Artisan Consulting:
Your outsourced C.T.O. / C.M.O.
Are Your Design, Marketing, & I.T. Teams Delivering—or Just Draining Your Resources?
Problem:
You company's paying more and more for I.T. and advertising but seeing no gains. Your providers and hires say it's market forces, you suspect skill-level issues.
Solution:
We'll get you the answers you need to run your business smoothly.
C.t.o. A chief technology (or technical) officer, a senior executive with responsibility for managing the technological requirements of a company or other institution.
C.M.O. A chief marketing officer is a senior executive with responsibility for managing the marketing and branding strategies, teams, and initiatives of a company or other institution.
We are an independent, impartial auditor & consultant with over 20 years of professional experience in the marketing and I.T. industries.
Think of us as a temporary C.M.O or C.T.O that you hire on a per-job or contract basis when you’re unsure how to proceed with large I.T. infrastructure or marketing and advertising spends or hires.
Your On-Demand CMO & CTO: Expert Guidance When the Stakes Are High: Japanese and American Business consulting
Just like you’d hire a lawyer or accountant for complex legal and tax related issues, hiring a professional to evaluate and audit the very intricate landscape of digital business development and I.T. and can save you from great risk.
Why do it alone when you don’t have to?
Tailored Consulting Solutions for These Scenarios and more:
S.E.O.
- How do we know if this SEO proposal is fair?
- How do we evaluate the performance of our current SEO team / company?
- Are we paying too much for our SEO work?
- What are the signs of a bad SEO company?
- Is the salary this SEO hire is asking for fair?
- Can you sit in on a meeting with my SEO company to see if they’re competent?
Marketing & Branding
- How do I know if I'm paying too much for digital marketing?
- Is this marketing plan / logo / video effective in the Japanese / American market ?
- Are we paying too much for my P.P.C. ads?
- Are the written contents / designs / ads adequate for our needs?
- Is the salary this design / marketing hire is asking for fair?
- Can you sit in on a meeting with our marketing / branding company to see if they’re competent?
I.T., Apps & Software
- Are we paying too much for software subscriptions?
- Are we using the right software for my business?
- Am I using the right hardware for my business?
- Is this the right I.T. partner for our business?
- Which of these IT proposals (hosting / e.r.p. / email / Internet / VOIP Phone) is best for me?
- Is this proposal for system development (adding functionality to NetSuite, QuickBooks, and other business management software) fair?
eCommerce
- Is this proposal for ecommerce development the correct platform for my business needs (Shopify/AWS/Amazon)?
- Is this proposal for middleware linking my website to my backend system (Netsuite / Quickbooks etc) fair?
- Is this product page outline going to work?
- Are these photos being proposed at this cost going to be effective?
- Are the translations accurate / correct / effective for Japan / the U.S. market?
Websites
- How do I know if the agency I hired is skilled?
- Is this web development proposal fair?
- Is this the website my business needs to achieve a specific goal?
- Is this web developer skilled / asking for a reasonable rate?
- Why are there no contacts coming from my website?
- Are the photos on our website good?
- Is this proposed website effective?
Specialty Staff Hiring
- How do I know if the agency I hired is skilled?
- How do I evaluate this I.T. / Marketing / Web / SEO hire effectively to see if they’re skilled or faking?
- Can you evaluate this potential hires English language abilities for us?
- Can you oversee the hiring of our I.T. staff for us?
- Can you oversee the hiring of our English Speaking staff for us?
- Can you oversee the hiring of our Design / Photography / Video / Content Creation staff for us?
You need expert advice, we'll get you the straight answers.
Contact us today to hire the optimal support team to help you audit your business partnerships if you’re concerned that you’re being
overcharged, mismanaged, or misled by your marketing and I.T. providers, subcontractors, hires, or teams.
We help businesses
protect themselves from being
overcharged or
misled
by their advertising, marketing, and I.T. teams, 1099s, and outsourcing agencies. We
review
your bids and proposals,
analyze
your spending, and
audit
your team or outsourced agencies’
performance and competency.
Why Choose Us: Artisan Consulting
Trusted Advisor to Japanese, American, & Multinational Manufacturing Businesses
Your Personal Pros.
