Market Positioning & Marketing Strategy

B2B marketing strategy and positioning your sales team can use

We study your market, your competitors and the people who actually sign the contract. Then we sharpen what you say and who you say it to. You get a 12-month plan with clear targets and a budget your CFO can stand behind.

Leadership team mapping a B2B marketing strategy and buying committee on a whiteboard in a Toronto office
Market dataMarket size, competitors, prices and search demand in Canada and the US
Every recommendation goes back to facts: market data, buyer interviews and your own CRM history.
01The challenge

Why B2B marketing strategy stalls before it reaches pipeline

Most mid-market companies don't lack marketing activity. What they lack is a shared answer to three questions: who exactly are we selling to, why should they pick us, and what should each dollar bring back?

You sound like every competitor

Your website, decks and ads list the same features your top three competitors claim. Buyers can't tell you apart, so procurement treats you as swappable and the talk turns to price.

Marketing and sales chase different buyers

Marketing reports lead counts while sales drops half of those leads on the first call. Nobody has written down who's involved in the decision, what each person needs to hear, or which deals to walk away from.

The budget has no logic behind it

Spend is split out of habit: last year's trade show, some search ads, an agency retainer. When the CFO asks what each line returns, the answer is a guess, and the first cut hits the wrong channel.

MessageWhat buyers hear first on your site, in ads and in sales decks
Positioning changes what every team works from, not just the tagline.
02What you get

What your strategy engagement delivers

You get working documents, not a slide deck that gets filed away. We write each one so your sales team, your agencies and your automation tools can use it on day one.

Plan and targets12-month calendar, targets and budget split
Each layer rests on the one below it, so the plan at the top stands on facts at the base.

Market and competitor analysis

A clear picture of your market in Canada and the US. Who competes for the same budget, how they position and price, where demand is growing, and which gaps are open.

  • How competitors pitch and package
  • Search demand and who owns it
  • Price and package comparison

Ideal customer and decision map

A profile of the companies you win most profitably, by industry, size and region. Plus a map of everyone who shapes the deal: the budget holder, your champion, the technical reviewer, procurement and legal.

  • Industry, size, revenue and region filters
  • Each role's worries, objections and proof needed
  • Clear rules for which leads sales should drop

What you say and how you say it

One positioning statement and three to five key messages with proof. Plus approved wording for each person in the decision, ready for your website, decks and campaigns.

  • Positioning statement and why buyers pick you
  • Key messages with proof
  • Short pitch and company description

Go-to-market plan

Which customer groups to go after first, the offer for each, the channels that reach them, and how marketing hands leads to sales.

  • Which groups first, and in what order
  • Channel mix for each group
  • Lead routing and response-time promise

12-month marketing plan with targets

A month-by-month calendar of campaigns, content and launches. It sets early and end results to track each quarter, and a budget split by channel.

  • Quarterly goals and targets
  • Budget split by channel and group
  • Review schedule and decision rules
03Outcomes

What changes for your team

A good strategy ends the daily debates. People stop arguing about tone, targets and budget, because the answers are written down and agreed.

Sales and marketing work one target list

Your ideal customer and drop rules become fields and scores in your CRM. Both teams measure success against the same companies.

Faster creative and campaign decisions

Writers, designers and agencies work from the same message guide. First drafts land closer to final, and approvals go faster.

A budget tied to sales

Every channel has a job and a target. At each quarterly review you move money toward what brings real deals, with reasons finance accepts.

Clean inputs for automation

Customer groups, buyer profiles and key messages feed lead scoring, follow-up emails and the automated content pipeline. Automation spreads a clear message, not noise.

PlanSet quarterly goals, targets and channel budgets
The plan keeps changing. Each quarter, results move budget toward what brings in sales.
04How it works

How the engagement runs

Most projects take four to eight weeks, depending on how many customer groups and markets we cover. You get a working session at each step, not a big reveal at the end.

DiscoveryCRM, analytics, materials and targets reviewed
Five steps, each ending with a working session, so decisions are made with your team, not for it.
  1. Discovery and data

    We look at your CRM history, won and lost deals, analytics, current materials and financial targets. Together we agree on the questions the strategy must answer.

