A marketing plan for The Drift, the affiliate army, and Drift Across America. Written by someone who already knows your account, your customer, and your numbers.
Thank you for getting us all on a meeting last week, and for asking me to put this together.
As you already know, when you worked with Alecci Media, the ads on your account were mine. I ran them as a white-label partner through my own agency. The strategy, the creative direction, the campaign builds, the reporting. That was my work coming to you with someone else's name on it.
When you look at what your account did this year, you are looking at my work. And when you read the creative strategy you found in the Drive last week, the one you said was the AEL brand strategy, you were reading a document I wrote for you in the spring.
So this proposal isn't me guessing at your business. It's me picking up where I left off, this time with my name on it and no one in between.
Here's what I already have.
I've watched who actually clicks, who actually buys, and who scrolls past. I know which cities responded, which creative angles worked, and which ones we wasted money on finding out.
Every campaign from January through June, including the ones that outperformed and the one place the funnel consistently broke.
Pre-sale, founders pricing, Float Fest, the boat show. I've written the copy for all of it and watched how people respond to The Drift specifically.
I'd rather show you this straight than sell you a version of it.
Traffic and interest were never the problem. The problem sat between interest and checkout. Email capture wasn't firing cleanly, tracking was incomplete, and there was no recovery sequence catching people who left. I flagged this in writing in May and started building the abandoned cart flow before my work on your account ended.
You've already proven people want this product. What hasn't been built yet is the path that turns that attention into revenue. That's a solvable problem, and it's the first thing I'd fix.
"Gear Built for More" could belong to any outdoor brand. Your customer isn't a paddleboarder hunting for a cheap board on Amazon. It's the boat owner, the waterfront homeowner, the family with a dock and a lake house. The positioning should be as specific as the customer.
More room off the boat. An extension of the dock. A home base on the river. Product features prove the value, but the experience is what creates the want.
You want this blown up, and it's the piece I've built before at scale. Structure, commission tiers, a recruiting kit, onboarding, and trackable links so you know what every affiliate is actually worth. Local voices at every lake, not a waitlist form in your footer.
Marinas, dealers, lakefront rentals, retail, lily pad market. These buyers purchase in the off-season, which fixes the seasonality problem on its own. This needs outreach lists, sequences, and real sales collateral, plus a dedicated salesperson. More on that below.
Snow. Truck bed. Camping mattress. River float. Pool. You already have a four-season product being marketed as a summer one. That alone extends your selling window by months.
Drift Across America sits on top of all five. The event is the spark. This is the engine that makes each stop worth the trip.
I read your plan. The structure is right, and the operating principle is the best line in it: you don't go to a lake unless you're building a market. Here's how I'd support it and where I'd be honest about the gaps.
I'm only one person. This plan needs a B2B salesperson, on-site event staff, and a content shooter at each stop. I'm not any of those three. What I am is the person who builds the system, directs the work, and makes sure every stop runs the same playbook instead of being reinvented twelve times.
I'd be on site for the first stop to make sure the playbook holds up in real life, and for select flagship markets after that. The rest run on the system.
This isn't a resume. Just the parts that matter for what you're trying to build.
I've run my own marketing agency for seven years, with a team of six at its peak. Social, paid ads, email, content, and strategy. Hundreds of clients across nearly every industry. Over $1M in ad spend managed across 20+ accounts.
A nationwide direct-sales brand doing seven-figure months. I led the marketing communications team covering email, SMS, social, and ads, and worked directly with the creative department. I owned marcomms strategy for company growth, product launch drops, and in-person events.
Two things from that role you should care about. I grew their email list by over 10,000 subscribers in a single weekend. And I helped build their affiliate and influencer program from the ground up, which is the exact thing you're trying to do next.
I sell my own digital products daily, with ads currently turned off. The systems I build keep working after I stop pushing them. That's the whole idea.
Before marketing, I was a touring musician. I'm told it explains a few things about how I run a launch.
You asked what my dream job looks like, so here's the honest answer.
I want to lead the strategy and oversee the work, not be the one doing every piece of it forever. I'm happy to own Meta ads and email myself, especially at the start when the foundation is being built. But my best value to you is direction, not execution.
Hands on. I build the foundation, fix the funnel, set the positioning, and get the affiliate program running.
Oversight. As you bring on a B2B rep, a content creator, and event staff, I direct them, keep the strategy consistent, and make sure the machine runs the same way at every lake.
I'm not going to promise you a revenue number today, because your current funnel data isn't reliable enough to forecast from. Give me 90 days of clean tracking and I'll set real targets with you, and I'll be accountable to them.
You said you'd rather pay per service than sign a retainer, so that's how I've priced this. Everything is itemized. Add and remove as the season changes.
| Fractional Marketing DirectionStrategy, oversight, weekly call, weekly written update, monthly reporting | $2,500 / mo |
| Meta ads managementUp to 3 active campaigns | $1,500 / mo |
| Email marketingCampaigns, automated flows, list growth | $1,250 / mo |
| Funnel and tracking foundationPixel events, Shopify to Mailchimp sync, core recovery flows | $1,500 |
| Affiliate program buildStructure, commissions, recruiting kit, onboarding | $2,500 |
| Drift Across AmericaStop one launch plus playbook build | $2,500 |
| Per-lake launch kitAfter the playbook is built | $750 / market |
That fixes what's broken, sets the positioning, and gets revenue moving before season. Affiliate and B2B come online in the new year as you head into spring.
The director seat. While we're working together, Adventure = Life will be the only company I hold a fractional marketing direction role with. I'll keep running ads for my existing agency clients, but the director seat is yours alone.
Terms. Three-month minimum on monthly services. Invoices paid in advance of the service month. Ad spend and travel billed separately.
On equity. You mentioned stock options on our call. I'm open to that conversation, and happy to talk through what a cash and equity mix could look like once we've settled on scope.
You knew the audience was wrong before anyone told you, you knew B2B was the answer, and you built the Drift Across America plan yourself. What you've been missing is someone who can turn that into a system and stay honest with you about what's working and what isn't. I've already done the first half of that job for your brand once, quietly. I'd like to do it properly this time.
Let's talk Tuesday