Marketing
consultation

What a marketing consultation is for

A marketing consultation is the cheapest way to get an experienced second opinion before you spend real money. You're not buying a project or signing a contract; you're buying an hour of attention from someone who builds websites, runs Google Ads management and sets up CRM every week. Many owners use it at a turning point: before hiring an agency, before a redesign, when ad costs suddenly rise, or when they want to bring marketing in-house.

Most of what I say on a consultation comes from the accounts and projects I run now, not from courses. That matters, because ad platforms change their settings every few months. Advice that was right two years ago can quietly cost you money today.

When an hour is enough, and when it isn't

One hour works well for a single decision: should I try Google or Meta first, is this agency proposal reasonable, why did my cost per lead double last month, which CRM fits a three-person team. You come with the question, I come prepared, and we finish with an answer.

An hour isn't enough when the problem has no clear edges. If you don't know why sales are flat, or you suspect every channel is leaking a little, it's better to take the audit with a walkthrough call. I review the website, ads, Google Business Profile and tracking first, then walk you through the findings in order of impact. For a complete plan with budgets and targets per channel, the full marketing audit is the right format.

If you run marketing yourself, or have someone on staff who does, a one-off call rarely changes habits. That's what marketing mentoring is for: regular sessions where we review results together and you build the skill step by step. For three or more people, training for your team is usually more efficient.

How I prepare for a call

Before every paid consultation I look at what's public: your website on a phone and a laptop, your Google Business Profile, your reviews, the ads competitors run in your area. If you give me read-only access to Google Ads, Meta or Analytics, I'll also look at search terms, conversions and costs. It means the call starts with your situation, not with general theory.

What owners in Canada ask about most

The questions differ by market. Owners with customers in Quebec often ask what the French-language rules mean for them: French must be at least as available as other languages there, so French materials come from their own team or translator, while my work stays in English. Ontario businesses with 50+ employees ask about AODA accessibility for their website. Anyone collecting emails asks what CASL requires for consent and unsubscribing. I'll tell you what I know from practice and when a lawyer should look at it.

Seasonality is another common topic. A landscaping company in Calgary, a snow removal business in Ottawa and an HVAC contractor in Winnipeg all have months when ads should run hard and months when they should pause. Setting that rhythm in advance saves a lot of budget.

Common mistakes I see before a first consultation

Three come up again and again. Owners judge ads by clicks and impressions because that's what the dashboard shows first, while the number that matters, cost per enquiry, isn't tracked at all. They let an agency hold the ad account in its own name, so leaving means starting from zero. And they spend on a new website before checking whether the old one even gets seen. A short consultation catches all three.

A consultation in your time zone and your language

I work remotely with businesses across Canada, so consultations happen on Zoom at a time that suits your time zone, from Pacific to Newfoundland. I can run the call in English, Polish, Russian or Ukrainian. That last part matters for many immigrant-owned businesses: discussing margins and customers is easier in your first language, even when your customers speak English.

After the consultation

You leave with concrete next steps. Some owners do them alone and come back months later with the next question. Others ask me to take over a channel, and then the price follows my normal pricing. Either outcome is fine. I'd rather you spend $70 and avoid a $5,000 mistake than sell you a project you don't need yet. One small warning: once you start measuring cost per customer, it's hard to stop.