clickpuls
4 slots Q2/26

MARKETING CONSULTING · DIGITAL · PERFORMANCE · DACH

Marketing consulting
from operator practice — not from an agency pitch deck.

We advise leadership and marketing leads on digital marketing strategy, performance setup, content and SEO architecture, email and CRM logic, and analytics — focused on DACH and tightly interlocked with shop, web and tracking implementation. From our own operator experience with brands for 15+ years, not from agency theory. Marketing retainer from € 1,700/month net.

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Mercedes-Benz
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Red Bull
IKEA
Allianz
A1
Sky
Electronic Arts
OBI

What marketing consulting at clickpuls means.

Marketing consulting at clickpuls is an external consulting and sparring function for leadership and marketing leads — focused on the digital area (performance marketing, SEO, content, email/CRM, analytics) and on e-commerce and D2C brands in DACH mid-market. We are not a classic 360° advertising agency and not a pure concept agency — we are an operator team that offers consulting from ongoing own implementation practice.

Typical consulting fields:

  • Marketing strategy and channel mix — which channels (paid, SEO, email, social, affiliate, partnerships) should contribute what; budget allocation along customer journey and cohort logic
  • Performance marketing setup — Meta Ads, Google Ads, TikTok Ads, LinkedIn Ads: campaign structure, tracking, creative strategy, budget steering, attribution
  • SEO and content strategy — keyword clusters, pillar page architecture, technical SEO, content cadence, backlink and authority build-up
  • Email marketing and CRM logic — lifecycle communication, segmentation strategies, automation programmes, retention and reactivation mechanics
  • Analytics and attribution — GA4, server-side tagging, dashboards, data-quality audit, attribution setup
  • Marketing organisation — how is the marketing team set up, which roles are staffed internally, which externally, what does the agency landscape look like
  • Tool and vendor audit — which marketing platforms, tools and service providers make sense, where is money burned, where is there consolidation potential

What we are not: no classic full-service advertising agency with own creative, media and production pipeline; no PR agency with journalist network and press work in the classic sense; no event marketing specialists; no influencer management agency. For these disciplines we transparently recommend specialised partners from our network and advise on selection and steering.

Why our marketing consulting works in practice.

Four traits that distinguish operator-driven marketing consulting from classic agency consulting.

01

Recommendations from own application

We do not recommend channels, tools or tactics we do not apply operationally ourselves daily — in client projects and in our own brands. That means: no theory recommendations from industry reports, no tool promotions from affiliate commissions, no channel pitches for channels we don't master well ourselves. Where we hit a limit, we say so honestly and refer to specialists from our network.

02

Direct implementation connection

Unlike pure consulting firms, we can also implement recommendations directly — in the shop, in ad accounts, in GA4, in email programmes, in the CMS. That means: consulting does not end with a PowerPoint deck but transitions into concrete configuration work. This shortens implementation cycles and prevents strategy recommendations from getting lost in daily work because no one concretely translates them.

03

Senior consulting without agency layer

You work directly with a senior member of our team — no junior account managers, no junior strategists preparing slides, no pitch choreography. Speed and clarity in decisions, without every thought having to pass through two account levels before you get it.

04

Free of conflict with agency commissions

We do not work on media commission, performance fee or success commission for campaigns. Consulting fees and media spend are strictly separated. This lets us advise you to reduce ad budgets, shut down channels or consolidate entire agencies — without our own commercial interest against it. Many classic agency consulting setups do not have this freedom.

What we concretely advise on.

Marketing strategy and channel mix

Most marketing organisations work with a grown channel mix that was never systematically tested against customer lifecycle, cohort economics and attribution reality. We help to honestly evaluate channel contributions and reallocate budgets.

Typical consulting building blocks:

  • Channel audit — performance per channel across 12–24 months: real attribution instead of platform ROAS; incrementality hypotheses
  • Funnel mapping — which channel works on which stage (awareness, consideration, conversion, retention); weighting in the mix
  • Budget allocation — shifting from channels showing platform ROAS but questionable incrementality to channels with provable contribution
  • Cohort-based steering — LTV per acquisition channel, CAC payback logic, cross-channel interactions
  • DACH-specific channel nuances — what works similarly in AT/DE/CH, what differently; trust signals, payment preferences, language register

Typical outcomes:

  • Documented channel strategy with prioritisation, budget frame and success metrics per channel
  • Reallocation plan with measurable shifts across 3–6 months
  • Decision routines — which metrics in monthly review, which in quarterly review, when to re-prioritise

Format: individual strategy engagements as fixed price (typically 6–10 weeks); ongoing strategy accompaniment as a marketing retainer from € 1,700/month net.

