Revolutionizing Marketing Leadership Podcast: Insights to Fractional Executive Roles

Revolutionizing Marketing Leadership Podcast: Insights to Fractional Executive Roles

by | Feb 10, 2024 | Business & Marketing Strategy, Fractional CMO, Insights, Marketing Planning & Execution

Revolutionizing Marketing Leadership Podcast: Insights to Fractional Executive Roles

Recently, I had the opportunity and privilege of being featured on the IMpluse podcast with industry expert Prateek Panda as part of a series discussing fractional executive roles and strategic marketing leadership within medium to large-sized startups and established companies. When you have time during your commute or while you walk the dog, give the full episode a listen. Below is a bit of a highlight reel of what I shared.

Why Fractional CMO?

I started &Marketing almost 8 years ago to serve middle market companies with an outsourced marketing department. As that has grown and evolved, a common thread I noticed was a huge need for marketing strategy and leadership. After looking around I realized that there was a gap in the market on both the offer side to the prospect/client and for the Fractional themselves. So we created a better one.

We started to focus on fractional CMOs in late 2022, and it has made all the difference in our business as well as the businesses we partner with.

What Makes a Successful Marketing Leader?

Here’s a snapshot of those key ingredients for success, the kind that’s making waves in the industry:

  • Crafting the Big Picture with a Dash of Agility: It’s not just about laying down those long-term plans; it’s about being nimble enough to dance with the ever-changing tunes of the market. A top-tier marketing leader blends foresight and flexibility seamlessly.
  • Being a Customer Whisperer: Getting into the customer’s headspace, understanding their beats and rhythms – that’s the heart of it all. It’s about creating strategies that resonate on a personal level with your audience.
  • Making Decisions Fueled by Data: It’s like being a detective, where every clue (data point) leads you closer to solving the case (nailing your strategy). Making calls based on what the numbers are telling you – that’s the name of the game.
  • Acting the Part of a Maestro: Leading a marketing team is like conducting an orchestra. It’s about getting all the different instruments (team members) to play in harmony so it resonates across the entire company.
  • Having Digital Savvy with a Conscience: Today’s marketing maestro has to be fluent in the language of digital but also stay true to the ethical core. It’s about using tools not just for their flashiness but for their ability to genuinely connect and engage.

In essence, it’s about being that visionary who can look through the lens of the customer, crunch the numbers, lead with heart and purpose, and constantly innovate while staying true to ethical marketing roots.

Challenges and Rewards of Being a Fractional CMO

Being a good marketing leader is the baseline, but most fractionals don’t realize how hard it is to actually create a business for themselves from scratch. You’re now selling and delivering a service where YOU are the product. That’s hard for many marketing people in particular because it’s a different skill.

Outside of the challenges though, there are always rewards in this unique role. When a fractional CMO partnership is done right, you’ll feel like a part of a strong executive leadership team. Fractional CMOs are brought on because their expertise is desperately needed at that time, meaning they get to be the hero of the story in many ways—that’s fulfilling.

Benefits of Joining &Marketing as a fCMO

Our fCMOs enjoy a multitude of benefits by partnering with &Marketing. Some of the most impactful ones are:

  • Inbound qualified (and vetted) leads
  • Community of like-minded experts
  • Tools & tips, coaching, advice
  • Assistance in negotiating deals
  • Offload all paperwork and invoicing to our staff
  • Transparency and as little drama as possible

How &Marketing is Different from Similar Agencies

  1. We are not captive – meaning we don’t sign any agreements that prevent you from getting leads from other sources or take a cut from leads we don’t bring in.
  2. We qualify leads before our community sees them. You know they are looking for a fractional before you talk to them.
  3. We help you negotiate the deal. Having someone in your corner makes a significant difference.

One of my proudest professional accomplishments so far is seeing this Fractional trend and pivoting our resources toward making it successful. It will be interesting to see where it goes!

The team at &Marketing is at the forefront of bringing the highest quality of AI tools to our partners as well. Being able to leverage AI to take marketing to the next level is the next frontier in our field, and we are doing that every day with our partners and clients.

