I've run marketing at the VP level inside companies you've heard of, built and sold my own agency, and founded one of the country's leading search marketing conferences. Some companies bring me in to lead the function during a gap between marketing leaders. Others already have a marketing leader in place and bring me in for one channel — content, SEO, AI search visibility, paid — that needs more senior-level depth than their team has bandwidth for. Either way, I own the strategy, the system, and the outcome.
An agency with 30 junior account managers who rotate off your project every quarter.
A strategist who hands you a slide deck and a vendor roster, then leaves the building part to someone else.
A fractional CMO who builds the system himself — the dashboards, the integrations, the reporting your team actually runs on — and then operates it. Senior enough to own the strategy, hands-on enough that nothing gets lost in a handoff.
Most B2B SaaS companies aren't short on data or effort. They're short on someone senior enough to connect it into a straight answer for the CEO.
I work with B2B SaaS companies from seed stage through $100M ARR — some without a marketing leader, some with a full team already in place. Four situations where I tend to fit best.
Seed to early Series A. You've been running marketing yourself or with a junior generalist, and the next raise depends on a credible growth narrative — but a full-time CMO isn't in the budget yet.
"I don't know what's working, I can't afford a full-time CMO, and the next raise depends on me figuring this out."
Your VP of Marketing or CMO just left, or never existed at scale. Pipeline is at risk during the gap, and a search firm is six months you don't have.
"We can't afford a six-month hiring search with pipeline declining. I need a leader in seat by next week."
You're the VP of Marketing or CMO. Organic and paid are underperforming, the CEO keeps asking why, and your vendors send reports nobody acts on.
"I don't need another vendor. I need a peer who's been in this chair and will tell me what's actually broken."
You have a CMO or VP of Marketing and a functioning team. What you don't have is deep bench strength in one specific area — content, technical SEO, AI search visibility, or paid systemization — at the level your internal team has time to go.
"We have a marketing leader. I just need someone who can actually own this channel, not add it to somebody's already-full plate."
Your team already has a CRM, analytics, and probably a search tool. What's missing is someone connecting them into one intelligence layer, and a person accountable for what it says. That's what I build and run.
Custom integrations across your existing tools. No new software, no data migration.
Patterns found across your entire marketing surface, not one analyst staring at one dashboard.
Every insight ships with a specific action, not a generic recommendation to "improve content."
A decade in VP roles at scale, years running my own agency. I've sat on both sides of the table — I know what it's like to serve clients and to be one.
Reported directly to the CEO as a member of the executive leadership team. Drove triple-digit gains in high-intent ICP traffic competing head-to-head against G2 and Capterra.
Partnered directly with the GM, Sales, and Finance leadership on strategy. Built a team of 50+ from 3, and tied organic growth to pipeline and revenue across a PE-owned portfolio.
Owned SEO and commerce strategy across a publicly traded portfolio of global tech and media brands, and also ran email marketing and on-site conversion optimization. Partnered with corporate M&A on four acquisitions.
Founded one of the premier search marketing conferences in the U.S., drawing top speakers and practitioners to Dallas annually.
I also write Field Notes on where AI search and AEO are headed, including recaps from events like Profound Zero Click SF and AirOps Next NYC.
Measured in revenue impact and competitive advantage, not vanity metrics.
Connected content performance to sales pipeline through attribution modeling, giving the CMO a board-ready revenue narrative.
Connected content performance to CRM pipeline data, killed underperforming programs, and gave the CFO an attribution model they trusted.
Full-stack SEO and content strategy for a B2B SaaS review platform, combining topical authority and content velocity.
A snapshot of the range of work currently on my desk. Different tools, same principle: connect the data, own the outcome.
Board-level reporting and marketing leadership inside a growth-stage SaaS platform, from strategy through execution.
Paid and organic search audit, Smart Bidding analysis, and a weighted attribution model built to survive a bank-partner transition.
Full negative-keyword hygiene and bid strategy across 40+ campaigns, built and run as a repeatable weekly system, not a one-time cleanup.
Staffing, briefs, and logistics for a contractor network covering major industry conferences nationwide.
"Mark manages to combine technical skills, business savvy, customer-facing prowess, and people leadership all in one. He's got domain expertise in spades, crushes goals, builds great teams, and is an all around stand-up human."— Megan Headley · Product Marketing Leader · Formerly at Gartner & TrustRadius
Every engagement starts with a discovery call. I keep my roster at 4–6 clients so every company gets senior attention, not a junior account manager.
A senior specialist without the headcount. Fits two situations: a marketing leader who wants a peer who's sat in the seat, or a fully-staffed team that needs deep execution on one channel — content, SEO, AI visibility, paid — their internal team doesn't have bandwidth for.
Replaces an agency relationship with a senior thought partner you can actually call when something breaks.
I take the marketing leadership seat. For companies between marketing leaders who need strategy, hands, and accountability under one roof.
Typically replaces $250–350K of fully-loaded VP/CMO cost during the gap. Measurable pipeline impact within 90 days.
A scoped, fixed-fee engagement to answer one critical question: ICP definition, GTM motion, pre-raise narrative, or a competitive search audit.
Defined scope, timeline, and deliverable. Converts to a retainer only if it makes sense for both of us.
A 30-minute discovery call to understand your stack, your goals, and whether we're the right fit. No pitch deck, no pressure.