Questions,
answered plainly.
What we do, who we do it for, how engagements run and what they cost. If your question is not here, the fastest route to a clear answer is a thirty-minute call.
Fit & positioning
What kind of companies do you work with?+
National and mid-market companies with real digital marketing spend - typically somewhere between a few hundred thousand and several million a year in working media. Some are multinational, most are not. What matters is that there is a genuine decision on the table and someone with the authority to act on the answer.
Are we too small for you?+
Almost certainly not. Scope is sized to the decision, not to the company. Some engagements are a focused three-week diagnostic; others run a full quarter. If the question is too small to justify outside counsel, we will say so on the intro call rather than build something to sell you.
Do we need to be senior leadership to engage you?+
No. Some engagements are commissioned by an owner or founder, others by a marketing director, growth lead or the manager running the day-to-day. We work with whoever owns the decision. Title is irrelevant; a real question and access to the data are not.
How is this different from a strategy consultancy or a large advisory firm?+
We are deliberately small and independent. There is no account layer, no downstream revenue from what we recommend, and no template deliverable. You get the person making the judgment rather than the team resourced against your engagement.
How are you different from our agency?+
An agency is paid to execute, and usually to execute more. That is not a criticism - it is an incentive structure. We do not sell media, build campaigns or take commission, so we can recommend spending less, changing partner, or doing nothing. We frequently work alongside good agencies rather than against them.
Services & scope
What do you actually deliver?+
A defensible answer to a specific question, with the evidence behind it and a sequenced plan to act on it. In practice that means a diagnostic of what is really happening, a recommendation with the trade-offs made explicit, and the operating detail - owners, sequence, measurement - needed to implement it.
We already have a strategy team. Why bring you in?+
Internal teams usually lack the one thing a consequential decision needs: a counterparty with no stake in the answer. We are most useful when the choice is expensive, the internal debate has stalled, and the evidence is contested.
Can you help us decide whether to bring media in-house?+
Yes, and it is one of the most common questions we get. We model the real cost of each operating option over 24 months - including ramp, tooling, coverage risk and capability decay - and stress-test it against the hybrid structures most companies skip. The recommendation is sometimes to stay with an agency on better terms.
Do you do AI work, or is that just a slide?+
We assess readiness across data, decisions, process and accountability, then identify the two or three use cases where AI will change a metric you already report. We do not resell software and we have no vendor relationships to protect.
Do you implement, or just advise?+
We are accountable for diagnosis, design, partner selection, implementation governance and outcome validation. Where hands-on delivery is required, specialist partners or your own team execute under our governance - that separation is what keeps our recommendations independent. We do not disappear after the strategy: we stay on until the change is implemented and the result is validated.
Working together
What does a typical engagement look like?+
A defined scope over 8-14 weeks: Diagnose, Design, Deploy. It ends with a decision your team can defend, an implementation governed against the plan, and the outcome validated. Retained advisory continues afterwards where ongoing counsel is useful.
How fast do we see something usable?+
The first defensible output lands inside three to four weeks. A signed decision, typically within the quarter.
What do you need from us?+
Access to the data - platform accounts, analytics, and ideally finance-recognised revenue - plus a handful of interviews with the people closest to the work, and one person who can unblock access when it stalls. Roughly two to four hours a week from your side.
What if the data is a mess?+
That is a normal starting condition, not a disqualifier. The first phase establishes what your numbers can and cannot support. Knowing precisely how much you are guessing is often the single most valuable output of the engagement.
Remote or on-site?+
Both. Working sessions and interviews happen in person where they matter. Analysis and drafting are done remotely. We support EMEA markets and work across the UK, Europe and further afield.
Who will actually be doing the work?+
The senior people you meet on the first call. There is no delegation to a junior team - that is the point of the model, and the reason we take on a limited number of engagements at a time.
Commercials & confidentiality
What does it cost?+
It depends on the scope: the questions being answered, the complexity of the data and infrastructure, the number of markets and channels involved, and how much implementation support you want. Engagements are fixed-scope and fixed-fee rather than billed by the hour, so once the scope is agreed you know the number and it does not move unless the scope does.
Do you take commission, referral fees or software kickbacks?+
No. We have no downstream revenue from anything we recommend. It is the one condition that makes independent counsel possible.
How do you handle confidentiality?+
Every brief is treated as confidential from the first email, and nothing is shared outside Etion. We will sign your NDA before commercially sensitive material changes hands, and we do not use client names as marketing without written permission.
What happens on the intro call?+
Thirty minutes. We pressure-test where the decision actually sits, surface the two or three moves that matter most, and tell you honestly whether an engagement makes sense. No deck, no pitch, no follow-up sequence.
What if you conclude we do not need you?+
We say so, and usually point you at what to do instead. It happens regularly and it is the cheapest useful outcome of a first conversation.
Still not sure if we are the right counsel?
Thirty minutes, no pitch. We will tell you honestly whether an engagement makes sense.