The Engagement, Step by Step and Without the Mystery
What we audit before you pay anything, what goes into the plan, what happens in week one versus week four, what lands in your inbox every month — and what you keep if you leave.
What Actually Happens, in Order
The homepage version of this is four boxes. Here is what sits inside each of them.
01 — Free Marketing Review
Before any money changes hands, we go through what you already have. That means the website (speed on a mobile connection, whether an enquiry can actually be completed, whether the pages say what you sell), the tracking (does GA4 exist, are any conversions defined, is Search Console connected), your organic position (which pages earn traffic and for what), your Google Business Profile (completeness, categories, photos, review position against nearby competitors), and any live ad accounts — structure, search terms, and where the budget is leaking. We also look at three or four competitors ranking or bidding on the same terms, because your costs are set by them, not by you.
You receive a written summary: the findings ranked by likely impact, the two or three things we would fix first, an honest view on whether a channel is worth starting at the budget you have in mind, and a rough cost and timeline. There is no charge, no obligation, and if we think you do not need an agency yet, we will tell you that instead.
02 — Strategy & Channel Plan
Budget gets allocated between two jobs: capturing demand that already exists (search ads, local SEO, SEO on buying-intent terms) and creating demand that does not (paid social, content, remarketing). Early on we usually weight toward capture, because it proves quickly whether the offer converts at all, and there is no sense building a content engine for a proposition that nobody buys. Within paid, a small share of monthly spend is ring-fenced as a test allowance for new keywords, audiences and creative, so the account cannot quietly go stale.
The plan document itself contains: the goal stated in enquiries per month and a target cost per enquiry; each channel chosen and what it is responsible for; the budget split and how it is expected to ramp; the tracking plan, naming which events count as a conversion; the first 90 days of work; what we are deliberately not doing yet and why; and the reporting and meeting schedule. It is a few pages, in plain language, and you should be able to hand it to someone else in your business and have them understand it.
03 — Launch & Optimize
Week 1 is a build week. Tracking goes in first and gets tested with real submissions — form, call and WhatsApp click — before a rupee of spend. Then campaign structure, keyword lists, an opening negative keyword list, audiences and creative. Landing pages are checked for a single obvious action. Budgets are deliberately capped low while the account gathers its first data, and we check daily for disapprovals, tracking errors and obviously wasted clicks.
By week 4 there is enough data to act on. The search term report gets mined for new negatives and for keywords worth splitting out. Budget and bids move toward the segments that converted. Losing creative is paused and winning creative iterated. Pages that take clicks but produce nothing get changed. The first organic content is published and indexed, and early ranking positions are recorded as a baseline.
In between, the weekly rhythm stays the same: search terms and placements reviewed, spend pacing checked against budget, one or two new ad variations tested, tracking anomalies chased down, and every change written into a log so the monthly report can explain exactly why a number moved.
04 — Monthly Reporting
One report covering every channel we run. It opens with enquiries and cost per enquiry by channel, then spend against budget, the change versus the previous month, the campaigns, keywords and creative that produced results, organic ranking and traffic movement, and Google Business Profile calls and direction requests where local matters. After the numbers: what we changed and why, what we learned, and what we plan to do next month, including any budget shift we are recommending.
Then a review call, usually 30 to 45 minutes in the first week of the month. We walk through the report, you tell us which enquiries were genuine and which were time-wasters, we agree the budget split for the coming month, and you tell us what is happening in the business — a launch, a season, a stock problem, a price change — that should change the plan.
What We Need From You
Access, early. Admin or editor rights on Google Ads, Meta Business, GA4, Search Console and your Google Business Profile, plus a way to add a tracking container to the site. Where an account does not exist, we create it in your name. Chasing access is the single most common reason a launch slips by a week.
Approvals inside a reasonable window. Ad copy, creative and page changes need a yes or a no, ideally within two working days. We would rather you say no quickly than say nothing for a fortnight while budget sits idle.
Fast follow-up, and honest feedback on leads. Enquiries go cold in hours, not days. And we can only optimise toward real customers if you tell us which enquiries were real — a monthly list of which leads were genuine changes the campaign more than any bid adjustment we could make on our own.
Who Does What
Written down so there is nothing to argue about in month three.
We Do
Our Side of the Engagement
Strategy and the channel plan. Keyword, audience and competitor research. Building and structuring the ad accounts. Writing ad copy and producing creative from the assets available. Setting up and testing conversion tracking. Weekly optimisation and a written change log. Content and page briefs. The monthly report and review call. Telling you early when something is going wrong rather than at month end.
You Do
Your Side of the Engagement
Granting account access, or permission to create accounts in your name. Approving copy, creative and page changes inside the agreed window. Paying the media spend directly to the platforms. Following up enquiries quickly. Telling us which leads were genuine. Flagging anything happening in the business — a price change, a stock shortage, a new competitor — that should change what we are running.
