Effective marketing strategy to make growth happen.
Why “The Practical CMO”?
You would expect a fractional CMO to bring strong expertise in strategy. And that’s where effective marketing starts—both in designing a growth strategy that becomes the core of your business strategy and then to develop an effective marketing strategy to make growth happen.
Effective CMOs don’t stop there, because most businesses want strong execution of the marketing strategy and plan, too. Having a strategy that identifies growth areas, understands the market and competition, and includes positioning which tells your story well are all important. What I have found, though, is that even global organizations rely on trusted CMOs for assistance.
Several years ago, I was meeting with some of the largest financial businesses in the world and trying out new product and service ideas for them. They kept saying, “Just tell us what to do.” I didn’t understand the depth of that request until they gave examples. Their request was based on this thinking: “You are the expert. You know best practices. We trust you and will benefit from your engagement with us.”Business Challenges & Needs Addressed
Over the years in varying roles including CEO/GM, CMO, CIO, Head of E-Commerce, VP of Sales & Marketing there were common challenges I was brought in to solve. I’ve had the pleasure of working in several industries including Business Services, Financial Services, Healthcare, High Tech & SaaS, as well as Industrial & Manufacturing, with teams from 0 to 250. The challenges I ran into most frequently are below.
CHALLENGE:
Flat or Declining Growth
Business requires new positioning, markets, products or services to achieve desired growth rates matching the industry and/or competitors. Stagnation is occurring and growth objectives are not consistently being met.
CHALLENGE:
Accelerated Growth
Business needs to develop and prioritize a series of incremental revenue and profit streams to grow 2-3x faster based owner/shareholder/board goals.
CHALLENGE:
Poorly Performing Marketing
Marketing investments are not returning high value and do not support growth or transformation. Random acts of marketing occur but no Marketing strategy, plan, programs, initiatives, or performance metrics exist.
CHALLENGE:
Competitive Pipeline Disadvantage
Competitors are outperforming and growing faster using stronger Marketing and Sales programs and more productive demand generation and lead qualification programs.
CHALLENGE:
Stepping up to Digital Transformation
Use of digital technologies to create new revenue streams or to improve customer or supplier engagement.