What happens after launch
A brand system degrades the moment it launches. Not because it was built wrong — because the business keeps moving. New services, new hires, new vendors, a new deck someone made in a hurry. Six months later the system your team works from no longer matches the business it describes.
Navigation is the fourth phase of the ICON Method: the ongoing partnership that keeps the system accurate, deployed, and accountable.
Three tiers. Keep them distinct and you pick the right one; blur them and you overpay or under-serve.
All tiers: month-to-month after the minimum term, 30-day notice to cancel or change tiers, and a scheduled review at month 6.
See tier pricing
Unlock once — Growth Partnership shows below, and the Maintenance and Fractional CMO figures reveal on their own pages too.
No sales sequence unless you request one. We'll never share your details.
Brand System Maintenance
See pricing → · Up to 6 hours monthly · 6-month minimum
Governance. Keep the built system consistent and current.
What's included
- Brand system upkeep — guidelines, templates, and assets updated as the business shifts, so the system your team works from never goes stale
- Content and asset QA — a consistency check on what your team produces: on-voice, on-brand, on-standard before it ships
- Consistency monitoring — ongoing review of your live touchpoints to catch drift early
- Quarterly check-in — a structured 60-minute review of what changed, what drifted, and what to tighten
Your time commitment
One 60-minute call per quarter. Everything else runs asynchronously.
Response time
Within 2 business days.
What to expect
This is insurance, not growth. You'll notice it most in what stops happening — off-brand decks, vendors guessing at your colors, three versions of your positioning statement in circulation. It does not produce campaigns or new content.
What it isn't
No campaign management, no content production, no strategy ownership, no new page builds.
Best fit if
You have a marketing person or team executing, and you need the standard held.
Growth Partnership
$•,•••/mo · Up to 20 hours monthly · 6-month minimum
Execution. Active marketing production against a defined plan.
What's included
- Everything in Brand System Maintenance
- Content production — up to 8 branded social posts per month, produced and scheduled
- Email campaigns — up to 2 campaigns per month built and deployed through GoHighLevel
- Funnel and landing page optimization — up to 1 new landing page or funnel revision per month
- Conversion and performance testing — ongoing A/B testing on live assets
- Monthly performance report — what ran, what converted, what changes next
- Biweekly 45-minute working session
Your time commitment
Two 45-minute calls per month, plus approval turnarounds. Budget roughly 3 hours of your time monthly.
Response time
Within 1 business day.
What to expect
Months 1–2 establish baseline and rhythm. Meaningful performance signal typically appears in months 3–4. This tier produces work at a steady, defined volume — it is deliberately capped so quality holds.
What it isn't
Not unlimited content. Not paid media management (ad spend and campaign management quoted separately). Not strategic ownership of your marketing function — you or your leadership still set direction.
Best fit if
You have no internal marketing team and need someone producing consistently against a plan. This is where most ICON Build clients land at launch.
Fractional CMO
See pricing → · Up to 16 strategic hours monthly · 6-month minimum
Ownership. Marketing leadership accountable to pipeline.
Priced on responsibility, not volume. Fewer hours than Growth Partnership, at a higher rate, because this tier buys judgment and accountability rather than production.
What's included
- Quarterly marketing plan — with pipeline targets and channel prioritization
- Monthly CMO session — strategic decisions, priority setting, performance review
- Weekly pipeline review — with action recommendations
- Vendor and agency direction — briefs, standards, and course-correction for your execution partners
- Campaign and channel strategy briefs — for whoever executes
- Positioning recalibration — as the market and your offers evolve
- Executive-level monthly reporting — pipeline performance, channel ROI, forecast
- Brand system governance — Tier 1 included
Your time commitment
One 90-minute monthly CMO session, one 30-minute weekly pipeline review. Budget roughly 5 hours of your time monthly. This tier requires your participation — it does not work as a hands-off arrangement.
Response time
Same business day for pipeline-critical items.
Onboarding
The first 90 days are a strategy audit, baseline metrics, and the first quarterly plan. Expect direction before you expect results.
What to expect
Marketing decisions get made and owned. Your execution partners get briefed properly. You stop being the bottleneck on every marketing question. Pipeline impact is typically visible by month 4–6, not month 2.
What it isn't
Not a production tier. Execution is delivered by your team, your vendors, or a concurrent Growth Partnership — scoped and quoted separately.
Best fit if
You have execution capacity but no one owning marketing direction, and you need accountability to pipeline rather than deliverables.
Tier comparison
| Maintenance | Growth Partnership | Fractional CMO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hours | Up to 6 | Up to 20 | Up to 16 strategic |
| Cadence | Quarterly call | Biweekly session | Weekly + monthly |
| Your time | ~1 hr/quarter | ~3 hrs/month | ~5 hrs/month |
| Response | 2 business days | 1 business day | Same day |
| Content production | — | Capped volume | Via your team |
| Campaign execution | — | Included | Directed, not produced |
| Strategy ownership | — | — | Included |
| Minimum term | 6 months | 6 months | 6 months |
Moving between tiers: Step up or down with 30 days' notice after the minimum term. Most clients enter at Growth Partnership post-launch and step down to Maintenance once their internal capacity builds — that's the intended path, not a downgrade.
Navigation begins at launch.
Most ICON Build clients enter at the Growth Partnership tier. Not sure which tier fits where you are right now? Let's talk it through.