June 13, 2022 • 29 mins
In episode 116, host Eric Dickmann talks with Amanda Rabideau- Founder and CEO of Arch Collective, a Fractional CMO agency for tech startups. Amanda has over 15 years of experience growing businesses using effective marketing, strategy, and scale practices. Throughout her career, she has worked with large enterprises to improve their business models.
Arch Collective is a Fractional CMO agency that helps tech startups with their marketing strategy and execution. The company believes that talented, freelance marketers are the future of work, as well as a valuable advantage provided by Fractional CMOs allowing post-Series A startups to deploy new capital in the safest, most cost-efficient way.
Aside from Amanda’s devotion to helping businesses grow, she seeks to inspire female business leaders through effective marketing and commercialization.
For more information and access to the resources mentioned in this episode, visit: https://fiveechelon.com/fractional-cmo-marketing-for-startups-s8ep1/
A fractional CMO can help build out a comprehensive marketing strategy and execute targeted campaigns designed to increase awareness and generate demand for your business...without the expense of a full-time hire.
The Five Echelon Group - Fractional CMO and strategic marketing advisory services designed for SMBs looking to grow. Learn more at:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Eric Dickmann (00:01):
Welcome to The Virtual CMO podcast.
I'm your host, Eric Dickmann.
In this podcast, we haveconversations with marketing
professionals who share thestrategies, tactics, and mindset
you can use to improve theeffectiveness of your marketing
activities and grow yourbusiness.
Today.
I'm excited to have guests.
Amanda Rabideau on the program.
(00:23):
Amanda Is the Founder, cEO andfractional CMO at the arch
collective affirm that handlesmarketing strategy and execution
for tech startups.
She believes that operating withtalented freelance, marketers is
the future of work and avaluable advantage provided by
fractional CMOs.
Amanda, welcome to the show.
Amanda Rabideau (00:41):
Thanks for having me Eric.
Eric Dickmann (00:43):
I love talking about fractional CMO work and
people who have moved into thisspace.
It's really where we're pivotingwith this show a little bit to
focus on how fractional CMOs canbe a benefit to many businesses
that are out there and to kickoff that discussion, I would
love it if you could just sharea little bit of an expanded
background.
How did you work inside thecorporate world before you
(01:06):
decided to go off on your ownand become a fractional CMO?
Amanda Rabideau (01:09):
Sure, happy to share.
So I'm one of the few peoplethat started her career at a
startup and then continue towork at bigger companies.
And then after about five yearsat CoreLogic, which is the
largest provider of dataanalytics for property, I
decided to start looking to goback into the startup world,
(01:30):
living in San Francisco,obviously Silicon Valley, you
know, the heart and soul ofstartups in this country, or it
was,
Eric Dickmann (01:36):
Yeah.
Amanda Rabideau (01:37):
And while I was interviewing for multiple CMO
roles at the same time, I sortof had this thought of it's too
bad.
I can't work for all of thesecompanies at the same time.
They're in a similar place, theyhave very, very similar problems
and, you know, I could be reallyefficient at solving all of
these at one time.
And once I had that thought andmade the comment to my partner,
(02:01):
I was sorta like, why don't Ijust go out and do this?
And that was the genesis of ArchCollective, and so I set out and
did exactly that.
So I now work with post series,A funded B2B tech startup
companies to help them growtheir business, serving as a
fractional CMO.
Eric Dickmann (02:16):
I think that's really exciting.
You know, when you look back atyour corporate before doing
that, what are some of thecompanies that you worked for?
What kinds corporations did youwork for?
Amanda Rabideau (02:26):
Well, that first startup that I mentioned I
was there for over six yearsbefore I went and got my MBA at
UNC Kenan-Flagler then afterthat I worked in digital
marketing consulting, and so Iwas working with companies like
Microsoft and Dell and NewRelics, so some startups too,
(02:48):
PayPal was a client of ours.
And then from there I went andworked at CoreLogic, which I
just mentioned, and I was therefor over several years leading
innovation and then moving intoa marketing role and then left
to start Arch Collective.
So ISo you know while I spentfive years at CoreLogic, I did
spent several years consultingwith larger too, and much
(03:11):
preferred the startupenvironment and the speed and
the pace at which thosecompanies move.
Eric Dickmann (03:16):
Was there a moment sort of in that early
part of your career where youdid something marketing wise
that really had a significantimpact.
And it just sort of turned onthat light bulb to say- I really
see the power of marketing andwhat marketing can do for a
business.
Amanda Rabideau (03:32):
Oh that's a great question.
And I do, I have that moment.
Eric Dickmann (03:35):
great.
Amanda Rabideau (03:36):
so the company that I was working for that
startup was an orthodonticstartup.
So we were selling orthodontictechnology and I'd been in sales
actually for my first few yearsthere, and look to pivot out,
and the CEO was basically like,you know, you go figure out what
your job is.
I'd been number one in sales soI had built up some crediblity.
(03:57):
And so I had to kind of figureout what my job was going to be.
