Marketing Edge | November 2024
Paul Mills
Fractional CMO | Affordable Marketing Leadership for SMEs | Helping CEOs Boost Demand & Achieve Predictable Growth | Chartered Marketer & FCIM | Founder VCMO | Hosts Fractional Futures Podcast???
Welcome to the latest issue of Marketing Edge, your monthly destination for staying at the forefront of marketing innovation. As business landscapes evolve at an unprecedented pace, this newsletter is your helpful guide, tailored for visionary business owners, esteemed leaders, and dynamic marketing professionals. Let me curate insightful thought leadership and handpicked content from diverse sources.
Marketing Analysis that Unlocks Business Success
Many businesses struggle to identify why their marketing efforts aren’t yielding the desired results. Without proper marketing analysis, you may be targeting the wrong audience, using inefficient channels, or missing opportunities to optimise your messaging. This lack of insight can prevent you from scaling effectively. VCMO offers a range of marketing audits that dig deep into your business to uncover performance gaps, missed opportunities and optimisation strategies.
Fractional Futures Podcast – A Perspective on Fractional Leadership from New Zealand
I have just launched season 2 of Fractional Futures where I speak to fractional leaders across the world to get their perspectives on how the business landscape is embracing the fractional leadership model. In the first episode I interview Michelle Allbon a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer based in New Zealand.
Growth Titans Summit – London 26 November 2024
In November I'm speaking at Growth Titans Summit in London sharing my insights on fractional marketing leadership. This one-day summit is for business owners, founders and solopreneurs dedicated to making more money and growing their businesses. With masterclasses ranging from finance to marketing, you’ll learn the high-level secrets of some of the most innovative entrepreneurs in the UK.
Keynote speakers include:
Dean Seddon , Founder & CEO Maverrik
Holly Hayes , Former social media strategist for Steven Bartleet / The Diary of a CEO
Heather Murray , Director at AI for Non-Techies
Lee-Ann Johnstone , Founder Affiverse
Paul Owen , Founder True Sales
Arti Halai , Executive & Communication Coach
1-Day SOSTAC? Masterclass with PR Smith 30 January 2025
Join Us for an Inspiring 1-Day SOSTAC? Planning Masterclass Integrating AI. Step into a world of strategic marketing brilliance with?PR Smith?and Lydia McClelland FCIM CMKtr as your guides. During one intensive day’s workshop you will master the art of asking great strategic questions, making better decisions and creating flawless, crystal-clear marketing strategies using the acclaimed?SOSTAC? Methodology?while leveraging AI. Voted in the Top 3?business models worldwide by the?Chartered Institute of Marketing's?Centenary Poll, SOSTAC? simplifies the art of creating marketing plans that deliver commercial results.
The masterclass is perfectly designed for:
·?????? Senior marketing executives (CMO / Director level)
·?????? Partners / Heads of Practice areas in LLPs (legal/accountancy/financial services)
·?????? VC & PE investors
·?????? Owners/Founders of early-stage scaleups
When: Thursday 30 January 2025
Where: Duchess Room - County Hall, Belvedere Road, London SE1 7PB
Cost: ￡695 +VAT per delegate (discounts for group bookings)
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Row4Ukraine – VCMO Supports Lee Spencer’s Epic Atlantic Challenge
Lee (Frank) Spencer is a truly remarkable and inspirational human being. Having served 24 years as a Royal Marine, his life changed forever following a non-military accident. When stopping to help a motorist who had crashed on the M3 motorway, he lost his right leg after it was severed by an oncoming car. Fast forward 5 years, Lee not only learned how to walk again, but he successfully rowed the Atlantic Ocean twice – achieving multiple world worlds and become the fastest human to make the solo crossing.
In December 2024, Lee takes to the water again this time support by wounded and injured servicemen from the British and Ukrainian army. Row4Ukraine is Lee’s latest challenge with the goal of raising awareness of the war in Ukraine and raising ￡150,000 for the Invictus Games Foundation.
Watch him on a recent edition of ITV News:
VCMO is delighted to be supporting Lee with #Row4Ukraine and corporate sponsorship packages are still available for brands looking to support this epic challenge. Feel free to get in touch for more details.
A Guide to Mastering the Business Model Canvas
The Business Model Canvas (BMC) is a strategic management tool that provides a visual framework for describing, analysing, and designing business models. But not many businesses know about it or apply it. So that’s why I have published a guide to help you master the BMC Framework and embed it as part of your business planning process. Our helpful guide provides you with practical insights, examples, and best practices on how to apply the model.
The Marketing Mix Explained
The marketing mix, also known as the 4Ps of marketing, is a popular framework that businesses use to plan and implement their marketing strategies. In this article I explain why the marketing mix is a fundamental concept in marketing management and how it serves as a framework for developing and implementing marketing strategies to achieve business objectives.
Marketing Book Club
In each issue of Marketing Edge I will share a book that has changed my approach to marketing in some shape or form. This month’s book is Alan Wilson’s Marketing Research – An Integrated Approach. The book does a fantastic job demonstrating how marketing research and its understanding should be seen as a key element of marketing rather than a backroom activity performed by statisticians.
(I am not on any commission from the authors or publishers).
LinkedIn Expert Of The Week: Henning Schwinum
In every issue of Marketing Edge I will introduce you to an expert I personally follow on LinkedIn. I follow some brilliant minds who regularly share thought-provoking and valuable content that has changed how I think about marketing and leadership.
If you’re not already doing so, I recommend that you follow Henning Schwinum – who is a big deal in the fractional leadership space in the United States. Henning is an expert on international expansion, revenue growth, process optimisation, margin improvement and team development. I recently interviewed Henning for my Fractional Futures podcast, so keep an eye on that episode coming soon!
Free Assessment of Your Business Marketing Performance
Our free online audit assesses your organisation's marketing capability against 70 marketing dimensions. You receive a detailed personalised Scorecard and an invite to a no-obligation workshop to discuss your results. The next 10 minutes could transform your entire approach to marketing.
Interesting Thought Leadership & Events
I spend a lot of time on social media and receive plenty of content to my inbox. Here I share some of the best thought leadership I've recently come across on topics from marketing strategy and business leadership excellence to market intelligence reports. I hope you find the content equally useful.
About the author
Paul Mills is the CEO and Founder of VCMO, an award-winning provider of fractional marketing leadership for SMEs and investor-backed companies looking to accelerate growth. Through its accredited Fractional Chief Marketing Officers, VCMO’s mission is to transform marketing potential into a sustainable competitive advantage.
Paul is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM) and SOSTAC? Certified Planner. With a proven track record of delivering results both domestically and internationally, he is renowned for transforming marketing performance in SMEs and global organisations, with significant contributions across legal, professional, and financial services sectors.
Find out more at vcmo.uk. ? 2024 VCMO Limited. All rights reserved.