Marketing Advisory Services

Sometimes a business challenge needs a little help to become an opportunity.

Imagine if you could bring in a unique, experienced perspective to solve your business challenges.

By marrying our expertise with the insight of your people - we bring the knowledge of an insider with an outside perspective. Our experience working in a diverse range of industries, enables us to bring a deep understanding of your end-users and how to connect with them. We are here to work together and develop solutions that are both achievable and impactful.

Marketing Advisory

Affordable options for businesses looking for experienced marketing executives to help tackle business challenges or seize new opportunities

Fractional & Interim Marketing Leadership

The right marketing leadership when you need it with expert resources to level up your marketing team without the full-time commitment

Marketing Agency Management

Dedicated management of your marketing agencies to ensure business needs are translated into clear targets and exceptional results

Marketing Jumpstart

Expedited support for your marketing strategy with data-driven recommendations and actionable plans for small teams

Marketing Talent Development

Cost-effective, professional guidance and support for developing green marketing talent and avoiding costly marketing mistakes

Marketing Advisory

Diverse perspectives make for better business decisions.

Innovate Forward Marketing provides a cost-effective solution for businesses seeking experienced marketing executives for insight on solving business problems or defining expansion strategies. We can connect you with a marketing expert with the right background to help understand key risks and opportunities.

Corporate executives, consulting agencies, and businesses of all sizes use expert consulting for research projects, product strategy, or industry-specific insight. Bring us in to be a valuable addition to your brain trust.

    • Clear summary of primary challenges, goals, and objectives

    • Discussion & documentation of solution options including approach, schedule, tasks, owners, & risks

    • Implementation cost estimation of primary solution options

    • Options to be done in-person, remotely, or by email

    • Intended to be short-term and completed within three weeks

    • Team-focused workshops to develop relevant, actionable paths forward on marketing challenge of your choice

      • Common workshops include: Product roadmap & positioning, customer experience, growth strategy, go-to-market strategy

    • Pre-work, workshop, documentation of feedback & next steps, & follow up interactions included

    • Can be done in-person or remotely

    • Intended to be short-term and completed within three weeks

Fractional & Interim Marketing Leadership

Need a strategic, experienced marketing leader without the headcount cost?

We offer a cost-effective solution for businesses seeking marketing executive leadership without the full-time commitment. We assist with customer acquisition, sales development, and overall company growth on an fractional basis. Our experienced professionals excel in setting marketing strategy, as well as setting up the organization to successfully execute and maintain the marketing initiatives. We bring focus to top priorities and hire specialists to execute projects, upscaling the effectiveness of any marketing department.

    • Reviewing your existing marketing strategy against business goals

    • Identifying strengths, risks, & opportunities over the next 12-18 months

    • Discussion & documentation of strategy options including approach, pre-requisites, & risks

    • Providing phased approach based on available skills & bandwidth

    • Defining the roles, responsibilities & skill gaps for delivery

    • Aligning cross-functional leaders on the needs of cross-functional projects

    • Actionable roadmap & backlog to support delivery against the defined strategy

    • Documenting go-to-marketing needs, goals, timeline, & outcomes

    • Defining ideal customer profiles (ICPs) & product positioning

    • Setting strategic launch plans

    • Defining cross-channel content needs

    • Evaluating skills & resources needed to deliver on your strategy

    • Prioritizing hires & optimizing team to fill skill gaps

    • Upskilling existing talent through mentorship, coaching, & guided training

Marketing Jumpstart

You need to improve your marketing right away - no one has time for a lengthy consultant engagement.

We bring expedited support. Our team of experienced strategists quickly analyzes your business challenges and opportunities, providing data-driven recommendations. Recognizing the unique obstacles faced by small marketing teams, we deliver a concise and actionable plan customized for your business. Whether you choose to implement it with your in-house team or collaborate with us based on available skills and bandwidth, we get your marketing moving and quickly.

    • Understanding strategy goals, value proposition, buyer personas, & competition in a discovery workshop with key team members

    • Interviewing leaders & stakeholders across all functions to create a holistic view of current vs desired state

    • Discussion & alignments of strategy options & optimal approach

    • Documenting strategy findings, constraints, goals, & recommendations

    • Can be done in-person or remotely

    • Intended to be completed within three weeks

    • Leveraging strategy direction & guidance, recommend strategic priorities, KPIs & desired state

    • Documenting key channels & tactics

    • Revising collaboratively & discussing implementation options

    • Delivering a quick, comprehensive roadmap for implementation of short-term goals

Marketing Agency Management

Feel like your marketing agency is speaking another language? We can help.

Even the best agencies need a dedicated point of contact that understands how to translate the business needs into clear targets. Whether it's media strategies, creative campaigns, or compelling content, we understand the importance of translating your unique business requirements into clear and achievable targets. Let us bridge the gap, ensure clear and frequent reporting, and help your agencies drive exceptional results.

    • Translating business needs into agency focus, engagement goals, resourcing approach, & cost optimization

    • Defining targets & benchmarks that are within the agency’s control

    • Measuring down-funnel impact of agency deliverables

    • Providing ongoing stakeholder input into the agency’s approach

    • Determining optimal agency management plan, team/resources needed, duration & cost models to reach stated goals

    • Defining KPIs & dashboards for real-time performance visibility

    • Delivering regular update on results, insights, & next steps

    • Conducting regular business reviews against agency goals

    • Reporting on agency gaps in performance & expectations

Marketing Talent Development

Green talent can grow into extraordinary talent with the right guidance and support.

Talent development often stems from practical job experiences, but the absence of a seasoned mentor leaves room for avoidable errors. We understand that it can be challenging for small and mid-size businesses to provide guided growth opportunities to their talent. But letting young professionals navigate without an experienced marketing leader can be even more costly.

That's where we step in. We provide a cost-effective, dedicated marketing leader to align with leadership on business objectives, conduct recurring sessions with your marketing talent, and guide your teams or individuals. With our help, you can provide professional guidance, foster growth, and empower your talent to thrive.

    • Support in practicing first-time manager skills

      • Running effective meetings

      • Delegation & feedback

      • Practicing growth mindset & solutions-thinking

      • Building rapport, asking good questions & listening

      • Managing up, down & across

    • Providing training or expert resources to help fill skill gaps if required

    • Ideal for high-potential talent starting to oversee a team for the first time

    • Support in building organizational intelligence

      • Prioritizing cross-functional areas for learning

      • Developing rapport with cross-functional teams

      • Defining organizational interdepencies

      • Identifying & mitigating risks

    • Ideal for subject-matter-experts taking on broader management roles

    • Support in developing strategic thinking

      • Identifying & prioritizing risks & opportunities

      • Using creativity & adaptability to solve challenges

      • Improving competency in analytics & data-driven decision making

      • Identifying patterns in events to improve marketing planning

      • Recognizing structures driving internal & customer behavior patterns

      • Begin designing the systems & experiences to drive intended customer behavior

    • Ideal for Heads and Directors with ambitions to move into executive leadership

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Marketing Consulting & Project Support