Welcome to Cultiveight

In the Spring of 2021, in the midst of the pandemic and after 10 years of being an in-house marketing and communications expert, Cultiveight was born. At the risk of sounding brash, the reason Cultiveight formed is important and my hope here is that my reasons resonate and motivate you to take a different action from what you might be used to.

On the Inside

Being an in-house marketer and communications expert exposed me to all the intimate details of how businesses operate. Not just from a marketing perspective, which of course shaped my career. But I saw something deeper.

Sure, office politics exist, people can be challenging, and other things that come from just simply existing among other humans. But, from where I sat, I had a great view of the ebbs and flows of a business. I saw a common goal people joined together for. I saw great ideas come to life. I saw impact. I saw results. Ultimately, I saw a company succeeding.

I also saw a lot of roadblocks along the way. I heard a lot of great ideas and saw a lot of head-scratching on how to bring them into reality. I saw failures. I saw (and felt) the headaches from leadership and cross-functional teams. I saw the hesitations around budgets and expenses. Lastly, I saw the strain on teams just trying to make an impact. both the marketing team and those who

The Role of Marketing

Marketing is a label, a manifestation if you will, for evolution. The role of marketing should foster connection. Connection amongst your team, your clients, and all those who you hope to impact.

That’s the way the world is shaping now. However, in the shadows of this impact are the pitfalls of marketing. A world where an overly saturated market and competing priorities and visions don’t mesh well. Especially for those who don’t really know (or want to know) about marketing and just want to see their brand come to life. That is the problem - one that those who pay attention to it are few and far between.

Filtering Through the B.S.

You’ve heard of a bull market. But we live in a bullshit market.

The marketing industry is literally designed to feel overwhelming. It’s a convoluted industry with too many options, hacks, and tactics, all focused on doing too much. And not enough emphasis on keeping you focused.

Today, the number of evolving trends and ways to market our businesses feels limitless. This causes businesses to be increasingly overwhelmed and feel like they need to be everywhere and do everything. But they don’t. Just because it’s trending, doesn’t mean it fits. But the marketing industry is intended to make you reliant on the vendors. Resources like SaaS platforms, agencies, freelancers, Virtual Assistants - all tout the fact that they can help get your brand out there. I don’t necessarily doubt their capabilities. But they either tend to stay short sighted or the opposite - focus too much on the big picture and not enough on the reality.

The Reality

The reality is that the luxury to shoot for the big picture or focus solely on what’s right in front simply doesn’t work anymore. Resources are limited more than ever. Marketing - in particular - is a resource that gets the short end of the budgeting stick. This culture of doing everything and “work smarter not harder” through baseless shortcuts is causing marketing strategies to fail and destroying small businesses.

More and more, we need people who watch out for us. Who see things we can’t, who call out the bullshit, problem solve, and bring creativity to the table. And that’s why Cultiveight was formed. Because finding this is incredibly difficult.

I’m not dissing my fellow members of the marketing community, but I am calling out that there is a gap. There is a constant battle between quality + execution. Effectiveness + consistency. Originality + trendy.

Why Cultiveight

I’m here to reduce the wasted time and effort in marketing. I’m on a mission to break down the one-up-man-ship of the digital world.

Cultiveight isn’t another agency. Instead, I view us as a hybrid. A linchpin of sorts. We are not vendors whose model makes you reliant. Our goal is to make sure we find and deliver to you the best options that fit your goals and adapt to the way you operate - not the other way around.

Our bread and butter is distilling through information, cutting through the bullshit, and giving you clear direction. That is our bottom line. After that, people like us to stick around because times change, goals change, and people and their needs change. Once you’re in our orbit, we are your partner and confidant. We recognize when shifts need to be made and navigate you through it.

We’ve encountered our own evolution. Including dealing with the same challenges as our clients (heard of a saying about cobbler’s shoes?) and now, three years later, here we are.

If you’ve read this far, (sorry for my rant) and thank you. We hope you join us - whether simply staying connected or reaching out to learn more about what we do.

 - Caroline Crawford
Founder/CEO