Performance marketing: Meta, Google, TikTok, LinkedIn

Performance marketing is the field where budgets get badly invested fastest — and often it is not channel potential that is the problem, but setup, tracking and creative strategy.

Consulting building blocks:

  • Account audit — campaign structure, targeting logic, bid strategies, budget distribution; common findings: too many campaigns, too narrow targetings, missing exclusions, unclean tracking
  • Creative strategy — hook, angle, format variants; why some creatives scale and others don't; production cadence and test logic
  • Tracking and attribution check — does the pixel work, is Conversion API activated, are events correct, are UTM parameters clean, how does platform attribution behave compared to GA4/CDP data
  • Budget scaling — when is a channel ready for more budget, when does efficiency drop, which signals indicate saturation
  • Platform-specific best practices — Meta Advantage+, Google Performance Max and Demand Gen, TikTok Spark Ads, LinkedIn Ads matrix
  • Agency audit — when a performance agency manages the channel: do structure, fee model and transparency fit; where could a second opinion help

What we do not take on:

  • Daily campaign operations at large scale — for that we recommend either internal teams or specialised performance agencies from our network
  • We do build concrete pilot campaigns, small accounts and setups directly — especially with D2C brands that don't have a performance agency yet or are just switching

Format: performance audit as fixed-price engagement (4–6 weeks); ongoing performance consulting as a marketing retainer with monthly account review and creative sparring.

SEO and content strategy

SEO is the most efficient channel for many brands — when correctly set up — and simultaneously one of the most frequently misunderstood. We advise on technical SEO, content architecture and authority build-up with focus on DACH markets.

Consulting building blocks:

  • Technical SEO audit — crawlability, indexability, Core Web Vitals, schema markup, hreflang setup for multi-market shops, internal linking
  • Keyword strategy and content clusters — map search intents, pillar-page logic, long-tail strategy, competition gap analysis
  • Content cadence and production process — editorial calendar, editorial briefs, quality standards, internal or external production
  • On-page optimisation — title tag, meta description, header structure, internal linking, keyword density without over-optimisation
  • Off-page and authority — backlink quality vs. quantity, digital PR opportunities, partnership placements
  • E-E-A-T signals — particularly relevant since latest Google core updates: author credentials, source transparency, content updates
  • AI citation strategy — prepare content so that ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity cite the brand; authority in Q&A formats
  • Country SEO for DACH — AT, DE, CH version per URL, hreflang, Swiss particularities (.ch TLD, search behaviour)

What we do not deliver:

  • Aggressive link-building operations with blog networks, PBNs, bought links — Google penalises that and we would never recommend it
  • Large content farming strategies with 1,000+ articles per month; for content scaling we recommend specialised content studios under our strategic steering

Format: SEO audit as fixed-price engagement (4–8 weeks); ongoing SEO consulting as a retainer with monthly technical and ranking review, content priority update and on-page reviews for new pages.

Email marketing, CRM and lifecycle programmes

Email remains in most e-commerce and B2B setups the channel with the highest ROAS and simultaneously one of the chronically underused. We advise on lifecycle logic, automation programmes and tool setup.

Consulting building blocks:

  • Lifecycle mapping — onboarding, nurture, repurchase, winback, cancellation — which touchpoints in which sequence
  • Automation programmes — welcome series, cart abandonment, post-purchase sequences, win-back campaigns, birthday and anniversary programmes
  • Segmentation — RFM (recency, frequency, monetary), engagement-based segments, product-category affinities, behavioural triggers
  • Tool recommendations — Klaviyo (D2C standard), Mailchimp, Brevo, HubSpot (B2B), ActiveCampaign; no tool push without need, but clear recommendations per setup
  • Deliverability and sender reputation — SPF, DKIM, DMARC, domain warm-up, blacklist monitoring, bounce handling
  • GDPR-compliant setups — double opt-in, consent management, advertising consents, retention policies
  • CRM integration — how email plays with shop, loyalty programmes, customer-service tools and sales CRM

Typical outcomes:

  • Lifecycle blueprint with all planned automation programmes, trigger logic, metrics
  • Tool setup recommendation with migration plan if needed
  • Content guardrails for email copy and visual design

What we do not take on:

  • Daily email operations with weekly campaigns and content production; for that we recommend internal teams or specialised retention agencies
  • We do set up lifecycle programmes concretely — including Klaviyo, Mailchimp or HubSpot configuration, template creation, automation build

Analytics, attribution and dashboards

Marketing decisions are only as good as the data they're based on. We advise on analytics architecture, attribution setups and decision-capable dashboards — from our own daily practice with GA4, GTM and Looker Studio.

