The Playbook How We Work Compare Results About Talk to Us

engagement model

Thirty days to know if we're a fit. Six months to compound.

Most engagements start with a 30-day Sprint that doubles as foundation work and trial period. If we're a fit, we move into running your marketing function every month. We can run the core DTC marketing function end-to-end with no other agencies, or manage your existing partners inside one plan. If we're not a fit, you keep what we built.

how it works in motion

Diagnose. Build. Run. Scale.

The four moves we make once we engage. The Sprint and the retainer below are how this actually gets billed.

step 01

Diagnose the system.

We review your positioning, offer, creative, paid media structure, retention motion, and current operating cadence to find where growth is leaking.

step 02

Build the operating plan.

We turn the diagnosis into a clear 90-day plan: what to fix, what to test, what to stop doing, and who owns each part of the system.

step 03

Run the weekly rhythm.

We lead the cadence across creative, media, reporting, priorities, and partners so marketing stops depending on the founder to connect every dot.

step 04

Scale what works.

Once the system is working, we improve the core growth levers: stronger positioning, sharper creative, cleaner media decisions, better landing paths, and clearer retention direction.

the sprint

The Foundation Sprint

$15K – $25K
30 days · fixed scope · paid up front

The Sprint is how we figure out if we should keep working together. It's also one of the most useful 30 days of marketing work most brands have ever bought.

what we deliver

  • Real customer research: interviews, review mining, survey design when needed
  • Foundation diagnostic: where all 12 steps actually stand for your brand
  • Brand Canon V1: segments, positioning, messaging architecture, validated claims, creative guardrails
  • 90-day operating plan: what to fix, in what order, with what resources
  • Clear retainer scope and pricing if continuing makes sense

what this is not

A pitch deck. A strategy presentation. A "future state" PDF. The Sprint produces working documents your team can hand to any vendor or future hire.

what happens after

If we both think continuing is the right call, we move into the operating retainer. If not, you keep the Brand Canon and the roadmap. You'll be ahead of where you were either way.

the retainer

Running Your Marketing Function

Typically $18K – $25K/mo
Quoted after the Sprint based on scope · 6-month minimum · plus approved vendor costs

We become your marketing operating layer. Sean and Haley run point. The team executes. We can run the core marketing function end-to-end without other agencies, or manage your existing partners around one plan. Your call, based on what's already working.

what you get every week

  • Meta ads run by our team — monitored daily, decisions made deliberately. Or your existing Meta agency managed against the same plan.
  • Google ads run by our team — or your existing Google partner managed inside the plan.
  • Email and retention planned and deployed by our team
  • Creative produced by our team: static ads, light motion, landing page creative, email creative, creator briefs
  • Performance tracked, analyzed, and reported every Friday
  • Your website maintained on Shopify
  • Specialist partners managed transparently when the work calls for one

what you get every month

  • Business review with the founder
  • Strategy updates as the market shifts
  • New initiatives tied to the playbook
  • Open conversations about what's working and what isn't

what you get every quarter

  • Strategic review and roadmap update
  • Refreshed customer research feeding the Brand Canon
  • New segment hypotheses tested in-market

You stop running marketing. You start running your business.

skip the diagnostic

Already know you want to talk? Walk us through your marketing setup directly.

Talk Through Your Marketing Setup →

the math

What this costs versus the alternatives.

option a

In-house team
$28K–$54K+ /mo · loaded
  • Director of Marketing — $13K–$15K+/mo all-in
  • Coordinator(s) — $5K–$7K/mo each
  • Creative resource — $7K–$10K/mo
  • Analyst — $6K–$9K/mo
  • Plus vendor budget on top

Six-month ramp. Hiring risk on every seat.

option b

Scattered agency stack
$11K–$24K /mo
  • Meta agency — $5K–$10K/mo
  • Klaviyo agency — $3K–$6K/mo
  • Creative shop — $3K–$8K/mo
  • Fractional CMO — $8K–$15K/mo
  • You managing all four

No integration. You're still the bottleneck.

option c

BrightCircle
$19K–$27K /mo · typical
  • One team, fully integrated
  • Operator layer included
  • Quoted after Sprint based on scope
  • Plus approved vendor costs only when needed

Single team. Single relationship. The math isn't subtle.

out of scope

What we don't do.

Operating layers fail when scope gets squishy. Here's what's out.

  • We don't design websites in-house. We hire and manage the right partner.
  • We don't shoot photo or video in-house. Same.
  • We don't run Amazon, retail, or wholesale marketing. Different muscle.
  • We don't do PR or press relations. We have partners. It's project work.
  • We don't run customer service, fulfillment, or operations.
  • We don't replace your in-house product or merchandising team.

If you need any of the above, we'll point you to people we trust. They're not part of our retainer.

talk to us

Your marketing system may not need more vendors.
It may need someone to own the whole thing.

The team reads every submission and replies within one business day.