Approach
A methodology shaped by learning directly from Al Ries, the pioneer of positioning, and refined over 16 years of leading marketing in start-ups, growing firms and larger organizations.
Five principles
These aren’t slogans. Each one shows up as a specific deliverable, decision or report.
The strongest position is the one nobody else can claim. We define the category your company can own outright, then make every message reinforce it. It’s far cheaper to lead a category you named than to win share in a crowded one.
Shows up as: a ratified positioning statement and category definition.
Customers buy solutions to problems, not products aimed at their demographic. I segment go-to-market around the problems you solve best, so each product line or service has messaging a buyer instantly recognizes as theirs.
Shows up as: problem-based messaging by segment or business line.
Marketing falls apart when every new idea gets equal weight. A marketing constitution is the living document that sets the plan, the standards and the rules for changing them. New ideas go through an amendment process instead of derailing the quarter.
Shows up as: the marketing constitution, brand standards and SOPs.
The best copy comes from your customers. I capture the exact language, objections and pain points from sales and account teams, then feed it back into every campaign, page and piece of collateral.
Shows up as: proof points, sales playbooks and campaign messaging.
Marketing exists to drive and support sales. Every lead-capture point and campaign is built to feed traceable data back into your CRM from day one, so ROI is a number, not an opinion.
Shows up as: attribution, a KPI dashboard and monthly dollar-for-dollar reports.
Every system, script and process is documented clearly enough that your team can be trained from a finished playbook. When the engagement ends, the knowledge stays with your company, not in my head or one employee’s.
Talk it throughThe tools
Ask any three people in your company what you do and who you do it for. If you get three different answers, your positioning isn’t real yet. I run it at the start of an engagement and again at day 90 to measure alignment.
Read about the testA governing document that holds leadership and the marketing team accountable to the agreed plan, with a regimented amendment process that guards against scope creep and shiny-object syndrome.
Why it worksA written split of who owns what: leadership ratifies and approves, the fractional CMO plans and holds the course, and team members and vendors execute. Clarity here removes most of the friction in marketing.
A modest, clearly scoped first phase designed to earn the conversation about expanded budget, hours and role. Trust is earned with transparency and early traction, not asked for up front.
One view the whole leadership team can read in five minutes: what was spent, what it produced, and what that’s worth in pipeline, reconciled with your CRM.
Sales and account teams feed customer language and objections to marketing automatically, and marketing feeds qualified, sourced leads back. Both sides work from the same data.
Measurement
Different metrics move at different speeds. Reporting them in tiers keeps expectations honest and makes progress visible long before revenue closes. Specific targets are set after the month-one audit, because a target without a baseline is a guess.
| Tier | Example metrics | When it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1Foundations | Positioning alignment (Any-Three-People Test), share of inbound leads with a known source, content and vendor deliverables shipped on time | Within weeks |
| Tier 2Funnel | Marketing-qualified leads, sales-qualified leads, booked meetings, show rate, cost per lead and per meeting by channel, CRM data hygiene | Within the first quarter |
| Tier 3Pipeline value | Qualified opportunities × estimated average deal value, by segment | Within the first quarter |
| Tier 4Revenue & retention | Closed revenue by segment, customer retention and attrition against baseline | On your sales cycle |
A 30-minute discovery call. You walk away with a clear read on what your marketing needs next, whether or not we work together.
