Strike Zone Marketing: What does marketing have in common with baseball?

Strike Zone Marketing: What does marketing have in common with baseball?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UtLUJAbbEA Video Transcription What does marketing have in common with baseball? The answer? A really small strike zone.  At Authentic®, we work with entrepreneurial businesses. These entrepreneurial businesses often are chasing whatever revenue can pay the bills. But any revenue is not always healthy revenue. And our job as fractional CMOs is to help growing businesses Overcome Random Acts of Marketing® to achieve their best, healthiest and happiest growth. And so to do that means being focused when it comes to marketing.  When I first say these words, a lot of CEOs and CFOs and especially salespeople get nervous that…
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There is no marketing silver bullet: Brand-building is a long term game

There is no marketing silver bullet: Brand-building is a long term game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZeNJK8juVs Video Transcription Ryan Tansom: And like, I think where people get lost is they just got sold that like this one tool is like the solution to the whole customer journey. And it's just so wrong and it's paralyzing. When you think about, like you said, like, what is there a million probably SaaS tools that all fit somewhere in that customer journey. Jennifer Zick: Yeah, yeah. I've written extensively about these kinds of topics on our website and on our blog over the years. Because there absolutely is a lot of snake oil and pixie dust being sprinkled…
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Marketing through Channel / Partner relationships

Marketing through Channel / Partner relationships

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY1r1GW3T0M Video Transcription Partnership and alliances can make a huge difference in growing your professional services organization through strong referrals and qualified deals. But nothing happens automagically in partnership. Just because you sign a contract doesn't mean your pipeline will suddenly be busting with opportunity. Partnerships require a unique approach, and if you're thinking of making partnerships a core component of your business growth, you will need to radically rethink the role of marketing in your organization.  Hi, I'm Jennifer Zick, Founder and CEO of Authentic®. Our community of fractional CMOs helps growing businesses to Overcome Random Acts of Marketing®…
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Does your marketing program feel like an expensive, never-ending experiment?

Does your marketing program feel like an expensive, never-ending experiment?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IjTgzY0MCM Video Transcription Is your company struggling with marketing on a 90 day experiment basis, feeling like you're launching campaign after program after project, but not getting anywhere in terms of understanding what kind of return on that investment you're receiving? If that's the case, you are not alone.  Hi, I'm Jennifer Zick, founder and CEO of Authentic®. Our community of fractional CMOs work with growing companies, usually between 5 and 100 million in annual revenue. And for these small growing businesses, we help them to Overcome Random Acts of Marketing® and confidently take the next right step to build…
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Hiring a marketer based on industry experience? You’re doing it wrong.

Hiring a marketer based on industry experience? You’re doing it wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kst0flupOvc Video Transcription Are you hiring for a marketing leader in your organization and prioritizing that hire based on finding somebody with deep industry experience within your particular business niche or vertical or market focus? If so, you're doing it wrong.  Hi, I'm Jennifer Zick, founder and CEO of Authentic, and I'm here today to dispel a very common myth among business leaders who are making perhaps their first ever executive decision for marketing leadership. So many businesses come to Authentic asking for somebody with a particular industry or business niche of experience, and in fact, they miss out on…
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Marketing budgets for growing businesses: How to think about investing in leadership and execution

Marketing budgets for growing businesses: How to think about investing in leadership and execution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZOfHUzAeGk Video Transcription Great question about how you should think about the activation budget to do the things that marketing will require? In our scopes of work, we can only propose and price the services we directly provide, which are for fractional CMO services. As a management consulting firm, however, all of our clients do need activation and their budgets are as diverse as the clients that we serve.  A good rule of thumb for the businesses we work with, who of course, as I explained, are generally between five and 100 million in annual revenue. For those organizations. The…
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Part Time CMO, Full Marketing Accountability

Part Time CMO, Full Marketing Accountability

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BftIq1uQtk Video Transcription Your growing business needs experienced marketing leadership but the last thing you need is an outside strategist providing you with more ideas and leaving you and your team to figure out how to execute those and achieve results.  I'm Jennifer Zick, Founder and CEO of Authentic®. Our community of fractional CMOs helps growing businesses to Overcome Random Acts of Marketing® and confidently take the next right step to build revenue. We do this as dedicated, retained CMOs and as a member of your executive team while our CMOs work on a part-time flexible basis. They assume full…
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Marketing ROI: The Six Stages of Data

Marketing ROI: The Six Stages of Data

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD592A4lzSI Video Transcription There's not a CEO, Founder, Owner, Investor, or CFO that does not want to understand the return on investment for marketing. But getting to marketing ROI is not just a light switch exercise. I can't tell you how many times executives have said to me  “Listen, I have an unlimited marketing budget so long as you can tell me for every dollar we put into the marketing plan, how many dollars come out the other side of that engine and how fast.”  Wouldn't that be nice to know? What these executives are really asking for is predictive…
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How much does a fractional CMO cost? 

How much does a fractional CMO cost? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv2rVT0pO0Q Video Transcription How much does a fractional CMO cost? It's a question being asked by more growing businesses than ever as organizations explore ways to bring senior level leadership to the helm sooner and more cost effectively.  Hi, I'm Jennifer Zick, founder and CEO of Authentic®. We are a community of fractional CMOs that work with growing businesses to help them Overcome Random Acts of Marketing® and confidently take the next right step toward healthy growth.  There's an obvious value proposition in working with a fractional leader. You get the wisdom of an experienced executive at a fraction of…
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What is a Fractional CMO?

What is a Fractional CMO?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfdcUbmiliI Video Transcription What is a fractional CMO? And how do you know if that's a great solution for your business?  Hi, I'm Jennifer Zick, founder and CEO of Authentic®. We are a community of fractional CMOs (Chief Marketing Officers) who work with growing businesses to help them Overcome Random Acts of Marketing® and confidently take the next right step in pursuing healthy growth for their company. When I first started this business in 2017, the category of fractional CMO was still relatively new.  What is a Fractional CMO? So let me start by defining what a fractional CMO is.…
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