I'll tell you if your marketing is working.

Independent marketing strategy for South African businesses. I don't sell the work, so I can judge it honestly.

Book a call See the services
What I do

I look at what your business spends on marketing and what it gets back, then tell you plainly what to change. Strategy only, from someone with no reason to sell you more.

See the services

Four ways to work with me

Two for smaller businesses, two for bigger marketing budgets. Each pair starts with one honest look at where you are, and carries on only if that's useful to you.

Smaller businesses

No agency, spending under about R25 000 a month on marketing

Once-off · about ten working days

The Fit Review

R5 500 once-off

Should you start a podcast? Be on LinkedIn at your spend? Hire a marketer yet? You can't answer a channel question until you've looked at everything else. So I look at everything else.

  • A 90-minute session with you and whoever runs your marketing
  • A written verdict on where your marketing actually is, and whether the channel you're weighing up fits
  • If it doesn't fit yet, the three things that need to be true first
  • A 90-day plan: three moves, in order, with what each one is worth
  • A scorecard of the three to five numbers to watch

I'll need what you spend, the channels you use, and anything you'd call a plan.

Monthly · two-month minimum

The Monthly Check-in

R3 000 a month

A plan only works if someone checks that it's actually happening. This is me checking, every month, so the plan doesn't quietly slide.

  • A 45-minute call each month, booked in advance
  • A half-page note afterwards: what the numbers say, what to change, what to stop
  • Your scorecard kept up to date. You send the numbers, I read them and make the call
  • One quick question by WhatsApp between calls

Two months minimum, then month to month. R2 700 a month if you commit to six.

Bigger marketing budgets

More than about R150 000 a year, and nobody senior inside to judge it

Once-off · two weeks

The Diagnostic

R18 000 once-off

I go through what you've spent on marketing over the last year and what it got you. Then I tell you the truth about it.

  • A review of your marketing spend and what it produced
  • A straight verdict on your strategy, or on the fact that there isn't one
  • An honest read on your agency or freelancers, and whether they're worth the money
  • A one-page scorecard: the handful of numbers that tell you if it's working
  • A ranked list of what to change, and what each change is worth

I'll need your numbers, two hours of your time, and permission to talk to whoever does the work.

Monthly · six-month minimum

Agency Oversight

R15 000 a month

The Diagnostic is one look. This is me staying on your side of the table and checking every month.

  • A written verdict each month on what your agency did, and whether it moved the number
  • One call a month with you, and with the agency when that's useful
  • I review and sign off the quarterly plan before you pay for it
  • You can phone me when someone proposes something and you're not sure it's sensible

Six months minimum, because one month of marketing data tells you nothing.

Fixed pricesThe price on the page is the price you pay.
50% up frontThe balance on delivery.
Remote, from Cape TownWorking with clients in South Africa, Europe and the UK.

I don't do the work. That's the whole point.

  • Ads
  • Content
  • Websites
  • Social media
  • CRM builds
  • Design

The moment I sell you the work, I can't tell you honestly whether the work is any good. Every agency reviewing its own results has the same problem, and it's why so few business owners ever get a straight answer.

So I stay out of the doing. When you need someone to build something, I'll introduce you to people I rate, and I take nothing for the introduction. You'll never have to wonder why I sent you there.

About
Terence Mentor, smiling, in a dark blazer

Terence Mentor

Founder, TM Digital

Hi, I'm Terence.

Marketing strategy is the part of this job I could talk about all day (and on the podcast, I pretty much do).

For the last five years I've run B2B marketing across Africa and Europe for a global energy technology company. Campaigns, content, events, paid, web, the lot. I also created and host its B2B podcast. Before that I spent eight years as a live radio presenter on CapeTalk and Kfm, which is where I learned to ask a good question and then actually listen to the answer.

These days I host the South African Digital Marketing Podcast and run the SA Marketers' Circle, a community for marketers in this country. So most weeks I'm talking to the people who run marketing here about what's working. And what isn't.

TM Digital is where I put all of that to work for you.

  • Postgraduate Diploma in Digital MarketingRegent Business School
  • Advanced Diploma in Digital Marketing, with distinctionRed & Yellow Creative School of Business, 2023
  • Top Achiever, Marketing Strategy in a Digital AgeRed & Yellow Creative School of Business, 2023
  • Host, SA Digital Marketing Podcast42 episodes with South African marketing leaders
The podcast

Most weeks, I'm asking SA marketers what's actually working.

The SA Digital Marketing Podcast: 42 conversations with the people running marketing in this country. The latest eight are written up as show notes.

All episodes and show notes
Latest: Tshiamo Maremela, 27 min
22 October 202627 min

Tshiamo Maremela

Your dashboard won't tell you the brand stopped mattering. Tshiamo Maremela on cultural intelligence
8 October 202630 min

Darren Morris

Are we in the era of the small agency? Darren Morris on why bigger isn't always better
22 September 202640 min

Doug Bird

Can you measure real life? Doug Bird on experiential marketing's missing layer

Let's find out how your marketing is really doing.

Send me a note with roughly what you spend on marketing and what's worrying you about it. If it looks like I can help, we'll set up a 20-minute call.

Email me
Or message me on LinkedIn