✦ Duct Tape Marketing Certified fCMO
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Your business deserves a
real marketing strategy.
Not another tool.

Most growing businesses are reacting to marketing instead of leading it. Strategy First gives you a complete, research-backed marketing plan in 30–45 days — then expert fractional CMO leadership to execute it.

Book Your Strategy Session See How It Works
30–45 day engagement
Complete marketing plan delivered
Proven DTM framework
Expert fCMO leadership
68% of businesses have no documented marketing strategy
3× more revenue growth with a written marketing plan
$2M+ avg revenue growth in our client case study
The Problem

You're running a great business.
But marketing is running you.

Sound familiar? These are the four patterns we see in almost every growing business before Strategy First.

You're reacting instead of planning.

Every month feels like starting over. There's no consistent strategy — just tactics tried in isolation, campaigns launched without a plan, and energy spent on whatever feels urgent.

You don't know what's actually working.

Marketing spending goes out the door, but tracking what's driving revenue is nearly impossible. Gut feel replaces data. Good months feel lucky; bad months feel confusing.

Your message isn't cutting through.

You know you're better than your competitors — but your website, social, and sales conversations don't show it. The brand says "we're great" without proving why that matters to buyers.

You're too busy to think strategically.

There's no time to step back and build a real plan. The business needs leadership now, not after you figure it all out. And hiring a full-time CMO at $200K+ isn't the answer at this stage.

The Solution

Strategy First: your complete marketing plan in 30–45 days.

Strategy First is a focused engagement that produces one thing: a complete, research-backed marketing plan your business can actually execute — built around your customers, your competitors, and where you want to go.

It's not a generic template. It's built from deep research, your intake data, customer reviews, and competitive analysis — then presented as a full strategy deck you own forever.

  • ✓ Research-driven — we dig into your market, customers, and competitors before writing a word
  • ✓ Every section maps to a real business decision — no fluff, no filler
  • ✓ Delivered as a full presentation deck you can share with your team
  • ✓ Includes a 90-day execution calendar so you know exactly what to do next
  • ✓ Transitions into ongoing fCMO retainer leadership when you're ready
Start With Strategy First
What's Included — All 13 Sections
1
Customer Success Track Assessment
2
Deep Market & Competitive Research
3
Marketing & Brand Audit
4
Total Online Presence Audit (TOPA)
5
Competitive Analysis (3 competitors)
6
Customer Review Analysis
7
Ideal Client Personas
8
Core Message & Positioning
9
Customer Journey Hourglass
10
Content Strategy & Brand Voice
11
Marketing Strategy Framework
12
Growth Priorities (90-day)
13
Execution Calendar
The Process

Three steps from chaos to clarity.

Strategy First is the bridge between "we need to fix marketing" and having an operating system that compounds results every quarter.

01
Strategy Session

A free 30-minute call to understand where your business is and whether Strategy First is the right fit. No pitch. Just a real conversation about your marketing situation.

Free · 30 minutes
02
Strategy First Engagement

30–45 days of deep research, analysis, and strategy-building. We present your complete marketing plan — 13 sections, fully customized, backed by data.

The core engagement
03
fCMO Retainer

When you're ready to execute, we transition into ongoing fractional CMO leadership — monthly strategy meetings, scorecard tracking, and team oversight.

$3K–$8K / month
Client Results

What happens after Strategy First.

Case Study · Home Services

Whitaker's Garage Door Store went from $5M to $7M in under 12 months.

Whitaker's had built their reputation on referrals and word of mouth — but growth had stalled and they were losing leads after hours. Strategy First gave them a complete picture of where they were, where to go, and exactly how to get there. Within one year, the strategy was showing up in their revenue.

"If you're on the fence... it's the engine that powered our $2M jump."

— Casarra, Whitaker's Garage Door Store · Peekskill, NY
$7M
Revenue (up from $5M)
+$2M
Revenue growth in 12 months
98%
Lead conversion rate (up from 85%)
12 mo
Timeline from strategy to results
What You Get

Everything needed to lead your market.

Every section of the Strategy First deliverable is built from real research — not templates, not guesswork.

🎯

Customer Success Track

Identify your exact growth stage and what it takes to move to the next level — Foundation, Level-Up, Organize, Stabilize, or Scale.

🔍

Deep Market Research

Market size, buyer journey, discovery channels, benchmarks, and competitive landscape — researched and documented for your category.

📊

Marketing & Brand Audit

A full SWOT, channel assessment, messaging gaps, and honest look at where marketing is strong vs. where it's leaking revenue.

🌐

Online Presence Audit

Website, GBP, SEO, social, citations, and reviews — audited against the DTM checklist with specific, prioritized fixes.

⚔️

Competitive Analysis

Three competitors dissected: messaging, SEO, content, ads, social, reviews, and funnel — with a 10-point plan to outmaneuver them.

⭐

Review Analysis

The voice of your customer surfaced from public reviews — themes, sentiment, language patterns, and gaps your messaging should close.

👤

Ideal Client Personas

2–4 detailed personas in DTM worksheet format — problems, objections, information sources, behaviors, and buying motion.

💬

Core Message & Positioning

Three core message options with supporting descriptions — ready to become your homepage headline and unifying brand statement.

