Making marketing magic
Clarity
Strategise and plan your way to total marketing clarity.
Capabilities
Turn your marketing team into a well-oiled machine.
Success
Get the results your business needs to grow.
How can Xennial help?
Marketing isn’t just social media, a radio ad, or your website. It touches everything from your external customer experience to your internal tech tools.
When you work with Xennial, I take a holistic look at your business and its marketing. Then I craft an approach that’s uniquely tailored to your business; no blanket approaches allowed.
Elevating your marketing function
Understanding the stages of marketing maturity is essential for any business seeking to improve its marketing efforts and achieve sustainable growth.
Below, I outline the five stages of marketing maturity and how I help my clients advance from their current phase, regardless of where they begin.
Basic
At this stage, businesses have no structured marketing processes in place. Marketing efforts are often ad-hoc, lacking strategic direction and consistency.
Key Characteristics
- Reactive marketing
- Limited use of data
- Inconsistent branding
- Low digital presence
Emerging
Businesses start to adopt structured marketing activities. There is an effort to create and follow a marketing plan, though execution may still be inconsistent.
Key Characteristics
- Basic use of digital tools
- Beginning to collect and analyse data
- Developing brand identity
- Some planned campaigns
Developing
Marketing processes become more refined and consistent. There is a strategic approach, with regular planning and execution of marketing activities.
Key Characteristics
- Enhanced use of digital marketing
- More consistent branding
- Data-driven decision-making begins
- Integrated marketing campaigns
Established
Marketing is a well-defined and integral part of the business strategy. There is a clear understanding of target audiences and a solid digital presence.
Key Characteristics
- Advanced use of marketing technologies
- Comprehensive data analysis
- Strong brand recognition
- Integrated marketing communications
Advanced
The marketing function is fully optimised, with continuous improvement processes in place. Marketing is data-driven and aligned with overall business goals.
Key Characteristics
- Holistic marketing strategy
- Advanced analytics, personalised customer experiences
- A strong cohesive brand presence
Bringing in the A team
Over the years, I’ve built a network of some of advertising and design’s best and brightest. So if your marketing project needs a specialist’s touch, I can connect the dots.
Plan
Where you are now, where you need to be, and the strategy to get you there.
Innovate
Creating value-adding marketing ideas that give your business the X-factor.
Develop
Mentoring, advice and guidance to develop your marketing team’s capabilities.
Deliver
Implementation on-time and on-budget, with specialist help along the way.
Measure
Ongoing measuring to make sure it’s working, and check the need to shift gears.
Marketing Workshops
If you have a one-off marketing problem you need solved ASAP, Xennial can help. My Marketing Workshops give you a ‘Traction Plan’; a considered roadmap outlining where to take your marketing next, and first steps to help you get started.
"James joined Apex as a virtual marketing director in late 2021 to support our in-house capability and maximise our marketing efforts. He developed a comprehensive marketing strategy to support our transformation and growth. Over the subsequent two years he supported Apex at both a strategic and operational level as we built strong marketing and brand foundations and our client engagement model. He integrated seamlessly with our executives and management team and took great care to understand our business needs and complexities. His contributions were invaluable during a key phase of our business, marketing, brand and client journey."
Apex Advice
Craig Mulholland,
Chief Executive
"How lucky were we to have been introduced to James! Having recently been through a rebranding exercise, he’s been the yin to my yang, keeping me on the straight and narrow with his expert guidance and calm demeanour. It’s been a pleasure to work alongside someone who can so seamlessly balance process and structure with fun and enthusiasm for the project."
Business East Tamaki
Ruth White,
General Manager
"A chance conversation with James at a business meeting resulted in him coming in and doing a review of our Marketing and Brand Strategy. James was thorough in his review and came back with an easily read and comprehensive report of our current situation and what he recommended. As a result, we are undergoing an exciting full rebrand, something we should have done a long time ago. James is great to work with, he explains his recommendations well at both tactical and strategic levels, and is working with us to achieve our goals. We absolutely recommend James and his company Xennial to anyone wanting advice on marketing, and support in moving their company forward."
Nautech Electronics
Alison Turner,
Director
"James’s expertise comes through gently and easily, but he will still be ready to challenge if he doesn’t think the right decision is being made. He is knowledgeable and experienced in the business world. We have been through ups and downs in our industry and have felt in safe hands with James all the way. We now have confidence that we will continue to develop great marketing assets."
Temple Water
Robyn Lonsdale,
General Manager
"I've had the pleasure of working with James for well over a year now and couldn't recommend him more! An absolute go-getter that is consistently delivering with awesome ideas and strategies."
Venerdi
Sam Kelly,
Marketing Co‑ordinator
"I have worked with James for many years. He offers wise guidance drawn from an exceptional depth of thinking and insight. He is pragmatic and professional and adds tremendous value."
Money Matters
Dr Rodger Spiller,
Managing Director
"We were referred to James by another of James's customers. He helped us rapidly develop a brand and create a suite of consistent, professional and effective marketing resources which have already had a real impact on our business. We would recommend James to any business seeking improvements in all aspects of branding, marketing and related strategy."
Edis Tech
Simon Fortescue,
General Manager
"James has assisted Ascot Angiography over several years, providing varying levels of marketing support including branding and website development as well as our annual Cardiology Symposium. We have appreciated James's expertise, enthusiasm and flexibility in his approach. We regard James as a member of our team - he is a great resource for our business and we enjoy working with him."
Ascot Angiography
Sarah MacLean,
Business Manager
“James is awesome! We had marketing ambition and internal talent but we lacked experience and strategy. James took the time to learn our company workings and resources and worked with us to create a marketing plan. It's like he works inside our company. He holds us to plan, mentors our internal talent, delegates some tasks and completes others, all the while opening our eyes to possibilities. He has brought real strength and clarity to Venerdi's marketing and continues to build our competency along the way.”
Venerdi
Tim Grainger,
Founder