Fractional CMO | Your leadership resource for next-level growth

Fractional CMO | Your leadership resource for next-level growth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBk9D0CKTlc Video Transcription It's a common scenario for growing businesses. You reach your first 10, 15 or $20 million in revenue through a focused sales effort. You've grown through referrals and by retaining and expanding your customer relationships. You've built a strong base, but eventually you reach a growth plateau. What worked in the past is no longer working. You know that if your business isn't growing, it's dying. Staying stuck isn't an option.  To reach next level growth, you need to retain your current clients and reach buyers who don't know you yet. You need more at bats for…
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Sales and Marketing: Understanding these unique roles and their increasingly connected relationship

Sales and Marketing: Understanding these unique roles and their increasingly connected relationship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKQmvrZe6jU Video Transcription Ryan Tansom: I gotta ask, what is your definition of sales versus marketing and how are they different and how do they actually work together? Jennifer Zick: Yeah, well, in our B2C clients, they really don't have sales teams. Right. They are all marketing driven. So we got to kind of set that over here. A lot of what we're talking about here, the dynamics are B2B. Right. Or in a combined organization where they have both. So in B2B, first of all, I am, because I've been in sales and sales management and marketing and marketing…
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Should you PAUSE marketing efforts when the market is unpredictable?

Should you PAUSE marketing efforts when the market is unpredictable?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB9UUT7znQU Video Transcription The market is crazy right now. The ripple effects of the pandemic continue to disrupt business operations and predictability in ways we couldn't have foreseen and are navigating in real time. Many businesses are struggling with what to do with the role of marketing and their marketing investments in a time when growth strategy is not challenged by a lack of demand for products or service, but by a lack of resources to deliver on that demand.  Hi, I'm Jennifer Zick, founder and CEO of Authentic®. Our community of fractional CMOs works with companies all across the…
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From COULD do to SHOULD / must do: Achieving marketing clarity for entrepreneurial businesses

From COULD do to SHOULD / must do: Achieving marketing clarity for entrepreneurial businesses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oHsWdws0sk Video Transcription At Authentic®, we work every day with fast-growing entrepreneurial businesses. And the best part of working with these entrepreneurial businesses is that they never lack vision. The hardest part about working with entrepreneurial businesses is that they are often overwhelmed and even stalled out by the landscape of opportunity. There's so many ways that a small emerging business can pursue growth and so they get stuck between everything they could do and all of the ideas and wisdom of the organization to really narrow down the focus to what they should do and must do.  Listen, I…
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Authentic’s Ally Network of Marketing Providers

Authentic’s Ally Network of Marketing Providers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVO7nfYJM0M Video Transcription Growing businesses need flexible and fast access to marketing execution resources for projects or to augment the capabilities of their team. It can be costly and complicated to navigate the really broad landscape of marketing capabilities. How do you know which agency partner to bring in and when? How do you know who has fair pricing? How do you know that the skills that they're bringing to the table are deep enough and the right fit to match up to your business vision and your goals?  We're removing some of that complexity for small and growing businesses…
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You Can’t Outsource Thought Leadership for Great Marketing Content

You Can’t Outsource Thought Leadership for Great Marketing Content

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huifPRijQnA Video Transcription I often talk with business leaders who are frustrated about the level of effort and investment required to create quality content for their business. Why are they spending so much money on staff and agency partners if the blogs they're getting back are low quality and still require them to do a ton of rewriting and content review? Well, I wish I could tell you there was an easy button for this challenge, but there's not.  When you sell a complex service or solution, your content must have the input and direction and insight of the subject…
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Our business is growing. Should we hire a marketer?

Our business is growing. Should we hire a marketer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0awSP-FDhwQ Video Transcription Your business is growing and it's time to accelerate your marketing efforts. Should you make a full time hire? This is a common conversation that I have with leaders of growing businesses and most times, entrepreneurial leaders will default to defining a lower level entry level marketing role and then embarking on a search for a marketing unicorn who can be affordable in a full time role for their small business and who somehow can magically bridge everything from strategy through execution.  But those marketers simply do not exist. So let me offer you an alternative to…
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Marketing is simple. But not easy. 

Marketing is simple. But not easy. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu6e75EI-PE Video Transcription Jennifer Zick: Marketing is the same as it's ever been, which is answering a few simple but really foundational questions for building your business, which is what is our business's purpose? What is our big why? Why do we exist in the world and how do we change lives?  Like literally, if you don't know how you change lives, I don't know what you're doing in business. So answering that question first, your big why, your purpose, however you want to get to that, and then you start answering the questions, then, okay, if this is our…
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Should I fire my marketer?

Should I fire my marketer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF9vxQB-MkE Video Transcription Should I fire my marketing leader? Believe it or not, it's one of the most common questions we're asked at Authentic® and our answer always begins with: slow down.  It might not be a people issue. In most cases, we find that marketing organizations are challenged for lack of strategic guidance, experience, or perspectives outside of their domain of expertise. No single marketer, whether they're young in their career and skilled at tactics, or whether they're very experienced executives, can have all the answers, all of the time, for all of the opportunities and challenges that your…
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Southeastern Equipment Company: Client Story

Southeastern Equipment Company: Client Story

Equipment retail and service company sees a 100-200% increase in marketing-qualified leads after working with an Authentic Fractional CMO™ on lead generation strategy. “Having a scorecard and a roadmap approach has helped our team to see how they’re progressing and keeps us from living in the gap of information and feedback.” Thor Hess, President, Southeastern Equipment Company Hear more from Thor Southeastern Equipment Company at a glance Company size: 250 employees Industry: Engineering / Architecture / Construction Business model: B2B, E-commerce Headquarters: Cambridge, Ohio Key initiatives: Marketing strategy, lead generation, marketing mentorship & coaching, marketing technology, SEO The challenge Southeastern…
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