How a Fractional CMO Thinks About Marketing
As a Fractional CMO, I naturally have a lot of thoughts and view on marketing so this is going to be a pretty beefy post!
The first thing I’ll say about marketing is to be successful you have to have your foundations right.
That means:
Market research to properly position your brand, understand where to market it, and much more.
Development of a brand strategy that you can use across all your marketing efforts to build brand recognition.
Solid messaging that resonates with your target market on a deeper psychological level.
Understanding your buyer’s journey and marketing funnel so you have multiple touchpoints with your audience.
Without the foundations (and one based on your business, not what other people are doing!), the rest of your marketing is likely going to fall flat.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s dive into the 3 principles I use to guide all my marketing strategies:
Your marketing should be an ecosystem.
One of the biggest mistakes I often see businesses make is looking at their marketing channels as individual marketing activities rather than looking at how they work together.
Through my 15 years of experience, I know that when you make sure your marketing is working together in cohesive and systematic way, you’re going to see much better results.
Think about an ecosystem. The idea is that all organisms in an environment interact together and often if one piece of an ecosystem is out of balance, it can cause problems.
Your marketing is the same way. Every marketing channel needs to work together to actually provide you results. (Don’t worry—My linchpin strategies will help you understand how to create an ecosystem that’s a little more sustainable.)
And if you’re more visual like me, here’s how you can think about your marketing as an ecosystem.
Focus on linchpin strategies to sustainably drive your marketing efforts.
When you think about your marketing, are you trying to give equal attention to every single channel? Splitting your time between all the things and feeling like you’re barely keeping up?
Here’s the truth: That’s not how marketing should work.
Instead, you should focus on 1-3 primary marketing channels—your linchpin strategies—that drive 80% of your growth and come naturally to you.
Everything else should supplement those channels.
For example: If your podcast is your primary channel, your Instagram posts should point people to your podcast, and your podcast content should fuel your social media. The same goes for email marketing, PR, or any other channels you use.
It’s a symbiotic relationship that keeps your marketing cohesive, consistent, and sustainable.
Over time your marketing mix will likely shift as your business grows though so it’s good to regularly check your analytics to keep an eye on what’s producing the best results and identify any areas that need adjustments and/or opportunities you can leverage.
Marketing is a rinse and repeat cycle.
I know you’re not going to want to hear this but not every piece of your marketing is going to be a home run. So let go of the expectation that every single Instagram post or email needs to be perfection.
In fact, your emails that are more sales focused are likely going to have a lower open and click-through rate.
Your social media metrics will fluctuate up and down month-to-month.
It’s normal for new strategies to not work perfectly the first time.
And that’s because marketing is a process:
Plan 👉 Execute 👉 Evaluate 👉 Iterate.
And while I love to focus on the strategy behind marketing efforts, the real magic happens when that strategy is put into motion.
This gives us data to evaluate not only how it’s all working but also indicates how to iterate on those results to further optimize our efforts.
Most business owners get stuck in either planning mode or implementation and never really getting to the evaluation and iteration but you really can't have one stage without the others if you want to be hella effective with your marketing.
So take a little time today to consider what cycle you're actually in for your marketing and if you're missing any of the stages, take some action to change that today!
My Core Beliefs About Marketing:
Don’t have to do it like everyone else. In fact, you shouldn’t. Your marketing works best when it’s based on your data, research, and creativity—not cookie-cutter strategies.
It can be simple. I hope this is obvious from the 3 principles I outlined above but your marketing does not have to be complex to be effective. Start with your linchpin strategies, make sure they’re interconnected, and then rinse and repeat!
It should be designed around your strengths and available capacity. The strategy I build for someone that's a single mother is going to be very different than the one I build for a corporate marketing team or someone that's a caregiver to a sick or elderly relative or someone that's {insert whatever lifestyle/life circumstances here}. Your business is supposed to support your life and your marketing should do just that.
At the end of the day, marketing is both an art and a science. It’s about combining strategy, creativity, and data to create something that truly works for your unique business.
When you focus on the fundamentals and align your efforts with your strengths, you’re setting yourself up for sustainable success.
So, whether you’re just starting out or looking to optimize what’s already working, take the time to build a marketing plan that supports your goals—and your life. And if you need a partner to help you make sense of it all? I’m here to help. Learn more about how we can work together.