Consulting building blocks:

  • GA4 audit — property structure, events, conversions, e-commerce tracking, custom dimensions; data quality check
  • Tag management — GTM setup, client-side vs. server-side tagging, consent integration, data layer design
  • Consent management and EU compliance — Cookiebot, Usercentrics, cookie consent platforms; effect on tracking accuracy
  • Attribution modelling — which attribution fits the business model, how to handle iOS 14 effects, what role does MTA/MMM play for larger budgets
  • Dashboard strategy — Looker Studio for standard, Power BI/Tableau for corporate IT integration; separation between operational dashboards and leadership reports
  • Data quality routines — regular reconciliations shop vs. GA4 vs. ads platforms; warning systems for drift
  • AI assistants for analytics — how LLMs sensibly integrate into analysis work without blindly trusting generated interpretations

Typical outcomes:

  • Tracking plan as binding document for engineering and marketing
  • Dashboard suite for leadership, marketing lead and operational teams
  • Data quality SLA — defined check routines, who is responsible when for data checking

Tools default: GA4 + GTM (client & server), Looker Studio, Klaviyo (D2C), HubSpot (B2B). Other tools (Adobe Analytics, Matomo, Piwik PRO, Plausible) we advise on request but do not specialise in.

Marketing organisation, tool stack and agency map

Many marketing organisations do not suffer from too little budget but from too much tool fragmentation, unclear roles and too many parallel agency engagements. We advise on organisation design, tool consolidation and agency management.

Consulting building blocks:

  • Marketing organisation diagnosis — which roles are staffed, which are missing, which tasks are done double
  • Internal-vs-external matrix — which capabilities belong in-house, which better with agencies or freelancers; cost-benefit across 12–24 months
  • Tool stack audit — which tools are actually used, which overlap, which are money pits; consolidation potential
  • Agency management — how many agencies, which engagement boundaries, who takes coordination, how are fee models and performance metrics structured
  • Tender and selection consulting — when new agency partners are needed: brief, long-list research, pitch accompaniment, contract review
  • Offboarding consulting — how to swap an agency without friction, how to recover assets and accesses
  • Building internal marketing teams — who to hire first (first marketing hire), which job description standards, which role progression

Typical outcomes:

  • Organisation blueprint with role definitions and internal-vs-external logic
  • Tool stack target image with migration plan and expected savings
  • Agency map with clear engagement boundaries and coordination processes

What we do not take on:

  • Full mandates as head of marketing — for that we have our service interim management when exactly that is needed
  • Personnel placement — we are not an HR placement; but we advise on job description, interview structure and fit check
WHEN DO YOU NEED THIS?

When marketing consulting with us has the lever.

Six typical constellations where DACH brands engage marketing consulting with us.

01 / TRIGGER

D2C brand before scaling decision

A D2C brand with €1–5m revenue wants to triple performance budget and the right channel strategy for it. We audit channel performance, check attribution, recommend budget allocation and accompany the first 3–6 months of scaling in the retainer.

02 / TRIGGER

Mid-market builds digital direct channels

A mid-market company traditionally working via retail or field sales launches its own digital channels (webshop, content hub, D2C test). We develop the digital marketing strategy, advise on team build-up and tool stack, and accompany the first 12–18 months.

03 / TRIGGER

Marketing lead needs external sparring

A new head of marketing or marketing manager wants external sparring partner in the first 90 days — for channel decisions, agency audit, team build-up, budget defence before leadership. We accompany as a monthly sparring retainer from € 1,700/month net.

04 / TRIGGER

Leadership doubts the agency portfolio

Leadership of a mid-market company feels too many agencies work in parallel and the cost-benefit calculation no longer adds up. We audit the existing agency landscape, recommend consolidation paths and, if needed, accompany the switch or restructuring.

