Brandgrowthstudio

Formats

Engagements, scope and indicative fees

The four formats differ in depth, in how many conversations they need, and in how long we stay after the first written recommendation. They are not packaged ladders. Most organisations start with a diagnostic. Some already know the decision and need a platform or a programme. Fees below are indicative ranges in Singapore dollars and are confirmed in writing before work begins.

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Choosing

How to choose between the four

Choose by the decision you need to take. How ambitious the work sounds is a poor guide. If you cannot yet say whether marketing is the right lever, start with a diagnostic. If the offer is understood and the language keeps drifting between sales, the site and the agency, a message platform is usually the more useful piece. If you already have a direction and need a sequence for the next two quarters, programme design is the closer fit. Standing advisory only makes sense once a recommendation exists and someone inside the organisation is there to carry it.

Demand has slowed and the cause is unclear
Marketing Diagnostic. The output is a written view of what is happening and one next step with its costs.
People describe the company in several conflicting ways
Positioning & Message Platform. The output is language and proof that sales, web and partners can share.
The direction is known; the sequence is not
Demand Programme Design. The output is a period plan with priorities, proof still needed, and an operating rhythm.
A recommendation exists and decisions keep arriving
Standing Advisory. The output is a monthly cadence of review and short written notes.

Fees

The four formats in full

Marketing Diagnostic

2–3 weeks · SGD 6,500–9,500

This is a bounded review for organisations that can feel a demand problem and cannot yet name the decision. We reconstruct how enquiries currently arrive, where they stall, and which stories the sales team can actually defend. We read analytics and customer records, and we speak with people who close work as well as those who report on marketing. The written recommendation names one action, the cost of taking it, and the cost of leaving things as they are. It also says if the binding constraint does not sit in marketing. Two or three weeks is typical when access is granted early. The fee range moves with the number of products and markets we have to cover.

  • A written diagnostic note with the evidence we used and the limits of that evidence.
  • One recommended next step, with money, time and attention named as costs.
  • A short brief you can give an agency or an internal lead if execution is the next move.
  • A clear statement if we believe marketing work will not change the outcome.
  • A conversation to walk the document with the person who will decide.

Positioning & Message Platform

4–6 weeks · SGD 12,000–18,000

This format is for organisations whose offer is real and whose language has drifted. Different teams make different claims. The site, the pitch deck and the sales conversation no longer describe the same buyer. We interview the people who sell, read lost-deal notes, and look at how buyers already compare you with alternatives. The platform sets who you are for, what you are willing to be measured against, and which claims you will stop making because you cannot prove them. It is written so a new hire, an agency and a partner can use the same argument. Four to six weeks allows time to draft, challenge and revise with the decision-maker in the room.

  • A positioning note that names the buyer, the comparison set and the proof you will stand on.
  • Message blocks for sales conversations, the public site and partner briefings.
  • A list of claims to retire, with the reason each one is unsafe.
  • Guidance for agencies on what they may invent and what they may not.
  • A working session to practise the language on real opportunities rather than on a blank page.

Demand Programme Design

6–8 weeks · SGD 16,000–26,000

A programme is a sequence of decisions about how demand will be created and handled over a defined period. It is useful when the direction is no longer the question and the calendar still is. We look at capacity in sales and delivery, at the proof you still lack, and at which channels you can operate without adding headcount you do not have. The design names what will be done first, what will wait, and what would cause us to change the sequence. It also names the operating rhythm: which numbers are reviewed, how often, and who is allowed to change the plan. Six to eight weeks is typical because the work includes interviews, a draft, a challenge session and a revision.

  • A period plan with priorities, dependencies and the proof still required.
  • An operating rhythm for reviewing demand, including which numbers matter.
  • Briefs your execution partners can work from without adding a new strategy layer.
  • A view of capacity: what sales and delivery can absorb if demand improves.
  • A written recommendation on what not to start in the same period.

Standing Advisory

Monthly · from SGD 3,800 per month · three-month minimum

Standing advisory is for organisations that already have a recommendation and still need an external view as decisions arrive. We meet on a fixed cadence, usually twice a month, and we review the numbers you actually have. Short written notes follow when a choice needs to be recorded. The minimum term is three months so that the first month is not spent only on getting oriented. We pause the retainer if the work has become execution we should not own, or if the decision-maker is no longer in the room. The monthly fee starts at SGD 3,800 and rises when more than one market or product line needs a separate review. Travel, if needed, is quoted on top.

  • A fixed meeting cadence with the decision-maker and, where useful, the sales lead.
  • Short written notes after sessions that change a priority or a spend line.
  • A quarterly pause to ask whether the retainer is still the right format.
  • The option to commission a diagnostic or platform as a separate piece of work.
  • A clean ending if the useful advice has already been given.

Preparation

What we need from you

The quality of the recommendation tracks the quality of access. None of this requires a perfect data room. It does require a person who can approve the next step.

Analytics and customer records
Read access to the analytics and the customer system you actually use. If privacy rules limit what you can share, say so at the start. We can work with extracts when live access is not possible, though the diagnostic will then carry that limit in writing.
Three to five sales conversations
Time with the people who sell, including at least one person who still closes work themselves. We are listening for the story they can defend, the objections they hear, and the deals they walk away from. Scripted interviews with marketing only will not be enough.
Past briefs and agency reports
Previous briefs, decks and monthly reports, even when they feel dated. Patterns in what was promised and what was measured are part of the evidence. We do not need you to summarise them first.
One decision-maker
A named person who can accept or refuse the recommendation. Committees can read the document. The work stalls when nobody is allowed to choose. If that person can only join at the end, we will still ask for a short conversation at the beginning so the question is the right one.

How fees work

How fees are set

Published ranges exist so you can see the shape of the work before we talk. The final figure depends on the number of markets and products we must cover and on the quality of the data you can share. A single-market diagnostic with clean analytics sits toward the lower end. Extra geographies, extra product lines, or evidence that has to be reconstructed by hand sit toward the upper end. We confirm scope and fees in writing before any paid work starts. Payment is in two parts for project formats: a start payment and a payment when the written recommendation is delivered. Standing advisory is billed monthly in advance. Travel outside Singapore, including time on the ground, is quoted separately and is never folded silently into the range. If the first conversation shows that a smaller unpaid steer is enough, we will say that rather than stretch a diagnostic to fill a number.

Working desk
Notes on the desk

If you are unsure

If you are not sure the problem is marketing

That is a good reason to start with the unpaid ninety-minute conversation rather than with a proposal. Bring the numbers you trust and the story you tell yourselves about why demand has changed. We will tell you if we see a marketing question we can take, a mixed question that needs a diagnostic, or a problem that belongs with product, pricing or sales operations. You leave that call with a view you can use even if you never hire us. If we do take work, the format will match the decision, and the fee will be the one in the written confirmation.

Talk through the format before you commission it

Write to us with a short note on the decision in front of you. We will propose a time for the first conversation and, if the fit is real, a written outline of scope and fee. Nothing is committed until that outline is agreed.

Book a consultation

+65 6602 4178 · [email protected]