SERVICES

Our services are designed to optimise marketing for growth and can be offered in a flexible manner to suit your requirements whether that be short-term, part-time or on a project basis. We can advise large and multinational organisations but also offer our experience to start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs who need specialist outside guidance.

We’ll work with you to determine the specific services you need, but here is a glimpse of what we can offer:

Fractional CMO

Many fast growing or small to medium sized businesses may not be ready or able to justify a full-time, permanent marketing leader and so bringing this expertise in “on demand” is more appropriate. Even some large businesses are now beginning to challenge the long-established norm of an embedded marketing cost and require more flexible options to plug resource gaps and create efficiency.

We offer part-time or temporary marketing leadership providing a cost-effective, flexible option tailored to an individual business’ requirements.

In Graham Ord, you get an accomplished CMO with extensive experience of building and leading teams and successfully executing marketing strategy to drive growth. Graham also brings objectivity, a fresh perspective and as a strong collaborator and communicator, he’ll quickly integrate into your business and align with your strategic vision and objectives. 

You will also avoid a lengthy recruitment process, mitigate hiring risk, and eliminate the burden of paying hefty six-figure CMO salaries.

Strategic plans and projects

Areas we can help with include:

  • Our Strategic Marketing Reviews are carried out using our unique Aquilo Framework which provides a holistic review of your marketing function and its effectiveness across Strategy, Resources, Operations and Delivery, deep diving into 18 dimensions through which we believe marketing can be optimised for growth. The framework provides a comprehensive review of the current situation, identifying both areas of strength and where improvements can be made to better drive growth. Findings inform our priority recommendations for your organisation, providing you with the basis of a roadmap with which to move forwards towards greater marketing optimisation.

  • Maybe you need to inject new ideas and energy into your overstretched team, have underperforming campaigns or are seeing a decline in demand? From helping you find your differentiating superpower that lifts you above the competition, to developing engaging content and programmes, to laser focused lead generation strategies, we can help you convert marketing from a cost centre to a growth engine. 

    We have been there and done it – delivering impactful, measurable, integrated campaigns from global to local level, designed to drive awareness, engagement and demand. And we’ve done this in regulated environments, balancing ever increasing business demands against decreasing resources.

    We can come in and quickly share the load, freeing up your time to focus on other areas knowing that complex marketing projects are being led by an experienced professional. 

  • Following a strategic marketing review, we can develop comprehensive, data-driven marketing strategies to reach your target markets and achieve sustainable growth aligned to your business goals.

    With today’s economic environment making growth harder than ever, we are experienced in creating plans that power growth whilst balancing costs by tightly focusing marketing resources on commercial priorities, and devising and implementing plans that drive impact and have clearly demonstrable impact against business goals. Plans must also be agile enough to enable re-prioritisation according to emerging challenges and new opportunities.

    Whether you’re looking to reposition your brand, expand into new markets or enhance your digital presence, we can provide innovative and optimised strategies tailored to your needs.

  • In 2023, 79%* of UK firms reported a reduction or no increase to their marketing budgets despite high inflation.

    Applying available marketing resources efficiently is therefore key to meeting ever increasing growth goals. This means prioritisation, reducing or reallocating unnecessary spend and ensuring that the team structure mirrors the business strategy and customer needs.

     We have a wealth of experience in leading through and implementing transformational change within a Marketing & Communications function – including building and reorganising team structures and operating models, processes and culture to optimise the resources available – whilst delivering high single- or double-digit growth.

     *2023 IPA Bellwether Report

  • Marketing functions face increasing pressure to prove the ROI of their activity. As a marketing leader, you may also feel undervalued and that your contributions are misunderstood within your business. So, it’s essential that you can demonstrate that marketing investments are being well spent and delivering tangible, high returns.

     

    We can work with you to help you tie your marketing spend directly to business growth, defining the right success measures, KPIs and campaign metrics to enable you to demonstrate impact against business goals in a way that your business leaders will understand.

     

    Whether it’s building the right measurement and reporting frameworks for your business, to improving your overall pipeline management process, we can help you make better use of data to optimise your efforts but also elevate the understanding and status of marketing within your business. 

