Fractional CMO Show

Do you have what it takes to be a Fractional CMO? In this episode, Casey Stanton goes through what experience and skills you really need to understand to build your foundation. You'll learn about what marketing knowledge you need, why you need to enjoy seeing others find success, and what discipline you should look into a little deeper.

Takeaways:

• You should have experience in marketing, whether you've been in an agency or you've been helping a single company grow. While there's no time requirement, you should have a deep understanding of how marketing impacts a business.
• You need to understand what marketing tools and tactics are available, but you don't need to have specific expertise in any one discipline.
• Fractional CMOs need to be able to identify the biggest problem and then solve it. Rarely is the solution to those big problems having you do the work. Often, the solution is hiring someone or delegating a project effectively
• You have to enjoy seeing other people succeed! You need to experience the pleasure that comes from delighting in other people's well-being. Fractional CMOs need to build up their teams and help them grow and succeed.
• One hard skill that you need is a solid understanding of copywriting. What matters in copywriting is that you can understand the problem the prospect has, what level of awareness they have of it, and write something pithy and attention-grabbing.
• You should understand media buying and a great way to get started is getting into the ad platforms and getting it right. If you're hiring someone to do it, you should learn by watching what they are doing.
• Understanding funnel building is crucial for Fractional CMOs. There are lots of different offers that work in different markets and you should understand how they work and the psychology behind them.

Quote of the Show:

• "Our fractional CMOs can't be experts at every permutation of marketing. They have to be the leader and not the doer" - Casey Stanton

Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyStanton
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseystanton/
• Website: https://cmox.co/call/
• The Fractional CMO Method: https://cmox.co/book/

Shoutouts:

• Kevin Rogers - https://copychief.com/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/039bc2d6-c1b5-4ced-ac2a-437e69546e7c/fractional-cmo-show
• Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fractional-cmo-show/id1592740671
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1HGwnjsXA4c4gYQvj4w53E?si=bd6e0908e25749ec
• Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mcmFjdGlvbmFsY21vLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlpNDTveb0AhUXEFkFHaZcDtYQ9sEGegQIARAC
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/U66-4aqfxxA

There's a lot going on and in order to focus on what's important to your work, you need to filter out the static. Casey Stanton is dropping in to give some quick tips for Fractional CMOs, VPs of Marketing, agency owners, and everyone in between, on how you can declutter your work and solve bigger problems. Casey outlines some easy steps to reorganize your bookmarks, tidy up your desktop, and minimize the risk of a cyberattack.

Takeaways:

• As a Fractional CMO, your job is to be able to understand the signal from the noise or to put it another way, separate the wheat from the chaff.
• When you focus on things with the biggest leverage, you can solve bigger problems which then results in bigger rewards both for you and your client.
• You need to delta the noise, and that means doing some cleaning! Start with your bookmark bar by leaving only the favicons or using folders.
• When you look at your desktop, you should feel at ease. Don't save things to your desktop, instead, use a folder. Set up a junk folder and set a 30-day reminder to check it. If you're not using anything in that folder after 30 days, delete the whole folder!
• Identify where the junk in your work is and block off half a day to just get rid of it. If getting rid of it saves time in your every day or offers you a more calm experience while you work, it's worth putting in the time to remove it.
• Mapping Google Drive as a local drive on your computer provides you with a folder that you can drag files into and have them saved to Google Drive. This lets you access those files from anywhere and it's also a great way to backup your files.
• Do not use the same password across websites! Use a password manager to avoid the complications of remembering all of those passwords and to increase your security.

Quote of the Show:

• "You want to focus on the thing that has the biggest leverage" - Casey Stanton

Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyStanton
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseystanton/
• Website: https://cmox.co/call/
• The Fractional CMO Method: https://cmox.co/book/

Shoutouts:

• Brian Krebs - Krebs on Security
• LastPass: https://www.lastpass.com/
• Have I Been Pwned: https://haveibeenpwned.com/
• 1Password: https://1password.com/
• Fastmail: https://www.fastmail.com/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/039bc2d6-c1b5-4ced-ac2a-437e69546e7c/fractional-cmo-show
• Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fractional-cmo-show/id1592740671
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1HGwnjsXA4c4gYQvj4w53E?si=bd6e0908e25749ec
• Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mcmFjdGlvbmFsY21vLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlpNDTveb0AhUXEFkFHaZcDtYQ9sEGegQIARAC
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/pc4-OrZcvq4

Imagine a client has just hired you as a Fractional CMO. Is your first move to invest fully into immediate results or set things up for delayed results down the line? It's a tough question, but Casey Stanton set out in this episode to answer it! Casey provides some amazing examples of tactics that yield both immediate and delayed results and outlines how you should approach using both mind frames.

