually turns out to involve rather than a menu to pick from.

  • Strategy and positioning

    What the business is actually offering, to whom, and why it wins.

    • Marketing strategy
    • Positioning
    • Messaging
    • Go-to-market thinking

  • Demand and campaigns

    Building interest deliberately, rather than hoping the next campaign lands.

    • Demand generation
    • Campaign strategy
    • Content
    • Paid and organic

  • Websites and journey

    The path a buyer actually takes, and the point where it loses them.

    • Website strategy
    • Conversion
    • Messaging architecture
    • Lead paths

  • Systems and measurement

    Knowing what worked, so the next decision isn’t another guess.

    • CRM
    • Reporting
    • Sales and marketing alignment
    • Marketing operations

How it works

The recommendation isn’t the finish line. I stay close enough to the build that it survives contact with the team’s real constraints.

  • Understand the problem

    Get clear on goals, context, constraints, and what is really happening.

  • Find what moves the needle

    Identify the highest-value opportunities using data, context, and experience.

  • Build the plan

    Prioritize the work and make the recommendation actionable.

  • Bring it to life

    Support execution and help remove the roadblocks.

What should be different

Every engagement is scoped differently. This part isn’t.

Before
  • Too many priorities.
  • Marketing activity without a clear strategy.
  • A vague problem everyone describes differently.
  • Recommendations that stay in a document.
After
  • A decision about what actually matters.
  • Work that connects to a specific business goal.
  • A defined issue the team knows how to solve.
  • A plan the team can actually build.

This is probably a fit if…

  • You have a specific marketing problem or initiative that needs senior attention.
  • Your team can execute but needs clearer direction on what to execute.
  • You’re making a significant marketing decision and want an outside read on it.
  • Marketing is busy and you’re not sure the right work is getting done.
  • You want someone strategic who’s also comfortable close to the execution.
  • You don’t need an ongoing marketing leader inside the business.

Probably not the right fit if…

You need the whole marketing function led rather than one problem solved. That’s fractional leadership, and it’s a different arrangement.

The engagement

Consulting is scoped as a project, shaped around the problem rather than a set number of hours. That might be an audit and a recommendation, a strategy engagement, a defined build, or short-term advisory around one initiative.

Most of it involves some hands-on work. I’ve found that the recommendations that survive are the ones I helped put into practice.

Ask about a project
Amber Fugedi working at a laptop outside a cafe.

Problems, and what they turned out to be.

Two that started as one brief and became a different one.

  • Document technology

    Scan-Optics

    A repositioning the marketing hadn’t caught up with. Rebuilt demand generation from the foundation and grew pipeline from $1.3M to $2.8M.

    Read the case study
  • eLearning

    StormwaterONE

    Brand and demand generation pulling against each other, with paid spend outrunning its returns. More qualified leads on a smaller budget.

    Read the case study
“I knew I needed to do more with marketing, but I was honestly overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start. Amber helped me make sense of it and gave me a plan that actually felt doable.”
Anthony Aubrey
Owner, A2 Exteriors
See more of my work

If that isn’t quite it

Have a marketing problem you’re trying to untangle?

You don’t have to have it diagnosed before you get in touch. Tell me what’s happening and what you’ve already tried, and we can work out whether this is a project, an ongoing role, or something smaller.

Describe what’s going on