Fractional CMO

I'm here to help you get the right team in place, boost traffic from underperforming channels, find other channels of traffic, and refine your value proposition so it resonates with your prospects. I am here to steer the marketing ship in the right direction and make sure you are delivering the correct marketing strategy to meet your goals. Take advantage of my 12+ years of experience, from running an agency to working inside corporate marketing departments. I've seen the mistakes that are made and what it takes to be successful in marketing from all sides of the equation.I know how to make the marketing machine work for your company.

Book a 30 minute Discovery Call with me to see if we're a good match.

Otherwise read more below on how I work with my clients and what to expect from an engagement with me. Click the question to jump to answer:

Who do I work with?

I work with B2B Tech companies in North America, Ireland, and the UK who are looking for a clear marketing strategy and sales funnel breakdown (metrics, conversion deltas, and marketing channel mix). Companies who want to produce engaged traffic, generate quality leads and increase their sales (MRR/ARR). I work with companies who have a storng desire to achieve business objectives and meet long term marketing and revenue goals.

What is my marketing philosophy?

I’m passionate about sharing how to increase revenue by attracting engaged traffic that creates quality leads. We all want to be successful in our businesses and marketing departments which is why the end goal after traffic and leads is revenue (the main driver). Marketing can be a great success by being directly attributed to revenue … or it can be a big unknown whether it is actually generating quality leads that convert into sales. Executives can lose trust and feel they are throwing their money away, some have had bad experiences with marketing and lost faith. I clearly showing the results you could (or should) get from marketing, and maintain or gain back executive/leadership trust in marketing. I have seen a similar theme across many different companies and enjoy the challenge of implementing successful marketing strategies that show where the revenue and ROI is coming from. The happy faces I see when the results come in are priceless!

It's important to know your sales funnel inside and out. Understand the numbers and aim to automate live data capture at each stage. The goal of your very basic sales funnel is to:

- Attract Engaged Traffic

- Create Quality Leads

- Increase Sales/Revenue/MRR/ARR

We'll start with the above basics but we want more details of the advanced stages, we will end up with a funnel something like this:

• Interest/Awareness/Impressions

  • (Traffic %)

• Traffic/Introduce to website

  • (Bounce rate %)

• Engaged Traffic

  • (Trial/prospect rate %)

• Prospects

  • (Lead rate %)

• Leads

  • (Close rate %)

• Client/Purchase

  • (then calculate ARPU/ASP and also CLV/MRR/ARR, retention/churn etc.)

Know each data point and the delta % in between each, adapt it to your company terminology as the exact stages may differ. And this is the linear starting point of how to view the sales funnel, customer journeys are most often not this exact and jump around so we will bear this in mind as we analyze your company data

What processes do I use?

Some of my process is explained in the above question, but there are a set of tools I will recommend and a data gathering phase at the beginning. Book a Discovery Call with me and we can talk more about processes!

What is a Fractional CMO?

Fractional just means part time. I will work as your interim CMO on a contract basis (low commitment) or with an existing CMO to support them with the goal of making them the hero (as their secret weapon or openly as a second in command). Each company is different so we can engage how it works best.

Why hire on a Fractional basis?

You don't need to hire a full time CMO which can be a huge commitment and monetary investment. Why not supercharge your marketing function with a shorter term engagement with more Impact?

What kind of marketing work do I do?

From SEO, ads, content writing, and social media...these are all methods to drive traffic to your website. I will find the right people to execute what is needed for your situation. The goal is more traffic, that generate better leads, that convert into sales. My strategic focus helps find where the funnel is breaking down, where to invest time and money, and how to utlimately convert sales to generate more revenue for your business.

How many clients do I engage with at any given time?

I work with only 3 Fractional clients at a time to ensure attention and impact is maximized. This allows me to drive results and put together the right team to achieve your goals.

What's the expected duration of the engagement?

I work with my clients for 3-6 months and then reduce the time spent with them after delivering a strategic roadmap they can follow on their own. My goal is to get the right team in place to execute on the strategy. Depending on the situation I will schedule check-in appointments monthly for an additional 3-6 months. Total engagement can be anywhere from 3-12 months (with a low commitment on hours spent per month).

What about videos, photography and design?

I've worked as a creative director for many different types of projects and can help achieve the goals needed to differentiate your business online. If we decide this type of content will meet our goals then I will help execute a plan to make it happen.

What kind of results can I expect?

We will agree on a pre-defined set of metrics we want to achieve and build the associated projects into this plan. Results will include increased traffic, leads, and eventually sales. We will track the funnel metrics in as much detail as possible to see where we improve and where we need to focus more effort. Funnel results will differ across organizations  and industries but some of the results I’m proud of include increasing opportunities by 585%, appointments by 400%, and sales by 650% across 25+ different clients.

Will you help build a team?

Yes. I will help lead the entire marketing strategy and also help find key team members to fill gaps. Once our strategy is defined we can add the appropriate people as external contractors or as internal employees. This could include social media managers/creators, writers, or even those needed for other key leadership positions. Sourcing the right people and talent is important to achieve business objectives and meet long term marketing and revenue goals.

Will you make changes to my website?