  2. Market and buyer research

    We study competitors and search demand. Then a senior strategist interviews customers, lost prospects and your sales team to learn how buying decisions really get made.

  3. Positioning workshop

    Our Head of Marketing runs a workshop where your leaders test positioning options against the facts. We leave the room with one direction and the proof behind it.

  4. Plan and budget

    We turn the positioning into a go-to-market plan, a 12-month calendar, targets and a channel budget. Then we review it with sales and finance.

  5. Handover and quarterly reviews

    You get editable documents and definitions ready for your CRM. Optional quarterly reviews keep the plan current as results come in.

Strategist running a buyer interview as part of market positioning and go-to-market research
05Who it is for

When companies bring us in

Strategy work pays off most when things are changing, and the old message no longer fits the market you're selling into.

Entering a new market

A Canadian company moving into the US, or a US company coming to Canada, that needs to know which groups and regions to go after first.

Launching a product or service

A new offer that needs its own buyer, message and plan, without confusing the customers you already have.

After a merger or rebrand

Two product lines, two sales teams and two stories that need to become one clear position.

Before you spend more or hire an agency

You're about to raise ad budgets or bring in new vendors, and you want a brief they can't misread.

Grow shareSame offer, same market: sharpen positioning to win more deals
Each growth path needs a different mix of research, positioning and channel spending.
06Integrations

Data sources and tools we work with

We build the strategy on your real data. Then we hand it back in formats your systems can use.

CRM history

Deal data from HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho or Pipedrive, to find which customer groups close fastest and at the best margin.

Web and search analytics

GA4 and Google Search Console, to see what buyers search for and which pages help close deals.

Competitor research

Search visibility, ad libraries and public prices, to compare how competitors position and spend.

Buyer interviews and surveys

Planned interviews and short surveys with customers, lost prospects and sales reps.

Handoff to automation

Customer rules and buyer profiles exported as CRM fields, scoring rules and briefs for the automated content pipeline.

StrategyIdeal customer, positioning and plan built from all the facts
Several sources feed one strategy, which then feeds your CRM and campaigns.
07Pricing

Marketing strategy pricing

We size strategy work by the number of customer groups, markets and people involved. Tell us what you need to decide and we'll send a fixed quote.

Positioning sprint

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One customer group or product line: competitor review, buyer interviews, positioning and a message guide.

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Full strategy and 12-month plan

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Everything in the sprint, plus the ideal customer and decision map, go-to-market plan, targets and budget split.

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Quarterly strategy reviews

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Regular quarterly meetings to review results, move budget and update the plan.

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Scoping callWe agree on the decisions the strategy must support
Your quote is fixed before work starts, based on a scope we agree in one call.
FAQQuestions buyers ask

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from a brand agency or a management consultancy?

A brand agency often starts with visuals, and a management consultancy often stops at the slide deck. We start with market and buyer facts. We end with a 12-month plan, targets and a budget, turned into CRM fields and campaign briefs. Because we also run SEO, paid ads and automation, the plan is written by people who have to carry it out.

Who on our side needs to be involved?

Plan on a sponsor from leadership, usually the CMO, VP Sales or CEO, plus one or two people who know your CRM and current campaigns. We'll also ask for introductions to five to ten customers and lost prospects for interviews. Finance joins the budget review, so the budget split is approved before handover.

Can you work across Canada and the US, including French-language markets?

Yes. We often look at demand and competition on both sides of the border, and we can break it down by province or state. If Quebec is in scope, the message guide includes advice for French-language materials. We point out where translation alone isn't enough and the message needs adapting.

What do we actually own at the end?

You own everything we hand over, in editable form: the research summary, the ideal customer and decision map, the positioning and message guide, the go-to-market plan, the 12-month calendar and the budget model. We also provide CRM-ready definitions for customer groups and scoring, so your team can put them in place with or without us.

How do you measure whether the strategy is working?

Each quarter has early signs, like meetings booked and engagement from target companies, and end results, like pipeline created, win rate and cost per deal by group. We agree on these targets with you while building the plan. So success is defined before any money is spent.

Next step

Give every team the same answer to "who are we for?"

Tell us about your market, your growth targets and what isn't working today. A senior strategist will reply with a scope and a fixed quote.