Case by Case
Agreed Between Us
Website changes: we specify them, and either your developer implements or we do, depending on what you prefer. Photography and product imagery. Offers, pricing and discount decisions, which are yours to make but ours to test. Asking customers for reviews, which works far better coming from you than from an agency.
Not Included
Outside the Retainer Unless Agreed
The advertising spend itself, which goes straight to Google or Meta from your account. Third-party tool subscriptions. Full website rebuilds. Offline media, PR and print. Sales calling and lead qualification. If any of these turn out to be the real blocker, we will say so — and say who is better placed than us to fix it.
What the Opening Quarter Realistically Looks Like
Month one is not meant to be efficient. Knowing that in advance saves a lot of unnecessary worry in week three.
Month 1 — Setup and First Data
- Tracking installed and verified, accounts built, first campaigns live in roughly the first two weeks
- Cost per enquiry is at its worst here, and that is expected — the platforms are learning and so are we
- First enquiries usually arrive from paid channels; organic does nothing yet and should not be judged
- What to watch: whether enquiries are being tracked correctly, not whether they are cheap
Month 2 — Cutting Waste
- Enough conversion data to remove the search terms, placements and audiences that spend without producing
- Cost per enquiry normally improves this month, sometimes sharply, as the obvious waste comes out
- Budget starts shifting toward whatever converted, and the first SEO and content work goes live
- What to watch: the trend in cost per enquiry, and whether lead quality is holding as volume rises
Month 3 — The First Real Read
- A full quarter of comparable data, which is the first point at which channel decisions are worth making
- You can see cost per enquiry by channel and decide what to scale, what to hold, and what to stop
- SEO may show early ranking movement, but rarely meaningful traffic this soon — that is a month 4 to 6 conversation
- What to watch: closed business, not just leads, now that enough of them have had time to convert
This is the shape of a typical opening quarter, not a promise. How fast it moves depends on your category, competition, budget, and how quickly enquiries get followed up.
How Often You Hear From Us
Enough to stay informed, not so much that reading updates becomes a second job.
Weekly
Optimisation work happens whether or not there is news. You get a short written update when something material changed, and a direct message whenever a decision or approval is needed from you.
Monthly
The full report across every channel, followed by a 30 to 45 minute review call in the first week of the month. That call is where the next month gets decided, together.
In Between
Email and WhatsApp, Monday to Friday, 10:00–19:00 IST, replied to within one business day. Anything urgent in the account — a disapproval, broken tracking, runaway spend — we act on immediately and tell you afterwards.
Staying, and Leaving
The uncomfortable part of the conversation, put in writing so you do not have to ask.
No Lock-In
- Engagements run month to month, with no minimum term and no exit penalty
- Tell us before the next month begins and we close the current month out cleanly
- We would rather earn the renewal every month than hold you to a twelve-month signature from a week when you were optimistic
- Pausing for a season is fine too — several businesses run heavy for three months and quiet for two
What You Own
- Your ad accounts, analytics property, Search Console and Google Business Profile stay in your name throughout
- Anything we create in a new account is transferred to you, not held under an agency umbrella you cannot leave
- Campaign history, conversion data, audiences and keyword research are yours, and they leave with you
- Content, landing page copy and creative produced for you belong to you
How Offboarding Works
- We hand back full admin rights and remove our own access, rather than waiting to be asked
- You get the reporting history and a written summary of how the accounts are structured
- We note what we would have done next, so whoever picks it up is not starting from a blank page
- Nothing gets switched off, renamed or taken with us. The accounts should look exactly as they did the day before
Questions About Working Together
How long does it take to get from the free review to campaigns going live?
Usually one to two weeks, and most of that is access and approvals rather than build time. Once we have account access and the plan is signed off, tracking and the first campaigns are typically live within a few working days.
What access do you actually need from us?
Admin or editor access to your Google Ads, Meta Business, GA4 and Search Console accounts, permission to add a tracking snippet or tag manager container to the site, manager access to your Google Business Profile, and a way to publish or request page changes. Where an account does not exist yet, we create it in your name.
How much of my time will this take every month?
Roughly an hour a month for the review call, plus short approval decisions during the week, usually copy and creative sign-off. The one thing we cannot do for you is follow up on the enquiries, and that is where your time will actually go.
What happens if a month goes badly?
We say so in the report rather than hide it behind a better-looking metric, explain what we think went wrong, and set out what we are changing. If a channel is still not working after a fair trial, we recommend moving the budget instead of defending the original decision.
Do I have to sign a long contract?
No. Engagements run month to month. Tell us before the next month begins and we close out cleanly, hand back access, and leave the accounts and data with you. There is no exit penalty.
Who owns the accounts and the data if we stop working together?
You do, throughout. We work inside accounts held in your name wherever possible, and any account we create for you is transferred to you. Campaign history, analytics data, content and creative all stay with you when the engagement ends.
Start With the Free Review
No commitment at this stage — just a clear read on what you are running now and what we would do first.