How Entrepreneurial Companies Can Escape “Random Acts of Marketing”

Jennifer Zick, founder and CEO of Authentic®, joins Alec Broadfoot of VisionSpark on the Right Fit Leader podcast — recorded live at the EOS Conference.

The conversation covers what fractional CMO leadership actually looks like, why companies seek it out, and what makes Authentic distinct in an increasingly crowded field. Jennifer and Alec also dig into the AI wave reshaping marketing and executive leadership, and why Jennifer believes authentic human relationships — not technology alone — remain the foundation of sustainable growth.

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Key Takeaways

• Random acts of marketing is a natural growth phase — not a failure. Most businesses between $10M–$250M go through it, and a fractional CMO helps them move from reactive tactics to a strategic, full-lifecycle marketing approach.
• The fractional CMO space has exploded since COVID, but not all fractionals are equal. Buyers should look for true C-suite experience, not just agency background — someone who has actually earned the C and the O.
• AI is raising the bar for what leaders need to bring to the table. Experience alone is no longer enough; executives must be committed, self-guided lifelong learners to keep pace with rapid change.
• Authentic’s competitive edge is three-fold: Marketers, Methodology, and Mindshare. All CMOs are W2 employees — fully committed, not freelancing between gigs — backed by a collaborative peer community.
• AI is a promise still being realized. Before the gains of efficiency and scale arrive, companies are walking through a period of higher costs and steeper learning curves — and strong leadership is what guides teams through it.
• Building a business that lets you love your life matters. Jennifer’s approach to Authentic has always been people-first — for clients, for her team, and for her own family — and that philosophy shapes everything from hiring to growth strategy.

Full Transcription

Introductions & What Authentic Does

Alec Broadfoot: Well, welcome Jen.

Jennifer Zick: Thanks, Alec.

Alec Broadfoot: We’re here at the EOS Conference with Jen Zick, owner of Authentic. So for everyone — tell us what Authentic does.

Jennifer Zick: Yeah, so Authentic is a fractional chief marketing officer firm. We’re based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but we have CMOs and clients all across the country. What we do is work with growing businesses to help them overcome random acts of marketing and confidently take the next right step toward healthy growth by bringing them a senior executive leader in that marketing seat on a part-time, flexible basis.

Alec Broadfoot: Yeah, I love how you say random acts of marketing because you address the pain points of every entrepreneurial company out there. We’re all known for random acts of marketing.

Jennifer Zick: Yeah. And I like to tell people that’s nothing to be ashamed of because it’s a natural phase of business growth. It’s like the puberty of business. You can’t get to the other side without going through random acts of marketing. So if you’re experiencing that, it just means you’re on your way to becoming more strategic — after you’ve experienced enough pain.

Marketing Investment Trends & the AI Leadership Shift

Alec Broadfoot: VisionSpark is seeing a trend where we’re being asked to help companies find and hire great marketing and sales leaders. It seems to have hit especially in Q4 of last year. Are you seeing a similar trend where companies are investing more in marketing?

Jennifer Zick: Yeah, our pipeline started to show significant growth and momentum in Q4 of last year as well. I think a few things are at play. The last couple of years have been economically disruptive and unpredictable, so we saw a slower decision-making cycle among executives when it came to investing in growth leadership roles. That’s changed. Even though the world continues to feel uncertain, leaders are tired of waiting for something to be predictable — they know they need to keep investing in growth.

The other thing is that there’s a lot of change happening with AI, and what leaders need to bring to the table to equip today’s and tomorrow’s teams is different than what was needed even six months ago. We can’t as executive leaders rest on 20, 25, 30 years of experience to guide our teams forward. We have to be pressing into continual learning. That’s why, as people are shifting seats, they’re looking for lifelong learner leaders — people who are still at the front of it, not just trailing with what worked in the past.

Alec Broadfoot: Right. And we’re seeing that too — a lot of leaders on teams right now have become leaders because of their experience, but now they have to pivot and everything’s changing so quickly. Some of those leaders are struggling because they just don’t have the strategic thinking and critical thinking skills, and they’re still looking to their past to help make future decisions.

Jennifer Zick: Yes. And frankly, some people have reached the point where they don’t want to put in the energy to learn a lot of new things. And so if you’re at that point in your executive career where being a self-guided, self-inspired lifelong learner just doesn’t feel like what you want to do anymore, then now would be a good time to retire and make space for other people who can really set the course for the future.

Who Authentic Serves & What Problems They Solve

Alec Broadfoot: For those listening who might be thinking about a fractional marketing leader — what are some things they’re feeling or experiencing, and what do you do to help them?

Jennifer Zick: There are a lot of different needs that bring clients to our door, but they fall into some general categories. Most of the clients Authentic works with are between $10 million to $250 million in revenue — established businesses with critical mass. They might be a second or third generation family-owned business. They’ve been successful, but they’re feeling the pain of spending money on marketing without knowing if it’s actually moving the needle toward meaningful growth. They don’t know how to measure ROI and don’t know what they should be spending toward what activities.