05 / TRIGGER

SEO relaunch after Google core update or shop migration

After a Google core update or a shop migration, organic rankings have collapsed. We conduct a deep SEO audit, identify technical, content and E-E-A-T causes, prioritise measures and accompany implementation with monthly ranking reviews in the retainer.

06 / TRIGGER

Analytics and tracking re-setup for data trust

Leadership no longer trusts marketing reports because numbers contradict between shop, GA4 and ads platforms. We audit tracking setup, identify drift causes, build a clean GA4+GTM setup and implement Looker Studio dashboards that leadership can trust again.

Case studies

Marketing consulting projects from our practice.

Preview image of the case study Mercedes-Benz Wiesenthal — Mercedes-Benz Wiesenthal – A-Class Sales Promotion Campaign
Mercedes-Benz WiesenthalAutomotive / Dealer Marketing

Mercedes-Benz Wiesenthal – A-Class Sales Promotion Campaign

Social media performance campaign for the launch of the new Mercedes A-Class: +633% test drives and +800% link clicks in the first campaign month – focused on conversions, not just reach.

View case study
More clients

Clients who have trusted us for years.

  • Electronic Arts
  • Mercedes-Benz
  • Sky
  • FC Barcelona Academy
All case studies

Sounds like your project?

30–45 minutes for a first call — free and non-binding. We assess your use-case, estimate effort and risks, and give an honest recommendation — even if it means this is better built elsewhere.

Request a free consultation

Classic marketing agency or marketing consulting from clickpuls?

An honest side-by-side of the two models. Both have their occasion — for extensive campaign production with large creative needs and media buying we transparently refer to specialised agencies from our network.

Kriterium / Criterion
Classic marketing agency
Marketing consulting from clickpuls
Core business model
Media buying commission, production margin, possibly performance fee — consulting is often means to campaign engagement
Consulting fee as fixed price or retainer; strict separation of media spend and consulting
Conflict-of-interest risk
Present — recommendations can be shaped by commission logic (more media spend, larger production, longer campaigns)
Largely free — we also recommend budget reduction, channel shutdown, agency consolidation without own commercial counter-interests
Implementation depth
Very high — agencies are built for campaign production and running
Focused — we set up pilot campaigns, tracking setups, lifecycle programmes and dashboard structures directly, but no ongoing operations
Creative resources
Own art director, design, production teams for continuous output
Concept and coordination; creative production via partner network (design, photo, video, copy)
Speed in decision sparring
Depending on team structure — often account layer between senior thinking and client
Directly with senior member, no intermediate levels; quick short decisions in retainer
When does the other path fit
For extensive campaign production, 360° media buying across TV/OOH/print, large creative productions with fixed crew needs
For strategy needs, digitally focused consulting questions, agency audit, data and tool consulting, sparring for internal marketing leads
OUR PROCESS

How a marketing consulting engagement runs with us.

Four phases from initial conversation to ongoing accompaniment. Individual engagements end after phase 3; with ongoing accompaniment it transitions into a marketing retainer.

01

Initial conversation and scope clarification

In a 45–60-minute meeting (video or on-site in Vienna) we clarify trigger, marketing situation, decision structures, existing agencies and tools, target questions. Afterwards you receive a written engagement concept with scope, module structure, timeline (typically 4–10 weeks per core engagement) and fixed-price offer.

02

Audit and analysis

We conduct the commissioned audit — channel performance, tracking, SEO, email setup, organisation structure, tool stack, agency landscape — depending on engagement. Data-based, with 3–5 stakeholder interviews and access to ad accounts, GA4, CRM, shop analytics. Interim review meeting with decision-makers before finalisation.

03

Recommendations, roadmap and implementation plan

Final consulting document with audit findings, prioritised recommendations, implementation roadmap (3, 6, 12 months) and concrete next-step packages. Closing workshop with leadership and/or marketing team as handover into implementation. Optionally: implementation of individual packages directly by us.

04

Marketing retainer and ongoing accompaniment

Optionally from phase 3 the collaboration continues as a marketing retainer from € 1,700/month net: monthly sparring meeting, quarterly review of marketing performance, ad-hoc input on campaign and agency decisions, 24-h response on business days. Annual strategy review as a fixed-price module or as part of a larger retainer.

KEY FIGURES

Reference values of our marketing consulting practice.

