This page sets out how our marketing agency works, in the order it happens. Maison Cealus keeps a short list of houses on purpose, so the process is built to find fit early, agree the work precisely and then get on with it from inside the business.
How our marketing agency works, in five steps
- The application. Five questions about you, your brand and what is not working.
- The first conversation. If there is a fit, we reply personally and talk it through.
- The fitting. We agree scope and fees, and put the proposal in writing.
- Residence. The team works inside the business, day to day.
- Weekly numbers and review. Each week we read what happened and decide what gets more.
The application
Admission begins on the application page or with the form on our homepage. It asks for your name, your brand or website, what is not working in your marketing, your stage and a phone number.
The stage options are pre-launch, under $1M revenue, $1M to $10M and $10M+. We ask because the right work looks different at each stage. A brand before launch needs a name, a look and a launch sequence, while a business past $10M tends to need volume, testing and a team that can keep pace.
The answer that matters most is what is not working. One honest, specific sentence tells us more than a polished pitch. "Our edits are reaching the wrong audience" is far more useful to us than "we want to grow".
The first conversation
If there is a fit, we reply personally by call or message and arrange a first conversation. It is a working conversation. We ask about the business, what has been tried, what the numbers look like and what the founder wants the brand to become.
Ask us as much as we ask you, from how residence would run day to day to what we would look at first. Both sides should leave knowing whether to go further.
The fitting
A couture house fits a garment to the person before it is finished. We do the same with the work. At the fitting we agree the scope, which of the four lines the business needs, what the first stretch of work will focus on and how we will judge it.
Fees are set here, after the first conversation and according to the scope. The proposal is put in writing before any work begins, so both sides know exactly what is included.
Some fittings are narrow. A business with a strong brand and weak distribution may need little beyond positioning, a media plan and paid testing. A brand before launch may need the whole house, from the name to the first film.
Residence, the work inside your business
Once the fitting is agreed, the team moves in. Residence means working inside the business day to day, posting, testing at volume, reading the numbers and putting more behind what works.
Film runs from the same room. Concept, script, shoot and edit happen in the house, so what we learn from the numbers goes straight into the next piece.
Scaled is a clear example. Inconsistent posting meant inconsistent leads, so we posted every day. In three months that brought 500K+ views and 7.5K followers, and most of the new audience was their target market.
Weekly numbers and review
Every week we go through the numbers with you, covering what was posted, what was tested, what it cost and what it brought in. Then we decide, format by format, whether to keep it, cut it or put more money behind it.
The review keeps the work honest, because a format earns more budget only while the numbers support it. For Valeron, a SaaS company, we tested formats, doubled down on the best ones and ran them as ads. Valeron went from $0 to $16K a month in under two months.
The method behind those weekly decisions is set out in our creative testing framework.
What we ask of you
- One decision-maker. Someone who can approve work on the day it is ready.
- Access. To the accounts, the product and the people who know the customer best.
- Honest numbers. Revenue, costs and results as they are, in good weeks and bad ones.
- Patience with testing. Most variations lose, and the few that win pay for the rest.
Begin with the application
Everything starts with five questions. If you have a name worth building and something in the marketing is not working, apply to the house.
If you are still comparing options, our guide on how to choose a marketing agency is a good place to start. The FAQ covers fees, timelines, contracts and data.