Winery · 3 years of retainer
Full marketing without hiring.
Family winery without marketing department. Monthly retainer covering strategy, execution, coordination with digital and PR agency. Sustained 18% annual growth.
Full marketing function for organisations that prefer not to set up (or don't yet need) an internal department. Strategy, planning, supplier coordination, reporting. Like having a department — without having to have one.
Turnover that already justifies serious marketing but doesn't scale to hiring 3-5 people. The external department covers the function with controlled variable cost.
Loss of team, change of leadership, transition phase. The external department brings continuity while you decide the optimal internal structure.
Outgoing generation without strong marketing profile, incoming generation not yet established. The external department brings order while the new leadership settles.
Organisations with marked high/low season (tourism, agriculture, events). Maintaining an internal department all year is expensive — the external one adjusts.
First 4-6 weeks of business immersion: customer, competition, team, suppliers, data. Full diagnosis and initial plan.
Year roadmap: objectives, budget per line, channels, calendar, KPIs. Leadership-approved plan that serves as the framework for everything that follows.
Day-to-day: coordination with agencies, suppliers, internal teams. Briefings, creative supervision, campaign launches, budget management.
Monthly meetings with leadership. Living dashboard. Systematic learning that adjusts the plan quarterly with real data.
For organisations not yet at the size or need for a full internal department, the external one brings concrete advantages:
The monthly cost is fixed and known. Goodbye to payroll, social security, equipment, office software, holidays, sick leave. Controlled variable cost that scales with your reality.
No learning curve. From day one you have a senior profile with multi-sector experience covering the function. A similar profile hired internally would cost considerably more.
Access to a consolidated network of specialist suppliers (creative, ads, SEO, video, analytics). Without having to test and discard mediocre agencies for months.
If your internal lead leaves, the knowledge leaves with them. The external department is a stable entity with documentation and orderly handover.
The external department sees the business with perspective. It doesn't get contaminated by internal inertia. Brings judgement that is hard to have from within.
If the business grows, the external department grows with you (more hours, more profiles, more scope). Without having to hire one person at a time and train each one.
Family winery without marketing department. Monthly retainer covering strategy, execution, coordination with digital and PR agency. Sustained 18% annual growth.
B2B company that needed marketing but wasn't clear on what profile to hire. External department for 18 months + transition to internal team with clear judgement.
Traditional professional practice without serious marketing. Retainer providing strategic leadership + external agency coordination. Qualified acquisition tripled in two years.
Governance framework and quarterly priorities.
Operational translation with KPIs and owner per initiative.
Day-to-day campaigns, content and measurement.
The external department delivers particular value in these four scenarios. Outside them, hiring internally usually makes more sense:
Companies with turnover between €1m and €15m where a 3-5 person department is expensive but a single internal profile is insufficient. The external one covers the gap.
If no reasonably hireable senior profile exists in your territory, the external option brings that seniority from day one — without having to wait and train.
Merger, sale, expansion, generational handover. Transition moments where setting up an internal department is premature. The external option provides continuity while the future structure is decided.
Family or very consolidated companies that need a view hard to have internally. The external option brings that freshness as an intrinsic part of the work.
An agency executes projects. The external department is the full marketing function — including strategy, agency coordination, budget and reporting to leadership. It covers what an agency does not: the strategic and leadership piece.
It depends on dedication and intensity. An external department retainer for an SME falls within manageable monthly budgets. For mid-sized companies with more active operations, it rises proportionally. We discuss in the first session.
Several, simultaneously but with clear dedication. Each client has fixed day(s) assigned. Client diversity is an advantage — not a drawback — because it brings cross-pollination of learning.
Minimum initial commitment is 12 months (a shorter strategic retainer makes no sense). After that, annual renewal with reasonable notice. Exit should never be traumatic.
No. Client relationships belong to the company, not the external consultant. Orderly handover at the end of the relationship is part of the ethical commitment of the service.
First 45-minute session, free of charge and no commitment. If we fit, I send you a detailed proposal within 5 days. If we don't, you take away a useful initial diagnosis.