Four reference values that distinguish operator-driven consulting with implementation connection from classic agency consulting.

Core engagement length
4–10 weeks

Typical runtime of a core audit or consulting engagement (channel audit, SEO audit, performance audit, organisation audit). More comprehensive combined engagements up to 12 weeks; compact sub-audits in 2–4 weeks.

Conflict model
consulting ≠ media spend

Consulting fees and media spend are strictly separated. No media commission, no performance fee on ad budgets, no affiliate margin on recommended tools. This makes recommendations towards budget reduction or agency consolidation possible without commercial headwind.

Response time
24 h on business days

During an active engagement and in the retainer, response within 24 hours on business days to questions, briefings and strategic short decisions — even without separately agreed SLA. Faster responses as add-on in the marketing retainer.

Marketing retainer
from € 1,700/month

Ongoing marketing accompaniment after a core audit as a marketing retainer from € 1,700/month net — monthly sparring, quarterly performance reviews, ad-hoc input on campaign, agency and tool decisions.

Ready for a first call?

30–45 minutes by call, no commitment. Tell us briefly what you need — we get back within one business day with concrete next steps and a realistic effort estimate.

Request a free consultation
DACH CONTEXT

Marketing consulting in the DACH area — how we work from Vienna.

We advise brands from Austria, Germany and Switzerland — D2C start-ups, e-commerce mid-market, B2B software providers and traditional mid-market companies in digital transformation. DACH-specific marketing parameters (language register AT/DE/CH, price perception, returns culture, trust signals, Klarna and SEPA imprint, channel mix with Google dominance and growing TikTok share) are default components of every consulting.

On-site meetings in Vienna, Graz, Linz, Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin, Zurich and Basel; audit work and stakeholder interviews mostly run remotely. For DACH brands with EU or UK expansion, we also cover the regional marketing landscapes; for overseas markets (USA, APAC) we refer to specialised partners.

Regulatory frameworks (GDPR in EU, FADP in Switzerland, TKG, media laws) are part of every consulting work — especially in tracking, email marketing, advertising identification with creator cooperations and cookie management. We are not a law firm and do not provide GDPR legal advice — but we recognise critical points and work with specialised data protection lawyers from our network when legal clarification is needed.

FREQUENTLY ASKED

Common questions about marketing consulting.

What distinguishes your marketing consulting from a classic agency?

Three essential differences: core business model, conflict freedom and implementation depth.

1. Core business model:

  • Classic agencies live from campaign production, media buying commission and retainer models that deliver creative output — consulting is often means to a larger campaign engagement
  • We live from consulting fees and direct implementation work in shop, web and tracking — without media spend share

2. Conflict freedom:

  • Classic agencies typically have conflicts of interest with recommendations like "less media budget", "less creative production", "agency consolidation"
  • We largely don't have these conflicts — we can consistently recommend to reduce budgets, shut down channels, swap agencies, without it affecting our own fee

3. Implementation depth:

  • Classic agencies are built for ongoing operations: daily campaign maintenance, weekly content production, monthly reporting
  • We are built for strategic intervals: audits, pilot setups, implementation roadmaps, sparring — not for ongoing campaign operations

When a classic agency fits better:

  • Ongoing creative production with weekly output
  • Large media buying with TV, OOH or print campaigns
  • Complex PR activities with broad journalist network

When we fit better:

  • Strategic questions with audit, analysis and recommendation character
  • Data and tool questions with direct implementation work
  • Sparring for leadership or marketing lead without account layer
  • Agency audit and consolidation decisions

Often the best combination: we advise strategically, handle agency management, coordinate specialised agencies from our network for daily execution. Leadership has one voice for strategic decisions and consolidated performance view.

Do you also implement campaigns and ads yourselves or only consult?

Both — pilot setups and rollout support we do ourselves; ongoing daily operations we leave to internal teams or specialised agencies.