And you know, I was meeting withsome of the clinicians in the
lab, which a lot of them wereformer dental assistants,
orthodontic assistants, anddentists from other countries.
And you know, as I startedtalking with them, I learned a
little bit about the referralprocess and how dentists refer
(04:20):
patients to orthodontists.
And it was in thoseconversations that I developed a
hypothesis that- Wow, it'sactually the hygienists that
have more say over where thereferrals go to orthodontist
than the dentists themselves.
Why aren't we doing anything topromote this among the dental
hygienists?
You know, we're talking todentists to promote them, to
(04:42):
refer patients to orthodontists.
And so long story short, I endedup putting together this, or,
um, excuse me, dental hygienistreferral program that we kicked
off in four markets across thecountry.
We had you know, I unfortunatelydon't remember the exact return
or the number of the growthpercentage, but the numbers were
astounding and the company stillis using this program or had
(05:04):
been up until they were acquireda couple of years ago.
so it was a sticky program.
And to me like why that reallystuck out is that, you know,
marketing isn't a science, butit's using a scientific process,
some art to improve on yourprocess.
And that I had a hypothesis, wewent out and tested it, and then
(05:25):
we figured out ways to improveon the results using the art
part of that whole art andscience equation.
And so that really got meinterested in marketing.
Eric Dickmann (05:34):
I love that for a couple of reasons.
I love the whole testing, ahypothesis.
I wish more people would do thatin marketing.
When you have scale, you can doa lot of AB testing and see what
works better, right?
But for smaller businesses,sometimes that's tough.
And I also love that you focusedon who your content is really
needs to be focused on, youknow, what is your target buyer?
In this case, the target personto do that referral, right?
(05:55):
I think a lot of people makeassumptions there and never
really test to see that's true.
Amanda Rabideau (06:00):
Yeah And piece that I didn't really mention,
but I think is so important andit's really the foundation of
how I look at marketing is thatbecause I did start off in
sales, right there on the frontlines with the customers every
day.
And then, you know, listeningthose customers, hearing what
they're saying, and thenincorporating that into how we
(06:22):
tell the story is something thatI tell all of my clients, I use
that on my clients, and I thinkit's such a crucial part that
voice of client and making surethat you tell a story with your
audience in mind, you don't needto tell the story you want to
tell, you tell the story thatthey need to hear.
Eric Dickmann (06:37):
Yes.
And that's tough I suppose,especially working in the world
of startups, right?
You have a lot of passionatefounders there, they believe
they've got a great product,they have you know the world is
waiting for, how do you workwith some of those tough clients
and get them to focus more onwhat the audience wants to hear,
rather than the story they wantto tell?
Amanda Rabideau (06:56):
I think it starts by looking at the
numbers, right?
I mean, if ultimately theircompany is growing on the right
trajectory, they're getting allthe clients they want, they're
meeting their numbers.
I think it's a little bit harderto get them to do something
different.
But usually when I come in, it'syou know, the Series A funding
is closed, revenue, they'veexhausted their network, and
(07:18):
they're the low hanging fruit inthe industry, and they need to
demonstrate that they canrepeatedly acquire new
customers.
And so they may not know exactlywhat the right message is.
And so you know, saying, look,we're going to start by talking
to those clients you have anduncovering how they're using it,
what's valuable?
Like what really thinking about?
How do they make theirdecisions?
(07:40):
You know, usually once we'vedone that process and we've
shared that information back,it's an easier sell on getting
them to use that in themessaging because they
recognize, wow, this isn't theway that we've been talking
about it or this may not havebeen the way we've been thinking
about that or we may not evenknow this is how our product was
being used.
Eric Dickmann (07:57):
That's really interesting.
I also am curious about yourstory.
You talked a little bit aboutwhat you were doing before you
started the Arch Collective.
Once decided to start, it soundslike you had a partner.
What was that like, was yourearly business, referrals from
previous clients starting towork with some of those because
of existing relationships thatyou had?
Was it referrals from withinyour close network of people who
(08:21):
you know, offered a businessright away?
What was that like, starting outa new business?
Amanda Rabideau (08:25):
Well, first when I said partner, I was
referring to my husband,
Eric Dickmann (08:29):
okay.
Amanda Rabideau (08:29):
I don't have a business partner, but good
catch.
And know, really it's you know,I guess tapping into my previous
sales experience, you know, Imentioned I started in sales at
the startup where I had to startletting people know that I was
out there you know, providingfractional CMO services.
And so much like the startupsthat I work with, I had to drive
(08:52):
brand awareness and let peopleknow about what I was doing and
the value prop that I offered.
And fortunately, because of myexperience and especially my
background and having worked atCoreLogic, I had a network of
people that had left there to gowork at startups in the property
ecosystem.
And so I was able to gain sometraction that way, but now it's
(09:14):
kind of, I always can't standthis phrase, but eating my own
dog food where a lot of thethings that we're doing for our
clients are the same things thatI do to continue to grow my
business and acquire new.