I encourage you to make some time to listen to the podcast episode to get a full picture of what’s going on in the field of factional executives right now. Plus, I tell a great story about my biggest professional failure and share which influencer I would choose to have lunch with. (My answer might surprise you!)

Listen to the Episode

For any questions or to get more details about fractional CMOs, please reach out!

Are you facing challenges of your own in generating leads and meeting your business’s growth goals?

We’d love to learn more about your challenges and how a coordinated marketing approach might help take your organization to the next level.

About &Marketing:

&Marketing provides the robust outsourced marketing department growing companies need without the high overhead costs of big agencies or full-time employees. Our variable model empowers businesses to reach their growth goals through access to the guidance and expertise of senior level strategists and a flexible execution team.

The Power of Digital Marketing Analytics: When, How, and Why to Use

The Power of Digital Marketing Analytics: When, How, and Why to Use

by | Feb 5, 2024 | Business Intelligence & Analytics, Insights, Marketing Planning & Execution

The Power of Digital Marketing Analytics: When, How, and Why to Use

When companies start to see a plateau or stagnation in growth it’s usually due to one of two things: 1) the refusal to implement new ideas or 2) guessing at which new ideas to implement. We’ve helped dozens of businesses through both hurdles. The key to pushing through that growth plateau is to use the power of digital marketing analytics to guide your growth. Understanding how to leverage data analytics to drive marketing decisions and strategies can lead to considerable growth in companies of any size.

What is digital marketing analytics?

Digital marketing analytics refers to the practice of measuring, managing, and analyzing marketing performance data to maximize its effectiveness and optimize return on investment (ROI). In other words, it’s crucial to helping businesses understand the impact of their marketing efforts and make informed decisions to drive growth and customer engagement.

A few key components of digital marketing analytics include:

  • Data Collection: Gathering data from various digital marketing channels such as websites, social media, email campaigns, digital advertisements, and more.
  • Data Analysis: Analyzing the collected data to understand user behavior, campaign performance, and the effectiveness of different marketing strategies. This often involves the use of analytics tools like Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, and others.
  • Performance Measurement: Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) like click-through rates, conversion rates, cost per acquisition, engagement metrics, and others to evaluate the success of marketing campaigns.

How is analytics used in marketing? Choosing the right data.

Data analytics can be intimidating at first, especially if you don’t quite know what you’re looking for or where to start. The good news is that there are hundreds of ways to gather marketing data analytics for your business. (Unfortunately, that’s also the bad news.) It’s critical to know which analytics are valuable to consider for your business and target audience and which ones won’t move the needle for growth. Getting caught up in trying to collect all the data and then getting lost in mountains of numbers that you’re uncertain of how to even use is an easy trap to fall into.

Some common types of data analytics used in marketing are:

  • website analytics
  • social media platform metrics
  • CRM/Sales data
  • Email service platform metrics
  • geographic stats
  • audience demographics

Data such as how many website hits and bounces you’re getting, the number of email opens and clicks, and social media followers are pretty simple to follow. Where too many businesses go wrong is thinking that’s all they need to consider. Additionally, a common misstep is mistaking vanity numbers for strategic data.

In other words, the number of followers on your social media or the number of subscribers to your email newsletter doesn’t necessarily convert to actual revenue.

Our fractional CMOs leverage their expertise in marketing and data analytics to make sure the right metrics are being tracked so that all the data being gathered can be impactful in making decisions about where to focus your time, energy, and money to combat that stagnant growth you may be experiencing.

Connecting digital marketing analytics to strategic decisions

When the best data is gathered and analyzed, you can connect those marketing analytics to strategic decisions. Instead of attempting to collect all the data, or guessing at which data you should pay attention to, our fractional CMOs get to the heart of which metrics matter so you can do things like:

  • Enhance cross-functional marketing strategies so that your multiple touch points actually move your potential customers along a journey instead of simply bombarding them
  • Identify cost savings within digital campaigns to maximize each dollar spent on paid ads
  • Identify target audiences to ensure that you’re only reaching out to your actual potential customers and clients
  • Equip sales teams with warmer leads to shorten the sales timeline and increase revenue faster
  • Provide intel for potential expansion areas and insights needed to create a strategic roadmap for growth