What we implement ourselves:

  • Tracking and analytics setup — GA4, GTM (client and server-side), consent management, dashboard build-up
  • Pilot campaigns in Meta, Google, TikTok, LinkedIn — with clean structure, tracking setup and creative logic as basis for later scaling
  • Email and CRM programmes — Klaviyo, Mailchimp, HubSpot setup, lifecycle automations, template design
  • SEO setup — technical optimisations, schema markup, hreflang, internal linking structures; pillar page setup
  • Shop and landing-page adjustments — conversion optimisations, tracking events, landing page new build
  • Content programmes — concept, editorial brief, production coordination via copy, photo and video partners
  • Lifecycle mapping and customer journey build — with direct implementation in systems

What we deliberately do not take on:

  • Daily performance campaign operations with multiple accounts and continuous optimisation — belongs to internal teams or performance agencies specialised on daily operations
  • Large-volume content production (5+ articles/week, 20+ ads creatives/week) — belongs to specialised content or creative studios
  • Large-scale media buying operations (TV, OOH, programmatic buying with 6–7-figure monthly budgets) — belongs to media agencies
  • Ongoing email campaign production (weekly campaigns with copy and design production) — belongs to retention agencies or internal teams

Typical flow of a collaboration:

  • Consulting engagement (4–10 weeks) — audit and recommendations
  • Implementation phase (4–12 weeks) — we build the setup (tracking, pilot campaigns, lifecycle programmes, SEO optimisations)
  • Handover to internal team or specialised agency for ongoing operations
  • Optional retainer — monthly sparring, quarterly performance reviews, ad-hoc consulting

This gives you fast, strategically clean implementation and a handover into structures that can carry ongoing operations.

What does marketing consulting at clickpuls cost?

Fixed prices per core engagement after initial conversation; ongoing accompaniment as a marketing retainer from € 1,700/month net.

Typical core engagement formats:

  • Compact sub-audits (4–6 weeks) — channel audit, SEO audit, tracking audit, email setup audit
  • Standard consulting engagements (6–10 weeks) — marketing strategy, performance audit, organisation audit, agency consolidation audit
  • Comprehensive combined engagements (10–16 weeks) — when multiple audit fields are combined (e.g. performance + SEO + email + organisation in an integrated engagement)

Fixed prices are concretely named in the offer after initial conversation and consider: brand complexity, number of channels, tool landscape, number of stakeholders, existing agency structure, geographic coverage (AT only, DACH, DACH+EU).

Marketing retainer from € 1,700/month net — for ongoing collaboration after a core engagement: monthly sparring meeting (60–90 minutes), quarterly performance review with short written report, ad-hoc input on campaign, agency, tool and vendor decisions, 24-h response on business days.

Implementation phases as separate packages — when we directly build individual implementation building blocks after consulting (tracking setup, pilot campaigns, lifecycle programmes), it runs as separate fixed-price packages or in the retainer with extended hours capacity.

What is included in the core engagement fixed price:

  • Initial conversation, audit and data analysis
  • 3–5 stakeholder interviews
  • Written consulting document with findings, recommendations and implementation roadmap
  • Kick-off and closing workshop
  • 24-h response on business days during the engagement phase

What runs separately:

  • Media spend (ad budgets) — runs directly between you and platforms
  • Tool costs (Klaviyo, GA360, HubSpot etc.) — runs directly between you and providers
  • Production costs with partner agencies — transparently and directly billed
  • Long-term implementation accompaniment — as retainer

After the initial conversation you receive a binding offer with clear engagement scope — no surprise invoices, no media commissions, no hidden surcharges.

Which channels and tools do you primarily work with?

We work primarily with the channels and tools we ourselves apply operationally daily — not with everything that exists on the market.

Performance channels:

  • Meta Ads (Facebook, Instagram) — high depth, from simple accounts to Advantage+ and Conversion API setups
  • Google Ads — Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Demand Gen, YouTube video
  • TikTok Ads — Spark Ads, creator content, performing short-form ads
  • LinkedIn Ads — B2B focused, lead gen, sponsored content, retargeting
  • YouTube — TrueView, bumper, shopping integration
  • Bing/Microsoft Ads — when sensible in mix, especially B2B and DACH senior audiences

Channels we don't specialise in (but can advise on use):

  • Programmatic display (DSP buying) — belongs to specialised performance/media agencies
  • TV, radio, OOH — classic media landscape with own logic
  • Affiliate networks at large scale — specialised affiliate agencies
  • Pinterest, Snapchat, Reddit Ads — if relevant case by case, not our core

SEO tools:

  • Google Search Console, GA4, Looker Studio — basis
  • Ahrefs, Semrush, Sistrix — for keyword and competition analysis
  • Screaming Frog, Sitebulb — technical audits
  • PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, WebPageTest — performance

Email and CRM tools:

  • Klaviyo — D2C standard, deep work with flows, segments, conversion API
  • Mailchimp — for smaller setups and B2B newsletters
  • HubSpot — B2B with sales CRM integration
  • Brevo, ActiveCampaign — in smaller setups
  • Salesforce Marketing Cloud — for corporate engagements we advise and work with specialists

Analytics and tag management:

  • GA4 — main analytics platform in most setups
  • Google Tag Manager (client and server-side)
  • Consent tools — Cookiebot, Usercentrics, Termly
  • Looker Studio — dashboard standard
  • Segment, RudderStack — for CDP need

Tools we don't specialise in:

  • Adobe Analytics, Adobe Marketing Cloud — specialised Adobe consulting
  • Salesforce Marketing Cloud in depth — specialised SFMC partners
  • Large BI platforms (Tableau, Power BI in corporate depth) — specialised BI partners

We only recommend tools we ourselves master and that fit the use case — without affiliate commission pressure.

How deep do you go into B2B marketing? Or is your focus B2C?

Both — we work for B2C (D2C, e-commerce, traditional retail brands) and B2B (SaaS, IT services, specialist trade software, HR tech, FinTech, industry service providers) from DACH mid-market.

B2C focus:

  • D2C brands with own shops (Shopify, WooCommerce) and performance marketing lever
  • E-commerce mid-market with classic retail history and digital growth trigger
  • Beauty, fashion, home, food, beverages, sports, pets — typical D2C categories
  • Marketplace integration (Amazon, Zalando, Otto) on demand

B2B focus:

  • SaaS in mid-market — with SEO, content and performance marketing focus
  • IT services and software providers — positioning and lead gen
  • Specialist trade software (craftsman software, agency software, practice software)
  • HR tech and recruiting — employer branding and demand gen
  • FinTech and insurance tech — with compliance awareness
  • Industry and production service providers with digital transformation trigger

What B2B marketing looks different with us than B2C:

  • Longer buying cycles (3–18 months vs. seconds to weeks)
  • More stakeholders in decision process — marketing must separately address champion, influencer and decision-maker personas
  • Content centrality — SEO, specialist articles, LinkedIn thought leadership often stronger than performance ads
  • Email/CRM integration with sales tools (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive) more critical
  • Attribution complexity — first touch, last touch, MTA with longer time horizons
  • LinkedIn Ads often more important than Meta Ads
  • Events and trade fairs as lead channel — consulting on it, execution rarely directly with us

What we don't specialise in:

  • Enterprise B2B with complex ABM stacks (6sense, Demandbase, Rollworks) — specialised B2B agencies
  • Very long-term brand demand generation in corporate environment with 5+-year plans — classic B2B brand agencies
  • Channel marketing with specialist retail and partner networks in B2B2C space — specialised partner marketing agencies

Industries we function particularly well in:

  • E-commerce (B2C and B2B e-commerce)
  • SaaS and software services
  • Agency and service providers with digital positioning
  • Specialist trade brands with digital transformation
  • Industry service providers with mid-market structure and digital catch-up need

How long does a typical marketing consulting engagement take?

Between 4 weeks (compact sub-audit) and 16 weeks (comprehensive combined engagement). Standard is 6–10 weeks.

Typical runtimes:

  • Compact channel or tracking audit — 4–6 weeks
  • SEO or performance audit with implementation roadmap — 6–8 weeks
  • Marketing strategy (channel mix, budget allocation, 12-month plan) — 8–10 weeks
  • Organisation and agency audit with consolidation recommendations — 8–12 weeks
  • Comprehensive combined engagement (strategy + performance + SEO + email + organisation) — 12–16 weeks

Phases and time shares in typical 8-week engagement:

  • Week 1 — initial conversation, scope, accesses, stakeholder interviews planning
  • Week 2–4 — data access, interviews, audit execution, competition analysis
  • Week 5 — interim review meeting with decision-makers, prioritisation
  • Week 6–7 — recommendation documentation, implementation roadmap, budget model
  • Week 8 — closing workshop, handover, optional retainer start

What extends duration:

  • Data access — when GA4, ad accounts, shop analytics first need to be unlocked
  • Many stakeholders — 5+ internal decision-makers need more interview and coordination cycles
  • Multi-market scope — when AT, DE, CH and EU are separately audited
  • Existing agency structures — when 3+ external agencies need to be audited
  • Missing data basis — when tracking setup is so broken that part of the audit is data reconstruction

What shortens duration:

  • Clear audit question — "evaluate Meta ads account" goes faster than "evaluate all digital marketing"
  • Good data basis — GA4 clean, ad accounts organised, shop analytics available
  • Decisive decision structure — when between audit finding and prioritisation there are no weeks of discussion
  • Existing brand or channel strategy as basis

Express audits (1–2 weeks): in exceptional cases for specific short questions (e.g. "second opinion on agency pitch before decision next week"); compact, focused, without stakeholder interview depth.