Eric Dickmann (09:25):
Being a guest on a podcast, being one of them,
right?
Amanda Rabideau (09:28):
That's right.
Well, some of it it's the basicblocking and tackling, you know?
We have to create content, wehave to you know promote through
different campaigns and youknow, drive referral sources,
you know, do this, do that, someof the cold outreach, you know,
via LinkedIn and other things.
So, you know, it's sometimesit's not all rocket science,
(09:50):
right?
It's a matter of having a planand then executing on that plan,
because you know, the bestplans, if they're not executed
against them, you know, they'renot doing a whole lot of good.
Eric Dickmann (09:59):
No, that's exactly right.
And I think it's veryinteresting too when I hear
about people's stories and howthey start out, because starting
a business is one thing, but itdoesn't necessarily tell you how
it's going to go.
1, 2, 5, 10 years into theprocess, right?
Because some of those earlyreferrals or network
connections, they dry up andthen you have to have that lead
generation machine in place.
(10:21):
Have you found that true withyour business too, that it looks
a little different today than itdid when you first started out?
Amanda Rabideau (10:27):
Well, well certainly, right?
Eric Dickmann (10:28):
Yeah.
Amanda Rabideau (10:28):
I mean the more, I mean, hopefully know,
I'm taking what I've learned andimproving on the business over
time.
Like again, a lot of my clientsneed to do, but yes, certainly
what I was doing on November of2019 is different than what I'm
doing today.
You know, with all that time andexperience comes the refinement
(10:48):
of my messaging or refinement ofmy offering.
And an expansion too as well,cause I've recognized where
there is additional challengesamongst my target audience.
And so being able to provide tohelp them, you know, with those
challenges that I recognize orsee your gaps in the
marketplace.
(11:08):
And I think that's what we'reall doing is as business owners
is trying to fill a gap.
Eric Dickmann (11:13):
You mentioned target audience, and I think
that's a really discussion.
We often clients niche down, youcan't go after broad, a swath of
the marketplace.
It's just too expensive.
But as a small independentbusiness challenge typically
don't have the scale, right?
We don't have the volume ofleads coming in really on a
(11:33):
scientific basis, say where themajority of our leads from.
So you have to make choices, youhave you want to go.
Obviously, you had some tech andstartups.
And so that was propositiongoing in?
was going to be the audiencethat I focused on from day one?
Amanda Rabideau (11:50):
I absolutely followed my advice on this one
because I talked to startupfounders about niching down all
the time for all the reasons youjust listed.
And I guess that's the advantageof talking to CMO,
Eric Dickmann (12:02):
Right, exactly.
Amanda Rabideau (12:04):
And so I'm extremely targeted in my
audience and who I reach out to.
And it's because I've seen the,the upside of doing that, and
I've also seen the downside ofdoing that, where it can get
confusing to the marketplace.
And you know, if you're not veryclear about who you're going
after, in fact, I have a phrasethat I call the FOMO of revenue
(12:26):
when I'm talking about it withfounders.
And I, I totally get it.
You, you need that revenuecoming in.
If you've got employees, you'vegot salaries to pay, you've got,
you know, other bills, invoices,all of that, but you're doing
yourself a disservice if you tryand go too broad, especially at
the beginning.
And so you know, I just decidedto follow the advice I give and
(12:47):
so far it's worked out.
So you know, I guess I've gotanother proof point that niching
down is effective.
Eric Dickmann (12:53):
No, that's great, that's encouraging.
I think to all the people thatare out there that are trying to
figure out if they should ornot.
When you could pitch yourservices to various companies,
various startups, does theconcept of a fractional CMO
resonate with people?
Do you have to explain what thatis?
It's a relatively new term,right?
I think it started out in theCFO's office and then it's
(13:14):
gradually spreading through theC-suite.
But as I often say on this show,Unless you're a Fortune 500
company, chances are, you don'teven have a CMO?
right.
CMO be kind of a Fortune 500title.
But it's a concept, right?
It's somebody who's workingpart-time for your business on
behalf of your business formarketing or for finance or for
(13:34):
operations or whatever thefractional title might be.
How have you found the generalacceptance of it or
understanding of it?
Amanda Rabideau (13:40):
Well, it's certainly the acceptance and the
understanding of it has grownover these last few years.
And I think completely nailedit, Eric.
It started off as really a lotof fractional CFOs.
And so people were familiar withthat concept.
And in fact, when I started offdoing this, I met with a few VCs
and they even said, they'relike- Oh, I'm familiar with the
Fractional CFO, but not ever aCMO, kind of wanted to wait and
(14:05):
see, like, how does this work?
I haven't done that with any ofmy portfolio companies yet.
And I know, frankly, it wasactually a client of mine, Lucy
Stribley from Flyreel.
And she had said to me, she'slike, I think what you're doing
is it's called a Fractional CMO.
And cause I think I was stillusing interim COO.
