Challenge: The Minecraft server hosting market is saturated with well-funded competitors, making it difficult for smaller providers to capture market share. WiseHosting needed to enhance its website’s user experience, cross-sell and up-sell more effectively, and leverage unique selling points like unlimited player capacity and cross-version support.

What was done:

1. Competitor Analysis

• Conducted in-depth research on major competitors’ pricing models, service offerings, and conversion flows.
• Analyzed cross-sell and up-sell tactics used by competitors to identify opportunities for WiseHosting.
• Studied website UI/UX best practices to inform design and functionality improvements.

2. Business Audit

• Evaluated WiseHosting’s current performance through data analysis and customer feedback.
• Reviewed customer database to understand user behavior and identify retention opportunities.
• Assessed website UI/UX for usability, clarity, and conversion optimization.
• Audited content strategy and pricing packages to align with market expectations and user needs.

3. Paid Ads Strategy

• Performed keyword research to identify high-opportunity paid search terms with manageable CPC.
• Developed marketing angles to compete with larger competitors on a modest ad budget.
• Created a paid channel budgeting plan, prioritizing keywords with high intent and conversion potential.

4. SEO Strategy

• Collaborated with an SEO specialist to conduct a full technical audit of WiseHosting’s website.
• Mapped out high-impact keywords for each website page to drive organic traffic.
• Provided a pipeline of 50 blog post ideas based on trending and high-ranking topics in the industry.
• Delivered content optimization recommendations and a blog structure guide for long-term SEO success.

Impact and next steps

Through a comprehensive audit and strategic initiatives, WiseHosting is now in a position to enhance its market presence and drive customer acquisition. The combination of improved website performance, targeted paid ad campaigns, and an SEO-driven content strategy sets the stage for sustainable growth. Moving forward, WiseHosting will continue to refine its marketing approach and product offerings to solidify its competitive advantage.

Challenge: The AI call support industry is rapidly evolving, with increasing demand for more human-like, efficient, and adaptable virtual agents. SoTalkie needed to balance sophisticated product development with real-world usability and feedback. They also faced the challenge of validating their concept, securing early users. Entering a competitive market meant SoTalkie had to stand out through thoughtful product development, seamless user experience, and compelling communication.

What was done:

1. Product Development

• Finalized the product concept through in-depth feature research and market analysis.
• Collaborated on product development, ensuring alignment with target customer needs.
• Conducted rigorous product testing to identify and resolve early-stage issues.
  

2. Alpha Testing

• Rolled out internal testing with team members to collect hands-on feedback.
• Refined product features and user experience based on collected insights.

3. Beta Testing

• Reached out to businesses within the network for live demos and real-world feedback.
• Addressed potential customer concerns and incorporated suggestions into product iterations.

4. First 10 Subscribers

• Secured SoTalkie’s first 10 paying customers through targeted outreach and tailored demos.
• Personally conducted product demos and sales calls

5. Website UI/UX and SEO Consultation

• Advised on website design to enhance user experience and engagement.
• Provided SEO recommendations to increase visibility and attract qualified leads.

6. Sales

• Created impactful sales materials, including sales decks and one-pagers, to support the sales team’s efforts.

Impact and next steps

Through strategic product development, effective testing, and sales efforts, SoTalkie launched a polished and market-ready AI call support platform. Early feedback was overwhelmingly positive, helping them acquire their first 10 customers and validate product-market fit. With a solid foundation in place, SoTalkie is now focused on scaling further and preparing for public launch.

Challenge: Despite being in the U.S. market for 20 years, Sign Manager’s market presence remains limited, with only one service actively sold from its extensive portfolio. As a result, the company was often perceived more as a maintenance provider than a strategic partner in branded asset management and brand implementation. While Sign Manager has served well-known brands like Starbucks, Pizza Hut, LA Fitness, and TJ Maxx, its customer acquisition has primarily relied on personal relationships and referrals. Though effective in the short term, this approach has hindered the development of a scalable business development and sales process.

To support the company’s repositioning and business growth, three key initiatives were undertaken:

What was done:

1. Market and Industry Analysis

• The last market analysis had been conducted in 2007, so the company needed to understand the current market landscape, competitors, marketing trends, and consumer insights.
• Seven competitors were analyzed in detail, including their acquisition strategies, software tools, positioning, and messaging strategies.
• Overall market opportunities were assessed to identify areas for growth.
  