Another category is companies who have been stuck in what I call Little M marketing and really need to move to Big M marketing. Little M marketing looks like marketing reporting to the head of sales, or the founder owning the brand because they know it so well, or marketing living entirely with outside agency partners. In those situations, most of the time marketing activities are all focused on brand, demand, and lead generation — just get sales more at bats. And the playbook for that is changing radically because traditional search marketing and paid media isn’t delivering the same returns in the age of AI.

The third big reason we’re brought to the table is when a business is preparing for major transformation — either through future acquisitions or because they’ve recently been acquired and need to create more value in the business. In both cases, it’s a value creation play. Some of our success stories have looked like helping teams get clarity on defining the role of strategic marketing, the team that needs to be there, the appropriate budget, and the right metrics. Several clients we’ve worked with we’ve actually worked our way out of the job — because after a couple of years, they’ve been acquired for strong multiples they wouldn’t have seen without a stronger focus on brand and experience.

What Keeps Jennifer Up at Night

Alec Broadfoot: As the leader of Authentic, what keeps you up at night?

Jennifer Zick: Right now, if I’m honest, it’s much more about my family than my business. I’m in this beautiful stage of life where I’m building a business and building a family and launching adults. My daughter’s engaged to be married — there’s so much on my heart and mind about being present for my family that I’m really trying to hold in balance, not letting the business overtake what’s most important in my life.

I’ve always built Authentic from the beginning to be a place where we can love our lives and love our work — in that order. I committed that I don’t want to raise a business faster than I can raise my family while being present. So I’m really invested right now in making sure that operations are smooth and the team is healthy at Authentic so that I don’t miss any important moments with my kids.

AI Strategy, Authentic Intelligence & What’s Ahead

Alec Broadfoot: What are some opportunities at Authentic that you’re excited about?

Jennifer Zick: We’ve been leaning into AI for several years, and my philosophy has always been rooted in authenticity and authentic human relationships. No matter what you’re selling — B2B or B2C — your brand is ultimately selling trust. So I’ve always been a proponent of embracing technology innovation. I grew my career before starting Authentic in the Salesforce.com ecosystem, so I got to live through the first wave of cloud solutions. And I’ve always loved how technology allows us to solve problems in new and different ways.

AI is that, just moving faster and differently than any other wave of technology change. Our team has been embracing it, but we’ve been leading it from the basis of what we call authentic intelligence — human-guided wisdom at the center. I really believe these new technologies don’t replace the need for the people on your team. They elevate the ability for those people to work more wisely and more productively.

But the other reality most business owners are feeling right now is that AI is a promise that hasn’t been fully realized yet. Before we get to that promised land, we’re walking through the muck and mire of leading transformational change, a huge learning curve inside our organizations, and deep investment in new tools we’re all trying on. Right now it’s getting more complicated and more expensive before it gets better and more efficient. That is the curve of technology adaptation. We’re here for it, and we’re leading our clients through it.

What Makes Authentic Different — Marketers, Methodology & Mindshare

Alec Broadfoot: I’m sure you have competitors. What makes Authentic stand out?

Jennifer Zick: Nine years ago when I started Authentic, I didn’t even know the phrase fractional CMO. I just had a hypothesis of a business model that needed to exist for entrepreneurial companies — they needed the wisdom of experienced leadership to avoid random acts of marketing and build stronger brands, but most small businesses couldn’t afford it on a full-time basis. I found the word fractional when I met fractional CFOs who’d been around a long time.

Today, since COVID and the boom of the gig economy, there are so many fractional titles on LinkedIn. The market has a lot of awareness, but buyers have a hard time discerning what makes a true fractional CMO. There are many people who might have just stepped out of a digital agency where they did content marketing and now call themselves a fractional CMO — but they’ve never earned the C or the O.

Authentic’s entire promise — what makes us unique — is that we have trusted, tested, true executives on our team. We deliver through three uniques: Marketers, Methodology, and Mindshare. We’re the only fractional CMO firm in the world I know of that employs all of our CMOs on a W2 basis. They’re fully committed, exclusive employees — not picking up a gig between jobs. Our methodology, called Authentic Growth, is a full marketing operating system designed to be complementary to EOS and similar operating systems. And our Mindshare is a real differentiator — all of our employee CMOs gather three times a month for active problem-solving and learning. We bring ally network partners in to teach emerging trends, and we use Slack around the clock to help each other.

So our clients get the benefit of a dedicated true executive, backed by a team of dozens of CMOs with diverse industry and business model experience. That unlocks enormous strategic capability for our clients.

The EOS Conference & Closing

Alec Broadfoot: What are you looking forward to today?

Jennifer Zick: Today is the biggest day of the year for Authentic! Every year at the EOS Conference we’ve hosted our VIP kickoff party — VIP stands for Visionaries, Integrators, and Partners who are EOS implementers and other brands who are friends of Authentic. Every year the event has grown, and tonight we’ll be hosting about 350 of our favorite VIP friends. It’s going to be epic. I won’t have a voice tomorrow, so I’m glad we’re talking now — I’m going to use all of it tonight.

Alec Broadfoot: I will be there.

Jennifer Zick: I’m excited to have you.

Alec Broadfoot: Well, thank you so much for being on our podcast. It’s great seeing you.

Jennifer Zick: Thank you for including me.