Answers

Answers to common founder questions about strategy, creative and campaigns from Narratiive.

• How should a 10-person company do marketing?

  A 10-person company should choose one clear customer, one clear message and two or three channels. Run them steadily for at least one quarter before changing anything. Budget as a share of revenue: Gartner's 2025 survey of 402 marketing leaders found budgets averaged 7.7% of company revenue. Give one person ownership of the plan, and bring in outside help only for work you cannot staff yourself.

• Is a marketing agency worth it under £10M revenue?

  Yes, when the agency solves a problem you cannot solve yourself and you can measure the result. An agency is not worth it yet if your customer, message or ownership of marketing is unclear. Fix those first. At Narratiive, we agree scope and cost with you on a call. Our subscription figures are indicative until agreed.

• What does AI-led marketing cost?

  At Narratiive, we start with GROUNDWORK, a first look at your business and your opportunity that shapes our discovery call. If we are a good fit, we write your FIELDWORK, the strategy your marketing is built on. Then marketing runs as a subscription: strategy, creative and campaigns in one plan. There is no fixed price list. The cost of FIELDWORK and the subscription is set around the size, ambition and complexity of your business, and we agree it with you on a call before you commit to anything.

• AI-led marketing vs traditional agency vs in-house: which is right?

  Choose by what you lack. If you need one skilled person full time and have steady work, hire in-house. If you need senior direction a few days a month, use a fractional marketing director. If you need strategy, creative and campaigns together, choose an agency or an AI-led subscription. Traditional agencies suit large, complex programmes.

• How do you choose a marketing agency?

  Choose the agency that can show a result for a business like yours, tells you who will do the work, and agrees scope in writing before you start. Avoid long lock-in contracts in the first three months. At Narratiive, we agree scope and cost with you on a call. Any figures are indicative until agreed. Ask the eight questions below. A good agency will answer them clearly.

• What is AI-accelerated marketing?

  AI-accelerated marketing means people set the strategy and make the judgement calls, and AI speeds up the work: research, first drafts, creative variations and testing. At Narratiive, we use it to give founder-led businesses strategy, creative and campaigns in one subscription.

• What is FIELDWORK?

  FIELDWORK is the written strategy we build for a business. It sets out who you sell to, what makes you different, where to focus first and the plan to act on it. At Narratiive, it comes before any campaign work.