Mark is a Chief Outsiders Partner and CMO. Mark is the author of four eBooks focusing on business growth engines, value propositions, digital transformation, and building an “Intelligent Sales Pipeline™.” He is also the host of his own radio show and podcast called The Practical CMO.
Mark helps CEOs and their teams across multiple industries and business sizes to develop key market insights, innovative products and services, and effective go-to-market programs to accelerate business growth. Mark employs his entrepreneurial spirit, executive experience in marketing, business development, sales, product management, operations, and technology management to skillfully build, grow, and revitalize organizations. He applies best practices from many sources and industries, effectively using digital marketing and digital technology to transform operations and create new revenue and profit opportunities. Mark is also an expert at horizon growth integration into EOS/Traction.
Anders Jenski, Founder, Full Throttle Technologies: “I want to thank you for the amazing work you did with setting the marketing direction for Full Throttle Technologies. Starting with our initial {and fairly murky} set of requirements, your ability to bring in and then collaborate with both groups inside of Full Throttle and outside to get the information you needed to come up with a really robust marketing plan in a short period of time is amazing. The extra effort you put into this project showcases your incredible expertise and leadership skills. Our next step is to complete the various product initiatives to get to market with a collection of internal potential clients. You were instrumental in helping us present Full Throttle as being professional and efficient. This will be important with our quest to find prospective customers with our new products. Again, thank you for all your help and for finding, motivating and organizing everyone to get a great plan built. We’ve all learned a lot from your help.”
Joel Theisen, CEO - Lifesprk: “Mark helped our team get real about our 5-year horizon growth plan. We have a unique set of economics with multiple service lines that needed alignment and guidance on how to value and grow them collectively over time. Mark took us deep into the economic drivers and business opportunities that provided clarity and alignment on how our model will change healthcare’s delivery system for seniors. His leadership was thoughtful, strategic, and authentic, and helped us frame the backbone for what became our confidential informational memorandum (CIM). The quality of the CIM, as well as the rigor, discipline and learning our executive team obtained from our time with Mark allowed Lifesprk to recently raise a significant PE capital injection.”
Jeff Ernste, Vice President, Sales and Marketing - Orange Tree Employment Screening: "When I met Mark, he told me that his driving force was to create success for his clients. This is easy to say and hard to do. Mark is true to his word. He is the real deal. Mark tells you what he’s going to do and then he does it. He’s hard-working. He will not only keep pace with you but enable you to go faster. He provides big picture ideas and high-level plans of execution while also having the ability to roll up his sleeves to conduct in-depth research and create metrics to assess your marketing and sales plans. Mark understands that marketing must end in sales. His expertise spans both disciplines. His versatility leads to practical plans that work. Mark brings valuable experience and expertise to the table. He has the confidence to share his ideas and the humility to let you make the final decision. He works the project just like he says he will – for your success. If you haven’t yet met Mark, you should. You’ll be glad you did."
David Gaither, Vice Chairman - Medcom Holding: "Mark is a true marketing special forces player. He’s a force multiplier of his team and my team’s efforts. He brought us from the dark ages of marketing to the here and now, poised for the future. Professional, effective and direct. All attributes any group would value."
Molly Kellogg, CEO - Hubbard-Hall: "Mark guided us through a complex digital transformation project with expertise, creativity and just the right amount of humor to get a diverse team through some long meetings. He delivered everything he promised (on time) as well as a little extra. Excellent all around."
Bill Mills, President - Minnesota Executive Group Inc.: “Mark Coronna takes the mystery out of strategic go to market planning. His Horizon Growth process is practical and straightforward. It nicely balances short term needs against laying the foundation for future growth. Small business owners often struggle with how to measure the ROI of marketing efforts. Mark helps bring clarity and focus by zeroing in on growth vs. marketing as the driver of strategy.”
Jeannie Deml, Director - Time Federal Savings Bank: "Mark has worked closely with our team for the past year, leading us through the development of a 3-5-year strategic marketing and growth plan. He has done an outstanding job effectively leading us through a challenging process in a timely manner. We are amazed by what we’ve accomplished to date. Mark is the ultimate professional and a pleasure to work with. We consider him an extension of the Enerquip Team and look forward to a continuing relationship."
Arnold Angeloni, CEO and Board Member: "Mark is an expert at helping organizations grow. I have seen him lead successful growth initiatives at a number of companies where I serve as a director as well as in other organizations from early-stage to Fortune 500 size companies. He leverages his career experiences in sales, marketing, business development, technology, and operations to the benefit of his clients. He uses a very disciplined methodology and combines this with a creative approach to help clients identify opportunities out of their normal field of view. All growth initiatives are carefully monitored to ensure they are meeting established milestones that will drive revenue and profit. Mark has a strong record of identifying and implementing growth strategies, helping employees to be more successful, and increasing shareholder value."
Jill Hesselroth, CEO - Intek Plastics: ”Mark has done an excellent job supporting me as CEO and our VP Sales and Marketing as we work to improve our strategy and strategic plan in horizon growth planning, value proposition, brand auditing, etc. Mark has a wealth of experience that he brings to our organization through his consulting. I would highly recommend Mark and Chief Outsiders to anyone needing this expertise!”
Brian McLaughlin, President - PeopleNet: “Mark is insightful, strategic, technically strong and of high integrity. We recently engaged him to work with us on a long-range planning process and he exceeded our expectations. He was very thorough on the preparation discussions, brought us a disciplined innovation process, and was able to moderate our sessions with both personal experience and strength to navigate through the sometimes "murky" world of future strategy.”
Murad Velani, COO - Jostens: “Mark has a deep and broad strategic mindset that enables him to develop an innovative idea and drive it to profitable execution in record time. He has a serial record for creating high performing organizations. Mark has a track record for generating wealth for his investors, shareholders, employees, partners and community. Everyone wins in the ecosystem when Mark is engaged. His integrity is unyielding and his passion to improve everyone and everything around him is contagious.”
Vicki Leinbach, CIO - The Ariens Company: “We engaged Mark to help us turnaround our online business. He brought a strong voice-of-customer orientation to the process which was lacking previously. Mark developed a model which analyzed five strategic options, then helped us understand which would fit the business best. The comprehensive plan he produced was accepted by our corporate board and fully funded, and they commented that the plan "knocked it out of the park." Mark's deep knowledge of marketing, technology, and eCommerce came together in a unique way to help us accelerate our businesses.”
Tony Belden, CEO - Engineering America: “Mark is the consummate professional and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his consulting engagements. Through his vast successful past projects he has carved out a unique solution to assist companies in large strategic undertakings in a fraction of the time it would take without his assistance. One person said it best when he said, ‘Throw Mark into a room with a bunch of people with chaos and he will talk to each and every one of them and then deliver an output report which sorts everything out and gets people on track.’ I could not agree more.”