Finally, a marketing offering that feels "in-house"

Your Brand, Our Virtual Marketing Department

A modern take on the broken agency model. Our Partnership Program finds the perfect balance between investing in headcount and hiring for IP.

Access an entire team of specialists for the price of a single employee.

For just one weekly fee, you access the marketing that your business needs to grow, managed by two leaders in the field.

With Lucy as your Creative Director and Nathan as your Marketing Director, you’ll have everything you need to take your brand forward. Like any team, we have meetings, project management software, planning sessions and yes sometimes even disagreements.

Flexibility - as and when you need it. Because in business, every week is not the same.

Instead of locking you into specific deliverables and an annual comitment, you lock in a number of hours to be consumed each month. We then shift and allocate them based on market needs, campaigns and your own capacity. Meaning you’re never paying for things you don’t need and where never selling you things your don’t want.

In todays fast moving world, your marketing needs to be able to spin on a dime  and so doest your marketing team.

Your Monthly Plan

Some agencies build what they want. We build what you actually need. It’s not about bloated scopes or cookie-cutter campaigns. We collaborate with you to shape a marketing function that fits like a glove, scales with you, and drives real growth. No filler. Just impact.
10 years of growing brands online

Not sure where to start? Let's chat.

This isn’t a thinly veiled sales call masquerading as a “strategy call” either. It will be a direct discussion to decide if we are a good fit for each other.

Brands we’ve worked with

Why us? If you’ve ever been burned by an agency, you’ll understand why the industry average churn rate is about 70% per year. That means 70% of clients leave an agency every year and need to be replaced. Our average retention at Backbone is 4+ years. Maybe you should come find out why people stick around so long…

Flex Your Hours

You lock in the amount of hours every month but you aren’t locked in to how they’re allocated. We are business owners too, so we actually get it. If you’ve got content overflowing from a recent shoot, then you can choose to allocate the budget to an automation or development job for the month.

Your Hours. Your Choice.

Marketing Manager
Traditional Agency
Partnership Program
Cost Efficiency
High salary + needs support team
Expensive retainers + hourly overruns
High ROI – less than one hire, more output
Speed of Execution
Moderate – limited by individual capacity
Slow – often process heavy
Fast – agile team setup
Creative Direction Included
Rarely included
Sometimes, at a premium
Yes – Lucy as Creative Director
Performance Marketing
Limited experience
Yes, but often with generic playbooks
Yes – Nathan leads performance
Scalability
Low – fixed capacity
Yes, but cost scales too
High – team flexes with needs
Technology & AI Tool Leverage
Basic tools only
Yes – but not always transparent
Yes – core to delivery model
Strategic Oversight
Moderate – depends on experience
Yes – but you’re not their only client
Yes – director-level involvement
Ongoing Innovation
Low – focused on execution
Low – not incentivised to push limits
Yes – always testing in our brands
Adaptability to New Trends
Low – usually not a trend-setter
Low – often outdated approaches
High – built-in experimentation
Clear Reporting and Insights
Manual, often inconsistent
Often fluffy or delayed
Clear, consistent, tailored
Integrated Planning & Execution
Challenging – resource constraints
Fragmented – depends on client brief
Seamless – we own outcomes
Team Continuity
High – one person team
Variable – depends on account lead
Low – shared ownership model
Risk & Commitment
High – hard to let go
Locked contracts, tough exits
Flexible – “don’t block the exit”
Marketing Manager
Marketing Manager
Marketing Manager
Marketing Manager
Cultural Fit and Collaboration
Dependent on individual
Often transactional
Feels like part of your team

GETTING STARTED IS EASY

We’re here for the long term - that means we’re very careful about who we start with. After a call, we’ll discuss a pilot project. Think about it like a first date.

Have a conversation

Get the conversation started by selecting a plan or booking a call. Once we’ve had a chat, we’ll set you up with the optimal plan, adapted for your needs.

Let's see if we're a good fit

Start a pilot

On average, our clients stay with us for five years. That’s why it’s important to make sure you enjoy working with us.

By starting a pilot, you’ll get to know if we’re the right fit for your business. Successful marketing starts with strong working relationships. It’s important we get it right.

Think of it like dating. If it goes well, we move to the next step

Join the program

If you’re happy with the pilot, it’s time to start the program. Through web development, design, and content creation, we’ll get your business to where you want it to be.

Meet your Virtual Marketing Department and get to work

Program Benefits

From brand strategy to email automation, we offer a cost-effective solution to your marketing needs. Our team are 100% focussed on growing your business and will deliver a flexible and personalised service to help you achieve your objectives and maximise your ROI.

Strictly limited to only 7 brands at a time.

Flexible

Think of this as a first date or a one night stand. Lets get to know each other, no commitments, just one project with clear deliverables.

Predictable

The same fixed price each month. Better results.

Full access

Access our full team of experts from Designers to Strategists.

Consistent

Dedicated hours each week. One team solving all your problems.

Simple

Straightforward tools and communication channels to manage your porjects.

Smart growth

Think of this as a first date or a one night stand. Lets get to know each other, no commitments, just one project with clear deliverables.
Virtual Marketing Department

Why we created this

The idea for our Partnership Program stems from our own experience as business owners. After years of disappointing results working with agencies, we realised there was another way.

Today, many marketing agencies are under-resourced and fail to deliver impactful work. Having been on the receiving end of this, we wanted to create something that genuinely helped businesses thrive.

