Fractional CMO Show

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

What should you do if you are the Fractional CMO of a company that has a weak CEO who lacks vision? This can be a frustrating position to find yourself in, but Casey Stanton has some advice to help lessen the stress. You’ll learn when the right time to speak up is, how to mince your words properly, and how to introduce new systems.   Takeaways: Even when you are very selective with the clients you serve, sometimes the CEO’s behavior is hidden until you have started working with them for a few weeks or months.  Short of coaching the CEO yourself, encourage them to adopt a system such as EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) and hire a certified EOS implementor. This forces the CEO to have a measurable vision. When the leader approaches you with a new project, explain to them the opportunity cost that moving the team to this plan from their current project. They can decide if it’s worth it to them to abandon the project to adopt a new idea.  If you think what the CEO is suggesting is wrong, you need to speak up. You are there to help grow the company, not to be an order taker. You are being compensated to have a voice.   Quote of the Show: “It really isn’t your responsibility to coach the CEO”  - 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/FB5RfHmmzyM

It’s really not that hard to become a millionaire, but if that’s your only goal, you’re going to have to give up a lot to get there. Casey Stanton is sharing a better way that will allow you to cultivate every part of your life while also creating value and being paid for it. Discover how you can create value as a Fractional CMO, how diving into a niche can increase your effectiveness, and why creating a great team will help you reach your goals with a smile on your face.   Takeaways: Consider how you can create value in the world. Become a builder who builds value. You can create value as a Fractional CMO and you can also create value as a business owner, but the business owner has to risk a lot more. To get paid for your value creation, you can get rid of any middlemen that stand between you and the client or problem. By removing that party, you receive the whole value that you create. You need to get deep into a niche to get paid for your value creation. Your ability to create outsized benefits in a niche increases the longer you spend in that niche. Your success in that niche will also aid in making a name for yourself.  Take pride in all of your work, regardless of what it is for. Remember that what you do in anything, you do in everything. You can put systems in place that will help you grow in all aspects of your life.  You need to set boundaries for areas of your life. As a Fractional CMO, you need to set boundaries with your clients, such as when they can contact you and expect a response. Setting boundaries allows you to have time for your family, hobbies, etc. as well as work. Figure out what gives you energy as a Fractional CMO and then commit yourself to be there as much as possible for the rest of your life. Let yourself do what you know you can be phenomenally effective at and let others do what you dislike or aren’t good at. When you create a team that you enjoy working with, that has your back, and that can accomplish amazing things, the byproducts for you will be financial success and happiness.  Quote of the Show: “When you have systems and processes and you're not overloaded, you can be more predictable, drive more value, build a name for yourself, create more value, capture more value, become financially successful”  - 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/jFvldq6HH1M

Casey Stanton is giving CMOs everywhere a quick tip to improve collaboration amongst their team, share client data safely, and save you time and money.    Takeaways: Using a “grow@” or “account@” email allows your entire team to log in to a client’s tool while only paying for one account. Your client only has to share access to one account, however, you can still assign the right work to the right team member.  For the shared account, you should use some type of secure password-sharing software. The password should also be alphanumeric and you should consider changing it every 60 days. Quote of the Show: “ Easy thing to do, pretty inexpensive, and just saves a ton of time”  - Casey Stanton   Links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyStanton LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseystanton/ Website: https://cmox.co/invite   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/pyr04M9q-sA

Help your team become more efficient by splitting up their tasks more effectively. Casey Stanton is bringing the concept of partitionable and unpartitionable tasks to the center stage to show how you may be wasting time and effort on tasks while actually making them take longer to finish. You’ll learn how to recognize the different types of tasks, plan for a more efficient quarter and choose the right clients to serve as a Fractional CMO.   Takeaways: Brook’s Law demonstrates that adding more capacity to a project that’s failing actually extends the timeline it takes to produce a quality product. There are two main types of tasks, partitionable and unpartitionable. Unpartitionable tasks do not see an increased acceleration in completion with added manpower. Whereas, partitionable tasks are completed faster with more hands involved.  Some tasks, like writing persuasive copy, are unpartitionable because they require a singular voice and vision. When you add more people to a team, you increase the amount of necessary intercommunication within the team exponentially. As a Fractional CMO, you should know what tasks are unpartitionable and how you can help the people working on those tasks without getting in their way. When doing quarterly planning, consider what tasks are partitionable or not and what the time needed to complete them actually is.  As a Fractional CMO, the Three C’s you need to know a potential client has are cash, capability, and capacity.   Quote of the Show: “It's the unpartitionable tasks that are the tasks that do not scale with more human capacity”  - Casey Stanton   Links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyStanton LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseystanton/ Website: https://cmox.co/call   Shout Outs: The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks   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/ydFEPv40vts

Your team won’t always have good times so it’s imperative to build strong foundations during that peacetime to survive when wartime strikes. Casey Stanton is providing you with a mental model to mold those foundations you need to help your team. You’ll learn why you must build up systems during the good times, the keys to cultivating an effective and committed team, and how to make it through the toughest of times.   Takeaways: Use the “War Time/Peace Time” mental model to adapt to the situation you’re facing as a leader. There are things you must do depending on the situation and if you don’t do them, you’re team will face burnout, won’t be able to execute, and miss outcome goals. Times of peace are when times are good and the company is doing well and is profitable. Use this time to build repeatable systems! Look long-term at what kind of support and education the team needs. Is your team committed to their own education? A small step to foster this could be buying everyone a book and having a monthly book report. You want your team to take on the “solve bigger problems” mentality just as you are. In times of peace, encourage teamwork, both interdepartmental and cross-departmental. You need to see how well they can work together in peacetime. Also, lay the foundation of good communication cadences during times of peace. When things are good, you should be proactively depositing into the bank account of relationships that you have with every single person on your team. By being this kind of leader during peace, you will have the respect you need during war.  If you are a good peacetime leader, in times of war, you are able to ask people to work longer hours, load up their plates, and stress your systems.   You need to have your team in the foxhole with you so you can collectively push and fight together every day. This level of commitment is built on respect and sense of purpose.   Quote of the Show: “You won’t hit your outcome goals in these times of war if you don’t do the right things in times of peace”  - Casey Stanton   Links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyStanton LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseystanton/ Website: https://cmox.co/call   Shout Outs: The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy   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/3dElW20xUyo

Learn how to get yourself to a point where you are financially secure, you love the work that you do, and you love the people you work with. Casey Stanton opens the door to Replacement Therapy to help you get rid of your least favorite clients and be energized by your work. You’ll hear about how to tell if you actually like a client, when it’s safe to move on from them, and how to give yourself the power to decide who to work with.   Takeaways: Replacement therapy is the idea that you can replace the clients that you don’t love with more of the clients that you do love. What would it be like for you to replace your least favorite client? You can replace them and you can replace them with clients you like better and who pay you more. A good test of whether you like a client is if you would go out and have a drink with them if they were in town. If that doesn’t sound appealing, you should probably replace them. Before you can safely move on from a client, you need to build up a pipeline of qualified businesses and people that you want to work with. Creating this pipeline allows you to have a real choice in who you work with without facing large financial risks. When you enjoy the work, you are more energized to do it and you can be more creative and have a more effective capacity.   Quote of the Show: “Companies want to hire you as a fractional chief marketing officer… They want that they want to be served by you”  - Casey Stanton   Links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyStanton LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseystanton/ Website: https://cmox.co/invite   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/KRKVerTVQEw