Twenty-plus years
Senior marketing leadership across New Zealand businesses, in the sectors where trust decides the sale.
Track record
Experience across established brands.
He has worked with organisations across trust-sensitive sectors, including:
The path here
From newsroom to marketing director.
Colin's career runs through three distinct stages, from an early newsroom grounding through broader business leadership to the fractional marketing work he does today, each one shaping how he approaches the role he plays for clients now.
01
An editorial start
His early career as a journalist and editor still informs this work today, particularly his ability to question assumptions, identify what matters to an audience and express a business proposition clearly.
02
Leadership beyond marketing
He has served as CEO of NZ Agritech Inc. and as general manager of a social housing and property management business, giving him a genuine understanding of the pressures facing business owners and executives.
03
Fractional marketing direction
Today, Colin works as a fractional marketing director, clarifying position, setting priorities and staying involved through implementation rather than stepping back once the plan is delivered.
The name
"Iron road" is the old colloquial term for railway lines, the networks that built industry as we know it, by connecting people, commerce and industry.
The name reflects Colin's own childhood connection with railways, through his father's work on them, and remains a fitting description of the agency's role today: bringing strategy, communication, technology and specialist expertise together to help businesses move in one direction.
What's different
Strategy and execution, from the same person.
Plenty of senior marketers can set a strategy, and plenty of specialists can execute one, but the distance between the two is where most marketing plans quietly stall. Colin does both personally, which means the person who understands why a decision was made is also the person making sure it actually happens.
Underneath that is a simple belief: trust and story are what actually drive a business forward, and marketing that respects both tends to last a lot longer than marketing that doesn't.
The team
A small, hands-on team stands behind him.
Iron Road runs as a genuine team, sized to fit whatever a client's business actually needs.
The in-house core
A small team who action the day-to-day work: messaging, content and the material that needs to sound like your business and nobody else's.
The curated network
Specialists brought in project by project, covering web, SEO, paid media, video and photography, chosen and directed to fit.
Credentials
Twenty years of range, in one senior lead.
Sector depth
Deep experience across the boomer market, financial services and technology, including B2B.
Platform expertise
Hands-on experience across HubSpot, Go High Level, Dotdigital, ActiveCampaign and Mailerlite, with a growing specialisation in Go High Level.
Media and reputation
Media relations, content strategy and reputation management, backed by a journalism and editorial background.
What clients say
Strategy in the morning,
campaigns by the afternoon.
“
Colin helped us move from a patchwork of disconnected activity to a coherent marketing function. What set him apart was that he could talk strategy in the morning and be building campaigns by the afternoon.
Chief Executive
Professional services firm, Auckland
“
Colin has made a dramatic difference to our business and I truly believe that hiring him was one of the best decisions I've made in my entire career to date. Thanks Colin, I'd recommend you a million times over!
Chaz Reid
Multi-award-winning brand & marketing strategist
“
If you want someone who can think outside the square and deliver exceptional value then he is your man.
Butch Mawdsley
Res Business Development Specialists
Ready to talk
Get to know how Colin works,
before you commit to anything.
Most people start with a 30-minute discovery call or a Trust Audit, and either one gives you a genuine sense of how Colin thinks before you decide anything further.