Takeaways:

• There are reasons to pursue both immediate results and delayed results for your clients as a Fractional CMO.
• Immediate results for your client are great to justify your fee by producing in the first month or quarter. But remember, you can only ride that wave for so long.
• Start laying the groundwork for tactics that produce delayed results right away as they take more time to ripen. During this time, you should also pursue some immediate results so that the client sees at least some value right away.
• As a marketer, when you hear "discounts" you should think "yuck". However, they can be effective at pushing well-qualified customers that are waiting for the right time over the edge. Overtime discounts provide diminishing returns.
• Using ads, email, and social media can provide immediate results along with remarketing and new or repackaged product offerings. These too have limited wells to draw from.
• Examples of tactics that offer delayed results include partnerships, SEO, CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization), ads, and data insights.

Quote of the Show:

• "There's this mental model that you have to hold onto, which is what can I do that provides an immediate result? And what can I do that can provide a lasting result?" - Casey Stanton

Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyStanton
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseystanton/
• Website: https://cmox.co/call/
• The Fractional CMO Method: https://cmox.co/book/

Shoutouts:

• Eugene Schwartz

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/039bc2d6-c1b5-4ced-ac2a-437e69546e7c/fractional-cmo-show
• Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fractional-cmo-show/id1592740671
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1HGwnjsXA4c4gYQvj4w53E?si=bd6e0908e25749ec
• Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mcmFjdGlvbmFsY21vLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlpNDTveb0AhUXEFkFHaZcDtYQ9sEGegQIARAC
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/Z8uDixs8QTs

Many companies are implementing operating systems but what does that mean for you as a Fractional CMO? In this episode, Casey talks about which business operating systems are best for Fractional CMOs to work with. You'll hear about many different kinds of operating systems that businesses use, what they do for businesses that use them, and why those businesses make such great clients for Fractional CMOs.

Takeaways:

• Businesses either run on an operating system or they don't. The leading operating systems for businesses are the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) based on the book Traction. Operating systems provide structure for businesses to function.
• Other common business operating systems include Ryan Deiss's ScalableOS, Scaling Up, and Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).
• Operating systems outline the cadence for meetings, topics of discussion, the attendees for certain meetings, how reporting is done, how data is shown, and their strategic planning.
• When starting EOS, it's great to hire a certified EOS Implementor so that everyone can be on the same page every single quarter. They have a great quarterly process that brings together all of the leaders in the business.
• ScalableOS is very marketing-centric and works better in cases where the company is focused on e-commerce. However, Scaling up and OKRs are largely applicable to most businesses.
• Companies using an operating system are great targets for Fractional CMOs if they fit the rest of your criteria. This is a sign the company has focus which results in predictable success.
• When you step into a business that's using an operating system, you'll be able to get so much more done because everyone is already focused on the outcome.

Quote of the Show:

• "These different operating systems that a company can run, first of all, are a great sign for you as a Fractional CMO" - Casey Stanton

Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyStanton
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseystanton/
• Website: https://cmox.co/call/
• The Fractional CMO Method: https://cmox.co/book/

Shoutouts:

• Traction by Gino Wickman

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/039bc2d6-c1b5-4ced-ac2a-437e69546e7c/fractional-cmo-show
• Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fractional-cmo-show/id1592740671
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1HGwnjsXA4c4gYQvj4w53E?si=bd6e0908e25749ec
• Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mcmFjdGlvbmFsY21vLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlpNDTveb0AhUXEFkFHaZcDtYQ9sEGegQIARAC
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/JSKzffYMaSs

Your job as a Fractional CMO is to stay focused on the big picture strategy and not get dragged into the tactics, but where is that line between them? That's what Casey Stanton is discussing in this episode! Casey dissects the intricacies of what makes up strategies and tactics, and how you should approach conversations around both. You'll hear about how to delegate everything but leadership, what companies really want from a Fractional CMO, and how to strengthen the tactical abilities of your team.

Takeaways:

• Marketers love to dive into all the fun ways to use tactics, but they miss sight of the strategy-level decisions.
• To recenter the conversation on the strategy level, ask, "what you are solving for?" This is where you need to dwell as the Fractional CMO. You need to be able to scale back from the tactics conversation and look at the bigger picture.
• The strategy provides guardrails for the tactics used later on. The strategy is based on asking a question and the quality of that question determines the quality of the result.
• Starting with the strategy allows you to solve bigger problems! You can and should delegate everything except leadership.
• Instead of hiring your tactical work out to an agency with exorbitant pricing, you can hire an expert to come in and train your team in the company in that tactic. This gives you a strong tactical knowledge base in your company overnight that you completely control!
• As the Fractional CMO, you don't need to know every tactic out there. What you need to know are strategy and leadership; those are what companies are looking for.

