Senior marketing leadership, without the full-time seat.
Strategy, team and execution, run the way a 23-year tenure as chief marketing officer taught him to run them.
Who it is for
- Growing companies whose marketing needs an owner, not another vendor.
- Founders carrying the marketing themselves and running out of hours.
- Businesses between marketing leaders, or not ready for a full-time hire.
What it covers
- Marketing strategy and the positioning under it.
- Leadership of the team, agencies and partners already in place.
- Media, campaign and channel decisions.
- Measurement agreed before the money is spent, so results can be read honestly.
What you leave with
- One accountable marketing owner at the leadership table.
- A plan the team can run, with the objectives and measures set up front.
- Direction your agency and partners can execute.
- Clear calls on what to start, what to scale and what to stop.
Decisions he owns, and how the work runs
Marketing strategy and positioning, priorities, the brief, agency direction, campaign and media calls, and the measures agreed with leadership.
Company strategy, the budget envelope, hiring decisions and final sign-off.
Production, craft and day-to-day execution of the work.
Set in scope. A typical rhythm is a weekly working session with the team and a monthly review with leadership against the agreed measures.
A company with a product that works, a team or agency able to execute, and marketing decisions that currently have no senior owner.
An illustrative first 90 days
Illustrative only. The actual plan is set in scope for each company.
Listen and read: customers, sales conversations, existing campaigns, budget and results. Agree the objective and the measures with leadership.
Decide: the position, the priorities and what to stop. Rewrite the brief and reset the agency relationship around it.
Run: launch the first work against the new brief, report results against the agreed measures, and set the next quarter.
How it starts
With a conversation about what you are building, who it needs to reach, and where the direction is missing. If it is a fit, the work is scoped; if it is not, you will hear that instead.
Stephen, directly. The strategy and the creative direction are his work, not a team he hands you to.
The production and day-to-day execution, in-house or through the agency and partners you already have. He works with them, not around them.
Availability, fees and terms go through the talent's authorized representatives. He is engaged and paid by the brand.
Bespoke, and set after a first conversation. Scope is shaped by four things: how many decisions are in play, how many audiences the work must reach, whether the engagement ends at a recommendation or runs through launch, and how long senior involvement is needed. There is no price list on this site.
How does a fractional CMO work with an existing agency?
As the client the agency always wanted: one senior owner who sets the objective, approves the brief, makes the call and protects the budget. The agency keeps its craft and its accounts; the work stops being redirected by whoever spoke last.
How do you know the marketing is working?
By deciding the measure before spending the money. At The Lifeline Program, direct-response television was measured in call volume against media spend. The measure will differ for your business; the discipline of setting it first does not.
Related work
Marketing needs an owner.
If that seat is empty, or held by someone who also runs the company, start the conversation there.