And so she introduced me tothat, you know, this is
(14:27):
beginning of my time working at,um, Starting Arch Collective,
but it was something I had toeducate myself about and it's
something that a lot of peopleoutside of tech startups aren't
still familiar with.
You know, I kind of call it the,you know, ask my dad added if he
understands, you know, maybeit's a bit complicated.
And a lot of my family hadn'theard that term or even some
(14:49):
friends of mine, but in thestartup world, I think it's
beginning to be more commonplaceand where a lot of the questions
are, how does this work?
Like what happens when youleave?
You know, what really are yougoing to get done?
And then of course what'sdifferent about a Fractional CMO
and me bringing in an agency?
And so those are some of thequestions that I still get about
(15:10):
bringing on a fractionalexecutive.
Eric Dickmann (15:14):
Hey, it's Eric here and we'll be right back to
the podcast.
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(15:34):
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How to increase lead conversion,improve your margins, and scale
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(15:58):
Services.
Now back to the podcast.
You know, when somebody islooking for somebody to come in
and fill a role like thisgenerally they don't know who
you are, right?
So there's always that elementof trust building that has to
happen in order for anengagement to start.
Do you find that with manyclients, they like to start with
a smaller, very, uh, purposefulengagement?
(16:21):
some sort of an audit or somesort of a project that they
have, and then that graduallyexpands out to a full fractional
CMO engagement, or do you find alot of your clients, that's what
they want, they know that that'swhat they need, they need
somebody to come in and build astrategy, and that's what they
bring you in for?
Amanda Rabideau (16:38):
It's been a little bit of both frankly.
And so you I have a lot ofclients that are like, I know I
need a CMO, whether it's theycan't afford it or like a
full-time CMO or they havesomething more specific in mind.
I do have those that they'relike, this is what I need.
And part of my process is tomake sure that this is what they
(16:58):
need as well, because it doesn'tbenefit either parties.
If they don't need a fractionalCMO, I go in there, we're not
aligned what they need and whatneeds to be accomplished.
Um, I do work with some earlierstage companies and they may
say, oh I found you I'minterested in you as a
fractional CMO.
And I frankly just tell them, Idon't think you need me right
(17:20):
now.
Like when you're really earlystage, you need to just, it's a
little bit of throwing thingsagainst the wall and seeing what
sticks and building things upand building up your client base
and making and mistakes as wellas getting things right.
And so your money is going intoyour product.
It's going into your engineeringteam probably.
And so having an executive andmarketing, like I probably
(17:41):
wouldn't have enough to do.
So in those cases, I might, youknow, start with a smaller
project and then thatrelationship could last, and
then you know, a little whilelater, it makes sense for me to
come in as a fractional CMO, butit's kind of like a 50-50.
It just depends.
But I really have a prettyrigorous vetting process myself,
(18:02):
because I want to make sure thatit's the right fit for what my
process and what I do with myplaybook and how I help the
companies and that they're atthe right place for me to come
in and help them.
Eric Dickmann (18:12):
I think that's so important what you said, because
especially when you're a smallerbusiness, right?
Leads are gold, right?
Leads are so important, butsometimes you've got to do the
right thing and you've got.
Hey, I, I'm not what you needright now.
You may be just need afreelancer to create a logo or
something, or maybe you need afull service agency because you
just want to go through andcreate a whole bunch of stuff
all at once.
(18:33):
And it's finding the right placeto enter a company because it's
to everybody's benefit if it canbe a valuable engagement from
day one.
Amanda Rabideau (18:42):
Couldn't agree more.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Eric Dickmann (18:44):
Well, you talked a little bit about your process
and so over time, I'm sureyou've developed and refined
that process.
At a high level, can you sharesort of some of the things that
you do as part of that processor some of the deliverables from
it?
Amanda Rabideau (18:57):
Happy to.
Well the first thing I do when Istart with a Fractional CMO
client is put together amarketing plan.
You know, it's the proverbial ifyou're driving cross country,
you don't just get in your carand hope that you arrive in the
right location, right?
You need to have a plan for howto get there, you know?
And plus to me, t starts tobuild that relationship.
(19:17):
And going back to your commentabout, you need to build trust
where when I put that plantogether and I'm sharing the
process and taking them through,like, this is why the plan is
the way it is and here's whatwent into it, and what did I get
out of the voice of client andall the different pieces that go
into it, it does start to buildthat relationship.
Then once the plan's done, italigns both myself and typically
(19:39):
the CEO and the board if they'vegot involved in approving it to
say, okay, this is going to beaccomplishing over the next six,
12 months or whatever thetimeframe may be, then it, and
I'll say easier and air quotes.
I got to figure out which way Igot to go easier and air quotes,
for to go ahead and do my job,because one of the reasons that
(20:01):
CEOs typically want a fractionalCMO and not a lower level
marketer is because of theautonomy, the ability to get
things done, to make decisionsand to take things off of his or
her plate as a CEO.
And so once that plan's beenapproved, the same way I would
as a CMO of another company, I'dbe executing against it.