We know that businesses need more than agencies who can only give a fraction of their time. To truly scale, you need an entire marketing department. Of course, that comes with a hefty price tag that most businesses can’t afford. With the program, you get a full team of professional marketers and creatives dedicated to scaling your business.

Partnership for us means a shared vision and goals whereby our business and yours grow together. Your business driven forward by our team.

Full Service Without the Fuss
Convenient Weekly Payments
Limited Spaces Available
AI Enabled Workflows
Flexible For Your Brand
Private Chat Access

The tools we use

To get the job done

Meta

Meta’s ad tools? We know them inside out. Just not using them for this client right now.

Klaviyo

Powerful email automation that turns browsers into buyers, and we love it for that.

StackAdapt

Self-serve programmatic digital display advertising.

Shopify

Ecommerce essential. When our clients run stores, we make Shopify hum.

N8N

We build flexible AI workflow automation for technical teams.

ChatGPT

Used strategically to spark ideas, refine research, boost speed, and never compromise on quality.

WordPress

Still a mainstay. We’ve worked with it enough to know all its quirks (and how to tame them).

Elementor

Getting the most out of the WordPress platform, while simplifying it for our clients

Active Campaign

Solid for email flows and automation. It’s in our toolkit, waiting for the right fit.

AdRoll

AI powered advertising. Run multi-channel ad campaigns that build brand awareness, deepen interest, and keep customers coming back.

Google Ads

Ready when needed, from search to YouTube, we know how to spend smart.

Zapier

Used to streamline your tasks & processes, and achieve more with less effort. Connect & integrate processes with automation, not people.

Tiktok

Not active here yet, but when we are, expect scroll-stopping content.

Adobe

The creative heavyweight, we tap into it for polished visuals and pro design.

Midjourney

Midjourney is a generative artificial intelligence program, we use it to dial in hyper-specific images within campaign contexts.

Loom

Loom is a video messaging tool that helps our team record, share, and collaborate using AI-powered messages and screen recording, to complete projects faster.

Skool

Our preferred all-in-one online platform for creators and businesses to build, manage, and monetize communities around their interests or expertise.

Slack

Where we talk shop, share wins, and occasionally drop a good meme, all in real-time. Clients welcome.

Asana

Our go-to for keeping projects on track, deadlines clear, and chaos in check.

Canva

Sometimes the simplest tool is the smartest. We use Canva when business owners require a less technical solution for their own implementation.

Questions That Are Asked Frequently.

Questions at this stage are likely a sign of inteligence. We’ve done our best to answers those we get most often.

What’s different from a normal project?

Rather than working on a one-off project, you get a full virtual marketing team dedicated to the growth of your business. We’ll work with you and your team on multiple projects to develop high performing strategies and content.

When and if we have available capacity we open up spots for One-off projects to outside clients. It could be anything from a photo shoot to a mar-tech integration, from a brand creation to a new website and most things in between. If this is what you want for now, explore the full service offering here.

At Backbone, we like to keep things simple. We use Asana to oversee all tasks. We also use Google Docs and Loom for submitting feedback. When you join our Partnership Program, we’ll make sure you are familiar with our tools and talk you through how it works.

Yes. Relationships end for various reasons and we totally get that you might want to take a different direction. Of course, we prefer to talk through things first, but if you’re ready to leave the program you can cancel anytime.

You could do that BUT a Marketing Manager is just the tip of the iceberg. For their strategies to play out, you’d need an entire team of Designers, Developers, Strategists and Content Creators. With our program, you get a full team of experienced professionals for the same price you’d pay for one full-time Marketing Manager.

With a combined experience of more than 80 years of experience, we offer a range of Marketing services from web design to branding. Rather than an agency/client relationship, we believe in partnership. We’ll slot right in with your team and help you find opportunities to grow your business.

The answer to this question entirely depends on where you’re at and where you want to go. To fully understand which options works for you, get in touch and our team will walk you through it.

With a combined experience of more than 80 years of experience, we offer a range of Marketing services from web design to branding. Rather than an agency/client relationship, we believe in partnership. We’ll slot right in with your team and help you find opportunities to grow your business.

We like to keep our program flexible. That means you can have as many or as little check-ins with us as you need. In our meetings, we’ll go through what we’re doing and what needs to be done. We’ll also take the time to understand what you need and make a solid plan.

At Backbone, we know that every business is different. That’s why we believe in flexibility. While we have three standard plans, if that’s not what you’re looking for, no worries. Let us come up with a plan that works for you. Just get in touch to get the conversation started.

When it comes to our prices, we like be transparent. We structure our pricing for predictability and flexibility, something which many businesses value. Our plans eliminate the uncertainty that often comes with pricing. By joining our Partnership Program, you’ll also avoid recruitment costs and additional admin.

Nope! To keep things simple, you can cancel anytime or adjust your plan to suit your needs. On average, our clients stay with us for five years or more. If you have any concerns about the program, talk to us first to see how we can help.

Packaging and print

Delivering high-quality print and packaging solutions for your brand.

Product packaging development

Creating appealing, unique packaging that enhances product appeal.

Performance Marketing

Implementing data-driven marketing strategies for measurable growth.

Print Ads

Designing eye-catching print ads that resonate with your audience.

Google Ads

Utilizing Google Ads for broad reach and increased website traffic.

Meta (Facebook) Ads

Leveraging Meta’s ad platform for targeted, effective campaigns.