I’ve worked in the technology sector since 2001; I started in engineering roles, moved into project and then product management, and found my home in marketing in 2008.

For the last decade, I helped a Canadian technology company extend into new customer verticals, expand into every global market, and grow into the industry leader before being acquired as part of a consolidation trend.

Through my own direct experience, conversations with other marketing professionals over the years, and extensive research, I recognized a few major challenges facing today’s B2B companies:

• The Start-Up to Scale-Up Marketing Gap: Most early stage technology companies can’t afford a full-time marketer, but need marketing to fuel their scaling efforts; without something to fill the gap, scaling is slower and less efficient. [Learn more…]
• A Shortage of Strategic Technical Marketers: Few capable communicators are strategic marketers, and fewer still have the technical knowledge to truly understand the problems they’re trying to solve and the solutions they’re marketing; as a result, messaging and content often miss the mark. [Learn more…]
• The Painful Reality of Slow Execution: Whether because of a skills gap or being unable to focus due to distractions, competing priorities, lack of organizational support, or other issues, internal marketing teams often have a hard time delivering great work quickly…which impacts every adjacency and contributes to a whole host of problems for the organization. [Learn more…]
• The Digital Dilemma: Many companies invest in digital marketing tactics without pairing them with quality content; as a consequence, pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns are less efficient, prospects are directed to sub-par content, and money and time are wasted. [Learn more…]
• Fractured, Inconsistent Messaging: Few organizations have a well-defined core message that’s delivered consistently across all media; this inconsistency creates confusion in the marketplace, most dangerously among potential customers (who crave clarity and certainty).

Missed Opportunities

Even alone, any of the issues outlined above can hold an organization back, and might even be the critical factor that stops a rocket from taking off. But the reality is even worse, because many organizations suffer from at least a few of them.

And that’s terrible! How many potentially world-changing, life-saving, innovative, powerful, amazing things never get a fighting chance in the market?

I wanted to change that – a lack of in-house time or expertise shouldn’t hold a company back – and I was eager for some variety and excitement; so, in the fall of 2017, I resigned from my long-time position and started helping out former colleagues who’d joined other companies and were encountering some of the challenges outlined above.

A Different Kind of Consultant

Right from the beginning, I knew that I wanted to be a different type of consultant. Instead of charging extortionate sums for middling work, I wanted to flip the script by delivering important, impactful, great work at prices that any organization can afford – whether they’re awash in funds from venture capital or private equity backing, or they’re trying their best to stretch their seed funding and winnings from pitch competitions.

I also wanted to deliver things quickly. Like, really quickly. Personally, I don’t like it when something takes longer than it should…but traditional marketing agencies, who often charge by the hour or the day, or insist on retainers, have every incentive to drag things out.

If you’re used to projects taking months, or even weeks, then you’ll be pretty astonished at how fast we work.

Why does that matter? Because marketing is a catalyst for your whole organization. The faster your marketing activities are completed (without sacrificing quality!), the faster your organization can grow.

From There to Here

Over the months, my client list grew via word-of-mouth, and I had the pleasure of working with some great companies and learning about some really interesting markets and solutions.

As I worked with RootSecure, Miovision, VueReal, and Bridgit, I gained an even greater understanding of, and appreciation for, the specific challenges facing B2B tech companies as they look to grow. Using that knowledge and my own experience, I defined a collection of marketing services; then, in September 2018, I officially launched Cromulent Marketing.

And here we are, ready to deliver great marketing services, quickly, at affordable prices, to help innovative companies and powerful solutions compete in a tough global marketplace.