01  Strategy for owner-run businesses  ·  Kerry & remote

Most small businesses don't have a marketing not really problem.
They have a deciding problem.

Strategy, brand and practical growth plans for owner-run Irish businesses that know something isn't working, but not which part to fix first.

Nobody is short of things they could do. They're short of somebody to look at the whole thing once — what you sell, who it's for, what a customer meets before they buy — work out what's wrong, and write down what happens on which day.

That's the job. Not more content. A decision, and the reasoning behind it.

Ask for a 15-minute call Find where you're stuck
Case file / 001
An independent bakeryWestport, Co. Mayo
What they came with
Six days a week of baking. Saturday looks after itself. Tuesday doesn't.
What they thought they needed
More Instagram posts no
What was actually missing
A reason to come in when it isn't Saturday.
The idea
Six baking days. Six carved stamps. Each one taken from something in the town itself.
Four of the six carved stamps — a mill wheel, an octagon, Croagh Patrick and a sail — each named for the day it bakes
Four of the six. A mill wheel, an octagon, a mountain, a sail — each one already in the town, and each one a different day to come in.

Pick the sentence closest to your week.

You don't need to know what any of it is called. Say what's actually happening and I'll tell you which piece of work I'd sell you, what it costs, and roughly how long it takes.

No form. No email. Nothing happens except an answer.

02  How deep it needs to go

Four depths, and most people start at the top.

These aren't four products. They're four sizes of the same job — looking properly, then saying what to do. The only real question is how much of the business is in question.

Level 01

Diagnose

One focused look, when you suspect something specific and want it confirmed or ruled out.

First impression review €95  ·  Website + conversion audit €395  ·  Business diagnostic €650

€95 – €6502 days – 2 weeks
Level 02

Decide one thing properly

You know which part is the problem. One defined piece, decided and written down.

Product / menu concept €395–€495  ·  Content strategy €895  ·  Brand concept €995  ·  Brand refresh €1,350  ·  Launch / relaunch strategy €1,495  ·  Brand foundation €1,500

€395 – €1,5001 – 4 weeks
Level 03

Reset

It isn't one thing. Everything, in order, over six weeks, with one person holding all of it.

The Business Reset €4,750

€4,750Six weeks · one at a time
Level 04

Keep going

Strategy, planning, written content and an honest read on what moved — monthly, so the deciding doesn't land back on you.

Growth Check-In €795/mo  ·  Strategic Growth Partner €1,495/mo

€795 – €1,495/moCancel any month

Every price is fixed and published, and every job is paid in stages. Every service, in detail →

Don't know which level? That's what the €650 diagnostic is for. It's a complete piece of work in itself — you leave with a written 30/60/90 whether or not you ever buy anything else.

Level 03  ·  The Business Reset

Sometimes it isn't one thing.

You've fixed the parts separately and they keep coming loose. Six weeks, in order — the diagnosis, then what you sell and what you charge, then how it looks and sounds, then a quarter of content, then a date to relaunch on. One integrated engagement, not five packages stapled together.

The order is the product.

€4,750

Six weeks  ·  One business at a time

What the six weeks contain

03  Selected work

What the thinking actually looks like.

The businesses are invented — every sample says so on its own cover — because a new practice that named real clients would be lying.

The documents are not invented. They are exactly what a client receives, including the marked gaps where a figure isn't known.

Stillwater

Physiotherapy clinic, Kilkenny  ·  ten pages  ·  four days

Nothing on the site was wrong. It was just never walked by somebody trying to book at nine on a Sunday.

Concept project A page from the Stillwater audit — twelve fixes ranked by effect, each tagged high, medium or low
The problem →

Twelve things to fix and no idea which one first.

The decision →

Ranked by effect, not by effort.

What the service producesTwelve fixes ranked by effect, with the cost of each  ·  two pages rewritten to paste in  ·  load measured  ·  four numbers to watch afterwards.

Demonstrates  Website + conversion audit · €395  —  read the full case →  ·  open the ten-page document →

WOBBLE

Drinks brand  ·  two documents  ·  three weeks

Five colours that all shout, and one rule that stops it becoming a bouncy castle.

Concept project The WOBBLE palette page — six bright colours with the single rule that governs how they are used together
The problem →

Five colours shouting at once.

The decision →

One rule controlling all five.

What the service producesPositioning and voice  ·  palette, type and applications  ·  four rules staff can follow  ·  production files  ·  a one-page read on the economics.

Demonstrates  Brand foundation · €1,500  —  read the full case →  ·  open the identity book →

Rennet & Rind

Cheesemonger  ·  eleven pages  ·  one month of twelve

The feed finds new people. The newsletter keeps the ones who already love you — and they're the ones who come back.

Concept project A page from the Rennet and Rind retainer — the month laid out by date with every caption written
The problem →

Posting when it's quiet, which is when nobody's looking.

The decision →

The month decided before it starts.

What the service producesThe month written out by date  ·  the trend read rewritten rather than inherited  ·  a newsletter ready to send  ·  one page on what moved  ·  a call to argue with it.

Demonstrates  Strategic Growth Partner · €1,495/mo  —  read the full case →  ·  open a month →

See exactly what every service produces →

04  The part I'm actually good at

Every brand I do carries one idea nobody can copy in a month.

Palettes and fonts are the easy half — anybody on your street can have the same ones by Friday. None of these needed a budget, and each one is a reason to choose that business rather than the one down the road.

01
Butcher

Thursday is the pie. One pie, one price, gone by two, never on another day.

02
Barber

The chair with no mirror, for people who'd rather not watch.

03
Yours

Whatever it is, it's specific to you and it costs less than you'd think. That's the conversation.

See all twenty ideas →

05  How it works

Five steps, and no part of it is mysterious.

You can read the whole shape of a job before you agree to any of it.

01

A call, fifteen minutes

You tell me what you sell and what isn't working. I tell you which level it's at — or that it isn't a job for me, which happens and is free.

02

A price, in writing, that week

Fixed, from the published list. A scope with a date on it. No hourly rate and no minimum term.

03

A deposit, then the research

Then the part you're paying for: counting, walking it as a customer, reading it against your own numbers.

04

One thing to react to

Not four rounds of questions. A finished piece of thinking you can disagree with, and a conversation about the bits you disagree with.

05

Yours to keep

Every file, no licence, no restriction, whether we keep working together or not.

One rule runs through all of it: no invented numbers. If a figure matters and it isn't yours or sourced, it's marked as a gap and left in the document as a gap.

06  Start here

Something in the business isn't quite working?

You don't have to know what it is. Describe the week you're having and I'll tell you what I'd look at first, what that costs, and whether it's worth doing at all.

Fifteen minutes, and not a sales presentation. If I'm not the right person I'll say so on the call, and that answer is free. If I am, you'll have a fixed price in writing that week.

Or email me directly: hello@theonceover.ie

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