Quote of the Show:

• "To get back to the strategy level in conversations, I like to ask the question of what are you solving for?" - Casey Stanton

Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyStanton
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseystanton/
• Website: https://cmox.co/call/
• The Fractional CMO Method: https://cmox.co/book/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/039bc2d6-c1b5-4ced-ac2a-437e69546e7c/fractional-cmo-show
• Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fractional-cmo-show/id1592740671
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1HGwnjsXA4c4gYQvj4w53E?si=bd6e0908e25749ec
• Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mcmFjdGlvbmFsY21vLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlpNDTveb0AhUXEFkFHaZcDtYQ9sEGegQIARAC
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/723gLjaede8

Marketing Strategy Consultants and Fractional CMOs work in very different ways and provide their clients with very different results. Casey Stanton takes a closer look at the differences between them and which is the better option for both the business and the marketing professional. You'll hear about why consultants are always selling, what happens when the consultant's playbook doesn't fit, and who actually creates meaningful change in the business.

Takeaways:

• Many times consultants come in, do their thing, and leave. This leaves employees with more work to do and only a vague sense of the plan. Consultants that come in, prescribe a solution, and leave with the money aren't doing that change work that's needed.
• While consultants that come in for a specific problem can be helpful, consultants brought in for global-level marketing strategy are usually a desperate move by executives.
• Marketing strategies that aren't implemented are a waste of everyone's time. When consultants come in with their playbook and it doesn't fit with the company, the consultant can leave with their paycheck without making any real impact.
• Because consultants have to give their best ideas in the 90-day period they have with the client, the client never renews with them. This forces consultants to constantly prospect, sell, and service a revolving door of clients.
• A Marketing Strategy Consultant comes up with a strategy and hopes it gets deployed. A Fractional CMO comes up with a strategy and gets it deployed by hiring, firing, training, and evaluating vendors, employees, contractors, and agencies.
• A Fractional CMO is part of the organization. They build the team that can execute the strategy. They understand the entire business and the employees within.
• While consultants may be able to charge marginally more than a Fractional CMO, they end up spending a lot more of their time and money on getting sales. Being a Fractional CMO is much more profitable because their contracts are long-term.

Quote of the Show:

• "To see results, you want to bend a client to their own will" - Casey Stanton

Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyStanton
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseystanton/
• Website: https://cmox.co/call/
• The Fractional CMO Method: https://cmox.co/book/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/039bc2d6-c1b5-4ced-ac2a-437e69546e7c/fractional-cmo-show
• Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fractional-cmo-show/id1592740671
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1HGwnjsXA4c4gYQvj4w53E?si=bd6e0908e25749ec
• Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mcmFjdGlvbmFsY21vLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlpNDTveb0AhUXEFkFHaZcDtYQ9sEGegQIARAC
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/zIX1R7tgFAc

As a marketer, there are things you can do right now to position yourself for success regardless of whatever economic conditions may come. Host Casey Stanton looks at the fallout of recent economic downturns and how marketers from every industry have been impacted. By the end of this episode, you will know the right way to invest in yourself, the importance of multiple streams of income, and what it takes to become irreplaceable as a marketer.

Takeaways:

• Consider what happened in the last recession as you think about the future of your career. In 2008, the recession drove overqualified people to fight for mediocre jobs because they could not find anything in their field.
• The traditional way of investing in yourself during an economic downturn doesn't actually help you because there are so many others following the exact same path. The playing field stays the same, but your debt rises astronomically.
• Despite the backward logic, when a recession hits, companies almost immediately stop spending money on marketing and scale back their marketing teams.
• When you start to see the signs, you need to put yourself in the best position to succeed. You can continue to do what you are good at doing, but adapt slightly to allow for multiple streams of income.
• By staying focused on improving as a marketer, you can ascend to the irreplaceable level within marketing, which primarily revolves around strategy. The role of the strategic leader cannot be commoditized, unlike so much of everything else in marketing.
• Whether a recession is looming or not, you need to have a plan in place so that if the sky begins to fall, you won't be following in everyone else's footsteps on the trail to reinvent yourself.

Quote of the Show:

• "The one role that is not going to be commoditized is the role of the CMO, the strategic leader is the person who can assess where the business is, understand where the CEO wants to take the business, and then make that come true with marketing" - Casey Stanton

Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyStanton
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseystanton/
• Website: https://cmox.co/call/
• The Fractional CMO Method: https://cmox.co/book/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/039bc2d6-c1b5-4ced-ac2a-437e69546e7c/fractional-cmo-show
• Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fractional-cmo-show/id1592740671
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1HGwnjsXA4c4gYQvj4w53E?si=bd6e0908e25749ec
• Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mcmFjdGlvbmFsY21vLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlpNDTveb0AhUXEFkFHaZcDtYQ9sEGegQIARAC
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/0Uzl_QRKPy0

To predict the success of a marketing strategy, you need to build a tool that can estimate what that success will look like for your client. Casey Stanton breaks down what goes into creating an effective and accurate tool along with a great use case. Find out how to measure and understand the outcomes of your efforts!