We have evaluated thousands of hires, teams, solution providers, and agencies, and can help you select the most effective partners and staff for your business, and turn away the wrong ones.
We won’t sell you development services directly or make a commission off introducing you to service providers so we are able provide you with unbiased guidance with no other interests than honestly telling you if you’re choosing the right partnership or not to grow your business.
We will explain why a hire, team, or bid is good, fair, or out of the question, based on industry metrics, skill, cost, your REAL needs (not their sales goals) and their ACTUAL qualifications, not the slick presentations or jargon they use to pressure you into signing a contract.
Articles
Read Articles
Inaba USA's gamble to absolutely ignore digital marketing.
Inaba USA: Sometimes You Can Do Everything Wrong (Digitally) and Still Get Business Right
Asking the Wrong Questions Part 1: "Is This a Good Photo?"
Scene: A client—or potential client—shows me an image, video, graphic, tagline, or bit of copy or potential hire’s portfolio and asks, without giving context, “Is this good?”
Asking the Wrong Questions Part 2: "Is This a Good Logo?"
Fujiyama, Geisha, Anime, & “Cool” Japan: How Japanese Businesses’ Reliance on Cultural Stereotypes Weakens Their Brands
Asking the Wrong Questions Part 3: "Will This Sell in the U.S.?"
Part 3 of “the Wrong Questions Japanese Businesses Ask”
The answer is always yes. But also always no.
Why Being Great at Something Isn’t Enough to Succeed in Business
Why new businesses REALLY fail: hint - it's all about the hats you wear.
Why Businesses Fail - Leadership
A CEO is Like a Goldfish Bowl: Why Business Growth (or Stagnation) Starts and Ends with Leadership
OUR CLIENTS
Do these problems
sound familiar?
All of our relationships start with a complaint:
"The setup costs were outrageous, and we’re still dealing with bugs."
Client I.T. infrastructure woes #5
"They promised to rank me #1 for a bunch of keywords, but it was for keywords no one searches for!"
Client of Shady SEO Company
"They only cared about clicks and traffic, not actual sales."
Client of Outsourced SEO Company
"We spent tens of thousands, but got nothing to show for it!"
Client of National Brand SEO Agency
"Their campaign was full of clichés that missed the mark."
Client of Overseas Agency used for American Market
"Their ‘localization’ efforts were surface-level at best."
Client using American Advertising Company for International Campaign
"They spent all their time trying to mimic the culture instead of creating something authentic."
Client who used a Japanese Agency for an American campaign
"They focused so much on aesthetics that they ignored the product itself."
Client who chose the wrong Photographer
"They used the wrong type of models for my brand."
Client who used an expensive agency but had a failed campaign
"The photos and videos didn’t highlight the product’s key features."
Client who went with a "cool" agency but lost out
"Their captions were so generic they could’ve been selling anything."
Client who chose their content creator because she could speak English
"The influencer they picked had zero connection to my target audience."
Client who went with a big agency who didn't understand the brand
"They burned through our ad budget in days with no results!"
Client with a huge SEM Failure #1
"They targeted completely irrelevant keywords."
Client with failed PPC campaign management #2
"They boosted random posts instead of running real campaigns."
Client with horrible Social media management #1
"I got a ton of likes, but no sales."
Client with ROI problems, #2
"Their fees were outrageous for what little they did."
More Social Media Management Issues, part #3
"Our hosting bill is astronomical, and we’re not even using half the features."
Client with I.T. woes part #1
"We’re paying for 50 licenses, but only 8 people actually use the software."
Client with I.T. woes part #2
"This software looks great on paper but is impossible to implement."
Client with I.T. woes part #3
"Their customer service is nonexistent once they lock you in."
Client I.T. woes #4
"The setup costs were outrageous, and we’re still dealing with bugs."
Client I.T. infrastructure woes #5
"They promised to rank me #1 for a bunch of keywords, but it was for keywords no one searches for!"
Client of Shady SEO Company
Contact us today to hire the optimal support team to help you audit your business partnerships if you’re concerned that you’re being
overcharged, mismanaged, or misled by your marketing and I.T. providers, subcontractors, hires, or teams.
