“We’re not doing marketing.”

Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard a small business owner say that 🙋

Even if you’re not “doing” marketing, every email you send, every sales call you make – really, every touchpoint with a prospect or customer…that’s all marketing. The question isn’t whether you’re marketing, but it’s whether or not you’re doing it intentionally.

David Cross spent years at P&G and Coca-Cola, ran marketing for private equity-backed B2B companies, and co-founded a startup that sold to a top 20 US healthcare system. These days, he's building his own practice as an Atlas Rose Licensed Fractional Marketer. In this episode, he joins Randi Beth, Monica, and Branden to talk about the marketing gaps in small businesses and ways to get it right.

They dig into the three factors that make or break a successful marketing strategy: knowing your customer, using data to make decisions, and effective execution. Marketing is both an art and a science, but most businesses tip the scales one way or the other. This episode unpacks how to balance both, and why every business, no matter the size, deserves to get there.

Episode Outline

(02:34) What moves the marketing needle across every industry and company size

(07:18) How to spot (and start to fix) a broken marketing program

(14:32) The "task at hand" exercise: how David earns trust in the first meeting

(26:58) Coaching small business owners through marketing imposter syndrome

(30:36) Three ways to define marketing that change how you run your business

(36:19) How to test your way forward and break out of the perfectionism loop

(38:44) Establishing core values vs. key differentiators

(45:33) Building a sustainable fractional practice with community support

Additional Resources

Learn more about becoming an Atlas Rose Licensed Fractional Marketer

Connect with David

Connect on LinkedIn

More From Atlas Rose

Learn more on the Atlas Rose website

Follow Atlas Rose on LinkedIn

Follow Branden on LinkedIn

Follow Monica on LinkedIn

Follow Randi Beth on LinkedIn

Watch this episode on YouTube

The hardest part of being a fractional CMO isn't creating the strategy or even the tactical execution. It's building trust with clients who resist change, forget the ‘why’, and make you feel like you're constantly running defense.

Wendy Wilburn knows that dynamic well, but more importantly, she knows how to break the cycle. She's the founder of Wendistry, her fractional practice, and a Certified StoryBrand Guide. In this episode, Wendy joins Randi Beth, Monica, and Branden to talk shop about how to create a sustainable (and enjoyable!) career as a fractional CMO.

Together, they explore how to work alongside a client while maintaining the strategic “outsider” perspective that fractionals are hired for. Wendy shares tangible tips for how to drive results through education and storytelling. She also outlines exactly how she uses the StoryBrand framework to create ‘aha moments’. Plus, Wendy closes with direct advice to fractionals: trust your experience and stay radically consistent in your message and presence.

Episode Outline

(01:49) Wendy’s early entrepreneurialism and unconventional path to fractional marketing

(09:45) A simple way to stay grounded and reconnect with your North Star

(14:34) Communicating the value of the varied experiences you bring to the table

(20:54) How to work WITH resistance instead of AGAINST it

(25:21) Why business owners see marketing as a necessary evil — and what to do about it

(32:07) Challenging the the narrative that the CMO position is the least respected one in the C-suite

(35:18) The teaching side of the fractional role nobody talks about

(41:52) What we can learn from Lululemon about target customers and product iteration

Additional Resources

Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes Hardcover by Elizabeth Lesser

StoryBrand

Connect with Wendy

Connect on LinkedIn

Website

More From Atlas Rose

Learn more on the Atlas Rose website

Follow Atlas Rose on LinkedIn

Follow Branden on LinkedIn

Follow Monica on LinkedIn

Follow Randi Beth on LinkedIn

Watch this episode on YouTube

You grow companies for a living, but your own business gets the crumbs.

The fractional executive space has grown 57% since 2020, which means more competition, more noise, and more pressure to land clients while serving the ones you already have. Most fractional CMOs are riding revenue highs and scrambling through the lows, usually alone, with no real system and no one to call when a client goes sideways.

In this episode, Branden, Monica, and Randi Beth pull back the curtain on 14 years of building a multi-fractional practice. They cover the mindset shifts and systems that separate fractional marketers who build lasting client relationships from those who burn through them. Plus, the team speaks on hard-won lessons, like how to earn the CMO title and spot bad-fit clients before they drain your time and confidence.

Episode Outline

(02:35) Reflecting on how the ‘fractional’ role has evolved in the past 5+ years

(07:45) Shifting from consultant to integrated leader

(19:16) Tips for building trust through 12-month roadmaps, self-accountability, and servant leadership

(25:55) How to know when it’s time to break up with a client

(34:34) The simple shift turned a 2-year drought into 100 deals sold in a year

(39:27) Budget-friendly ways to scale through community

Additional Resources

The Snowball System by Mo Bunnell Join us Mondays at 2:30pm EST for Fractional Marketing Biz Dev sessions Join us Wednesdays at 12pm EST in The Bourbon Room

More From Atlas Rose

Learn more on the Atlas Rose website

Follow Atlas Rose on LinkedIn

Follow Branden on LinkedIn

Follow Monica on LinkedIn

Follow Randi Beth on LinkedIn

Watch this episode on YouTube