What a marketing budget should actually be, broken into three real bands, plus where companies waste money and the floor below which you should do it yourself.
How to Tell If Your Marketing Is Actually Working
Traffic is up but you cannot tell if it is working. The four numbers that matter, what to expect at 30, 90 and 365 days, and how to read your agency’s report.
A Client Started Getting Leads From AI Search. Here Is What Their Analytics Actually Showed.
One client’s site started getting leads from AI search. What eleven AI-referred visitors actually did in the analytics, and why AI rewards the E-E-A-T work we have done for six years.
What a Brand Photo Shoot Costs: Day Rates, Deliverables, and What Pushes the Price Up
What a brand shoot really costs: $950 for a half day, priced by the scene, images yours in perpetuity, what pushes the price up, and how a Haven shoot day and edit actually run.
What Nashville Businesses Overpay For, and the Local Marketing Almost Nobody Does Right
Nashville businesses either underpay into a race to the bottom or overpay for a big-city name. Where the money goes wrong, what actually wins locally, and the gas-pedal rule for scaling.
How StoryBrand Changes When You Sell to Businesses
StoryBrand is the best starting point for a confusing message, but selling to businesses bends the framework. Three fixes, a real before-and-after, and what messaging work actually costs.
The First Three Things I Check on Any Homepage (and Why a ‘Nice’ Site Scores a 65)
When I audit a homepage I look for three things before anything else. Here they are, why a site that looks fine still scores around 65, and the most expensive problem I have found that the owner never saw.
How to Clarify Your Message Before You Spend a Dollar on Marketing
You are too close to your business to describe it well. The step-by-step process we use to clarify a company message, with a real payments-client result.
Your Site Gets Traffic But No Leads. Here Is What I Check First.
Traffic but no leads is almost never a traffic problem. The exact order a marketing practitioner checks a site in when visitors arrive but nobody converts.
Fractional CMO, Agency, or In-House: How to Pick the Right Marketing Help
Fractional CMO, agency, or an in-house hire? What each one is actually good at, when to use which, and the single question that matters more than cost.