Meeting Agenda: Les - Marketing Knowledge Transfer Session #1
Date: TBD (Week 1 - URGENT)
Duration: Half-day to Full-day (4-8 hours with breaks)
Attendees: Les, Uttam Kumaran (Brainforge), Bo/Steven (optional check-ins)
Location: ABC Office or Virtual
Meeting Overview
This is the first of 2-3 knowledge transfer sessions before Les’s March 2026 retirement. Our goal is to document ABC’s marketing strategy, channel history, vendor relationships, and institutional knowledge built over the past 5-10 years. This is a collaborative documentation session - we want to capture what’s working and preserve your expertise for ABC’s future.
Approach: We’re here to learn from you and document your strategic thinking. This is about preserving institutional knowledge, not critique.
Pre-Meeting Requests
If possible, please have available:
- Marketing budget spreadsheet (current year breakdown by channel)
- Channel performance reports (last 12-24 months)
- Vendor contact list and contract details
- Any existing marketing strategy documents
- Current analytics/reporting dashboards you use
Session 1 Agenda (4-8 hours)
Block 1: Marketing Strategy & Philosophy (60-90 min)
Your Marketing Approach:
-
Walk me through ABC’s overall marketing philosophy
- How do you think about the marketing mix for a multi-service company?
- How has your approach evolved over the past 5-10 years?
- What principles guide your channel selection decisions?
-
Budget allocation strategy
- How do you decide budget allocation across channels?
- What’s the current breakdown? (TV, radio, digital, etc.)
- How has this mix changed over time and why?
- Rule of thumb: What % of revenue goes to marketing?
-
Multi-service marketing complexity
- How do you balance marketing 17 different services?
- Which services get the most marketing investment and why?
- Do you market services individually or ABC as a brand?
- Cross-sell/bundle marketing strategy?
-
Geographic strategy
- Austin vs. San Antonio vs. other markets - different approaches?
- How do you handle local SEO and local advertising?
- Market penetration strategies by location?
Break (10 min)
Block 2: Channel Deep Dive - Digital (90 min)
SEO & Organic: 5. SEO strategy and execution
- Who manages SEO? (In-house vs. agency?)
- What’s the blog strategy? Who writes content?
- How do you track rankings by service/location?
- What’s working? What’s not?
- Local search strategy
- Google Business Profile management approach?
- Review management and response strategy?
- Local pack optimization tactics?
Paid Search & Display: 7. Google Ads strategy
- Who manages the account? (Agency or in-house?)
- Budget levels by service line?
- Geographic targeting approach?
- What keywords/campaigns perform best?
- What’s been your ROAS or cost per lead trends?
- Other digital advertising
- Bing Ads approach?
- Display advertising strategy?
- Retargeting/remarketing efforts?
Social Media: 9. Social media strategy
- Which platforms? (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.)
- Organic vs. paid approach?
- Content creation process?
- What’s worked? What hasn’t?
- Recent “porch decorating” example - what was the insight?
OTT/Streaming: 10. Over-the-top advertising - Which platforms/services? - Targeting strategy? - Performance vs. traditional TV?
Break (15 min)
Block 3: Channel Deep Dive - Traditional & Partnerships (90 min)
Traditional Media: 11. TV advertising - Which stations/shows? - Seasonal strategy? - Creative approach? - How do you measure effectiveness? - Cost trends over time?
-
Radio advertising
- Which stations/dayparts?
- Messaging strategy?
- Performance tracking?
-
Billboards & outdoor
- Current billboard strategy?
- Location selection process?
- Beyond paid billboards - the “600 trucks” strategy?
-
Direct mail & print
- Still using these channels?
- To whom? (Customer base vs. cold prospects?)
- Performance?
Partnerships & Referrals: 15. Costco partnership - How did this start? - How does it work operationally? - Volume and profitability? - Lessons learned?
-
Lowe’s/Home Depot
- Nature of these partnerships?
- Similar to Costco or different model?
-
Other partnerships
- Any other strategic partners?
- Referral program strategy?
Lunch Break (30-60 min)
Block 4: Vendor & Agency Relationships (60 min)
Key Vendors: 18. Monkey Boy - What do they handle? (Website, Click to Buy, analytics?) - How long have you worked with them? - Strengths and limitations? - Key contacts? - Contract terms and costs?
-
Call Source
- What data do you get from them?
- How do you use call tracking data?
- Reporting cadence?
- Key contacts?
-
GreenRope
- Email marketing and automation capabilities?
- How are you using it today?
- Customer segmentation approach?
- Campaign performance trends?
-
Nextstar
- What’s their role?
- Value they provide?
-
Travis’s company
- What do they handle?
- Relationship history?
-
Other agencies
- SEO agency?
- PPC management?
- Creative/design?
- Any others?
For each vendor:
- Key contacts and relationship owners
- Contract terms, renewal dates, costs
- What they do well
- What could be improved
- Transition considerations
Break (10 min)
Block 5: Analytics, Reporting & Attribution (60 min)
Current Analytics: 24. What do you track? - Which metrics/KPIs do you look at daily? - Weekly reports? - Monthly reviews?
-
Tools and dashboards
- Google Analytics - how do you use it?
- What reports do you create manually?
- What dashboards exist?
- Walk me through a typical month-end marketing review
-
Attribution challenges
- “How did you hear about us?” - current process?
- What’s working and not working with attribution?
- Where do you feel blind?
- What questions can’t you answer today?
-
Performance benchmarks
- What are your internal benchmarks by channel?
- Cost per lead targets?
- Conversion rate expectations?
- ROAS or ROI targets?
Break (10 min)
Block 6: What’s Worked, What Hasn’t & Transition Planning (60 min)
Historical Performance: 28. Biggest wins in the last 5 years - Which channels have been most successful? - Which campaigns/initiatives drove real growth? - What surprised you (good and bad)?
-
Biggest challenges and failures
- What have you tried that didn’t work?
- Budget wasted on channels that didn’t perform?
- Lessons learned?
-
Current concerns
- “Phone doesn’t ring as much” - what do you think is happening?
- Which channels are declining?
- PE competition impact?
- ChatGPT/AI search concerns?
Transition & Succession: 31. What knowledge are you most worried about losing? - What’s in your head that needs to be documented? - Vendor relationships that need warm handoffs? - Tribal knowledge about what works/doesn’t work?
-
Marketing structure post-Les
- Your thoughts on how ABC should structure marketing after you leave?
- One person? Team? More agency partnerships?
- What skills are most critical?
-
Handoff planning
- Who should own what after you leave?
- How can we best capture your knowledge in the next 3 months?
- What should sessions 2 and 3 focus on?
Session 1 Deliverables
During Session:
- Live documentation in shared doc
- Voice recording (with permission) for reference
Post-Session (Brainforge to deliver):
- Marketing channel inventory with performance notes
- Vendor/agency relationship map with contacts
- Key insights and lessons learned summary
- Knowledge gaps to fill in sessions 2 & 3
- Transition planning recommendations
Follow-Up Sessions (To Schedule)
Session 2 (Week 2-3): Deep dives on gaps from Session 1, vendor introductions, tactical execution details
Session 3 (Week 4+): Final knowledge capture, documentation review, transition planning
Notes
- Breaks scheduled but flexible based on energy/momentum
- Can split into multiple shorter sessions if preferred
- Goal is collaborative documentation, not interrogation
- Your expertise is valued - we’re here to learn and preserve
Prepared: December 3, 2025