Fractional CMO Show

Casey Stanton

Marketers of the world! Why do we work hard to solve small problems?
Why do we reinvent ourselves and our clients over and over, and why are we giving away marketing strategy for free?

With advancements in AI, we’re all seeing the marketing department shrink from the bottom-up and companies need YOU to serve them as their Fractional Chief Marketing Officer.

It’s time to solve bigger problems and bring home bigger paychecks. It’s time to create the lifestyle we deserve, and to make a greater impact.

This is the Fractional CMO Show and I’m Casey Stanton.

Join me as we explore this growing industry and learn to Solve Bigger Problems as marketing leaders

The Fractional CMO Show is sponsored by CMOx, the number one company to teach you how to attract, convert and serve high-paying Fractional CMO clients on your terms.

Episodes

Mentioned books

7 snips

Sep 21, 2022 • 12min

How does a Marketing Dashboard Help a CMO? - Casey Stanton Fractional CMO Show - Episode # 046

Discover the power of dashboards and scorecards in marketing. Learn how they provide critical insights that enable fractional CMOs to evaluate business health effectively. Uncover strategies for clearly defining goals and measuring progress, ensuring actions align with desired outcomes. Explore practical examples and tools to enhance sales tracking and strategy adaptation. This episode highlights how data visualization can transform marketing effectiveness and drive business success.

8 snips

Sep 14, 2022 • 11min

What are the Core Responsibilities of a Fractional CMO? - Casey Stanton - Episode #045

Your job as a Fractional CMO is so much more than just a copywriter or SEO consultant. Casey Stanton is the founder of CMOx a Fractional CMO, and the author of the Wall Street Journal #1 bestseller, The Fractional CMO Method. Casey explains the two most important aspects of your role as a fractional CMO, what companies are actually looking for, and how to make a bigger impact. Takeaways: The first core responsibility for Fractional CMOs is to solve bigger problems. It is your job to identify the biggest problem, solve it and then move on to the next biggest problem and solve that. An example of a small problem is “what should the content marketer be doing today?” Whereas, a big problem would be something like, “where are generating customers from in the next 90 days” or whether to “hire a copywriter or an affiliate manager?” When you are solving big problems every day, you become invaluable to the organization and its future. The larger the impact you create will lead to larger paychecks for you. The second core responsibility of a Fractional CMO is to delegate everything except leadership. Companies want Fractional CMOs to come in and be a leader that can build a marketing strategy, lead a team, and drive them towards the needed outcome. It can be easy, and fun, to get pulled down into the small tasks, but to be successful, you need to stay elevated and stay out of the day-to-day tasks. The second that you take your focus off of where you are going, things will start to fall apart and you will lose momentum. Keep your focus on the bigger picture and delegate anything problems that you can. From 20,000 feet, your job is to come up with the strategy and get the right people to deploy the strategy. Breaking down a quarterly strategy into sprints ensures that the team can stay focused and work on things that push them towards outcome goals daily. Quote of the Show: “When you solve bigger problems, you make a bigger impact” - Casey Stanton Links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyStanton LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseystanton/ CMOx 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/-gC3LwlGrO0

Sep 7, 2022 • 15min

What Metrics Matter To A CMO - Casey Stanton - The Fractional CMO Show - Episode #044

The metrics that matter the most are entirely dependent on the business and every business is different. Casey Stanton is the Founder of CMOx, a Fractional CMO, and the author of the Wall Street Journal #1 bestseller, The Fractional CMO Method. Casey highlights some of the most important KPIs in many popular industries, how to visualize them and what to do with them. Takeaways: At the base, a lead looks like a form submission that has a first and last name, an email address, and maybe a phone number. Whereas, a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is that lead then saying or doing something that makes them more qualified. Many different attributes can be used to further qualify a lead, such as checking a box to identify their problem, their income range, demographic data, etc. Often this is done by the lead self-selecting into a group but it can also be done by filtering through big data. Once an MQL is passed from the marketing team to the sales team, the MQLs that fit additional criteria from the sales team will then become Sales Qualified Leads (SQL). Among the many questions used to determine if an MQL is an SQL, the sales team will also try to identify the urgency of the lead, which is a big factor in becoming an SQL. Whatever the business that you’re in is, you need to know the relevant KPIs, track them, and eventually hand them off to other people that own them and marginally improve each metric every single month. Bottoms Up Sales Improvement is a process of continually optimizing funnels by making small changes over time at every step of the way to produce dramatic results very quickly. Using scorecards and dashboards helps you become more effective at solving bigger problems. These tools allow you to constantly monitor and make sense of the KPIs that matter the most to you. Quote of the Show: “If instead, you build a strategy and then find the right tactics, you'll be successful” - Casey Stanton Links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyStanton LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseystanton/ CMOx 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/oqEbUDzuZQM

Aug 24, 2022 • 44min

Understanding The Fractional CMO Method - Casey Stanton - The Fractional CMO Show - Episode #043

Aug 17, 2022 • 17min

What Skills does a Fractional CMO Need? - Casey Stanton - The Fractional CMO Show - Episode #042

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

Aug 10, 2022 • 13min

Reduce Noise, Increase Value - Casey Stanton - The Fractional CMO Show - Episode #041

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

Aug 3, 2022 • 8min

Immediate vs Delayed Results - Casey Stanton - The Fractional CMO Show - Episode #040

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

Jul 27, 2022 • 10min

How can the Entrepreneurial Operating System work with a Fractional CMO? - Casey Stanton - Ep #039

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

4 snips

Jul 20, 2022 • 11min

What's the Difference between Strategy and Tactics in Marketing? - Casey Stanton - Fractional CMO Show - Episode #038

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

Jul 13, 2022 • 13min

The Difference between a Fractional CMO and a Marketing Strategy Consultant - Casey Stanton - The Fractional CMO Show - Ep #037

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

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