Leveraging the power of data analytics for growth

When you identify the right data analytics to track and know what meaning to attach to that data, you can confidently create a strategy that will lead to overall growth. There are a multitude of options available to assist you in gathering the data you need. Several platforms you’re currently using may already give you marketing data analytics, but we also have some impactful software in our toolbox like:

  • Power BI: a unified platform for data visualization and sharing
  • Stata: an integrated software that provides data manipulation, visualization, statistics and automated reporting
  • Semrush: a SaaS platform specializing in keyword research, competitor analysis, and ad campaign optimization

Our fractional CMOs use these and other data-driven tools to give you the kind of power boost that takes companies from a plateau to exponential growth to become industry leaders.

Getting Started

When you know what your numbers are and what they mean, you can take actual confident action toward growth. No more guessing at the next steps or sifting through tons of information to try to figure out which data to focus on. Data analytics in marketing doesn’t have to be cumbersome or time-consuming. Contact us to find out how a fractional CMO can help guide your business growth using the right data in the right way at the right time.

Contact Us

Are you facing challenges of your own in generating leads and meeting your business’s growth goals?

We’d love to learn more about your challenges and how a coordinated marketing approach might help take your organization to the next level.

About &Marketing:

&Marketing provides the robust outsourced marketing department growing companies need without the high overhead costs of big agencies or full-time employees. Our variable model empowers businesses to reach their growth goals through access to the guidance and expertise of senior level strategists and a flexible execution team.

B2C Closet Company Combines Digital Marketing With Direct Mail Marketing to See Big Results

B2C Closet Company Combines Digital Marketing With Direct Mail Marketing to See Big Results

by | Nov 21, 2023 | Case Studies, Insights

B2C Closet Company Combines Digital Marketing With Direct Mail Marketing to See Big Results

Business Challenge Summary

Clozetivity Southeast PA is a recently launched custom closet franchise company that needed to produce new leads at a lower cost per lead. The client needed help generating more awareness to get in front of prospective buyers using a mix of social media and paid digital advertising. Knowing that content and SEO take time, Clozetivity Southeast PA needed to expand the ways they could target the market to generate awareness and leads more quickly.

Solution

The client turned to &Marketing to supplement their digital approach with a traditional marketing tactic, targeted direct mail, using Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) by USPS. EDDM strives to make direct mail more efficient and targeted by allowing you to select routes based on specific audience parameters: 

  • Route: City, Rural/Highway, PO Box
  • Residential or Residential AND Business
  • Age
  • Average Size of Household
  • Average Household Income

Not only does this ensure mail pieces are seen by the right people, but at an average price of mailing that is less than a postage stamp. Users are responsible for the printing and delivering of the mail pieces to the post office, but the USPS does provide listings of certified available printers to use for both guidance and physical printing (see here). Mailings currently cost as low as $0.189 per piece (postage). 

After designing two different postcards to A/B test, Clozetivity Southeast PA partnered with PrimoPrint to print 6×9 postcards, select the routes of the audiences they were targeting (residential, high average household income, ages 25-55), and deliver the printed pieces to the USPS for delivery.  

Is direct mail marketing still effective?

Direct mail marketing maintains its effectiveness when strategically implemented, offering tangibility, personalization, and targeted messaging that can create memorable interactions. Although it can be more cost and time-intensive, direct mail stands out in less cluttered physical mailboxes, potentially building trust and capturing attention.

The integration of direct mail with digital strategies, alongside careful tracking and measurement, can enhance its impact. However, its success depends on various factors including the industry, audience, message quality, and design.

Direct Mail Marketing Results

 

After sending about 12,700 highly targeted direct mail pieces for $5,700, Clozetivity Southeast PA received four high-quality leads from Postcard A, two of which led to sales of over $10,000. This led to a Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) of 351%. (What is your ROAS? Check out our Calculator.) Additionally, Clozetivity generated brand awareness among roughly 6,000 potential buyers. Though Click Thru Rate (CTR) was low (0.18%) by industry standards, the conversion rate was extremely strong (17%). This can be attributed to the brand being unknown and the testing of the creative pieces sent. As Clozetivity Southeast PA continues to improve its awareness online through digital advertising and content, the brand will use the lessons and success from this direct mail test to further expand reach.