Takeaways:

• You need to build an estimation tool for your clients and team to use to measure the success of a marketing strategy. Having this calculator informs you of the strategy's likelihood of being successful.
• If you are currently using webinars in your strategy, you need to use a 1-click opt-in with your invitations as this will boost registrations and save you from losing 70%-90% of the clicks. If you do this, your CTR and RSVP rate should be equal.
• When building out your calculator, the first question is, what is your registration timeline?
• The baseline metrics that you need to know to build your tool are your open rate, CTR, RSVP rate, and show rate.
• In order to start predicting the success of a marketing event, it's crucial to know what the RSVP and Show-up rates for your events are from every channel.

Quote of the Show:

• "Start predicting major outcomes and then understand what has to be true along the way" - Casey Stanton

Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyStanton
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseystanton/
• Website: https://cmox.co/call/
• The Fractional CMO Method: https://cmox.co/book/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/039bc2d6-c1b5-4ced-ac2a-437e69546e7c/fractional-cmo-show
• Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fractional-cmo-show/id1592740671
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1HGwnjsXA4c4gYQvj4w53E?si=bd6e0908e25749ec
• Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mcmFjdGlvbmFsY21vLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlpNDTveb0AhUXEFkFHaZcDtYQ9sEGegQIARAC
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/ssNW1BMjTcM

Although it's critical to their success, prospecting can seem like a never-ending chore for Fractional CMOs, but it doesn't have to be! Casey Stanton discusses how Fractional CMOs should approach prospecting to find new business opportunities, how to make sure prospecting remains a priority, and what you can do to honor your time commitments.

Takeaways:

• To avoid prospecting feeling like a chore that you know you have to do, block out time on your calendar. Create times that are specifically just for prospecting.
• Beyond simply scheduling the time to prospect in your calendar, you need to approach it strategically and, more importantly, you need to actually do the work during that timeframe.
• You need to honor your own time with the same reverence you have for other people's time. When you start engaging with a project and someone else has their own problem, it can be hard to avoid dropping everything to plunge into helping them.
• Right now, create a recurring time in your calendar for two hours, twice a week to prioritize prospecting.
• Your calendar reflects your priorities in life and if you are not scheduling in time expressly so you can prospect, prospecting is not a priority to you.
• Be mindful of your "self-commitment muscle" and remind yourself to show up and honor the times on your calendar.

Quote of the Show:

• "If you're not blocking your calendar, it's not a priority to you" - Casey Stanton

Shout Outs:

• Jesse Stoddard - Fractional CMO in the CMOx Accelerator
• Wyatt Woodsmall - Author and Executive Coach

Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyStanton
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseystanton/
• Website: https://cmox.co/call/
• The Fractional CMO Method: https://cmox.co/book

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/039bc2d6-c1b5-4ced-ac2a-437e69546e7c/fractional-cmo-show
• Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fractional-cmo-show/id1592740671
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1HGwnjsXA4c4gYQvj4w53E?si=bd6e0908e25749ec
• Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mcmFjdGlvbmFsY21vLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlpNDTveb0AhUXEFkFHaZcDtYQ9sEGegQIARAC
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/0gCEX86LxPs

It's not always clear whose responsibility it is to track deals, forecast for the future, and take action to grow the company. Casey Stanton explains my marketing finds itself in the position to do so and why it's so critical that they do! You'll learn what you need to track, how to keep track of the right data, and where you can go for the resources you need.

Takeaways:

• Sales teams need to have a forward pipeline in order to have proper sales forecasting. It is also critical for B2B marketers to understand.
• To build a forward pipeline, start by thinking about how long a sales gestation is for a client. Look forward to if there are enough new sales in the pipeline to replenish the company or if it is drying up.
• Marketing is in the unique position to be able to look at the forward pipeline and start taking action to fill it with new leads.
• You need to create a dashboard to view and track the forward pipeline. While parts of this process may seem like the job of sales, if they aren't taking care of it, it will reflect poorly on you.

Quote of the Show:

• "You also need to make sure that you're not blind to, what's going to happen 2, 3, 6 months down the road" - Casey Stanton

Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyStanton
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseystanton/
• Website: https://cmox.co/call/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/039bc2d6-c1b5-4ced-ac2a-437e69546e7c/fractional-cmo-show
• Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fractional-cmo-show/id1592740671
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1HGwnjsXA4c4gYQvj4w53E?si=bd6e0908e25749ec
• Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mcmFjdGlvbmFsY21vLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlpNDTveb0AhUXEFkFHaZcDtYQ9sEGegQIARAC
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/zLLjHezSCBs