You know, reporting on theresults, tracking on the budget,
(20:24):
all of the things necessary toget that done.
And typically in those first fewmonths, what a startup company
needs at post series a, theyneed a refresh on or for the
first time, you know, a propermessaging framework.
So getting really clear on thestory, we need to start building
out a content library thataligns to the buyer's journey.
(20:44):
There probably needs to be someupdates to their digital
properties, maybe entireoverhaul, but oftentimes we can
just update those digitalproperties and then just start
thinking about building out afull-time team.
And so those are typically someof those first things that I'm
doing when I'm coming in.
And so I like to say, I like toget that foundation set that we
(21:05):
can then build and grow fromthere.
Eric Dickmann (21:08):
I love the way you put the focus on the plan
and the strategy, because Idon't know about you, but what
I've seen with so manybusinesses is that they're just
randomly doing things thataren't really connected to a or
a strategy.
Amanda Rabideau (21:20):
Yep.
Eric Dickmann (21:21):
And let's face it, marketing is a cost center,
right?
Marketing is an expense and itcan add up very quickly,
especially if you're buyingadvertising or doing something
like that.
And if you don't really knowwhat you're trying to accomplish
or how to measure it, or are howall your various marketing
objectives are tied together,you can waste a lot of money
quickly and be prettydisappointed with the results.
Amanda Rabideau (21:40):
Yep, exactly.
And I mean in that strategy,there's an opportunity to
educate the other executives.
So sure, there are some foundersthat they have some marketing
background or they understandit, or this isn't their first
startup so they get it.
You know, a lot of times the CEOcould have been an engineering,
(22:01):
you know, an, excuse me, anengineer, have an engineering
background or something thatisn't necessarily aligned
marketing.
So there can be some educationand letting them know, Hey, this
is why this is going to work.
And this is why, what you havebeen doing the proverbial, you
know, throwing it against thewall, seeing what sticks, why it
wasn't effective.
It doesn't mean marketing isn'teffective, it just may mean that
(22:22):
those tactics you were usingweren't the right ones.
Whether it be the message thatwas included or the channel that
you were using, or you weretrying to go after this
audience, and that's not wherethey are.
You know, all sorts of differentthings.
So I try and do some educationtoo, because we can't assume
that everyone knows marketinglike we know marketing.
Eric Dickmann (22:41):
Well, and that sort of is a great segue to a
question about what do peopleask when they engage with you?
Is it that we're at the stage ofgrowth now where we know we need
marketing.
We don't have any in place rightnow.
So we really need a plan.
Is it we've been doing somemarketing, but it's not working.
What is a typical sort of a painpoint that somebody calls you up
(23:04):
on the phone, sends you an emailand say- Hey, I need help with
blank.
Amanda Rabideau (23:08):
It's such a great question, cause I actually
ask almost that exact questionwhen I'm with a potential
client, which is which one ofthese best describes you?
Because if it's, they've alreadylike- Hey, I just want a bunch
of leads then I'm probably notthat person or they might not be
in the right stage, but where myclients typically are it's kind
(23:29):
of like- Oh shit, we just gotall this funding and we have no
idea where these clients arecoming from, help.
You know, or like we don't havea lot of leads.
And so you know, I'm reallythere to help them drive revenue
and acquire new customers.
That's typically what's neededat that post series A.
And so when they're asking mequestions, you know, it's
(23:52):
around, you know, these are mygoals, this is the revenue
target or this competitor iseating my lunch.
Like how do I get out frombehind that company?
And, you know, start chippingaway at the marketplace.
There's a whole host of thingsthat these companies need to do,
but typically it comes down toclient acquisition and and
(24:12):
driving awareness around thecompany.
You know, towards the call, likethe middle or the end of my
engagement, when we're startingto think about that next round
of fundraising, some of ourfocus does shift away cause
hopefully at that point, we'vegot a little bit of the
marketing machine up and runningand building, you know, built
out where we're starting to seethe outputs of the work we've
(24:33):
done.
And now it's time to say, okay,how do we start positioning the
company in the minds ofpotential investors?
And then that becomes adifferent exercise and a
different end goal, which is toget the funding for the next
round.
Eric Dickmann (24:46):
And do you look at these companies and that they
have locked themselves into aparticular strategy?
What I mean by that is do theysay we need some sort of a
Fractional CMO?
Do they say we need a full-timehire?
Are they considering a fullservice agency?
Have they sort of settled on onecamp or the other or in your
(25:06):
experience has been, they'relooking at a broad, a wide
variety of options?
Amanda Rabideau (25:10):
I think that they're looking at a wide
variety of options, which is whyI often get the like, well,
what's different about you than.
an agency or why shouldn't I geta full-time CMO right now?
And I think that that's part ofthat education, you know?
They're looking to understand,do I need you or not need you?
And, you know, I don't want towork for a company that doesn't
(25:32):
need me any more than they don'twant to be, you know, bringing
someone on that they don't needas well.
