Independent commercial marketing advisory, explained in full.

1. 01

   Map margin by decile

   Rank customers by the margin they generate and split them into ten equal bands, so the shape and concentration of value is visible rather than assumed.

2. 02

   Build usable value tiers

   Collapse the deciles into three or four practical tiers, each with its own margin profile, buying behaviour and commercial significance.

3. 03

   Plot value against engagement

   Show how customers move from new to repeat, habitual and advocate, with the second axis shaped around the behaviour that matters in that business.

4. 04

   Match strategy to the stage

   Build the habit early, recognise meaningful repeat behaviour and treat the most valuable customers differently, rather than applying one generic campaign to everyone.

5. 05

   Measure incremental margin

   Track what a specific shift between tiers is worth, per customer and per segment, instead of relying on a blended average.

It helps leadership teams decide which customers to acquire, retain and prioritise, where marketing investment is creating value, and what a realistic evidence-based return could be. It is the framework behind the customer value work for Specialty Foods and Best & Less, adapted to the data and commercial question in each business.

• 01

  Customer Understanding

  Do you know what your customers genuinely value?

• 02

  Value Proposition

  Can you clearly articulate why they should choose you?

• 03

  Experience & Delivery

  Does the experience consistently deliver what you promise?

• 04

  Marketing Effectiveness

  Do you know what's actually influencing customer behaviour?

• 05

  Value Capture

  Are you converting customer value into sustainable business value? This is the same lens behind the Customer Value Model, margin and incremental return, not just revenue.

Your result is one of five positions: Still Finding Your Footing, Flat Out Standing Still, The Quiet Advantage, All Promise No Proof, or On the Front Foot. Each gives you a short interpretation and two questions worth asking next. It is free, takes about seven minutes, and does not require a sales conversation.

Six recurring decisions, each with its own page working the thinking through:

• Growth has stalled

  Understand what is holding growth back and where the greatest opportunities may exist.

• Marketing investment is under scrutiny

  Determine whether marketing investment is creating sufficient commercial value.

• We don't understand our customers well enough

  Identify which customers create value, where growth exists and where investment should be prioritised.

• Marketing isn't clearly contributing to business performance

  Improve measurement and understand marketing's commercial contribution.

• Our strategy needs to change

  Reconnect marketing with commercial objectives and future growth.

• We need an independent perspective

  Challenge assumptions and gain an experienced external view before making an important decision.

There are three levels of commitment, and you pick the one that fits.

• Explore your challenge

  Read through the decision area closest to your situation. No form, no follow-up.

• Get an independent perspective

  A short piece of work focused on one question, enough evidence to make a decision.

• Talk through your situation

  A conversation about what's happening, what you're trying to achieve and where an outside view might help.

• CEOs & Founders

  When growth has become harder, marketing investment is increasing or the business needs a clearer commercial direction.

• Boards & Executive Teams

  When marketing strategy, investment or performance needs independent scrutiny.

• Marketing Leaders

  When you need an experienced external perspective, stronger commercial alignment or help navigating a complex decision.

• Businesses entering a new phase

  When growth, transformation, acquisition, expansion or organisational change requires marketing to rethink how it creates value.

This is Australian work, in an Australian market context. For the wider industry picture, the AANA ↗ represents advertisers here and sets the self-regulation codes most brands operate under, and the Australian Marketing Institute ↗ has been the profession's body since 1933. Both are worth knowing about, whatever advisor you end up using.

How long does it take to work out why growth has stalled?

Usually weeks, not months. Most of the answer sits in data you already have, sales, customer and campaign data, it just hasn't been looked at together.

Will this end in a recommendation to cut the budget?

Sometimes the answer is to invest more. Sometimes it's to stop doing something. The point is to make that call on evidence rather than instinct.

How do you align marketing strategy with business growth?

Start with what growth actually looks like for the business, not with channels or campaigns. I use customer value work to find out which customers, segments and opportunities create the most commercial value, then prioritise investment against that rather than against whatever's easiest to activate. Strategy is most useful when it's connected to a measurable result, not when it's generating activity.

How do you prioritise marketing investment?

Not every opportunity returns the same value, so I start by finding out where the value actually sits, which segments, products and channels have the greatest commercial potential, rather than spreading budget evenly across everything that's plausible. Concentrated investment against the highest-value opportunities beats a broad spread every time.