What people ask us most.

The most widely used technical benchmark is to allocate between 3% and 5% of gross monthly revenue to marketing. Companies in a growth or initial positioning stage may need up to 8% or 10%. What matters is not the exact percentage but that the investment is aligned to a concrete, measurable sales objective — not a fixed budget without justification. A company that spends on marketing without knowing what result to expect is not investing: it is spending. The first step is to define the objective; the budget is derived from there.

A traditional marketing agency sells catalog services — design, paid ads, social media, web — and executes based on what the client asks for. A strategic consultancy diagnoses first and proposes afterwards. It does not execute what the client thinks they need, but what the diagnosis indicates will solve the real problem. The practical difference is significant: with an agency you can buy activities; with a consultancy you buy judgment applied to your specific business. The outcome is also different: disconnected activities rarely move the sales needle; a well-diagnosed strategy does.

If you cannot answer these three questions, your marketing is probably not working: (1) What is your customer acquisition cost? (2) How many qualified leads did you generate this month? (3) What percentage of those leads converted into sales? Vanity metrics — followers, impressions, reach — are not business result indicators. Marketing that works is measured in leads, conversions and attributable revenue. If your agency or team does not report those metrics, it is a signal that the work is not oriented toward real sales.

A marketing consultant with real judgment does three things a typical agency does not: first, they diagnose — analyzing the business, real numbers, market and competition before proposing anything. Then they define the specific problem — not the symptom the client describes, but the real underlying cause. And finally they build a custom solution — not a generic package, but a strategy with direction, rationale and success metrics defined from the start. The value of a consultant is not in executing tasks but in knowing which tasks make sense for that business at that moment.

Guadrón Quijano (GQ) is a strategic marketing and advertising consultancy with execution capacity, founded in El Salvador in 2024 with a track record since 2016. Unlike a traditional marketing agency, GQ does not sell catalog services or execute without understanding first. Every business relationship begins with a structured diagnosis — the GQ DeepScan — that identifies the real business problem before proposing any solution. GQ operates under the principle that diagnosis is the solution, and that no strategic proposal has value unless it starts from a deep understanding of the business.

Guadrón Quijano is headquartered at the Kimax Business Center, Colonia Escalón, San Salvador, El Salvador. GQ works with companies in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, the United States, Canada, Spain, Ireland and Australia. Since 2020, GQ maintains a strategic alliance with MDM Digital Limited in Vancouver, Canada, extending its service capacity in the North American market. The firm operates in Spanish and English.

GQ works with two main profiles: established companies with more than 5 years in the market that want to improve or professionalize their marketing operation, and growing SMEs that want to implement a structured strategy for the first time. The reference financial criterion is that the client can allocate between 3% and 5% of their monthly revenue to marketing. GQ does not work with companies looking for piece-by-piece execution without strategic criteria, or with clients who impose solutions without openness to diagnosis.

The GQ DeepScan is Guadrón Quijano's proprietary diagnostic method and the mandatory entry point to any working relationship. It is a structured analysis process that includes a 2 to 3 hour diagnostic session, analysis of the client's real business model and financial data, identification of the specific strategic problem, and a written report with an action map and proposed work route. The DeepScan is not a sales meeting — it is a service with its own value that is charged regardless of whether the client continues with GQ or not.

Because a well-executed diagnosis is already a solution. The client who pays for the DeepScan is investing in understanding their real problem before spending on solutions that might not be the right ones. Additionally, a client willing to pay for the diagnosis is one who values strategic judgment — and that is the type of company GQ works best with. The DeepScan cost can be deducted from the monthly retainer if the client decides to continue.

The complete process from first contact to the start of the monthly retainer takes between 2 and 4 weeks. This includes the first conversation, the DeepScan execution, the report presentation and the definition of the retainer scope and price. GQ does not start any monthly work without completing the diagnosis — this time is part of the process, not a delay.

The GQ Monthly Strategy is not a fixed service package. It is continuous access to GQ's strategic judgment applied to the client's business month by month. Depending on the diagnosis and defined sales objective, GQ can activate any combination of its capabilities: marketing strategy and consulting, branding and identity, digital campaigns and paid media, WordPress web development, commercial audiovisual production, community management, SEO, email marketing, copywriting and more. What is executed each month responds to what the business needs at that moment, not a predefined menu.

The monthly retainer price is defined after the GQ DeepScan, based on the client's sales objective and the actual scope required. Reference prices range from $695/month for micro-businesses to $5,248/month for corporate or international companies. For custom projects — web development, branding or audiovisual production — the price is calculated based on the specific scope with a formal quote. GQ does not present prices before understanding the business.

The minimum contract is 6 months. No marketing strategy generates measurable results in less time. GQ does not work with clients who want to "try one month" because that model does not produce the results that justify the investment. Contracts of 12 months or more have special pricing conditions.

Yes. GQ executes custom projects with defined scope, specific deliverables and fixed pricing in three categories: WordPress web development, commercial audiovisual production (photo, video, drone) and brand identity. These projects also require the GQ DeepScan as a first step to ensure the deliverable responds to a real diagnosis and not assumptions.

It depends on the objective and the business's starting point. Paid media campaigns can generate measurable results in 30 to 90 days. Positioning, branding and organic channel development strategies require between 3 and 6 months to show consistent results. That is why GQ's minimum contract is 6 months — it is the minimum time to execute, measure and optimize with real criteria. GQ establishes measurable sales objectives at the start of each relationship and reviews them monthly.

GQ measures success based on the sales objective defined in the DeepScan, not vanity metrics like followers or impressions. Depending on the client's objective, metrics may include: volume and quality of generated prospects, conversion rate, cost per acquisition, qualified organic traffic, brand positioning measured by surveys or share of voice, or revenue directly attributable to marketing actions. Each month GQ delivers a results report with analysis and adjustments for the following period.