Do you also work for start-ups or only for established brands?

Yes — but with caution for early-stage start-ups, because marketing consulting without product-market fit is often wasted investment.

When marketing consulting makes sense for start-ups:

  • After PMF validation — first robust repurchases, clear target audience sharpening from real customers, revenue between €500k and €5m
  • Before scaling investment — when a pre-seed or seed round raise is coming and channel strategy will be under due diligence
  • At transition from founder marketing to team marketing — when the first marketing person is hired and the setup for their success must be laid

When marketing consulting does not make sense for start-ups:

  • Pre-PMF — when the product doesn't clearly work yet, performance marketing optimisation is often waste; first product and target audience clarity
  • Pre-revenue — without cash flow, structured performance consulting is often too early
  • With unclear business model — when it's not yet clear what the brand actually sells or which customer problem it solves

What we do for start-ups:

  • Channel pilot setup — first structured Meta, Google and email setups that are scalable
  • Tracking and analytics basis — GA4, pixel, conversion API, Looker dashboards so they carry across the next 2–3 years
  • Marketing lead onboarding — coaching of the first marketing person in the team
  • Investor deck support for marketing/sales slides in pitch decks and DD documents

What we do not do for start-ups:

  • Long-time replacement for internal marketing function — start-ups need marketing people in-house, no long-term consultants
  • Classic growth hacking with above-average growth promise — we don't promise miracle growth curves, but clean structural work

Budget realism for start-ups:

  • A structured channel pilot setup plus tracking basis is a one-time investment in the mid four-digit to low five-digit range
  • Ongoing consulting should only come from a certain company size when fee investment can be measured against revenue
  • For very early start-ups we often recommend, instead of consulting, a direct referral to marketing specialists from our network (freelance or as Employee No. 1 Marketing) — often more efficient and cheaper

Connection to AI prototyping for start-ups: for start-ups building AI products, we have a dedicated service AI prototyping for start-ups — there marketing consulting sits embedded in a broader product and GTM context.

How does collaboration with existing agencies run?

We work constructively with existing agencies — we are not the new umbrella agency that wants to absorb everything, and not the spoiler that damages existing relationships.

Typical collaboration modes:

Mode 1: independent second opinion

  • You keep existing agencies; we deliver strategic outside view
  • Agencies are informed about our role (transparency) but not subordinated
  • We speak with agencies as part of the audit but not against them
  • Trigger: leadership or advisory board wants an independent assessment of the marketing situation

Mode 2: strategic steering across agencies

  • We take on the coordinating strategic role — agencies stay but work within our strategy
  • Monthly or quarterly coordination with all agencies
  • Unified reporting structure across agencies
  • Trigger: marketing team has no own senior strategy resource but wants to work efficiently with agencies

Mode 3: agency audit with possible consolidation

  • We audit all existing agencies — performance, fees, transparency, performance output
  • Recommendations can be retention, renegotiation or swap
  • When swap recommended: we accompany tender, pitch and handover
  • Trigger: leadership doubts cost-benefit of existing agency landscape

Mode 4: implementation of individual blocks by us, rest at agencies

  • Tracking setup, SEO basics, lifecycle programmes we build directly
  • Campaign operations stay at specialised performance or content agencies
  • Trigger: there are individual blocks where internal or agency competence has gaps

What we don't do:

  • Attack agencies without objective reason — we don't seek arguments to get into the business
  • Audit agencies behind their back — we are transparent about our role
  • Pass on confidential agency information to competitors — we treat every information relationship confidentially
  • Demand exclusivity in collaboration — you can and should work with multiple marketing partners

Honest assessment: in about 30–40% of audit engagements we recommend swapping one or more agencies at the end. In the remaining cases we recommend retention with adjustments — better brief quality, clearer performance metrics, tighter reporting rhythm, or simply trust in existing work.

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