2. Consumer Insights Collection, Persona Development

• Interviews were conducted with current and former employees of target audience companies to understand their internal decision-making processes and procurement workflows.
• Using real research data, we developed buyer personas along with tailored value propositions and messaging for each.

3. Internal Audit

• Both the Australian and U.S. offices were audited to evaluate internal culture, processes, organizational structure, team roles and responsibilities, and the motivation and evaluation systems.
• Communication between the two offices was assessed.
• The suitability of current team members for their roles was evaluated.
• Key gaps and challenges were identified.

4. Leadership Alignment

• Interviews and brainstorming sessions were conducted with the leadership team to align visions and goals for the U.S. market.

5. Go-to-Market 2.0 Strategy Development

• A comprehensive Go-to-Market 2.0 strategy was developed, outlining:
  • The company’s repositioning and new messaging
  • Unique selling propositions (USPs)
  • Service offerings
  • New team structure
  • Marketing and sales strategy
  • Implementation timeline
  • Key performance indicators (KPIs)
  • Budget allocation

Impact and next steps

The strategy was presented to top management and approved for execution. I continued supporting the company in a consulting role to ensure that the strategy was implemented effectively and that the company met its goals. As a first step, we began with a rebranding process in collaboration with a marketing agency that helped create a new brand identity, define core values, and effectively communicate the new culture to the internal team.

Challenge: The roofing technology market was using mainly old school manual scheduling tools, workflows that are not automated and their target audience is not tech savvy. SmartRoofing.ai needed to effectively communicate the value proposition and work with potential customer objections. 

At the same time for the established and more tech savvy roofing companies they were already using CRM systems such as Service Titan, JobNimbus, AccuLynx. While Smartroofing had an obvious competitive advantages, it was still challenging to beat the competition.

What was done:

1. Competitor Research

• Conducted an in-depth competitive analysis to identify key differentiators and opportunities for positioning.
• Mapped competitors’ messaging strategies to understand industry trends and customer expectations.

2. Positioning Strategy

• Developed a clear market positioning framework emphasizing the platform’s AI capabilities and direct business impact.
• Defined unique selling propositions (USPs).
• Created an internal positioning guide to ensure consistency across marketing, sales, and product teams.

3. Messaging Strategy

• Built a feature-benefit-outcome framework, simplifying technical features into relatable business outcomes.
• Identified key messaging pillars and unique selling propositions.

4. Website Content Creation

• Created a simple and comprehensive website content guide to explain what the product does and how it can help solve roofers’ pain points.

Impact and next steps

In our time together, Smartroofing.ai launched its  website with a cohesive, clear and benefit-driven messaging strategy. The new positioning resonated with their target audience, resulting in quick acquisition of the first 100 customers. Moving forward, the company plans to expand its content strategy based on the established framework, adding more pages to the website, creating sales decks and on-pagers and other sales and marketing materials to facilitate customer acquisition.

Challenge: The company was launched in a very saturated market competing with giant market players with no specific positioning, making it harder to control customer acquisition costs. The two main focuses of the company were

What was done:

1. Data Analysis & Dashboard Creation

• Conducted in-depth analysis of company growth data and team structure.
• Led the creation of data dashboards from scratch, in collaboration with the data engineer, to consolidate data and automate key metrics for customer acquisition, activation, and retention, driving informed decision-making and KPIs.

2. Competitor, Market, and Customer Research

• Conducted comprehensive research on both customer and competitor landscapes, analyzing trends, strengths, and market positioning. 
• Developed strategic direction based on insights gathered from the research, identifying opportunities for differentiation and growth. 

• Engaged with customers through interviews and surveys to gain deeper understanding, enhance market visibility, and refine product offerings.

3. Customer Acquisition Strategy

• Identified the necessary resources to kickstart active customer acquisition, including hiring and interviewing talent, and setting up their respective channels for success.
• Initiated acquisition through paid ads and cold outreach, with optimized resource allocation focused on high-intent conversions to improve lead quality.
• Implemented structured conversion tracking to provide deeper insights and enable strategic adjustments. 
• Designed targeted abandonment recovery flows to capture leads at various stages of the consumer journey.

