Growth Insights for CEOs
The Chief Outsider
Recent Posts

Winning the Fraud and Cybersecurity Race: A Go-to-Market Blueprint for Competitive Edge
Fraud and cybercrime have become a systemic, trillion-dollar drag on the global economy—but the fight to turn the curve is more than a market opportunity.
Over the past few years, I have worked alongside cybersecurity and fraud-management teams in government, banking, and payments, and nothing is more satisfying than seeing a new solution stop a romance scam or prevent a pensioner from losing their life savings.
Recent Posts

Quarterly Business Reviews: A CXO guide to Best Practices
Thu, May 16, 2024 — Most companies run regular QBRs (Quarterly Business Reviews). Getting into QBR practice its benefits, like getting your broader team buy-in on your sales and marketing team issues, creating a sense of urgency on important cross-team action items, building a learning culture within your team, sharing new product initiatives in advance, collect and measure customer feedback (or NPS) regularly. Not to mention you get valuable team face time, undistracted by daily sales activities.

The Power of a Positioning Statement for Growth in Small and Mid-Sized Businesses
Tue, May 7, 2024 — Many small and mid-market businesses find themselves at a growth impasse, not due to a lack of opportunity but because of misalignment across various functional areas. As a fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), my role often involves diagnosing these misalignments and charting a course for renewed growth. One of the most effective tools I recommend is creating and utilizing a clear positioning statement.

5 Essential Tools for Frustrated C-Level Executives
Wed, May 1, 2024 — Are you a C-level executive grappling with stagnant growth despite your best efforts and a talented marketing team? If so, you're not alone. Many businesses face this challenge, but the good news is that there are solutions. After over twenty years in the marketing industry, with the last two years as a fractional CMO, I’ve identified five essential elements that can reignite your growth engine.
Stay up-to-date with the latest from Chief Outsiders

Artificial Intelligence in Action: Developing Your Company's AI Strategy
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 — In the rapidly evolving domain of technology, developing a strategy for Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming crucial for companies looking to leverage the transformative potential of AI. An AI strategy is essential for defining the integration and application of AI technologies within a company's framework, ensuring that such integration is in harmony with the broader business objectives and results in a seamless fusion with existing operational, product, and service sectors. McKinsey reported that "companies that have leading digital and AI capabilities outperform laggards by two to six times to total shareholder returns across every sector analyzed."

Avoiding Random Acts of Marketing: Five Essential Strategies
Wed, Mar 20, 2024 — Ever wonder why some marketing initiatives crash and burn despite leadership oversight? The culprit often lurks in one fatal flaw: random acts of marketing. In this article, we delve into five indispensable strategies for dodging these missteps and the dire consequences that follow when marketing lacks a solid game plan.

Phoenix Rising: Reinventing B2B SMBs in the Fires of Disruption
Tue, Mar 5, 2024 — Certain dynamics can make a CEO think more than twice about how to ensure their company is not “left behind” like archaic brands of the past. Remember BlackBerry? Blockbuster? Yahoo? Their riches-to-rags stories reveal that these companies did not stay agile, ignored market warning signs, and found themselves severely impacted or bankrupt.

2024 Marketing Crystal Ball: Navigating Trends and Turbulence in the Digital Horizon
Tue, Jan 23, 2024 — Though the “Rise of the Machines” is well underway, there are trends other than Artificial Intelligence (AI) that are at the top of our minds at the start of 2024. The year ahead is fraught with challenges both analog and digital, from a pivotal presidential election to economic uncertainty. But it is the aforementioned digital revolution that has humans racing to determine how they can integrate AI into their marketing and business models.

Preparing for 2024: Is Your Marketing Funnel Integrated with Your Sales Funnel?
Wed, Dec 20, 2023 — Final article of the 7-part series: Accelerating Growth In 2024 with Strategic Business Planning By: Scott Wright and Jack Bowen In the relentless pursuit of growth, businesses often find themselves at a crossroads - a bustling marketing funnel generating a stream of leads, yet somehow, the path to conversion seems elusive. One study found that 71% of potential customers are not contacted, while only 13% of potential customers become opportunities.

How to Allocate Your Marketing Spend for Maximum Effect
Tue, Dec 19, 2023 — Article 6 of the 7-part series: Accelerating Growth In 2024 with Strategic Business Planning By: Scott Wright and Jack Bowen In a marketplace that's more competitive than ever, optimizing your marketing spend isn't just a best practice—it's a necessity for survival and accelerated growth. With shrinking resources and an ever-more diverse array of marketing platforms upon which to reach the customer, shooting arrows in the dark is no longer a viable marketing strategy.