So I do really try and get into,you know, the details and like
have multiple meetings withthese clients, make sure that we
are on the same page with whatis it that I'm going to come in
and do and how is that differentthan if you did bring in a full
service agency or if you didbring in someone full-time and
(25:53):
everything in between and allthe other options.
So yeah, I think typicallythey're exploring and they're
trying to understand what's bestfor their business to help them
achieve their growth targets.
Eric Dickmann (26:03):
So because we believe in marketing, we want to
make sure we get a chance to dosome of it here on this show
today.
So if somebody is listening tothis program and say, I'm
considering getting a FractionalCMO, what do you say is your
ideal client?
Amanda Rabideau (26:18):
Well, say post series a funding, or like you
just closed your series A,you're a B2B tech company, where
you're located doesn't matter tome.
I don't think it, you know, intoday's world, I'm working with
people all over the globe.
So you know location is youknow, pretty much
inconsequential.
And while I do have a deepbackground in prop tech or
(26:39):
insuretech, meaning likeproperty and casualty PNC
insurance, and the wholeproperty ecosystem, you know,
I'm really open to clients thatare also making an impact in a
positive way on the climate andsustainability.
And so, um, if you're a B2B postseries A Funded tech company,
out to me, happy to have aconversation, and see if it's a
(27:02):
good fit and we're aligned onwhat you need and how can I help
you.
Eric Dickmann (27:05):
That's perfect.
I think that's a greatdescription.
Amanda, tell everybody wherethey can find out more about you
and more about the ArchCollective on the web.
Amanda Rabideau (27:13):
Sure.
my website isarch-collective.com.
And of course I'm on all thesocial media channels as well,
but you can find a lot of mycontent on LinkedIn and then you
can catch me doing some funcontent and reels on Instagram
as well at Arch CollectiveMarketing is where you can find
(27:34):
me on Instagram and then justsearch Arch Collective on
LinkedIn, and you'll find methere as well.
Eric Dickmann (27:39):
That's perfect.
We'll make sure that we have allthat linked up in the show notes
so that people can find you,Amanda, this has been a great
discussion.
I love talking about thebenefits of being a Fractional
CMO and how they can reallybenefit businesses out there.
so glad you could come on theshow today.
Thank you so much for your time.
Amanda Rabideau (27:55):
Thanks for having me, Eric.
I appreciate it.
Eric Dickmann (27:59):
Thank you for joining us on this episode of
The Virtual CMO podcast.
For more episodes, go tofiveechelon.com/podcast to
subscribe through your podcastplayer of choice.
And if you'd like to developconsistent lead flow and a
highly effective marketingstrategy, visit fiveechelon.com
to learn more about our VirtualCMO consulting services.
Welcome to The Virtual CMO podcast.
I'm your host, Eric Dickmann.
In this podcast, we haveconversations with marketing
professionals who share thestrategies, tactics, and mindset
you can use to improve theeffectiveness of your marketing
activities and grow yourbusiness.
Today.
I'm excited to have guests.
Amanda Rabideau on the program.
(00:23):
Amanda Is the Founder, cEO andfractional CMO at the arch
collective affirm that handlesmarketing strategy and execution
for tech startups.
She believes that operating withtalented freelance, marketers is
the future of work and avaluable advantage provided by
fractional CMOs.
Amanda, welcome to the show.
Amanda Rabideau (00:41):
Thanks for having me Eric.
Eric Dickmann (00:43):
I love talking about fractional CMO work and
people who have moved into thisspace.
It's really where we're pivotingwith this show a little bit to
focus on how fractional CMOs canbe a benefit to many businesses
that are out there and to kickoff that discussion, I would
love it if you could just sharea little bit of an expanded
background.
How did you work inside thecorporate world before you
(01:06):
decided to go off on your ownand become a fractional CMO?
Amanda Rabideau (01:09):
Sure, happy to share.
So I'm one of the few peoplethat started her career at a
startup and then continue towork at bigger companies.
And then after about five yearsat CoreLogic, which is the
largest provider of dataanalytics for property, I
decided to start looking to goback into the startup world,
(01:30):
living in San Francisco,obviously Silicon Valley, you
know, the heart and soul ofstartups in this country, or it
was,
Eric Dickmann (01:36):
Yeah.
Amanda Rabideau (01:37):
And while I was interviewing for multiple CMO
roles at the same time, I sortof had this thought of it's too
bad.
I can't work for all of thesecompanies at the same time.
They're in a similar place, theyhave very, very similar problems
and, you know, I could be reallyefficient at solving all of
these at one time.
And once I had that thought andmade the comment to my partner,
(02:01):
I was sorta like, why don't Ijust go out and do this?
And that was the genesis of ArchCollective, and so I set out and
did exactly that.
So I now work with post series,A funded B2B tech startup
companies to help them growtheir business, serving as a
fractional CMO.
Eric Dickmann (02:16):
I think that's really exciting.
You know, when you look back atyour corporate before doing
that, what are some of thecompanies that you worked for?
What kinds corporations did youwork for?
