Where you are today
Based on our discovery conversation on 31 August, here's how we've read your current situation — what's working, what's inconsistent, and where the real opportunity sits [1].
What's working
- A steady base of referrals from builders, repeat clients, and word-of-mouth [1].
- Roughly three months of work booked — a solid platform, not a crisis [1].
- A clear positioning around honesty, transparency, reliability, and listening closely to clients [1].
- Strong documentation that makes builder referrals valuable to both sides [1].
- Internal capacity to make website updates — implementation isn't blocked [1].
What's inconsistent or missing
- Marketing is done when time allows, not on a rhythm — so lead flow is feast-or-famine [1].
- No Google Analytics, Tag Manager, Meta pixel, or ad account setup — meaning no visibility into what's working [1].
- Website is generally working but has outdated or broken elements, and a new team member still needs adding [2].
- Proposals come out of Fergus with limited branding control — the sales moment isn't as strong as the work itself [2].
- No repeatable content plan for Facebook or Instagram, and no formal sales brochure or lookbook [1].
The real opportunity
Design & Drafting doesn't need a bigger marketing engine — it needs a steadier one. The goal isn't more leads on the busiest weeks; it's smoothing out the quieter periods so the pipeline stays healthy year-round. That means: measurement first, then consistent visibility, then better-converting sales moments.
Your Growth Audit
Before the priorities, here's the diagnostic. We scored Design & Drafting across six phases of growth maturity — from Foundations through to Scale — to identify where the biggest gaps sit and where investment will pay back fastest.
How each phase scored
Six priorities, sequenced honestly
Not everything at once. The right work in the right order, so each stage compounds the value of the next. Here's what we recommend, and — just as importantly — why in this order.
Tracking & Measurement Foundations
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Meta pixel, Google Search Console, and a proper Meta ad account structure — set up correctly, once, with you owning every account.
What you'll have at the end: A clean data foundation, all under your ownership, feeding a live dashboard you can check any time.
Website Hygiene + Credibility Sprint
Fix what's outdated or broken, add the new team member, refresh testimonials and project imagery, tighten the enquiry form, and make sure every landing point on the site is doing its job [2].
Meta & Google Ads (foundational activation)
A focused always-on presence: Meta for visibility, warmth, and local awareness; Google for high-intent search demand (people actively looking for a draftsperson or designer in the Waikato). Small, well-targeted, measurable [3].
Repeatable Content & Social Strategy
A monthly content plan that Shaun (or a nominated team member) can execute in a few hours, not a few days. Templates, recurring buckets (project-in-progress, before/after, builder shout-outs, design tips), and a publishing tool so nothing gets missed [1].
Process Lookbook / Sales Brochure
A branded PDF (and print-ready version) that walks a prospect through what it's like to work with Design & Drafting: the process, the team, the deliverables, real project examples, and pricing tiers. Something Shaun can send after a first call — or a builder can hand to their client [1][2].
Referral & Builder Partner Program
Formalise what already works. A simple, low-friction way to stay front-of-mind with the builders who refer you: quarterly updates, co-branded assets they can share, a clear "how to refer us" one-pager, and periodic in-person touchpoints [1].
The investment, in full
Every line, in one table. Nothing hidden, nothing bundled. You own every account, subscription, and asset.
| Line item | Category | Monthly | FY27 Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta ad costs | Media | $760 | $4,562 |
| Google / YouTube ad costs | Media | $608 | $3,650 |
| Media subtotal | $8,213 | ||
| Statusbrew (social publishing) | Tools | $186–$194 | $1,139 |
| Campaign Monitor (EDM) | Tools | $22–$23 | $135 |
| Tools subtotal | $1,273 | ||
| Pop That Growth Retainer | Team | $720–$750 | $2,939 |
| 90-day activation (setup & transition) | Team, one-off | — | $3,250 |
| Team subtotal | $6,189 | ||
| Total FY27 marketing investment (ex GST) | $15,675 | ||
1. The 12-month projection is ≈ $29,850, which sits at roughly 2.6% of revenue — below the 3% we'd consider a healthy benchmark for a business your size. There's room to invest more later if the early results warrant it [3].
2. Pop That's retainer is a small portion of the total. Most of your spend goes to media and tools you own directly — not to us. That's deliberate.
How we work
Four principles we commit to in every signed agreement — the same ones our current clients have read, agreed to, and hold us accountable for [11].
If an idea won't work, we'll say so before you spend on it. If a channel isn't performing, we'll tell you before the next month's budget. No dressing up bad news to protect the retainer.
Every account under your ownership, every dollar tracked in a shared budget, every monthly report showing what worked and what didn't. This proposal itself is one example — everything visible, nothing hidden.
We ask "does this pay back?" before we ask "does this look good?" The 3%-of-revenue benchmark, the funnel maths, the phase-by-phase sequencing — all of it is commercial logic first, marketing second.
Nothing gets set and forgotten. Weekly optimisation on live ads, monthly reviews on strategy, quarterly Roadmap resets. Every campaign teaches us something we apply to the next one.
And here's how we make that real, commercially
What we won't promise:
Pop That cannot guarantee a specific number of leads, projects, or revenue [11]. What we can guarantee is a system that measures what's working, adjusts monthly, and improves quarter-on-quarter. Anyone promising you specific lead volumes without seeing your data first is guessing — or setting you up for a difficult conversation later.
Questions we get asked at this stage
Answered upfront so Thursday's meeting can focus on what matters most to you.
You do — always. Every account (Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Meta Business Manager, Google Ads, Search Console, Statusbrew, Campaign Monitor) is set up under Design & Drafting's ownership, with Pop That added as an agency user.
If we ever part ways, you keep everything: accounts, data, creative assets, campaign history, contact lists. Nothing walks out the door with us.
We build the tracking first (Priority 1) precisely so we can answer this honestly and quickly. Within 4–6 weeks of ads going live, we'll have clear data on cost-per-enquiry, which channel is working, and whether the spend is paying back.
If a channel isn't working, we say so — and we reallocate. We don't keep spending on things that aren't performing just because they're in the plan. The plan is a starting point, not a contract of activity.
Yes. After the initial 90 days, priorities are reviewed and agreed monthly based on what the data is showing and what's happening in the business [11]. If a new opportunity comes up (a big project win, a builder partnership, a market shift), we adjust.
The six priorities in this proposal are our recommendation for where to start — not a fixed roadmap you're locked into.
Yes, with 30 days' notice. We'd usually recommend having the conversation first — often "quiet" is exactly when marketing pays back hardest, and pausing during a lull can extend it. But it's your call, always.
Media spend can be paused independently of the retainer, so if cash flow tightens, we can dial back ads without stopping the underlying strategic work.
Pop That applies a small CPI-linked adjustment (typically 2–3%) at the start of each calendar year, applied uniformly across all retainer clients. It's flagged in advance and reflected in the budget spreadsheet [3].
If the timing doesn't work for your financial year, we can align it differently — just flag it.
Realistically: 2–3 hours per month from you once things are running. That covers a monthly review call, approving creative before it goes live, and occasional content input (a photo from a site visit, a quick voice note on a project win).
The 90-day activation asks for slightly more up front — account access, brand asset review, a couple of longer working sessions — but tapers quickly.
They go into a simple nurture flow — an occasional email touchpoint that keeps Design & Drafting top-of-mind. Many design/drafting enquiries take 6–18 months from first contact to signed project (renovations, consents, budget cycles), so the nurture is where a lot of the long-term value lives.
We'll build this in Campaign Monitor as part of the ongoing retainer once we have enough enquiry volume to make it worthwhile.