Marketing Consultant · Southend on Sea
Your dedicated
marketing manager.
Senior marketing consultancy for small businesses across Southend and Essex.
Most small businesses in Southend don't need an agency. They need a marketing manager, someone who understands their business properly, makes informed decisions, and does the work. That's the model A2 Project is built on.
As a marketing consultant based in Shoeburyness, I work with a small number of businesses at any one time, embedding myself in each one the way an in-house marketing manager would. You get senior-level thinking, direct communication, and someone who is genuinely invested in your results.
The difference
Consultant vs agency.
What it means for you.
Traditional agency
A team of people, most of whom will never speak to you. An account manager in the middle. Work passed between juniors. Monthly retainers that pay for overheads you'll never see.
A2 Project
One person who knows your business inside out. Direct access. Every piece of work done by the same person who spoke to you. A retainer that pays for results.
Services
What a marketing
consultant covers
- —Marketing strategy, where to focus, what to prioritise, how to allocate budget
- —Social media management across Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn
- —Email marketing, campaigns, automations and audience building
- —Paid advertising, Google Ads and paid social, set up and managed properly
- —SEO, getting your business found locally on Google
- —Monthly reporting and clear recommendations on what to do next
Every engagement starts with a free consultation to understand your business and what marketing should actually be doing for it.
Local
Based in Southend.
Working across Essex.
A2 Project is based in Shoeburyness and works with businesses across Southend-on-Sea, Thorpe Bay, Leigh-on-Sea, Rochford, Great Wakering and the wider Essex area. Being local matters, it means a proper understanding of the market, the ability to meet in person, and a genuine stake in the success of local businesses.
Pricing
What it costs
Consulting and flexible engagements start from £400 per month, mixed and matched from whichever services you actually need. Below that figure a monthly retainer stops making sense, so you would get a free audit and honest advice instead.
Ongoing monthly plans start at £900 for Basic, covering strategy, organic social, email and reporting, and run up through Plus and Pro as more is added. Every engagement carries a one-off £500 setup fee covering onboarding, the initial plan and the audit.
Individual services can also be taken on their own. A quarterly strategy session is £125, a monthly strategic call is £250. Nothing is bundled in that you did not ask for.
FAQ
Common
questions.
Flexible consulting from A2 Project starts at £400 per month, with ongoing plans from £900. A quarterly strategy session on its own is £125 and a monthly strategic call is £250. Every engagement carries a one-off £500 setup fee. If your requirement is smaller than £400 a month, you will get a free audit and honest advice rather than a retainer that does not suit you.
An agency usually means a team, an account manager and layers between you and the person doing the work. A consultant means one person who knows your business and does the work themselves. For a small business the second is generally faster, cheaper and easier to get hold of on a Tuesday afternoon.
If you know roughly what you want and need someone to build the plan and keep you honest, consulting is the right shape. If you need the work executing month after month, a plan makes more sense. Most people start with a conversation and end up somewhere between the two.
You get a plan, agreed priorities and a regular call. Work is done, reported on plainly, and reviewed. There is no long tie-in and no minimum contract dressed up as a discount. If it is not working you should be able to say so and leave.
Yes, and that is often the most useful arrangement. Sometimes the gap is not capacity but direction, so the job becomes setting the strategy and helping the people you already have execute it properly rather than replacing them.
Work with A2 Project
Ready to grow
your business?
About
I'm Matt Sladden, founder of A2 Project. I started my career working with small businesses across Southend, across every industry, before moving on to work with household names and consulting for one of the world's leading creative agencies, where I worked alongside huge names in the automotive space such as BMW, MINI and Ferrari.
I now bring that experience back to where it started. Think of me less as an agency and more as your dedicated marketing manager, someone who embeds themselves in your business, understands your goals, and gets things done.