4. Customer Activation Strategy

• Analyzed activation metrics and recommended UI/UX refinements to streamline onboarding and improve activation. 
• Hired and onboarded a new specialist to support clients in not only starting their subscriptions but also actively using the product. 
• Led multiple activation campaigns in collaboration with the onboarding team to drive engagement and usage.

5. Product-Market Fit Refinement 

• Based on ongoing customer acquisition and activation efforts, including customer interviews, surveys, and on-product surveys, existing personas were refined, and messaging was optimized to address their unique needs and pain points. 
• The onboarding process was enhanced by incorporating qualifying questions to better classify new leads, resulting in improved analytics interpretation by evaluating performance through the lens of these refined personas.

6. Consumer Journey Workshop

• After extensive learning and data collection, including conversations with real customers and leads, analysis of paid and organic channel results, and understanding consumer needs and pain points through human onboarding and customer success, a consumer journey workshop was conducted. 
• This workshop helped align the knowledge of the real customer across the company and various functions, visualizing key touchpoints, identifying experience gaps and pain points, and generating new product and marketing initiatives to enhance the overall customer journey.

Impact and next steps

In just 3 months, customer acquisition and activation departments were created from scratch, with well-defined strategies and execution plans. Multiple campaigns were launched, tested, and optimized, providing valuable learnings that informed continuous improvements. The product-market fit, messaging, and buyer personas were refined through ongoing efforts, while analytics systems were built to support data-driven decision-making. The team was equipped with the necessary channels and toolboxes to ensure future growth and success.

Challenge: While the company was already a top-of-mind brand in its industry, they sought to accelerate growth and solidify their market position. To achieve this, they aimed to:

What was done:

1. In-depth analysis of the company’s business and growth data

• Examined historical performance in key areas such as customer acquisition, retention rates, and overall growth to identify strengths and weaknesses.
• Analyzed past marketing campaigns, ads, content, and messaging to determine the effectiveness of each and uncover missed opportunities.
• Reviewed the entire sales funnel, from lead generation to conversion, to pinpoint inefficiencies or missed opportunities in engaging and converting leads.
  

2. Competitor and market research

• Reviewed competitor offerings and their positioning strategies to understand how they communicated their value to customers and where differentiation was possible.
• Analyzed competitor ad campaigns, messaging, and content to assess their effectiveness in attracting and converting leads.
• Examined the sales processes of competitors, focusing on lead generation, nurturing strategies, and overall conversion tactics.
• Explored broader industry trends and customer pain points to ensure the company’s messaging aligned with what mattered most to potential customers.

3. Stakeholder collaboration and work with the team

With data insights and competitor analysis in place, a collaborative session was organized involving the company’s leadership, sales, and support teams. This session focused on:

• Identifying the company’s unique selling propositions (USPs) to highlight key differentiators that made the product stand out.
• Aligning on the company’s positioning and key messaging to ensure a unified narrative across all departments.

4. Strategic roadmap for growth

Drawing from the analysis and stakeholder input, a comprehensive strategic roadmap was developed to:

• Define actionable steps to drive sustainable growth across key business areas.
• Align efforts across teams to ensure a unified approach to achieving the company’s objectives.

5. Team hiring and training

• Conducted interviews and created assessment tasks to evaluate and select the right candidates for key positions.
• Successfully hired a Senior Marketing Manager to build a new team capable of implementing the new strategic roadmap.
• Onboarded and trained the new hire to ensure they were well-equipped to contribute to the company’s growth objectives.

6. Execution

• Led the team in executing the strategic roadmap, ensuring alignment with business objectives.

• Drove growth across key metrics, including Monthly Recurring Revenue (MMR), Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), number of subscribers, conversions, and cost per conversion.

Impact and next steps

In just three months of fractional collaboration, I completely reshaped the company’s marketing strategy through in-depth data analysis, competitor research, and a tailored go-to-market strategy. I restructured the team, hired a Senior Marketing Manager, and led the execution of the new plan. As a result, the company saw unprecedented increases in Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), and subscribers.

Next challenges to address include managing the rising customer acquisition costs and controlling churn rates, which have been partially organic but also within our control. Additionally, there’s a critical need to streamline the customer onboarding experience to better educate users and increase retention.