⏳

Customer Journey Map

The full Marketing Hourglass (Know → Like → Trust → Try → Buy → Repeat → Refer) mapped with customer thoughts, actions, and opportunities at each stage.

✍️

Content Strategy

3–5 content pillars, a hub page recommendation, 15+ blog topic ideas, and a brand voice guide with "how we speak vs. how we don't" examples.

🗺️

Strategy Framework

A phased 3-year marketing vision plus a concrete this-year strategy — what to focus on, what to skip, and how to compete to win.

📅

90-Day Execution Calendar

A week-by-week plan across your top growth priorities — ready to drop into ClickUp or any project management tool and start executing immediately.

The Customer Hourglass

The funnel ends at "buy."
The hourglass
keeps going.

A funnel treats the sale as the finish line. An hourglass knows the real revenue lives on the other side of it — in repeat buyers and the customers they bring with them. We design for all seven stages, not just the first four.

Stage 01
👁️
Know
They become aware you exist.
Stage 02
🤝
Like
Something about you resonates.
Stage 03
⭐
Trust
You earn the right to be considered.
Stage 04
✨
Try
A low-risk taste of the value.
Stage 05
💳
Buy
The first transaction — only the start.
Stage 06
🔄
Repeat
They come back, again and again.
Stage 07
📣
Refer
They tell other people for you.
Beyond Marketing

Tighter operations.
A team that runs
without you.

Great marketing brings people in the door. But if the team isn't aligned on their roles, the founder becomes the bottleneck — fielding every question, making every call, fixing every breakdown.

We help you build the clarity that stops that. When everyone knows their role, communication flows, accountability kicks in, and the business stops depending on you to function.

🗂️
Everyone knows their role
Clear responsibilities mean no grey zones, no dropped balls, and no one waiting on the founder to make a call they could make themselves.
📉
Less reliance on the founder
When systems and roles are defined, the business runs on process — not personality. You step back without things falling apart.
💬
Fewer communication breakdowns
Clarity kills confusion. When your team knows what's expected and where to go for answers, the constant back-and-forth stops — and everyone gets more done.
🚀
A happier, more productive team
People do their best work when they understand the mission, trust the plan, and aren't stuck waiting for direction. Operational clarity is a culture upgrade.
The Handshake Business Podcast by Connectid
Free Resource

The Handshake Business Podcast

Real marketing strategy for home service business owners. No fluff — just the tactics, frameworks, and mindset shifts that move the needle from $1M to $5M and beyond.

Hosted by Ashley · A Podcast by Connectid

Watch on YouTube Be a Guest on the Show
Who It's For

Strategy First is right for you if...

We work best with businesses that are serious about growth and ready to lead with strategy — not just tactics.

✅ This is a great fit if you...
  • ✓ Are generating $1M–$10M in annual revenue
  • ✓ Know marketing needs to be a priority but don't have a real plan
  • ✓ Have tried tactics (ads, social, SEO) without a strategy connecting them
  • ✓ Want to stop being the marketing department and start leading it
  • ✓ Are ready to invest in strategy before spending more on execution
  • ✓ Want a senior marketing partner — not another vendor
✗ This is not a fit if you...
  • ✗ Are pre-revenue or just starting out
  • ✗ Want someone to just "run ads" or "post on social"
  • ✗ Are looking for a quick fix without committing to a process
  • ✗ Want a template or a DIY course, not a custom strategy
  • ✗ Aren't willing to share real numbers, goals, and challenges
FAQ

Questions we hear before the call.

You receive a complete strategy presentation deck — 13 sections covering everything from your competitive landscape and ideal client personas to your core message, customer journey map, content strategy, and a 90-day execution calendar. It's yours to keep and share with your team, regardless of whether you move into a retainer.
Most agencies sell execution: ads, content, social posts. We lead with strategy first — because execution without strategy is just spending money faster. As your fractional CMO, I'm in the strategy seat: owning the marketing direction, managing vendors, and making sure everything connects to your business goals. Agencies work for you. An fCMO works with you.
No. Strategy First is a standalone engagement. You'll walk away with a complete marketing plan you can execute yourself, hand to an internal team, or bring to any agency. That said, most clients choose to continue into the retainer because they want expert leadership executing the strategy they just built — not starting over with someone new.
30–45 days from intake form to final presentation. We start with your intake questionnaire, move into deep research and analysis, then present the full strategy in a dedicated meeting where we walk through every section together.
Strategy First works best for businesses generating $500K to $10M+ in annual revenue — typically service businesses, home services, B2B companies, and professional services firms that have proven their model and are ready to scale it with a real marketing strategy behind them.
Retainers start at $3,000/month and are priced to your business size and scope. We typically start with a 3-month commitment so we have enough time to install the Marketing Operating System (campaigns, workstreams, scorecard) and start seeing meaningful results — then move to rolling monthly terms.
Most marketing disappointments come from misaligned expectations and execution without strategy. We solve both. You start with a complete strategy you've seen and approved — not a vendor who disappears with your budget and shows up with a metrics report. You're in the strategy room, not waiting on the outside.
30-Minute Call · No Pitch · Just Strategy

Ready to stop guessing
and start leading?

Book a free 30-minute strategy call. We'll talk through where your marketing is today, where you want to go, and whether Strategy First is the right next step.

Book Your Free Strategy Call

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