I’ve run marketing at scale, and I’ve signed the wages myself.
I’m Steve Welsh. Ten years managing and marketing multi-million pound businesses for motor manufacturers. Nine years building my own print and design company, which I sold. Fifteen years since as a marketing consultant.
That middle chapter is the one that changed how I work. Once you’ve watched your own bank balance on a Friday, you stop recommending marketing that sounds impressive and start recommending marketing that pays.
Three chapters, one lesson each.
I managed and marketed multi-million pound businesses for motor manufacturers. Big budgets, hard targets, and monthly numbers you couldn’t argue with, a manufacturer knows exactly what a sale costs and exactly what marketing contributed to it.
What it taught me: marketing is a numbers discipline, not a creative one. If you can’t say what an activity produced, it isn’t a strategy. It’s a habit.
I started a print and design company and built it for nine years before selling it. Every decision was mine, and every one of them had a cost attached, including the marketing ones. I quoted, I chased, I delivered, and I paid the wages.
What it taught me: what it actually feels like to spend money on marketing and not know whether it worked. It’s why I won’t sell you activity you can’t measure, and why I’ll tell you when something isn’t worth doing.
Since then I’ve worked with businesses across Ayrshire, Glasgow and the UK, farm parks, recruitment agencies, engineering firms, PR consultancies, trades. One took annual turnover from £250,000 to £2.4 million. Another went from 450 monthly search appearances to 66,000.
What it taught me: the businesses that grow aren’t the ones with the cleverest ideas. They’re the ones where somebody does the unglamorous monthly work without needing to be chased.
Four things I hold to.
These aren’t values on a wall. They’re the reasons clients stay, and occasionally the reasons someone decides I’m not for them.
I’ll tell you when the answer is no
If you only need one thing fixed, I’ll sell you that rather than a package. If the honest answer is that you don’t need me yet, you’ll hear it on the first call. It costs me the occasional sale and saves us both a bad year.
You deal with me, not a handler
I take a small number of clients deliberately. No account manager relaying your question to someone you’ve never met, and no junior learning on your budget.
Numbers you can spend
Rankings, calls, enquiries and bookings, reported monthly on one page. Never impressions, reach or follower counts. If a metric doesn’t lead to money, it doesn’t go in the report.
Plain English, always
No fifty-page reports designed to justify a fee. If I can’t explain what I’m doing and why it matters in a sentence you’d repeat to a colleague, I haven’t thought it through properly.
Established businesses that live on being found.
Trades and construction, local service businesses, professional services, visitor attractions, engineering firms. Companies where a quiet month is a visibility problem rather than a market problem.
What it’s like to work with me.
“As well as great sales and marketing knowledge, Steve has fine attention to detail and impressive, bomb-proof processes.”
“A specialist who cares about the value he brings to your business. Always has his finger on the pulse.”
“Steve’s thorough analysis ensured my website performs optimally, delivering essential leads. Highly recommended.”
Have a conversation with me before you decide anything.
Thirty minutes, free. I’ll look at your visibility and your competitors beforehand, and you’ll leave knowing what I’d fix first, whether you work with me or not.