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Pricing
Engagement levels, project rates and a plain explanation of what drives a consulting fee. No percentage of media spend, ever.
Engagement Levels
Three ways to work with us
Project fees are fixed and agreed in writing before work begins. Media spend is paid by you directly to the platforms and is never marked up or commissioned by us.
Advisory
Owners who need a second opinion
$325 / hour
- Hourly strategic consulting
- Marketing and campaign review
- Agency performance assessment
- Written summary after each session
- No minimum commitment
- Discounted blocks of hours available
- Typically monthly or as needed
Strategy Engagement
A documented plan in 30 to 60 days
$9,500 starting
- Market, customer and competitor research
- Positioning and messaging architecture
- Channel strategy and budget allocation
- Measurement framework and KPIs
- 90 day execution roadmap
- Team presentation and handover
- 30 days of follow up support
- Fixed fee, milestone payments
Fractional CMO
Ongoing leadership and accountability
$6,500 / month, from
- Senior marketing leadership, part time
- Agency and vendor oversight
- Team management and hiring support
- Monthly performance reporting
- Budget planning and control
- Executive and board reporting
- Six month initial term
- Month to month thereafter
Full Rate List
Every engagement, priced
Ranges reflect completed engagements. Company size, number of products or locations, research depth and data quality move the number most.
| Engagement | Typical Range | Timeline | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial consultation | Free | 45 to 60 minutes | No obligation, honest assessment |
| Hourly advisory | $325 per hour | As needed | Written summary included |
| Advisory block, 10 hours | $2,900 | Use within 6 months | Discounted hourly rate |
| Marketing audit | $3,500 to $7,500 | 2 to 4 weeks | Channels, spend, tracking, findings |
| Positioning and messaging | $6,500 to $18,000 | 4 to 8 weeks | Research, positioning, architecture |
| Full strategy engagement | $9,500 to $32,000 | 4 to 10 weeks | Strategy, channels, measurement, roadmap |
| Customer research project | $4,200 to $14,000 | 3 to 6 weeks | Interviews, survey, segment analysis |
| Funnel and offer design | $5,500 to $16,000 | 4 to 8 weeks | Offers, sequences, conversion strategy |
| Website strategy and UX review | $3,800 to $11,000 | 3 to 6 weeks | Structure, messaging, conversion |
| Analytics and tracking setup | $2,800 to $8,500 | 2 to 5 weeks | Configuration, events, dashboards |
| Agency search and selection | $4,500 to $12,000 | 4 to 8 weeks | Requirements, shortlist, briefing |
| Agency oversight | $2,200 to $5,500 monthly | Ongoing | Review, briefing, accountability |
| Fractional CMO | $6,500 to $16,000 monthly | 6 month minimum | Leadership, team, reporting |
| Team workshop, one day | $2,800 to $5,500 | 1 day | On site or remote, materials included |
| Team workshop, multi day | $5,500 to $8,500 | 2 to 3 days | Deeper enablement program |
| Go to market launch plan | $7,500 to $24,000 | 4 to 10 weeks | New product, service or location |
| Marketing due diligence | $6,000 to $20,000 | 2 to 6 weeks | For buyers and investors |
| Travel and third party costs | At cost | As incurred | Approved in advance, receipts provided |
These are planning ranges, not quotes. Every engagement is scoped and priced in a written proposal after the initial consultation, and that proposal is the binding figure.
Cost Drivers
What moves a consulting fee
Two businesses of similar revenue can need very different engagements. These are the factors that decide it.
- Research depth. Desk research is fast. Customer interviews and primary survey work take real time and produce far better strategy.
- Number of segments. One audience is straightforward. Four audiences with different messages is four times the messaging work.
- Locations or product lines. Multi location and multi product businesses need strategy that works at both the brand and local level.
- Data quality. Clean analytics accelerate everything. Broken or absent tracking adds a remediation phase before analysis can even start.
- Internal alignment. Where leadership disagrees on direction, more facilitation is required to reach a decision everyone will support.
- Regulatory constraints. Regulated industries need more compliance review on claims and messaging.
- Timeline. Compressed schedules require more concurrent resource, not fewer hours.
Always Included
- Free initial consultation
- Written proposal with defined scope
- Fixed project fees, not open ended hours
- No commission or percentage of media spend
- All documents in editable formats you own
- Presentation of findings to your team
- Honest assessment, including bad news
- A named senior consultant throughout
Money Questions
Fees and terms
Do you really take no percentage of ad spend?
Correct, none. Media budgets are paid by you directly to the platforms on your own payment method. We never mark up spend, take commission or receive vendor kickbacks. It is the single most important thing about how we are structured, because it makes "spend less" a recommendation we can afford to give.
Are fees fixed or hourly?
Project work is fixed fee against a written scope, paid on milestones. Advisory is hourly with no minimum. Fractional CMO is a monthly fee. We avoid open ended hourly arrangements on project work because they reward slowness.
How are payments structured?
Typically a deposit to begin with the balance across defined milestones such as research completion, strategy delivery and final handover. The schedule is written into your agreement.
Is there a long contract?
Project engagements end when the project ends. Fractional CMO has a six month initial term because leadership work needs runway to be worth anything, then continues month to month with 30 days notice.
What do we own?
Everything we create for you, on payment in full, in editable formats. Strategy documents, research, positioning, frameworks and dashboards are yours to keep and use whether or not we work together again.
Do you offer refunds?
Work performed and delivered is not refundable. If we have not delivered an agreed milestone, we do not invoice for it. If an engagement is not working, tell us early and we will either correct course or end it cleanly.
Will you work with our competitor?
We disclose conflicts before engaging and decline work that directly competes with an active client in the same market and category. Broader exclusivity can be arranged as part of an agreement.
Spending more without knowing why?
Book a consultation. We will look at what you are running, tell you what we would change first, and be honest about whether you need us at all.