Callum Johns

How the role works, and what it costs.

The work is advisory. I decide what your business should be making, why, for whom and to what standard, then direct whoever produces it. Here is the shape of an engagement, what is included, and the figure it starts at.

The four stages

  • 1

    Audit

    The first month is spent looking rather than producing. What has been made, what it cost, what it returned, who your buyers actually are, and where the enquiries you value came from. It usually ends with a shorter plan than you expected.

  • 2

    Strategy

    One document that says what your business should be making, why, for whom and to what standard, across social media, content, digital marketing, online presence and the tooling behind them. It names what you stop doing as clearly as what you start.

  • 3

    Direction

    Briefs written for whoever produces, whether that is your team, your agency, a freelancer or one of mine. I direct against the brief, and I am available to the people making the work, because standards slip in the gap between brief and edit.

  • 4

    Review and measurement

    Work checked before it is published rather than after, and a monthly look at the numbers that matter: enquiries, where they came from, and which decisions produced them. The plan changes on that evidence, not on opinion.

What is included

  • Content and social media strategyIncluded
  • Briefs, direction and quality controlIncluded
  • Digital marketing strategy, search and AI visibilityIncluded
  • Online presence and profile reviewIncluded
  • AI systems and tooling decisionsIncluded
  • Monthly measurement and reviewIncluded
  • Filming, editing, photography and designQuoted separately
  • Paid media spendQuoted separately

Production is deliberately separate. The moment the person setting the standard is also the person billing for the work, the standard becomes negotiable. EDITALL and Orca Media are available where they fit, and using them is always your choice.

Where to start

Two ways in before any commitment. Both stand on their own, and neither assumes you go further.

  • Free

    The scorecard

    Ten questions on how content decisions get made in your business, scored out of thirty, with an honest reading of what the number means. Two minutes, and nothing is stored unless you ask for a written version.

    Take the scorecard

  • £500 one off

    A positioning review

    A brief written review of how your business is positioned today: what you are saying, where it contradicts itself, how it reads against the people you compete with, and the two or three decisions that would change it. Yours to keep and act on, whether or not we work together.

    Ask for a review

Three ways of working together

The difference is time and depth. The first is fixed and finite. The second holds the standard month to month. The third puts me inside the business rather than beside it.

One day a week

A ten week programme

£10,000

Fixed length, fixed price

  • A day with me every week for ten weeks, working on your business
  • The strategy set and written down, with the briefs to deliver it
  • A defined problem solved in a defined stretch of time

Suits a business that knows roughly what it needs and wants senior attention on it, without an open ended commitment.

One day a week

A monthly engagement

From £5,995 a month

Minimum six months

  • Ongoing direction rather than a fixed piece of work
  • Briefs, review before publication, and monthly measurement
  • Deeper than the programme, and it keeps holding the standard

Suits a business producing regularly that needs the standard held between one month and the next.

Two days a week

Working inside the business

£8,995 a month

Minimum six months

  • Two days a week, enough time to work through things properly
  • Time spent working directly on the work, not only directing it
  • The closest thing to having a content officer on the team

Suits a business where decisions need making with them week to week rather than advised from the outside.

Production stays separate from all of these. Filming, editing, design and media spend are quoted on their own, and using EDITALL or Orca Media for them is always your choice. For comparison, published UK guides for 2026 put fractional marketing leadership at roughly £3,000 to £8,000 a month, against a six figure cost for the equivalent permanent hire, which is set out in what senior content leadership costs.

Common questions

What does the retainer include?
Strategy, briefs, direction of whoever produces the work, review before publication and measurement. The time with me each week is the difference between the three arrangements. Production is quoted separately.
What does it cost?
Three ways of working: a ten week programme at £10,000, a monthly engagement from £5,995, or two days a week at £8,995 a month. Before any of them, the scorecard is free and a written positioning review is £500.
How long is the commitment?
The ten week programme is exactly that, ten weeks. The monthly arrangements run for a minimum of six months, because content decisions take a quarter or two to show up in enquiries.
Do I have to use your agencies?
No. EDITALL and Orca Media are available where they fit, quoted and contracted separately, and plenty of clients use their own suppliers instead. Recommending my own agencies is a conflict of interest, so it is said openly rather than buried.
What do you need from us?
One person inside the business with the authority to act on decisions, access to what has been produced and what it cost, and an hour a month from whoever owns marketing.
What happens on the introductory call?
Thirty minutes on how your business runs today, what you are producing, and what it is meant to achieve. You will get a straight answer about whether this role fits, including when it does not.

Who I work with

The role is the same in every sector. What changes is the standard that has already been set, and how much of the market is competing on content at all.

Find out whether the role fits your business.

Thirty minutes on how your business runs today, and a straight answer on whether this is the right hire, including when it is not.

Book an introductory call See how the role works