Results

Spend

$5,700

SQL’s

4

Sales

2

Revenue

$20,000+

ROAS

351%

Conversion Rate

17%

Results

Postcard A

Postcard B

Spend

$2,556.92

$3,098.50

Delivered

6,728

5,995

Clicks

17

6

CTR

0.25%

0.10%

Conversions

4

0

Conversion Rate

24%

0%

Sales

2

0

Revenue

$20,000+

$0

ROAS

782%

0%

What is the average return on direct mail marketing?

The return on investment (ROI) for direct mail marketing can vary widely depending on various factors such as the industry, target audience, quality of the mailing list, design of the mailer, and the offer presented. However, to give a general idea, the average “return” or response rate is anywhere from 0.5-2%. The exact ROI is going to depend on the type of campaign you’re running and what action you ask your recipients will take.

It’s important to note that this is a broad average and actual returns can be significantly higher or lower based on the specifics of the campaign. Well-targeted and well-executed direct mail campaigns have been known to yield ROIs much higher than the average, while poorly executed campaigns could result in a loss. To learn more about direct mail campaigns and decide whether they might be a tactic you should integrate into your marketing strategy, reach out to our team!

Contact Us

Are you facing challenges of your own in generating leads and meeting your business’s growth goals?

We’d love to learn more about your challenges and how a coordinated marketing approach might help take your organization to the next level.

About &Marketing:

&Marketing provides the robust outsourced marketing department growing companies need without the high overhead costs of big agencies or full-time employees. Our variable model empowers businesses to reach their growth goals through access to the guidance and expertise of senior level strategists and a flexible execution team.

5 Reasons Your Company Doesn’t Show Up on Google

5 Reasons Your Company Doesn’t Show Up on Google

by | Jul 2, 2023 | Business & Marketing Strategy, Business Intelligence & Analytics, Insights, Marketing Planning & Execution, SEO

5 Reasons Your Company Doesn’t Show Up on Google

&Marketing, and marketing, outsourced marketing strategy

Written By &Marketing

On

Having a strong online presence has become a crucial part of growing any business. However, if your business isn’t showing up in Google search results related to what you offer, it’s time to do some troubleshooting. There are five common reasons why your business might not be ranking well on Google. The good news? You can address nearly all of these issues by leveraging strong SEO or optimizing your Google My Business profile.

Reason #1: You Haven’t Claimed Your Business on Google

One common reason why your company doesn’t show up on Google search results is that you haven’t claimed your business on Google at all. By claiming your business, you can ensure it appears in search results and provides accurate information to potential customers. To add your business to Google, follow these simple steps:

  1. Go to the Google My Business website.
  2. Click on “Start Now” and sign in with your Google account.
  3. Enter your business name and address.
  4. Select the correct business listing or create a new one if it doesn’t exist.
  5. Verify your business through the provided verification methods, such as phone verification or mail verification.

That’s it, easy right?

Reason #2: Your Content Isn’t SEO-Optimized

Creating great content is important, but optimizing it for search engines is equally crucial. If your content lacks proper SEO optimization, it may not rank well in Google search results. To get found on Google with SEO, consider the following tips:

  • Perform keyword research: Identify relevant keywords and phrases that your target audience is searching for. Use these keywords strategically in your content, including in headings, titles, and meta descriptions.
  • Optimize on-page elements: Ensure your page titles, headings, URLs, and image alt tags include relevant keywords.
  • Improve page load speed: Optimize your website’s loading speed to provide a better user experience and increase your chances of ranking higher.
  • Create high-quality, engaging content: Google values content that is informative, engaging, and valuable to users. Focus on creating content that answers questions and provides solutions to your audience’s problems.

