Why bring in a growth CEO OR CMO?

A fractional CMO is a turnaroud executive who is brought in as a short-term addition to the C-suite or top leadership team of a company.  I crystallize the business strategy, drawing upon my market-based perspective and lengthy history to manage the implementation of growth, strategic messaging and initiatives. However, unlike traditional employees, the outsourced CEO or CMO works fractionally and may commute from different locations or work in the office for short bursts of time. Find out what Forbes Magazine says about this trend in the story: "The Outsourced Executive: A Growing Leadership Staffing Solution."

So what's the ROI?

Your Revenues Today: $10M/yr

Gross Margins: 30% ($3M/yr)

Growth Rate: 10%/yr ($1M more next year, or $300k more gross margin $)

Growth Target: 20%/yr ($2M more next year, or $600k add’l gross margin $)

Fractional CMO Investment: $200k (150% ROI based on $300k incremental margin $)
 

While it’s true that your fractional CMO may require additional budget for marketing programs or even organizational development, in many cases your fractional CMO’s first impact will be shutting down all the spending that isn’t delivering a return. In addition, it’s important to remember that a fractional CMO’s job is to get in, and get out, so your expense for the role is not on-going, yet the benefit of the strategic impact is likely to last into the future, delivering even more benefit after your fractional CMO engagement has concluded. 

A C-Suite executive will align your brand strategy with your growth objectives.

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Your strategic communications could lead to blue sky opportunities.

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How can you estimate ROI on new business you may not otherwise have gained were it not from the expertise of a Chief Marketing Officer?

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HULA'S MODERN TIKI​

Established a culture for the brand with consistent storytelling, syndicating the culture across all social media platforms as well as branding and promoting every holiday.

Established a marketing funnel with traditional and social media including texting campaigns. Leveraged holiday promotions with publicity and maximized events with pre-event coverage and social media influence.  Maximized community outreach with programs and publicity designed to foster a sense of "community" in this redeveloped emerging hip area.

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CHALLENGES: A new location opened after 7 years with an entirely different set of challenges. The new location required a tourism-heavy approach while maintaining the integrity of the brand.  Lost 80 parking spaces at the original location and needed to overcome landlord who refused to move a "For Lease" sign from right in-front of the building even though the sign was for other spaces within the complex. The result was that passers-by were given the impression the business was closing.

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RESULTS: Increased net profit to 30% and sustained that year over year, steadily increasing sales and traffic. Grew social media followers from 700 to more than 12,000. The word of the day texting campaign increased traffic on slow days, making that day profitable. The culture around the brand took on a life of its own and I routinely receive new business because of my creative approach with this client.

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CRE

COMMUNITY TIRE PROS

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Over the years, I have helped grow this family owned company to 6 locations serving North Phoenix, Downtown Phoenix, Glendale, Metro Center, Sky Harbor and Tempe. Community Tire Pros has built a reputation of providing the highest level of honest and professional service in the industry. I have helped establish and manage the brand across a complex network of service providers, marketing funnels, social media and POS systems.

CHALLENGES: I began working with this company in 2008 at the height of the recession. Using the power of analytics and data tracking we identified the three best customer demographics and began an intensive direct marketing campaign to reach them within five miles of each location.  In addition, we built affinity within these groups with highly visible action among the gay community, general market women ages 35 to 54 and straight male sports fans ages 25 to 54. We maximized social media to reach niche markets and used clever advertising to disrupt a space known for using discounts to drive traffic. Alternatively, we developed a rewards program and sought to deepen our relationships with our best customers. Once the space was disrupted,  we helped build the personal brands of the owner and his wife and connected them as representatives to lift the brand and create an emotional connection. We promoted easy access to the owner for any problem and reinforced customer service by training managers in male/female communication, branding the facilities as “female friendly” as well as diverse and welcoming to the LGBT community and monitoring and tracking every call and managing lead development. We aggressively track offers and results and pivot sales strategies based on data and the testimony of managers on the ground level.  Charitable involvement has elevated the brand and its owner Howard and his wife Patty on a highly-visible local stage where they are recognized as compassionate and effective community leaders. 

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RESULTS: I helped this client survive the recession, employee challenges and the fickle nature of automotive customers who tend to be price driven. Together with the owners, we have taken the brand from a million-dollar a year company to more than the mid double digit millions. I have helped them win the W.P Carey Spirit of Enterprise Award, the Better Business Bureau Ethics Award and the Phoenix Chamber Small Business of the Year Award as well as being named the Top Shop in the Country by Tire Review Magazine. 

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CRE

MORTGAGE MARVEL
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Mortgage Marvel is the fourth largest online loan quote site that no one had heard about. I was hired to generate publicity to drive traffic to the site and to increase its credibility among users. 

CHALLENGES: Position MortgageMarvel.com, a five year startup and one of the leading online lending sites   had to overcome objections of media that did not wish to be called by a company with no track record and a silly name. 

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RESULTS: Capitalized on the superiority

of the product as well as the newsworthiness of monthly data derived from more than 350,000 mortgage applications. I positioned the CEO as a thought leader and partnered with Harris Interactive/Nielsen to combine data from the client with questions we asked average Americans about the mortgage industry.  We were able to establish Mortgage Marvel as a top provider of industry and consumer information that was eventually taken seriously by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and other financial media. Exceeded performance expectations, delivering more than 500,000 visitors to the MortgageMarvel.com website and increasing applications 81% over the previous year. Established its data collection and reporting as the industry standard. Built a rapport with top tech and financial reporters from the most widely read and respected publications including the New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, USA Today and others. MortgageMarvel.com rapidly became one of the most respected, honest and effective online lending sources, despite a struggling economy and an industry hit with negative news and a backlash of consumer opinion. Client was eventually acquired by a Canadian public company.

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"It is nearly impossible to fully describe Tony Felice without appearing disingenuous. Engaging Tony and TFPR may have been the single most impactful decision in our company's recent history.

Quite literally, from day one, the results obtained by him exceeded every single unreasonably high expectation we had. Tony is not just incredibly creative, he exemplifies integrity and has built an amazing team around him that possess these same rare and incredibly valuable qualities. Final thought I simply cannot imagine not having TFPR an integral part of our business endeavors."  

Richard Tirendi

CEO and Founder,
VisionQuest 20/20

Nicole Stanton
First Lady of Phoenix & Founder, Dion Initiative 

I've known Tony for years and his best quality is that he keeps his promises. While he thinks big, he backs it up by doing the little things to make sure even the loftiest goals are achieved.  I've worked with him on my Dion Initiative for Child Wellbeing and as First Lady of Phoenix and he has delivered front page coverage for the issues nearest to my heart and important to our state.  His relationships with media are authentic and get results.  He has given me sound advice over the years in communicating with variety of audiences as well as devising strategic communications plans designed to produce real results. Most importantly, he loves what he does which makes working with him on even the most challenging projects a pleasure. 

SOME EXAMPLES OF RESULTS