The first 3 things we do when we start with a new client

The first 3 things we do when we start with a new client

One of the most common questions we hear before someone decides to work with us is some version of: 'So what actually happens?' How does it start? What do the first weeks look like? What will you need from me?

It's a fair question. Marketing engagements can feel opaque from the outside. So here's an honest look at how we actually start.

1. We listen before we propose anything

The first thing we do with any new client isn't strategy. It's a briefing — a structured conversation to help us understand the business before we say a single thing about what we think should be done.

This sounds obvious. In practice, a lot of marketing consultancies skip it. They hear 'I need more clients' and immediately start talking about funnels and content calendars. We don't — because 'I need more clients' could mean a hundred different things depending on who's saying it, what they're selling, who they're selling to, and what's already been tried.

The briefing covers: the business model, the current clients, what's been tried before and what happened, the objectives, the resources available. And — crucially — why the client thinks their marketing isn't where it should be.

That last part is important. The client's diagnosis of their own situation is always useful data, even when it's not entirely accurate. Understanding how they see it is the starting point.

2. We look at what's actually there

Before we build anything, we look at what already exists. The website, the social media, the email marketing, the ads if there are any. Not to critique — to understand.

We ask ourselves a few specific questions:

• Is the positioning clear? If someone landed here for the first time, would they understand immediately what this business does, who it's for and why it's different?

• Is the communication consistent? Does the website sound like the Instagram? Does the Instagram sound like the emails?

• Is there a direction? Or does the content feel like whatever was manageable to produce this week?

The best marketing work often isn't starting from zero. It's taking what's already there — and making it coherent.

3. We align on what success actually looks like

Before we write a strategy, before we plan any content, we sit down and agree on what success looks like. Not in vague terms — in specific, measurable, time-bound terms.

Not 'grow the business' but: acquire X new clients per quarter in this segment. Not 'better social media presence' but: generate X enquiries per month from organic social by Q3.

This conversation is sometimes uncomfortable. It requires the client to make commitments — to say what success means, which implicitly means saying what failure looks like too. A lot of businesses prefer to stay vague because vague goals can't be missed.

We push through that discomfort because working toward a specific objective is the only way to know if what we're doing is actually working.

Why we do it this way

These three steps take time. They add at least a week to the start of any engagement. Clients sometimes wonder why we don't just get started.

The answer is that we've learned, over years of doing this work, that the projects that go best are the ones where the foundation is right before the execution starts. Not projects where we moved fast and course-corrected later.

It's not the most exciting answer. But it's the honest one.

If you want to know what working with us would look like for your specific situation — just ask ⬇️