Reason #3: You Have Either Bad or No Google Reviews

Google reviews play a significant role in building trust and credibility for your business. If you have either bad or no Google reviews, it can negatively impact your search ranking. Here are some tips to handle Google reviews effectively:

  1. If you come across false, spammy, or inappropriate reviews, you can flag them for removal. Follow Google’s guidelines and report any reviews that violate their policies.
  2. Regularly monitor and respond to the reviews you receive. You can find and manage your Google reviews by logging into your Google My Business account.
  3. Encourage your happy customers to leave reviews! You can send follow-up emails or include a review request on your website or invoices.
  4. When you receive negative reviews, respond promptly and professionally. Address the customer’s concerns, offer solutions, and show that you value their feedback.

Reason #4: Your Website Lacks Citations (aka Backlinks)

Backlinks, which are links from other websites to yours, are like votes of confidence for your website. They can improve your website’s authority and boost its visibility in search results.Think of them as the link version of getting verified on social media. If your website lacks citations or backlinks, it might struggle to rank well on Google—especially for highly competitive search terms. Here are some strategies to build a strong backlink profile:

  • Reach out to other websites in your industry and offer to contribute guest articles or collaborate on content. This can help you earn backlinks to your website. Just don’t be spammy!
  • Focus on acquiring backlinks from reputable websites that are relevant to your industry. Quality backlinks from authoritative sources can have a more significant impact on your search ranking.
  • The quantity of backlinks is not as important as their quality.
    Aim for acquiring high-quality backlinks from diverse sources rather than focusing solely on the number.

Reason #5: Your Website Isn’t Indexed by Google

If your website isn’t indexed by Google, it won’t appear in search results. Ensuring your website is properly indexed is crucial for visibility. Here’s how to index your website on Google:

  1. Submit your website to Google for indexing using the Google Search Console. This tool allows you to add your website, submit sitemaps, and monitor your website’s performance in search results. It’s simple and free.
  2. After submitting your website for indexing, it may take a few days to a few weeks for Google to crawl and index your pages. The indexing process can vary depending on various factors, such as the size of your website and the frequency of updates. Just keep checking back.
  3. Use the site:yourdomain.com search operator in Google to check which pages of your website are currently indexed. This will give you an idea of how well Google has crawled and indexed your site.

Improving your business’s Google search ranking has many components, but staying on top of all of them is essential for attracting more customers and increasing your online visibility. By claiming your business on Google, optimizing your content, managing Google reviews, building a strong backlink profile, and ensuring your website is properly indexed, you can make massive strides toward helping your company show up on Google so more of the right people can find you!

Not sure where to start? Our SEO audit can identify your biggest opportunities so you can prioritize.

 

Get an SEO Audit
About the Author

Marketing Manager Dexter Burgess takes the lead on implementing new tactics and promoting change through data-driven strategies. Dex works hard at client relations through consistent communication and positive feedback, never settling until the customer is understood and happy.

Are you facing challenges of your own in generating leads and meeting your business’ growth goals?

We’d love to learn more about your challenges and how a coordinated marketing approach might help take your organization to the next level.

The Key to Pre- and Post-Acquisition Success in Private Equity Marketing

The Key to Pre- and Post-Acquisition Success in Private Equity Marketing

by | Jun 14, 2023 | Business & Marketing Strategy, Fractional CMO, Insights, Marketing Planning & Execution

The Key to Pre- and Post-Acquisition Success in Private Equity Marketing

&Marketing, and marketing, outsourced marketing strategy

Written By &Marketing

On

The Key to Pre- and Post-Acquisition Success in Private Equity Marketing

And Why More Firms are Outsourcing to a Team of Digital Experts to Do It

In the ever-evolving world of marketing, it can be hard to keep up. But when you’re investing your time and money into a new company, you don’t have the luxury of ‘figuring it out as you go.’ Today’s complex digital ecosystem poses new challenges and opportunities that require fresh, independent perspectives and data-driven decisions. And in order to create a strategy that connects, engages, and inspires the right audiences in the right places, you need to put in the work initially.

That’s where an outsourced private equity marketing team comes in — equipping you with a team of experts led by a seasoned executive to own the creation and execution of your entire strategy. Curious how it works? Here’s everything you need to know about developing and deploying a private equity marketing strategy that will ensure a successful future for your portfolio company.

What is Private Equity Marketing?