Amanda Rabideau (02:26):
Well, that first startup that I mentioned I
was there for over six yearsbefore I went and got my MBA at
UNC Kenan-Flagler then afterthat I worked in digital
marketing consulting, and so Iwas working with companies like
Microsoft and Dell and NewRelics, so some startups too,
(02:48):
PayPal was a client of ours.
And then from there I went andworked at CoreLogic, which I
just mentioned, and I was therefor over several years leading
innovation and then moving intoa marketing role and then left
to start Arch Collective.
So ISo you know while I spentfive years at CoreLogic, I did
spent several years consultingwith larger too, and much
(03:11):
preferred the startupenvironment and the speed and
the pace at which thosecompanies move.
Eric Dickmann (03:16):
Was there a moment sort of in that early
part of your career where youdid something marketing wise
that really had a significantimpact.
And it just sort of turned onthat light bulb to say- I really
see the power of marketing andwhat marketing can do for a
business.
Amanda Rabideau (03:32):
Oh that's a great question.
And I do, I have that moment.
Eric Dickmann (03:35):
great.
Amanda Rabideau (03:36):
so the company that I was working for that
startup was an orthodonticstartup.
So we were selling orthodontictechnology and I'd been in sales
actually for my first few yearsthere, and look to pivot out,
and the CEO was basically like,you know, you go figure out what
your job is.
I'd been number one in sales soI had built up some crediblity.
(03:57):
And so I had to kind of figureout what my job was going to be.
And you know, I was meeting withsome of the clinicians in the
lab, which a lot of them wereformer dental assistants,
orthodontic assistants, anddentists from other countries.
And you know, as I startedtalking with them, I learned a
little bit about the referralprocess and how dentists refer
(04:20):
patients to orthodontists.
And it was in thoseconversations that I developed a
hypothesis that- Wow, it'sactually the hygienists that
have more say over where thereferrals go to orthodontist
than the dentists themselves.
Why aren't we doing anything topromote this among the dental
hygienists?
You know, we're talking todentists to promote them, to
(04:42):
refer patients to orthodontists.
And so long story short, I endedup putting together this, or,
um, excuse me, dental hygienistreferral program that we kicked
off in four markets across thecountry.
We had you know, I unfortunatelydon't remember the exact return
or the number of the growthpercentage, but the numbers were
astounding and the company stillis using this program or had
(05:04):
been up until they were acquireda couple of years ago.
so it was a sticky program.
And to me like why that reallystuck out is that, you know,
marketing isn't a science, butit's using a scientific process,
some art to improve on yourprocess.
And that I had a hypothesis, wewent out and tested it, and then
(05:25):
we figured out ways to improveon the results using the art
part of that whole art andscience equation.
And so that really got meinterested in marketing.
Eric Dickmann (05:34):
I love that for a couple of reasons.
I love the whole testing, ahypothesis.
I wish more people would do thatin marketing.
When you have scale, you can doa lot of AB testing and see what
works better, right?
But for smaller businesses,sometimes that's tough.
And I also love that you focusedon who your content is really
needs to be focused on, youknow, what is your target buyer?
In this case, the target personto do that referral, right?
(05:55):
I think a lot of people makeassumptions there and never
really test to see that's true.
Amanda Rabideau (06:00):
Yeah And piece that I didn't really mention,
but I think is so important andit's really the foundation of
how I look at marketing is thatbecause I did start off in
sales, right there on the frontlines with the customers every
day.
And then, you know, listeningthose customers, hearing what
they're saying, and thenincorporating that into how we
(06:22):
tell the story is something thatI tell all of my clients, I use
that on my clients, and I thinkit's such a crucial part that
voice of client and making surethat you tell a story with your
audience in mind, you don't needto tell the story you want to
tell, you tell the story thatthey need to hear.
Eric Dickmann (06:37):
Yes.
And that's tough I suppose,especially working in the world
of startups, right?
You have a lot of passionatefounders there, they believe
they've got a great product,they have you know the world is
waiting for, how do you workwith some of those tough clients
and get them to focus more onwhat the audience wants to hear,
rather than the story they wantto tell?
Amanda Rabideau (06:56):
I think it starts by looking at the
numbers, right?
I mean, if ultimately theircompany is growing on the right
trajectory, they're getting allthe clients they want, they're
meeting their numbers.
I think it's a little bit harderto get them to do something
different.
But usually when I come in, it'syou know, the Series A funding
is closed, revenue, they'veexhausted their network, and
(07:18):
they're the low hanging fruit inthe industry, and they need to
demonstrate that they canrepeatedly acquire new
customers.
And so they may not know exactlywhat the right message is.
And so you know, saying, look,we're going to start by talking
to those clients you have anduncovering how they're using it,
what's valuable?
Like what really thinking about?
How do they make theirdecisions?
(07:40):
You know, usually once we'vedone that process and we've
shared that information back,it's an easier sell on getting
them to use that in themessaging because they
recognize, wow, this isn't theway that we've been talking
about it or this may not havebeen the way we've been thinking
about that or we may not evenknow this is how our product was
being used.