  • The world moves fast, and it can be difficult to keep up when you are busy with delivering the day to day. Innovation and agility are key and it’s important to stay on top of the latest trends, changes in the market, evolving customer needs and to explore new tactics to best engage your audience.

    Whether its sustainability, AI or the latest technologies, we are constantly monitoring developments so you can take advantage and stay at the forefront of marketing change.

  • Over the years we have built up a network of trusted specialist marketing and communications experts that can be called upon “on demand” to support the execution of any element of your marketing programme and we will oversee delivery as required. This includes:

    - Integrated campaigns

    - Conferences and events

    - Digital marketing services including SEO, PPC, web design and social media

    - Thought leadership and content creation

    - Media relations

    - Internal communications

    - Creative and design

    - Marketing and sales enablement collateral creation including videos, product information, infographics, and podcasts

Coaching and mentoring

The job of a marketing leader is more demanding than ever, working at a relentless pace and under pressure to deliver more for less. With skills shortages and recruitment remaining at the top of many marketing leaders’ worries, you cannot afford to lose your talent to burnout or the competition.

Coaching is one of six leadership styles defined by the Psychologist and Journalist Daniel Goleman. It was shown to have a “markedly positive” impact on performance, climate (culture) and the bottom line. At the same time, it was the least used leadership style. Why? Goleman wrote “Many leaders didn’t have the time in this high-pressured economy for the slow and tedious work of teaching people and helping them grow.”

You and your team will usually be is your business’ biggest marketing investment. Just like your strategy, your team needs to be optimised to deliver against business objectives.

We understand the distinct challenges that marketing professionals are facing today and have helped many overcome challenges and grasp opportunities as they’ve developed and progressed in their careers. We have built high performing teams and created environments in which they can thrive. We can invest the time and give focus to you and your team, helping you stay calm and resilient and supporting career development, engagement and talent retention.

  • As a marketing leader it’s important that you can maintain your own resilience and stay focused on your own career goals as well as that of your team. We have walked in your shoes, learned lessons and can share our experiences and strategies to help you develop and grow.

    We can offer an experienced sounding board, helping you cut through the noise, maintain focus and have greater confidence in your decisions. We can also support and guide you in pursuing your personal or professional goals to help you reach your full potential.

    We’re here to help you shine, feel better about your role and career and maximise your impact.

  • Companies with engaged employees are 21% more profitable and show a 17% increase in productivity*.

    Whether it’s working one-to-one or in groups with your team on their performance, engagement or development, or building the processes and environment in which your team can thrive, we can provide calm, authentic leadership advice to help you optimise your talent.

     *Gallup

Solutions for small businesses

Just because your business is small it doesn’t mean you don’t have big aspirations. If you’re an entrepreneur, start-up, scale-up or small business, whilst you’re undoubtedly an expert in your field, you may not have the business experience or marketing expertise to know how to maximise your business’ growth potential. And it’s likely that you cannot justify or afford bringing in an experienced expert on a permanent, full-time basis.

There is a solution. As the former UK Chief Marketing Officer of Aon, Graham Ord has over 20-years’ experience of successfully helping leading global and UK brands meet their growth targets.

And he can help you too. Graham set up Aquilo Marketing so he could use his knowledge and experience gained in large corporates to help others unlock their potential with expert marketing advice, whatever the size of your business or stage of your growth journey you’re at.

Graham can make his extensive experience available to you on a totally flexible basis that works within your budget. This could range from a one-hour coaching or mentoring session, to a one-off project to solve a problem, right up to a long-term engagement 3 or 4 days a week acting as your part-time or temporary marketing leader.

Some of the different ways Graham can help smaller businesses or entrepreneurs achieve success include:

·       Professional coaching or business mentoring focused on growing your business or career (charged by the hour)

·       Part-time or temporary marketing leadership, providing a cost-effective, flexible option (typically 1-3 days a week)

·       Strategic marketing advice as and when you need help or on a regular ongoing basis to help you stay on track

·       Marketing strategy development and marketing plan creation

In working with Graham you gain the benefit of having an experienced marketing expert and business leader by your side, helping you to move forward faster and with greater confidence, to unlock your growth potential.

More questions about how we could work together? See our FAQs