We will review all your online assets and tweak the messaging and imagery where required. The aim is to efficiently communicate your offering and create a well oiled funnel that continuosly delivers leads we can action. Your website is the center of your lead generation engine so we will be making changes here.

What industries do I work with?

My expertise lies in B2B SaaS companies who have over €5-40 Million in revenue and don't want to spend the money on a full time CMO. I've worked with many clients across many industries including oil & gas software, ecommerce engines, CRM software, and property management software. I am also interested in shifting my focus over to the sustainability and environmental sectors and will engage with these companies where suitable.

What about AI/ChatGPT and how do I optimize for it?

Use AI (ChatGPT or comparable tool) to accelerate your efforts so you can do more deep thinking that AI cannot do (For example customer messaging that resonates). ChatGPT works with what you give it, so if you are feeding it quality work it can give you back quality edits. If you ask it to create something from scratch or with very little input you will likely not see good results. For example you could write an ad campaign and get ChatGPT to refine it and maybe replace certain words or company names across many lines that are similar. Save time where you can but be careful not to rely on it too much, we still need to exercise our critical thinking brain and differentiate our work creatively (something AI cannot do). There are many proven strategies within traditional channels like SEO, paid ads etc. But what is the big thing we hear about day in and day out? It’s AI. I think it’s worth an overview to hopefully make this key trend a little clearer.

So how should we think about this in B2B SaaS in regards to optimization, is it AI SEO? Can we still influence and optimize for AI? I think the answer is yes but the waters are muddy. 

We are seeing a few different terms in this area like GEO/GSO/LLMO/AEO. ​​​

GEO - Generative Engine Optimization

GSO - Generative Search Optimization

LLMO - Large Language Model Optimization

AEO - Answer Engine Optimization (used interchangeably but also relates to search engines) 

These terms essentially all mean the same thing and you may come across other terms or acronyms as well. There is no common standard for what it’s called yet, and there are also no proven strategies/playbooks on how to approach it. Many companies are testing to see what results they get with some being successful with their efforts. Making it easier for AI bots to access site information might be a good place to start (using a LLMS.txt file, similar to robots.txt). But I’m no expert here and am still researching these topics myself…but I think I can give a good overview on where it fits into the overall marketing mix. For simplicity let’s combine the terms above into one and just call it GEO from now on.

I've added GEO as a channel of traffic into all my strategies as something to explore as there seem to be some good tactics that might pay big dividends down the road. Of course with these tools, it depends on what the prompter/user inputs as a question. And what we want to know is if you are showing up and how your business can become the answer within AI tools (this is GEO). We can guess that the trend will move further away from search engines like Google so more effort should be invested here. This is where you will need to do more digging into the world of GEO. Test, learn and measure results. Then do it again.

But since these strategies are largely not proven, don’t put all your eggs in the AI basket. Your industry or business type may benefit from GEO but it could also work against you (For example if ChatGPT only displays the info you provide, you could get zero credit/clicks from a link or citation within it). I would recommend sticking with the proven channels that are working as well starting to slowly introduce GEO, the percentage mix is up to you. Like we saw in the early days of SEO, efforts were quickly wiped out with one algorithm change, this will likely be the same with AI platform updates (so don’t fully bank on it or invest too heavily).

Look at all 7 channels of traffic and decide how much time and money you will invest in each. Ask me how I break down the 7 channels of traffic (including GEO) and I’m happy to provide you with a free website audit.

What are the 7 channels of Traffic?

This is how I break down web traffic into the 7 channels:

1. Paid

2. SEO 

3. Email

4. Backlinks

5. Direct 

6. Social Media

7. GEO

How do you view each of the 7 channels of Traffic?

Here are more details on how I view each channel:

1. Paid (Google/Bing search ads, display ads, any paid social ad, or other paid content).

2. SEO - Search Engine Optimizations (Organic. Includes snippet AEO. Long term game).

3. Email (Organic, paid, or exchange. Usually owned for ex: Newsletters, onboarding, drip campaigns. Can be segmented and be a long term asset or partner exchanges).

4. Backlinks (Organic, paid, or exchange. Backlink or referral links on partner sites, blogs, listings, directories, can be high quality/relevant or be low quality and impact negatively).

5. Direct (Organic, Paid. Type into address bar and is an indicator of domain authority, comes from browser history/favourites or they know you already. Associated with in-person events or physical collateral like business cards/flyers).

6. Social Media (Organic. Select the platforms with the highest traffic source & best fit for your business. YouTube is a big one).

7. GEO (Organic. aka: GSO, LLMO, generative AEO. Unproven strategies but high potential, even longer term game than SEO).

What are some questions you can ask yourself to get clarity?

Take some time to write out your answers to the following questions the best you can, this will help outline where you are at and also inform how I can help you:

• What is your monthly marketing budget excluding ad spend?

• Which tools or software are you currently using? (IE: CRM, Project Management, SEO, Ad platforms, main social media channel etc.)

• What are you looking to achieve within the next 6 months?

• Where have you seen success in marketing?

• Where have you fallen short or want to improve in your marketing?

• Are you lacking any key team members in your organization?

• Which are my top performing channels?

Book a 30 minute Discovery Call to explore if we are the right fit for each other. I only take on clients I know I can help Improve, so book in and let's talk.

If you are not ready to have a discovery call there are other ways to contact me here.