In 2005 I was driving down the M62 from Leeds to Manchester (coming back from an agency meeting, if you’re interested) ready to take the plunge and set up my own consultancy, if only I could settle on a name. I was a marketer, and brands were, and still are, my bread and butter; everything else was ready, it was just the name, the  word or words, the brand which would encapsulate everything I stood for and believed in.

And then it hit me, drive. The journey, the successful arrival at a destination, planning and execution, passion and energy. It summed up then, and still sums up now, what marketing means and how we work.

Fast forward to 2026, and Drive Brand Marketing Limited is now driveBM Ltd. We, Vicky and Dawn, have worked with brands large and small over the years, delivering with relentless enthusiasm and belief. We’ve turned round tired household names and given them new leases of life. We’ve supported founders with incredible ideas to get to market,  built insight-led business cases, led cross-functional teams, and developed best in class marketers.

After 20 years, we now focus on supporting and enabling SMEs to achieve their potential. Innovative SMEs have it tough. On top of their invention, they’re expected to have a full complement of business skills and the funding to make it work first time. We know that the right support at the right time can make all the difference. In a market crowded with advisers, consultants and experts, finding genuine strategic support that understands both innovation and commercial reality is often the biggest challenge of all.

We provide strategic marketing services at three critical points in the SME journey, which stage are you at?

  • Struggling to turn innovation into a business? We build your brand alongside your invention. It’s never too early to understand who you are, who your customers are and how you will acquire them. A strong brand creates focus, gets you agency-ready, and gives you resilience in challenging times.
  • Struggling to turn interest into sales? We refine your proposition when your business reaches a plateau. We help customers understand not just what you do, but why they should act now. By strengthening your business case without compromising your brand, we remove barriers to purchase.
  • Struggling to turn growth into scale? We build your business for scale. As your business grows, marketing needs more structure and less guesswork. Our fractional marketing directors bring critical thinking to your leadership team and create the structure, processes and team needed for a permanent marketing function.

So if you or anyone you know is looking to reset, refocus and reignite growth, give us a call or put us in touch.

We’re driveBM.

We provide the marketing leadership, commercial clarity, and constructive challenge that set SMEs up for long-term success.

Marketing

20 Oct 2026

What Makes a Value Proposition Valuable?

Back to all insights A business can develop a product that solves a genuine customer problem, articulate its benefits and build a convincing value proposition. But none of this, on its own, establishes that there is a viable business to build. Are enough customers willing to pay for the solution?

Marketing

7 Oct 2026

Understanding Customers Beyond What They Tell You

Back to all insights There is a point in almost every piece of customer research where someone says something that sounds very useful. Customers tell us what matters to them. They explain what they like and dislike, what they currently do and what they would change. Sometimes they even tell

Marketing

2 Oct 2026

The Adoption Gap: Why Customers Don’t Change

Back to all insights We hear a version of the same story from B2B businesses all the time. A prospect is interested. They recognise the problem, like the solution and want another conversation. So there is a follow-up call, then another. Perhaps a proposal is shared, questions are answered and

Marketing

24 Sep 2026

Which comes first, marketing or innovation?

Back to all insights Let’s talk about….. innovation and marketing We’ve lost count of the number of founders we’ve met who are absolutely convinced their innovation is needed. And the vast majority of them are right. They’ve experienced the problem first-hand. They’ve spotted an inefficiency, identified an unmet need or

Marketing

16 Sep 2026

Let’s talk about marketing

Back to all insights For a profession built on influencing perception, marketing has done a remarkably poor job of managing its own. Ask most SME owners what marketing means and you’ll hear broadly the same answers. Social media, websites, lead generation, advertising, content creation, PR and email campaigns. None of

Everything Else

10 Sep 2026

Welcome to driveBM

Back to all insights In 2005 I was driving down the M62 from Leeds to Manchester (coming back from an agency meeting, if you’re interested) ready to take the plunge and set up my own consultancy, if only I could settle on a name. I was a marketer, and brands

Let’s reset your marketing
and reignite growth

Whether you need a next quarter growth programme, support to launch, or experienced leadership at the table, driveBM helps you build, deliver, and grow with confidence.

Schedule a 30-minute triage call and let’s get to work!