Find a local marketing consultant in Newcastle-Maitland

A typical gig delivers a one or two page plan: who you're targeting and why, positioning (the one-liner that explains what makes you different), the 2 to 3 channels you'll invest in, a 90-day priority list, and a budget split. Bigger gigs add market research, competitor mapping and a measurement framework so you can tell whether the plan is working.

If you're winging it and growth has plateaued, yes. A strategy is just three answers on a page: who you're for, what you're offering them, and how you'll reach them. Without it, you tend to chase whatever channel feels hot that month. With it, you stop wasting budget on the wrong things.

Strategy answers who you're for and how you'll grow. Branding answers what you look like and sound like (logo, voice, positioning). Marketing answers what you're doing this month (the campaigns, the ads, the posts). Strategy first, branding second, marketing third. Skipping straight to marketing without the first two is why so many campaigns fizzle.

Yes. Free frameworks like Lean Canvas and the Value Proposition Canvas will get you most of the way, and AI tools can pressure-test your thinking. The catch is that doing strategy on yourself is hard; you can't see your own blind spots, and you tend to confirm what you already believe. A strategist asks the questions you wouldn't, and pushes back when the plan won't work.

A focused one-page plan is usually 2 to 4 weeks: a working session, a draft, refinement, then a final version you can actually use. A deeper piece with market research or brand positioning runs 4 to 8 weeks. Anything longer is usually scope creep or research for research's sake.

Bring real numbers: current revenue, customer count, where your enquiries come from now, and what you can honestly spend on marketing each month. The more grounded the inputs, the sharper the plan. Vague inputs produce a generic strategy that could belong to any business in your industry.

Execution, and this is where most strategies die. Commit to a 90-day window where you actually run the priority list; a plan that sits in a folder is wasted money. Many businesses post follow-up gigs for the channels the strategy picked (SEO, ads, email), and some strategists offer ongoing support to keep the plan on track.

A marketing strategy and plan in Newcastle-Maitland typically costs $2,500 to $6,000. A tightly scoped one-page plan can come in from around $1,500, while deeper engagements with market research and competitor mapping run up to $10,000. The drivers are research depth and how much of your market the strategist needs to map from scratch.

Because the range spans most of the market, from a marketing coordinator to a head of marketing. Around $58 to $107 is coordinator and manager level, good for running a plan someone else set. The $99 to $132 band is a senior marketing manager who can build the plan and run it. From $148 to $197 you're at head-of-marketing level, worth it when the strategy has to hold up against a board or a serious spend. Fractional chief marketing officers sit above this band again, commonly $250 to $330 an hour bought as a day or two a month. That is a different arrangement from a gig, which is why the band here stops below it, and you should compare a fractional rate against a salary rather than against a coordinator's.

Look for one who has worked with businesses your size and stage, asks sharp questions early (not just discovery for the sake of it), and can show past plans they've delivered, anonymised is fine. Reviews on Unjumble that mention what changed for the business after the gig are the cleanest signal. Be wary of strategists who only sell strategy and never go near execution.

Post a marketing strategy gig in under five minutes. Describe the work, set your budget and timeframe, and choose whether it is time-based or outcome-based. Local freelancers send a bid with a quote, you compare their profiles, portfolios and reviews, then pick the one that fits. Posting is free, so you only pay for the work.

Every gig is split into stages you both agree on up front. You fund each stage before the work starts and it is held securely through Stripe, then released once you sign off. No chasing invoices, and no paying for work that is not done.