Private equity marketing is more than just having a digital presence; it’s translating a deep understanding of your portfolio company’s customers, your competition, and your market into an actionable plan that positions you for faster growth and long-term success. So whether a private equity firm is looking for pre-acquisition advisory or post-acquisition planning, it all starts with a digital deep dive to uncover the truth behind the numbers and get clarity into the investment. Without it, your long-term private equity marketing strategy will be built on a precarious foundation.

Once that strategy is built, the next step is execution. This means preparing all the necessary marketing materials, creating digital assets and deploying on predetermined platforms, monitoring performance, and reporting on all established KPIs. Having a private equity digital marketing team that is not only expertin the necessary platforms and tools, but also understands how to build content that informs, inspires, and excites makes all the difference. These experts will blend bold creativity with sharp practicality to ensure the best results from your campaign, offering full transparency and guidance into the results to help you make effective adjustments along the way.

Finally, having a full team that brings these two phases together – strategy & execution – seamlessly is another major component to a successful private equity marketing strategy. This is why more and more firms are relying on outsourced marketing services that provide both a Fractional CMO to lead their digital due diligence and a team of digital marketing experts to see it through to fruition. This dynamic eliminates the risk involved in adding another point of responsibility which requires additional handoffs and external communication.

Why Do I Need Private Equity Marketing Services?

While pursuing a new acquisition, there are a handful of common problems that private equity firms may face:

  • The emergence of new trends or changes in the market that impact the portfolio company’s business model
  • The current marketing team lacks the experience or leadership to successfully bring the company into the digital age
  • The company is underperforming against its competitors and targets
  • The company needs a fresh outlook and executive-level insights into the company’s processes, commercial tactics, and strategy
  • The company’s marketing has been merely a part-time effort up until this point
  • The firm wants to accelerate the company’s growth post-acquisition and needs someone to lead those efforts
  • The company has strong executive leadership in place but needs a team of digital marketing experts to execute

What to Look for in an Outsourced Private Equity Marketing Team

Outsourced private equity marketing services offer a more flexible and efficient way to get your portfolio company on the right track, so that when it is ready to hire full-time people, it will have solid processes in-place. An experienced agency will help make the transition a lot more seamless by developing the right organizational structure and hiring the right people for long-term success.

Here’s what you should look for in a private equity digital marketing team:

  • Full Strategy & Execution with a Fractional Mindset
    • The ability to provide pre- or post-acquisition advisory through hybrid or on-demand models, allowing you to delegate full responsibility in only the areas you need it most.
  • Battle-Tried & ROI-driven Leadership
    • A fCMOs that brings proven experience both on the agency side and in leading a strategy to the creation and execution of your growth plan
  • Digital Expertise
    • A digital-first CMOs and marketing teams that are seasoned experts in practical execution to help you maximize the best solutions for growth in today’s digital age.
  • Personalized CMO Selection
    • The chance to meet and interview your potential fCMO and digital marketing team prior to your commitment, so you can find the right fit for your niche offering, industry, and goals.
  • A Flexible Engagement
    • An engagement that is flexible, or “on-demand,” allowing you to navigate the important phases of the acquisition with support that’s on your terms.

To learn more about the benefits of outsourcing your private equity marketing services, or how &Marketing can help take your private equity digital marketing strategy to the next level, contact us today.

 

Contact &Marketing
About the Authors

As the Founder & CEO of &Marketing (www.and-marketing.com), Raj and his team strive to provide growing businesses unparalleled marketing strategy and execution services. Raj has more than two decades of experience in B2B and B2C marketing, sales, & strategy. He has led nearly 100 high-profile marketing strategy projects for Global 100, mid-sized clients, and SMBs, plus over a decade with General Electric and General Mills. He is a sought-after advisor and facilitator, with experience across five continents. He is known for bringing the best of ‘big company’ marketing and strategy to smaller companies without the baggage, his bias for practical implementation, and his unrelenting customer focus.

Are you facing challenges of your own in generating leads and meeting your business’ growth goals?

We’d love to learn more about your challenges and how a coordinated marketing approach might help take your organization to the next level.