Four ways to engage.
Four engagement shapes: retained, embedded, fixed-scope and specialist. All of them run on the same discipline, and every path starts with a defined piece of work.
Nothing ongoing is sold before a defined first piece of work.
Every engagement begins the same way. A scoped piece of work with a standalone deliverable, most often an independent audit, is agreed in writing before anything ongoing is discussed. That gives both sides evidence. The client sees how the work is done and what the findings are worth. Sam sees whether there is a genuine problem to solve. Retainers and embedded roles are proposed only after that.
The advice is independent. Sam earns no media margin and resells no agency services, so he has nothing to gain from a recommendation to move budget, change agencies or stop spending. The record behind the advice is a decade of accountable delivery, including 25x sustained blended ROAS on $3M+ of tracked revenue for a premium eCommerce retailer.
The four shapes below differ in how deeply Sam is involved. Executive advisory keeps decisions inside the business and adds an independent review. A fractional CMO engagement takes ownership of the function. Independent audits answer a specific question and end. AI search work is a specialist project run with a senior specialist team. Across all four, measurement is verified before performance is judged, and every recommendation is put in writing and checked against tracked revenue.
Pick the shape that fits.
Executive Advisory
Independent advice for executive teams and CMOs on digital marketing investment: spend reviews, agency accountability frameworks, AI readiness and growth strategy.
Fractional CMO
Senior marketing leadership without the full-time appointment. Sam joins the leadership team on a part-time, ongoing basis and owns strategy, agency management and performance reporting to the board.
Independent Audits
A fixed-scope, senior-led review of marketing performance across Google Ads, measurement, agency delivery and spend. The findings are written plainly so a board can act on them. It is often the first piece of work in a longer engagement.
Marketing Due Diligence
A pre-transaction review of a target’s marketing. It covers how much revenue depends on paid spend, whether reported growth survives the evidence, and what transfers with the sale.
AI Search Strategy
Focused engagements preparing organisations for AI-driven search: visibility audits across answer engines, content and entity strategy, and implementation roadmaps delivered with a senior specialist team.
Not sure which fits? The shapes overlap, and the right one usually becomes clear after a short conversation about the state of the function. Describe the situation through the contact page and Sam will say which engagement suits, or whether none does.
Let’s talk about what’s next.
For executive advisory, fractional CMO, AI search strategy or speaking enquiries.
[email protected]