What size companies do you work with?

We work primarily with SMEs and mid-market organisations across the Middle East — companies that have product-market fit and are ready to grow deliberately, but need senior strategic support without the overhead of a tier-one consultancy.

How do you structure engagements?

Most engagements begin with a fixed-scope diagnostic (2–4 weeks) that produces a strategic brief. From there, we agree on either a project-based implementation, a monthly retainer for marketing department outsourcing, or a hybrid. You always know what you are paying for before you commit.

Do you work remotely or on-site?

Both. We are based in Egypt and serve clients across the Middle East. For diagnostics and key workshops we typically come on-site; for ongoing execution we work remotely with a clear governance cadence.

How long is a typical engagement?

Diagnostics run 2–4 weeks. Implementation projects run 8–16 weeks. Marketing department outsourcing is a monthly retainer, typically with a 3-month initial commitment so we can demonstrate measurable progress.

Yes, routinely. We treat client confidentiality as non-negotiable and will sign your NDA or provide our own mutual NDA before any substantive conversation.

What makes you different from a typical agency?

Agencies sell execution (posts, ads, designs). We sell clarity first — strategy, research, and a disciplined thinking process — then organise the execution around it. You are buying a consulting discipline, not a content subscription.

What is a Marketing Strategy?

Most "marketing strategies" I've reviewed as an operator in Egypt and the Gulf aren't strategies. They're tactic lists with a logo on the cover — "Facebook ads, SEO, email, maybe a podcast" — calling itself strategy because it's been bound into a deck. Founders nod along because the activity looks impressive. Then six months pass, the campaigns didn't move the business, and no one can explain why. The reason is always the same: there was no strategy to begin with. Here's the actual definition, and how to tell if you have one.

The short answer

A marketing strategy is a set of choices about WHO you serve, WHAT you offer them, HOW you reach them, and WHY they should choose you — written down, agreed by leadership, and used to direct every marketing decision. Four questions, four answers, in writing. That's it. Not a deck. Not a campaign calendar. Not a budget. A small set of choices that everyone in the company can repeat from memory and use to make trade-offs when the next tactic, channel, or "opportunity" shows up.

If your team can't articulate the strategy in one sentence, you don't have a strategy. You have intentions.

What a strategy includes

A real strategy has five components, and they're specific:

Ideal customer profile (ICP) — the type of customer you're built to serve best. Not "SMEs in Egypt." A specific segment — Egyptian social commerce merchants doing 5 to 50 million EGP in annual sales, processing card payments, selling through Instagram and WhatsApp.
Value proposition — the concrete outcome you deliver, in the customer's language. Not "innovative solutions." The actual job you do for them.
Positioning — the space you occupy in the customer's mind relative to alternatives. Premium? Specialist? Integrated? Positioning is a choice, not a tagline.
Channel mix — where you show up to reach the ICP. Two to four channels you'll do well, not twelve you'll do badly.
Messaging hierarchy — the three to five messages that anchor every campaign, in priority order, so website, deck, ads, and sales conversations all say the same thing.

If your "strategy" doesn't have these five things written down and agreed by leadership, you don't have a strategy. You have a wishlist.

What it is NOT

Most companies in Egypt and the Gulf have something they call a strategy that isn't one.

It is not a list of tactics. "Facebook ads, SEO, email, WhatsApp broadcasts" is a tactic list. Tactics answer what channels; strategy answers why these channels, for these customers, against these alternatives.

It is not a brand identity. Logo, colours, and guidelines are identity. Strategy decides what the brand needs to say; identity decides how it looks saying it. Both matter — they're not the same thing.

It is not a budget spreadsheet. Allocating spend is planning that follows strategy, not strategy itself.

It is not a content calendar. Scheduling posts is execution; strategy decides what the posts should achieve and for whom.

And it is not a deck. I've seen beautiful 60-slide decks that aren't strategies — they're narrations of what the company already does. A real strategy is short. If it doesn't fit on two pages, it's not done.

How to know if you have one

Three tests, all practical.

The one-sentence test. Ask your head of marketing to articulate the strategy in one sentence. Then ask the CEO. Then ask the agency. If the three sentences don't match — or if they can't be written — you don't have a strategy. You have a plan without one, which is the most expensive configuration in marketing.

The trade-off test. A real strategy helps you say no. When someone suggests a new channel, campaign, or audience, the strategy tells you whether to consider it. If everything feels like an opportunity, your strategy is too vague to be useful.

The written test. Is the strategy written down somewhere the team can find it — not in someone's head, not in a Slack thread, not in a deck that lives on one laptop? If not, it doesn't exist in any meaningful sense.

Strategy and plan are different things — strategy is the set of choices, plan is the execution of those choices. Confusing the two is how companies end up with activity but no results. If you want to go deeper on that distinction, the strategy vs plan topic breaks it down further.

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