Marketing advice for business owners and leaders
What marketing is actually worth your time and money?
I help business owners decide where to focus their marketing to win more of the right customers—and assess whether their current effort and spending are helping.
You might need a better way to reach prospective customers, understand why inquiries aren’t becoming sales, or decide whether the current marketing budget is worth continuing.
We can start with the question in front of you.
Arrange a 30-minute conversation with Omar Hashmy about what you’re trying to improve, what you’ve tried, and whether I can help.
Start with the decision you need to make.
Maybe you’re still hitting your sales numbers, but winning new work is taking more effort than it used to. Referrals still bring in business. You’re trying to decide what else is worth your time.
Or people are already getting in touch, but too few become customers. Before paying for more inquiries, you want to understand where they lose interest—and whether you’re attracting people you can serve well.
Perhaps you’re reviewing a marketing budget or vendor renewal. You can see the activity and the cost. What’s less clear is what that spending contributed and whether it deserves another commitment.
Those situations call for different answers.
We start with how customers find you, why they choose you, and what happens between their first interest and a sale. Then we examine the decision you’re facing and identify what deserves attention.
Get a clear recommendation and a practical next step.
We begin by agreeing on the business result you want to improve and the question the work needs to answer.
You receive:
- A clear explanation of what I found.What appears to be helping or holding you back, the evidence behind that assessment, and what remains uncertain.
- Focused recommendations.What to keep, change, stop, or test, with the reasons for each priority.
- A practical plan for acting on the findings.Who needs to be involved, what happens next, and how we will judge progress.
The work needs a clear connection to your business. That might mean winning more suitable customers, improving an experience that affects whether customers stay, or reducing an expense that no longer earns its place.
We agree on which result matters and how the proposed work could contribute to it.
A clear path from the question to the next action.
I call my approach AIRE:
- Assessthe situation and agree on the business result you want to improve.
- Investigatewhat’s happening through the relevant records, customer conversations, and work already underway.
- Recommendwhere to focus, what to change, and how to judge progress.
- Executethe agreed changes, working directly or alongside your team and existing providers.
What that looks like in practice
Understanding what customers actually value
For a B2B manufacturer, I interviewed people across five customer accounts to understand how they chose suppliers and what mattered in the working relationship.
The findings informed revised customer targeting and messaging, including recommendations about which prospects to pursue and what to emphasize when approaching them.
That gave the company a basis for its marketing grounded in customer experience.
Correcting the picture before judging the spending
At an independent hotel, manually entered reservations were being classified as website bookings.
I checked the reporting against reservation records and corrected the distinction between guest-completed website bookings and staff-entered reservations. Ownership then had a more accurate basis for interpreting website performance.
A reporting correction does not create new bookings. It can change the evidence you use to decide where the next marketing dollar goes.
Put the findings to work.
Once we know what needs attention, we agree on how to address it. That could mean turning customer findings into clearer sales messaging, improving how results are measured, or setting up a focused test before a larger commitment.
You’ll know what I’m responsible for, what your team needs to contribute, and when we’ll review the result.
Sometimes the evidence supports a decision now. Sometimes we need to resolve a gap first. I’ll explain what we can conclude and what would give us a stronger answer.
You’ll work directly with me.
I’m Omar Hashmy, a marketing leader and the founder of Mirastra.
My background includes senior strategy leadership at performance marketing agency Optimal and marketing roles at HelloFresh and Bonobos. Through Mirastra, I’ve worked on customer research, marketing decisions, and measurement for businesses including a manufacturer and an independent hotel.
I bring that experience to the question facing your business. I do the analysis, explain the findings, and help you work out what follows.
A few practical questions
We already have an agency or marketing person. How would you fit in?
We start with the question you need answered and the work already underway. I can work alongside your team or agency, bringing customer evidence and business results into the discussion.
The findings may support what they’re doing or identify something worth changing. We agree on responsibilities so everyone knows who is doing what.
Our business is specialized. How will you understand it?
I’ll need to learn how your customers buy, what makes a customer a good fit, and the constraints your team works within. Your people and existing records are part of that learning; customer conversations can add another perspective.
Before proposing work, we’ll discuss whether my experience fits the question and what expertise needs to be involved.
How much time will this take from us?
Before we start, I’ll explain what records I’ll need, who I’d like to speak with, and how much time I expect to need from your team. We’ll agree on what’s manageable for you.
I handle the analysis and preparation, then bring the findings back for decisions.
What does it cost, and do we need an ongoing commitment?
After we discuss the situation, I’ll propose a scope and fee. That proposal will explain what you receive, what you need to contribute, and how we’ll judge the work.
We can begin with a defined piece of work. Any implementation or continuing support is agreed separately.
Let’s talk about the marketing decision in front of you.
Bring the result you want to improve and what you’ve tried so far.
We’ll discuss the situation, the decision you’re facing, and whether there’s a useful piece of work we can define together. You don’t need to prepare a presentation or send reports beforehand.
Prefer email? omar@mirastra.com