Kari Franz and Troy Sandidge | Fractional CMOs & The 90-Day Win
This video is a podcast interview with Kari Franz and Troy Sandidge discussing the role and strategies of fractional Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) in achieving significant business wins within the first 90 days of engagement.
Conclusion
Fractional CMOs focus on aligning business strategies, leveraging data, and integrating effectively into the team to drive growth. They emphasize the importance of setting clear business goals, utilizing data for informed decisions, and maintaining strong communication to ensure success.
Key points
🔍 Strategic Planning: Ensuring that companies have a strategic plan in place, especially for small and medium-sized businesses looking to grow.
📊 Data Utilization: Leveraging data to define key metrics, track performance, and make informed decisions.
🗣️ Consistent Messaging: Maintaining clear and consistent messaging across all channels to build a strong brand presence and avoid confusion.
📈 Early Wins: Focusing on quick, impactful wins to demonstrate value and build trust with clients.
💡 Customer Insights: Conducting thorough customer research to understand their needs and how they perceive the brand.
🤝 Team Collaboration: Working closely with internal stakeholders to align strategies and improve overall effectiveness.
🚀 Execution and Resources: Developing realistic and executable marketing plans with measurable goals and ensuring the necessary resources are in place.
👥 Stakeholder Engagement: Engaging key stakeholders early on to ensure alignment with the company’s vision and strategy.
🧠 Marketing Education: Educating clients on the importance of strategic marketing and the iterative nature of positioning.
📋 Long-term Objectives: Establishing both short-term and long-term goals to guide marketing efforts and ensure accountability.
Summary
- Introduction: The podcast introduces the topic of fractional CMOs and their impact within the first 90 days.
- Kari’s Background: Kari discusses her experience as a fractional CMO with a strong background in financial services and tech companies.
- First Problem: Kari highlights the common issue of companies lacking a strategic plan and the need for experienced marketers to set a solid plan for growth.
- Troy’s Background: Troy shares his experience as a fractional CMO specializing in go-to-market strategies, growth optimization, and brand positioning.
- Operating on Old Metrics: Troy emphasizes the problem of companies relying on outdated metrics and the need to evaluate current goals and performance metrics.
- Data Tracking: Kari and Troy discuss the importance of tracking accurate data and understanding where revenue is generated to make informed decisions.
- Effective Positioning: Troy stresses the importance of defining roles and responsibilities within the company to maximize the value of a fractional CMO.
- Integration with Sales: Kari highlights the need for strong collaboration between marketing and sales teams to ensure marketing efforts translate into sales.
- Building Relationships: Kari and Troy emphasize the importance of building trust and strong relationships within the team to achieve successful outcomes.
- Long-term vs. Short-term Engagements: Kari and Troy discuss the benefits of both short-term and long-term engagements, with a focus on achieving early wins and building sustainable growth.
Quotes - 00:59: “The first kind of thing that I identify is whether or not they have business goals in place.” – Kari Franz
- 01:25: “As the marketing expert, I can’t come in and reasonably set marketing goals or create a strategy for their business if I have no idea what they’re trying to accomplish in their business overall.” – Kari Franz
- 02:11: “We really work with clients to understand who their high-value audiences are, how to engage those audiences, and turn those audiences into customers.” – Troy Sandidge
- 02:44: “It’s kind of taking the blindfold off the business is one of the first things I do, trying to get in and understand and educate them about their data.” – Troy Sandidge
- 03:10: “Goals have been set without understanding what they’re doing right now.” – Troy Sandidge
- 04:09: “Bringing them in from the cold, but also giving them an insight into their thinking, not just saying like, ‘This is what we’re doing,’ but why are they doing it.” – Troy Sandidge
- 05:05: “They have to be willing to kind of let go of the reins a little bit and let you do your job, do the role that they’re putting you in.” – Kari Franz
- 06:45: “Getting to know the lay of the land, like what has been happening, how are people doing things, what are they measuring and how are they determining whether the work that they’re doing is working.” – Kari Franz
- 08:25: “You really have to win allies on the team. The best way to do that is to ask what they are doing now, why they are doing it, and what they want to achieve themselves.” – Troy Sandidge
- 09:08: “You can’t manage if you try to manage lead; you’re going to fail. You really want to come in and give them, as a leader, you have to inspire and motivate people.” – Troy Sandidge