The Fractional CMO Podcast

A great product isn't enough, if nobody knows about it, you don't have a business. In this episode of The Cemoh Marketing Podcast, Simon Dell sits down with Dean Salakas, four-time business exit veteran and co-founder of Retail Community, to talk about building The Party People into one of Australia's best-known retail brands and what he'd do differently if he started again today. 

Dean covers why buying customers only gets you so far and the real difference between selling products and solving a problem, why physical stores are set to remain the majority of retail sales in our lifetime even as the online giants grow, the psychology behind why shoppers still choose a person over a self-checkout, his rule for hiring passionate staff over cheap ones, and how AI and automation are reshaping retail without replacing the human connection that keeps customers coming back. Practical, hard-won advice from someone who's built and sold four businesses, for any retailer trying to stand out in a market being squeezed by Amazon, Shein and Temu.

Connect with Dean on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deansalakas/

We would love to know what you think, so give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

🌟 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel to learn weekly expert marketing tips and ideas.

If you think you have a great story for the podcast, contact our producer at [email protected].

🚀 If you need help growing your business, visit cemoh.com to find an experienced marketing consultant to help you.

AI doesn't run your business, it runs on whatever rules you give it. In this episode of The Cemoh Marketing Podcast, Simon Dell sits down with Fiona Campbell, founder of the Virtual Assistant Lead Network, to unpack how she's built her entire operation around Claude, and why she treats it like a brand-new staff member rather than a shortcut.

Fiona covers how she's turned Claude into a shared knowledge base for her business, documenting brand voice, decision logs and a running backlog so the AI (and her team) stay consistent, why documentation beats clever prompting when it comes to getting AI to sound like you, the human checkpoints she insists on before anything ships or sends, and her golden rule for handling AI mistakes: treat it like a person, ask why it happened, and fix the process, not just the output. Practical, trust-but-verify advice for any business owner using AI to scale a team without losing control of it.

We would love to know what you think, so give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

🌟 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel to learn weekly expert marketing tips and ideas.

If you think you have a great story for the podcast, contact our producer at [email protected].

🚀 If you need help growing your business, visit cemoh.com to find an experienced marketing consultant to help you.

#AIinBusiness #VirtualAssistant #BusinessAutomation #AITools #SmallBusinessTips #BusinessOperations #AIForBusiness #BusinessGrowth #MarketingPodcast #Cemoh

AI hasn't fixed bad marketing, it's just made it faster and louder. In this episode of The Cemoh Marketing Podcast, Simon Dell sits down with fractional marketer Danielle Coffin (My Marketing Makeover) to unpack why so much AI-generated marketing falls flat, and what to do about it.

Danielle covers what actually counts as bad marketing versus vanity metrics, why AI amplifies weak foundations instead of fixing them, and her three-step fix: truly knowing your audience's pain points, building one clear message instead of a hundred scattered ones, and choosing the right channels instead of trying to be everywhere. Practical, foundations-first advice for any business owner or marketer trying to use AI well instead of being used by it.

We would love to know what you think, so give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

🌟 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel to learn weekly expert marketing tips and ideas.

If you think you have a great story for the podcast, contact our producer at [email protected].

🚀 If you need help growing your business, visit cemoh.com to find an experienced marketing consultant to help you.

The first 90 days with a new client make or break a fractional CMO engagement. In this solo episode of The Fractional CMO Podcast, Simon Dell shares a six-part framework for onboarding a new client, building trust, and proving your value fast.

Simon covers what a client should feel in week one, why the audit comes before the action, how to build trust with the whole team, setting the right cadence, balancing early wins with long-term strategy, and what success looks like at day 90. Practical marketing and consulting advice for anyone starting a fractional CMO role, or hiring one.

We would love to know what you think, so give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

🌟 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel to learn weekly expert marketing tips and ideas.

If you think you have a great story for the podcast, contact our producer at [email protected].

🚀 If you need help growing your business, visit cemoh.com to find an experienced marketing consultant to help you.

In this episode of The Fractional CMO Podcast, Simon sits down with Alison Dean, fractional CMO and founder of The Peppermint Group, who has spent 20 years in marketing and brand. Alison started her career at Clemenger working with multinational brands, then founded The High Tea Party, a live event experience that brought 30,000 women through the doors every year across Australia and New Zealand before she sold it to a media company.

Simon and Alison explore why human connection is the one thing you can't automate, and why it's about to become the most valuable asset any business has. They cover what 15 years of live events taught Alison about trust and warmth, why businesses lose that warmth when they scale, how AI makes everything sound the same, her 80/20 formula for using AI without losing your voice, and the simple thing founders should do on a Monday morning to get their message right. Expect scones, capsule wardrobes, and a masterclass in making customers feel seen rather than sold to.

Alison's website: thepeppermintgroup.com.au
Connect with Alison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisonldean/

We would love to know what you think, so give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

🌟 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel to learn weekly expert marketing tips and ideas. If you think you have a great story for the podcast, contact our producer at [email protected].

