Built for the
industries everyone
else finds boring.
Most of the British economy is companies you've never heard of — making things, moving things, advising people, run by the same family for three generations. We work with those companies.
- £2m–£30m turnover. Real revenue, not fundraising rounds
- Marketing has never been anyone's full job
- You sell to other businesses, or to people who care about expertise
- You'd rather have a partner than a procurement file full of vendors
Your marketing department,
without the headcount.
Nine Stones is the outsourced marketing department for established UK businesses that have outgrown doing it themselves. If you turn over between £2m and £30m and marketing has never quite been anyone's full-time job, an outsourced marketing department gives you what hiring can't: senior people, the same faces every week, and a programme that runs without you having to chase it.
Most of our clients have leaned on referrals, the trade and a handful of long-standing accounts for years. That worked. It usually stops being enough somewhere around the point the managing director realises they're still writing the LinkedIn posts at half nine on a Sunday. We pick the whole thing up properly — strategy first, then the website, the content, the lead generation and the reporting, joined up under one retainer and accountable to revenue rather than impressions.
We work across four sectors that rarely get marketing built properly for them: manufacturing, distribution, professional services and family businesses. The work looks different in each one, but the way we work doesn't. You don't get a junior, a freelancer who vanishes, or an agency that pitches well and then sends invoices. You get a team that treats your marketing the way you'd run it yourself, if only you had the time and the bench. Find your sector below, or book a thirty-minute call and we'll tell you honestly whether we're the right fit.
If this sounds
like you, it
probably is.
You're between £2m and £30m
Big enough that marketing matters. Small enough that hiring a team for it doesn't add up.
Sales has always done the work
Referrals, the trade, a handful of long-standing accounts. It worked. It's not enough any more.
You've tried the alternatives
A freelancer who vanished. A junior who left. An agency that pitched well and then sent invoices.
You don't want a vendor
You want a team. Senior people. The same faces every week. No hand-offs to people you've never met.
Your website is a few years past it
It still works. It hasn't been touched in a while. Nobody's quite sure what to do about it.
You measure things properly
You don't want impressions. You want leads, pipeline, and an honest account of where the money went.
Four kinds of
company. One way
of working.
Manufacturing
Second and third-generation engineering businesses. Fabricators, OEM suppliers, contract manufacturers, specialist plant. The sales team needs proper lead flow; the MD needs marketing off their plate.
- Trade press, technical content, and SEO that actually ranks for what you make
- Lead-gen built around the sales cycle you already run
- Website rebuilds that don't pretend you're a SaaS startup
- Account-based programmes for the customers you really want
Distribution
Trade suppliers, wholesalers, multi-depot operators. Often the marketing function is one person's evening job — or shared between three people who already have day jobs. We pick it up properly.
- Branch-level local SEO that builds across every depot
- Catalogue, trade portal and product data, kept usable
- Customer reactivation programmes for dormant accounts
- Paid search that's accountable to revenue, not impressions
Professional Services
Consultancies, advisory firms, specialist practices. You've grown on referrals for two decades. Now you need a digital front door, a demand engine, and a programme that doesn't make your partners cringe.
- Thought leadership written by people who can actually write
- Conversion-focused website rebuilds without the agency theatre
- LinkedIn programmes that don't embarrass the leadership team
- CRM and lead nurture for long, considered sales cycles
Family Businesses
Three generations in. The second generation runs it, the third is starting to. Marketing was something Dad never quite needed. The world has moved on and the next ten years won't look like the last ten.
- Brand work that respects the heritage and updates the rest
- Succession-friendly marketing: built to keep working without you
- Quiet, durable programmes. Years, not months
- Plain-English reporting your board will actually read
Some honesty
about fit.
We're not the right call for every business. Here's where we stop.
We don't do consumer brands chasing virality. We don't do early-stage startups trying to find a market. We don't do enterprises with a fifty-person marketing department that needs another agency partner in the stack.
What we do is unglamorous and durable: marketing for businesses where the work matters more than the marketing of it. If your customers care about expertise, reliability, and showing up year after year — we're built for you.
If you're not sure, answer six honest questions or book a call. We'll tell you honestly. If we can't help, we usually know someone who can.
Thirty minutes. No pitch deck.
Tell us what you make, sell, or advise on. We'll tell you honestly whether we're the right team for it.
What the thirty minutes covers: what you're trying to grow, what's worked so far and what hasn't, and an honest view on whether we're the right team to own it.