How we work together
Services
Two ways to work together. An audit to see where your growth is really coming from, and coaching to make the change actually stick. Most start with the first and stay for the second.
The Creative Growth Audit
Where your growth is really coming from.
This is where we start. I come in, spend time with you and your team, look at the work you're putting out, and read enough of your numbers to see where your growth is really coming from. Then I tell you what I find: what's working, what isn't, and the few things worth changing first.
The whole audit comes back to one question. Is your creative bringing in people who don't know you yet, or is it mostly working on the people who already give? A lot of organizations have drifted toward the second without meaning to, and it's hard to see from the inside. For the people you're reaching, giving is an act of faith, not a transaction, and the creative should treat it that way.
Here's what I look at
- 01
The work itself. Your ads, your content, your campaigns, and whether it's the kind of thing that reaches and moves new people or really only lands with people who already know you.
- 02
Your brand. Whether there's a clear idea behind everything you make, or whether each campaign starts over from scratch.
- 03
The balance between brand and performance. How much you're spending to convert people right now versus building the awareness that brings people in later.
- 04
How the work gets made. How you brief it, who makes it, how you decide whether it's any good, and whether good creative survives a tight quarter.
- 05
Your growth, as evidence. Where new donors are actually coming from, just enough to back up what I'm seeing in the work.
What you walk away with
A working session where we go through it together, a written summary you can share, and a short list of the most important things to change. You'll also have something you can take to your board, which usually matters most, since the board is often the real hurdle.
I scope each audit to the organization, since no two are sitting in the same place.
Coaching
How the change actually sticks.
Most people don't want a report and a handshake. They want help actually doing the thing. So the audit usually leads here.
Coaching is the ongoing version of the work. I stay on and help you put the changes into practice. I give direction on the creative, look at the work as your team or your agency makes it, help you write briefs that get you something better than generic, and put the standards and habits in place that let you keep making good work after I'm gone. And I'm someone to think out loud with, including when you have to go back to the board and defend the budget.
What I do here
- 01
Give direction on the creative without making it myself. You and your team still own the work.
- 02
Review what's being produced, so you can tell the difference between work that's building something and work that's just filling the calendar.
- 03
Help you brief the people doing the work, so you get back what you actually asked for.
- 04
Put a simple system in place: a clear bar for the work, and a way of making it, so the quality holds when you're busy or someone moves on.
- 05
Be a sounding board for the calls only you can make.
This is ongoing, and like the audit, it's scoped to what you need and where you are.
How it goes
No mystery to it
Here's the shape of working together, start to finish. Three moves, in plain sight.
- Before
We find out if we fit
It starts with one honest email, not a sales call. I read it myself and tell you straight whether I can help, even when the answer is no. If we're a fit, we scope the audit to where you actually are, since no two organizations are sitting in the same place.
- During
The audit, together
I spend real time with you and your team, look hard at the work you're putting out, and read enough of your numbers to see where growth is really coming from. We go through what I find in a working session, not a report lobbed over the wall. You leave with a short list of the few things worth changing first, and something you can take to the board.
- After
Coaching makes it stick
A report doesn't change much on its own, so most people stay on and we put the changes into practice together. I give direction on the creative, help you brief it, and set up the standards and habits that keep the work good after I'm gone. The goal is to leave you able to do this without me.
Straight answers
Before you ask
The questions people sit on before they reach out. Asked and answered, so you don't have to guess.
I scope every engagement to the organization, so there isn't one honest number I can paste here. It's senior creative leadership, and it's built to leave your team able to do the work without me. If budget is your real question, just say so in your first note and we'll talk about fit openly and early.
Not a lot. The audit needs a few hours from you and your team up front, mostly walking me through the work and the numbers. Coaching runs on your rhythm rather than a fixed meeting load. The aim is to make your team better at the work, not to add another standing meeting to everyone's week.
Maybe, and I'll tell you honestly if you are. If you don't have much creative going out the door yet, you might need another set of hands before you need me. But if you're already making work and can't tell whether it's growing anything, that's a good moment for this.
It might, and that's part of what you're paying for. I'll give you an honest, careful read on where your growth is really coming from, even when it's uncomfortable. My hope is that you come away with a clear picture you can actually act on, and a short list of what to do first.
I lead the work and build the systems around it: setting direction, raising the bar, and putting standards in place so your team and your agency make better creative. I'm not a production studio, so if what you need most right now is another pair of hands, I'll tell you honestly and help you find the right fit.
Tell me whereyou're stuck.
If growth has stalled and you can't quite say why, start here. No pitch, no deck. I'll read it myself and tell you honestly whether I can help.