Three engines, one plan. Organic, viral and performance marketing, measured against the same number.

Most companies run channels side by side and hope they add up. I set up the three engines so each one feeds the next, with your website and your data in the middle, and one weekly number everyone watches.

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Growth marketing combines organic marketing (search, content and AI answers), viral marketing (referrals, word of mouth and things people share) and performance marketing (paid channels measured to revenue). The goal is a loop where each channel makes the others cheaper.

Why all three

Paid buys attention. Organic earns it. Word of mouth multiplies it. Each one alone has a ceiling.

89%of people say they most trust recommendations from people they know.
Nielsen Trust in Advertising, 20211
<1%of referral traffic came from AI search in BrightEdge's 2025 data. Organic search still leads.
BrightEdge, September 20252
7.8%of company revenue goes to marketing, barely up on 2025. Every channel has to earn its place.
Gartner CMO Spend Survey, 20263

The three engines

Each engine has its own job and its own timeline. Together they compound.

Organic

Search pages that answer real questions, articles worth quoting, structured data for AI answers, and a Google Business Profile that matches your site. Slow to start, cheap to keep.

Learn the term

Viral

Referral programmes, free tools and calculators people pass on, case studies customers share, and moments worth talking about. Growth that pays for itself.

Learn the term

Performance

Search, social and LinkedIn ads with tight targeting, landing pages built for one action, and spend judged by pipeline and revenue, not clicks.

Learn the term

The growth loop

Paid traffic finds the first customers. Good experiences turn them into referrals. Their questions become organic pages, which lower the cost of the next paid click.

Organicsearch, content, AI answersViralreferrals, word of mouth, tools people sharePerformancepaid channels, measured to revenueyour site and data

How a growth engagement runs

  1. Audit

    Week one. Every channel, the funnel and the numbers. Where money leaks and where demand already exists.

  2. Model

    Week two. One growth model on one page: the north-star number, the inputs that move it and the target for each.

  3. Build the engines

    Weeks three to six. Landing pages, tracking, the first organic pages, a referral mechanic and the first paid tests.

  4. Test weekly

    Every week. Three experiments at a time, killed or scaled on evidence.

  5. Compound

    Monthly. Shift budget toward what works and feed what customers ask into new organic pages.

What's included

One fixed monthly fee, agreed after a 20-minute call. Ad spend is paid directly to the platforms, never marked up.

  • A growth model with one north-star number
  • Organic pages, structured data and AI search checks
  • A referral or sharing mechanic built into the product or site
  • Paid campaigns, landing pages and creative tests
  • Tracking and one weekly dashboard
  • A weekly review with you and the team

Paid buys attention. Organic earns it. Word of mouth multiplies it.

The growth loop in one line

Questions people ask

Is growth marketing the same as performance marketing?

No, it's broader. Performance marketing is the paid part. Growth marketing also builds the organic and viral engines, so you rely less on ads over time.

How soon will we see results?

Paid tests show signal in two to four weeks. Organic pages take three to six months to build traffic. Referral loops depend on how often customers buy.

What does it cost?

A fixed monthly fee, quoted after a 20-minute call. Ad budgets are separate and paid straight to the platforms.

Does this cover AI search?

Yes. Organic now includes how ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI describe you. See context systems.

Do we need a senior marketing lead as well?

Sometimes. If nobody owns marketing direction, a fractional CMO engagement can include all of this.

Will you change our website?

Usually a little. Landing pages and tracking are part of the work. A full redesign is a separate website project.

More on growth

All insights

Startup marketing

What to do first at each stage, and what to skip.

Read the article

Get cited by ChatGPT

The organic engine, for AI search.

Read the article

Marketing consulting

When a short engagement is enough.

Read the article

Build it with AI, then run it yourself

Growth runs on loops you can repeat. We build the first one with AI, then you run and improve it yourself with the prompts, dashboards and playbooks we make together.

  1. Build it togetherWe make the real thing with AI tools, side by side, in your accounts.
  2. Learn the workflowYou see each step, keep the prompts and practise on live changes.
  3. Run it with AIYou manage and improve it yourself. I stay on call when you want a second pair of eyes.

Small and mid-sized businesses

Build and learn

We build the one thing that matters most right now, a website, an online store, a simple app or a workflow, with AI at every step. You work alongside me and keep every prompt, file and playbook.

Usually four to eight weeks. Quoted after a 20-minute call.

  • Goal, audience and a one-page plan
  • Your site, store, app or workflow, built with AI tools
  • A context file that tells AI tools about your business
  • Prompts and playbooks for everyday changes
  • Hands-on sessions for you and your team
  • Thirty days of support while you take over
Start with a 20-minute call

Enterprise teams

Build, train and scale

For companies that want AI in how they build and run digital products. We choose a pilot, build it with your people, then turn what worked into standards, training and guardrails across teams.

A pilot in six to ten weeks, then rollout at your pace. Scoped per programme.

  • Opportunity map and pilot choice
  • A pilot site, store, app or process, built with your team
  • Design system rules AI tools can follow
  • Shared context for your brand, products and data
  • Workshops and role-based training
  • Guardrails for quality, privacy and review
  • Measures for speed, cost and quality
Book a scoping call

Every example, guide and glossary entry on this site is part of the training. Read the insights or browse the glossary before we talk.

Let's find your growth loop

Tell me what you sell and where customers come from today. I'll show you the first loop I'd build.

Book a 20-minute call

Sources

  1. Nielsen, Trust in Advertising Study 2021, 40,000 respondents, via DMN. dmn.ca
  2. BrightEdge, AI accounts for less than 1% of search, organic traffic continues to dominate, 12 September 2025. brightedge.com
  3. Gartner, 2026 CMO Spend Survey, 11 May 2026. gartner.com
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