🚀 If you need help growing your business, visit cemoh.com to find an experienced marketing consultant to help you.

In this episode of The Fractional CMO Podcast, Simon is joined by Kirsty Dagnall, founder of Beyond the Brief, a Sydney-based challenger agency offering fractional CMO services and big agency quality without the big agency budgets. Originally from Wales and with 15 years in Australia, Kirsty's background spans global tech marketing, agency work, finance, strategy and content.

Simon and Kirsty unpack why so many businesses jump straight into execution before doing the thinking, and why "we tried marketing and it didn't work" usually means the strategy was never built in the first place. They cover Kirsty's three pillars (audience, business and industry), the danger of self-diagnosing your marketing problems, why copying your competitors is a trap, piloting campaigns before scaling, and why content without an opinion is just noise. Expect some England vs Wales football banter, a mechanic analogy that will hit home, and practical advice on taking stock of your marketing before spending another dollar.

Kirsty's LinkedIn:   / kirstydagnall 
Website: beyondthebrief.au

We would love to know what you think, so give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

🌟 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel to learn weekly expert marketing tips and ideas. If you think you have a great story for the podcast, contact our producer at [email protected].

🚀 If you need help growing your business, visit cemoh.com to find an experienced marketing consultant to help you.

In this episode of The Fractional CMO Podcast, we're joined once again by returning guest Chris Jowsey, a fractional CMO based in Sydney with a background in digital marketing and e-commerce across tech companies, professional services, and DTC brands.

Simon and Chris dig into the Australia Post 2026 E-Commerce Report, unpacking what the data actually means for businesses operating in the online retail space right now. They cover slowing growth, the rise of marketplace shopping, why 73% of Australians wait for a sale, the shift from SEO to GEO, and what AI-powered discovery means for brands trying to stay visible. Expect some candid takes, a trombone purchase, and a genuinely useful breakdown of where e-commerce is heading.

Chris's LinkedIn — /in/chrisjowsey

We would love to know what you think, so give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

🌟 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel to learn weekly expert marketing tips and ideas. If you think you have a great story for the podcast, contact our producer at [email protected].

🚀 If you need help growing your business, visit cemoh.com to find an experienced marketing consultant to help you.

In this episode of The Fractional CMO Podcast, we're joined once again by returning guest Kelly Dimkovska, a digital marketing specialist with 16 years of experience, more than 12 of them working exclusively in the healthcare sector.

Simon and Kelly dive into the realities of content marketing in a heavily regulated industry, exploring why most businesses are producing content that adds no value, how to actually measure what matters, and why founder-led content consistently outperforms company page posts. Expect sharp takes on SEO basics that still get missed, the "so what" factor every piece of content needs, and how to build a scalable content engine without burning out.

Kelly's LinkedIn — /in/kelly-dimkovska-55ba5636

We would love to know what you think, so give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

🌟 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel to learn weekly expert marketing tips and ideas. If you think you have a great story for the podcast, contact our producer at [email protected].

🚀 If you need help growing your business, visit cemoh.com to find an experienced marketing consultant to help you.

Pricing yourself as a fractional CMO is one of the hardest things to get right, and most people get it wrong.
In this solo episode, Simon Dell breaks down four practical frameworks to help you figure out what to charge as a fractional CMO, whether you're just starting out or well into your journey.

Simon covers the Market Rate Anchor, Salary Reverse Engineer, Value-Based Pricing, and Competitive Positioning frameworks, plus the key pricing structures to consider, from hourly and day rates through to monthly retainers and project-based fees.

He also shares why most FCMOs are undercharging, how imposter syndrome plays into pricing decisions, and why the right client won't balk at the right price.

🌐 Learn more at www.cemoh.com
🔗 Connect with Simon on LinkedIn:  / iamsimondell  

We would love to know what you think so give us a rating and review on Apple Podcast and Spotify. 

🌟SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel to learn weekly expert marketing tips and ideas. If you think you have a great story for the podcast, contact our producer at [email protected].

🚀If you need help growing your business, visit cemoh.com to find an experienced marketing consultant to help you.

In this episode of The Fractional CMO Podcast, we're joined once again by returning guest Kristy Hunter from Hunter Marketing Co. — one of Cemoh's longest-serving consultants and a true expert in small to medium business marketing. 

Simon and Kristy dive into the content demand explosion that's sweeping the marketing world right now, exploring why businesses are producing more content than ever, whether AI is helping or hurting, and why quality and purpose should always trump volume. Expect a lively debate, a few disagreements, and some genuinely practical advice for any business owner trying to figure out their content strategy.

Kristy's LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristyhunter-marketingspecialist
Hunter Marketing Co. — https://www.huntermarketing.co/

We would love to know what you think, so give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

🌟 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel to learn weekly expert marketing tips and ideas. If you think you have a great story for the podcast, contact our producer at [email protected].

🚀 If you need help growing your business, visit cemoh.com to find an experienced marketing consultant to help you.