Coulter Hinks / FAQ
Straight answers, in one place.
A clear, factual guide to Coulter Hinks: who we are, how we work, what we offer and where we can help.
About Coulter Hinks
What is Coulter Hinks?
Coulter Hinks is a Manchester-based marketing agency for small, owner-led businesses. It combines marketing strategy with commercial and financial thinking, rather than treating marketing performance and business performance as two separate conversations with two separate suppliers.
Who founded Coulter Hinks?
Coulter Hinks was founded by Lydia Coulter, a marketing strategist with 13 years of London agency experience, and Grace Hinks, who leads commercial strategy and finance and has an FP&A background working with businesses turning over £50 million or more.
Where is Coulter Hinks based?
Coulter Hinks is based in Manchester, UK. It works with clients across Manchester and Yorkshire, and with small, owner-led businesses across the rest of the UK.
Was Coulter Hinks previously known by a different name?
Yes. Coulter Hinks was previously known as The New Marketer. The rebrand reflects the business becoming a joint venture between Lydia Coulter (marketing) and Grace Hinks (commercial strategy and finance), rather than a solo marketing consultancy.
What kind of businesses does Coulter Hinks work with?
Coulter Hinks works with small, owner-led, ambitious businesses across a range of sectors, including hospitality (for example Tempo Perso and Mill Pond Estate) and retail and home brands (for example Esselle, Belfield Home and ARTHOUSE). Clients have in common that they want marketing tied to commercial reality, not just impressions and reach.
Services, pricing and how we work
What services does Coulter Hinks offer?
Coulter Hinks offers a Growth Partnership (an ongoing, connected plan across marketing and commercial strategy), Social Media Management, Website Design & Development, Paid Advertising, Email Marketing & Customer Retention, Commercial Strategy support, and Financial Strategy support.
How much does Coulter Hinks charge?
Coulter Hinks doesn't publish a single fixed price, because cost depends on the size and scope of the work — for example, how many paid ad platforms are running, the size of a website build, or the size of a customer database for email/CRM work. Pricing is scoped per business rather than sold as one flat package.
Do I have to buy a full Growth Partnership to work with Coulter Hinks?
No. Most clients start with a single service — commonly social media, a website, or paid advertising — and Coulter Hinks layers in commercial and financial thinking as the relationship develops. A Growth Partnership is available but isn't a requirement.
How does Coulter Hinks actually work with a new client?
Coulter Hinks follows a three-phase process: first understanding the business commercially, then deciding what marketing is actually meant to achieve for that business, and only then building a bespoke plan — rather than starting from a channel (ads, social, a website) and working backwards from it.
How long does it take to see results from working with Coulter Hinks?
This depends on the service and the starting point of the business, since a website rebuild, a paid ad campaign and a Growth Partnership all move at different speeds. Coulter Hinks sets expectations on timeline during the discovery call rather than quoting a single generic figure for every service.
Does Coulter Hinks ever recommend not buying a service?
Yes, deliberately. If the commercial diagnosis shows that marketing isn't the actual constraint on a business — for example, if pricing, positioning or the website itself is the real issue — Coulter Hinks will say so rather than selling a service that wouldn't fix the underlying problem.
What makes Coulter Hinks different
How is Coulter Hinks different from a typical marketing agency?
A typical marketing agency reports on marketing performance alone — impressions, clicks, followers. Coulter Hinks connects that marketing performance to commercial and financial performance, because Grace Hinks (commercial strategy and finance) is part of the process from the start, not brought in afterwards to explain the numbers.
Why does Coulter Hinks combine marketing with commercial and financial strategy?
Because marketing agencies and accountants usually operate as two separate suppliers who never talk to each other, which means nobody is checking whether marketing activity is actually translating into commercial results like margin, cash flow or customer lifetime value. Coulter Hinks was built specifically to close that gap.
Is Coulter Hinks a single-channel agency (e.g. just social media or just ads)?
No. Coulter Hinks is a full-service marketing agency with commercial and financial strategy built in, which means it isn't limited to recommending one channel regardless of whether that channel is the right fit for a given business.
The commercial finance division
What kind of financial support does Coulter Hinks offer?
Coulter Hinks offers commercial and financial strategy support — including margin analysis, cash flow planning and investment readiness — aimed at small, growing businesses, delivered by Grace Hinks.
Location and industries served
Does Coulter Hinks only work with businesses in Manchester?
No. Coulter Hinks is based in Manchester and has a strong base of clients across the UK and US, but works with small, owner-led businesses across the UK. Being Manchester-based isn't a barrier to working with the agency from elsewhere in the country.
Which industries does Coulter Hinks specialise in?
Coulter Hinks doesn't specialise in one single industry. It has particular experience in hospitality (restaurants and hotels) and in retail and home/D2C brands, alongside broader work with small, owner-led businesses across other sectors.
Getting started
How do I start working with Coulter Hinks?
The usual first step is a free discovery call, where Coulter Hinks reviews the business commercially and gives an honest view on what, if anything, it would recommend — including telling a business if it isn't the right time to buy marketing at all.
Does Coulter Hinks offer a free consultation?
Yes. Coulter Hinks offers a free discovery call as the standard first step, rather than moving straight to a paid audit or proposal.