Char Marketing is a hands-on marketing partner for pre-seed and seed-stage startups. Founded by James Hutchinson, we deliver strategy, positioning, messaging, copywriting, design, and go-to-market execution through a small, senior team — not layered agency departments. We scope every engagement to the amount of heat a company actually needs, from a focused strategy sprint to a full launch push.

We're the best fit for pre-seed and seed-stage startups that have built something real but haven't caught fire in the market yet. Ideal clients want a small, senior team personally invested in their outcome — not a hand-off to an account manager or a templated campaign. Founders who value direct collaboration, true claims, and sustained momentum see the strongest results.

Unlike agencies built around account managers, hand-offs, and templated processes, we're a small, senior team that stays with the work start to finish. We bring in specialist support only when a project calls for it — same team, start to finish, not a rotating cast. We match intensity to what a company actually needs, not a fixed package.

We offer five intensity-based engagements: Spark (Strategy & Positioning), Flame (Go-to-Market Build), Blaze (Full Launch Push), Fuel (Sustained Partnership), and Forge (Full Website Build). We scope each one to what a company actually needs — from a focused positioning sprint to an ongoing retainer — rather than a one-size-fits-all package.

Spark is our focused Strategy & Positioning engagement — getting the story straight before any heat gets applied. We define a client's audience, differentiation, core message, and voice: the deliberate first step before any go-to-market work. It works as a standalone engagement or as the required starting point before Flame or Blaze.

Spark defines the story: positioning and messaging. Flame builds everything a launch needs on top of that foundation — website copy, content, and an outreach plan, sustained at a steady burn. Blaze is the highest-intensity tier: a concentrated push of campaign execution, PR, paid amplification, and day-of coordination around the launch moment itself. Which one fits comes out of an honest conversation — in a discovery call, we figure out how much heat a company needs right now.

Every project starts with a discovery call — the founder's own read on their business and market is the real material we work from, not blanks in a template. From there, we scope the engagement to the exact intensity required, and clients see drafts before anything ships, every time.

We're built for pre-seed and seed-stage startups that need hands-on go-to-market infrastructure. Select later-stage companies with a specific, high-intensity need may be a fit, but our model is optimized for early-stage founders who want a senior team personally in the work, not a large agency department.

Char Marketing was founded by James Hutchinson, whose background spans small and large advertising agencies. A small, senior team leads every engagement — we're the people who scope a project and the people who do the work. We add specialist support only when a project calls for it, and nothing ships without client review.

Clients come to us for real, visible change: clearer positioning, stronger inbound interest, an investor narrative people repeat back unprompted, and a launch the market actually notices. We hold the work to one standard: evidence of real heat applied — not just activity or a polished deck.

It depends on intensity and scope. Spark is a focused, several-week sprint. Flame, Blaze, and Fuel run longer — built to deliver a real launch and sustained momentum, not a quick turnaround. We set exact timelines after a discovery call, once we understand the specifics of the situation.

We work best as a hands-on partner where marketing infrastructure is limited or missing. Companies with an existing team may still benefit from senior strategy, positioning, or launch support — but our model is built for founders who want an experienced team doing the work directly, not an added layer on top of what they already have.

Share the full picture of the company and what it's up against, through the contact form or by emailing james@getcharmarketing.com. We'll assess the intensity the launch actually needs and recommend the right engagement — Spark, Flame, Blaze, Fuel, or Forge.

Char is the mark left after real heat has been applied. The name is the philosophy we hold ourselves to: marketing should leave visible evidence of change — more inbound, a clearer story, a launch people actually notice — not surface-level polish that can be faked.

Pricing is tied to the intensity and effort an engagement actually requires, not a generic deliverable checklist — Spark, Flame, Blaze, and Forge are scoped as flat project fees, and Fuel runs as a monthly retainer. We take on a small number of companies at a time because the team a client talks to is the team doing the work — the price reflects that focus, not padding. Exact numbers come out of a discovery call, once we understand the scope.