Eric Dickmann (07:57):
That's really interesting.
I also am curious about yourstory.
You talked a little bit aboutwhat you were doing before you
started the Arch Collective.
Once decided to start, it soundslike you had a partner.
What was that like, was yourearly business, referrals from
previous clients starting towork with some of those because
of existing relationships thatyou had?
Was it referrals from withinyour close network of people who
(08:21):
you know, offered a businessright away?
What was that like, starting outa new business?
Amanda Rabideau (08:25):
Well, first when I said partner, I was
referring to my husband,
Eric Dickmann (08:29):
okay.
Amanda Rabideau (08:29):
I don't have a business partner, but good
catch.
And know, really it's you know,I guess tapping into my previous
sales experience, you know, Imentioned I started in sales at
the startup where I had to startletting people know that I was
out there you know, providingfractional CMO services.
And so much like the startupsthat I work with, I had to drive
(08:52):
brand awareness and let peopleknow about what I was doing and
the value prop that I offered.
And fortunately, because of myexperience and especially my
background and having worked atCoreLogic, I had a network of
people that had left there to gowork at startups in the property
ecosystem.
And so I was able to gain sometraction that way, but now it's
(09:14):
kind of, I always can't standthis phrase, but eating my own
dog food where a lot of thethings that we're doing for our
clients are the same things thatI do to continue to grow my
business and acquire new.
Eric Dickmann (09:25):
Being a guest on a podcast, being one of them,
right?
Amanda Rabideau (09:28):
That's right.
Well, some of it it's the basicblocking and tackling, you know?
We have to create content, wehave to you know promote through
different campaigns and youknow, drive referral sources,
you know, do this, do that, someof the cold outreach, you know,
via LinkedIn and other things.
So, you know, it's sometimesit's not all rocket science,
(09:50):
right?
It's a matter of having a planand then executing on that plan,
because you know, the bestplans, if they're not executed
against them, you know, they'renot doing a whole lot of good.
Eric Dickmann (09:59):
No, that's exactly right.
And I think it's veryinteresting too when I hear
about people's stories and howthey start out, because starting
a business is one thing, but itdoesn't necessarily tell you how
it's going to go.
1, 2, 5, 10 years into theprocess, right?
Because some of those earlyreferrals or network
connections, they dry up andthen you have to have that lead
generation machine in place.
(10:21):
Have you found that true withyour business too, that it looks
a little different today than itdid when you first started out?
Amanda Rabideau (10:27):
Well, well certainly, right?
Eric Dickmann (10:28):
Yeah.
Amanda Rabideau (10:28):
I mean the more, I mean, hopefully know,
I'm taking what I've learned andimproving on the business over
time.
Like again, a lot of my clientsneed to do, but yes, certainly
what I was doing on November of2019 is different than what I'm
doing today.
You know, with all that time andexperience comes the refinement
(10:48):
of my messaging or refinement ofmy offering.
And an expansion too as well,cause I've recognized where
there is additional challengesamongst my target audience.
And so being able to provide tohelp them, you know, with those
challenges that I recognize orsee your gaps in the
marketplace.
(11:08):
And I think that's what we'reall doing is as business owners
is trying to fill a gap.
Eric Dickmann (11:13):
You mentioned target audience, and I think
that's a really discussion.
We often clients niche down, youcan't go after broad, a swath of
the marketplace.
It's just too expensive.
But as a small independentbusiness challenge typically
don't have the scale, right?
We don't have the volume ofleads coming in really on a
(11:33):
scientific basis, say where themajority of our leads from.
So you have to make choices, youhave you want to go.
Obviously, you had some tech andstartups.
And so that was propositiongoing in?
was going to be the audiencethat I focused on from day one?
Amanda Rabideau (11:50):
I absolutely followed my advice on this one
because I talked to startupfounders about niching down all
the time for all the reasons youjust listed.
And I guess that's the advantageof talking to CMO,
Eric Dickmann (12:02):
Right, exactly.
Amanda Rabideau (12:04):
And so I'm extremely targeted in my
audience and who I reach out to.
And it's because I've seen the,the upside of doing that, and
I've also seen the downside ofdoing that, where it can get
confusing to the marketplace.
And you know, if you're not veryclear about who you're going
after, in fact, I have a phrasethat I call the FOMO of revenue
(12:26):
when I'm talking about it withfounders.
And I, I totally get it.
You, you need that revenuecoming in.
If you've got employees, you'vegot salaries to pay, you've got,
you know, other bills, invoices,all of that, but you're doing
yourself a disservice if you tryand go too broad, especially at
the beginning.
And so you know, I just decidedto follow the advice I give and
(12:47):
so far it's worked out.
So you know, I guess I've gotanother proof point that niching
down is effective.
Eric Dickmann (12:53):
No, that's great, that's encouraging.
I think to all the people thatare out there that are trying to
figure out if they should ornot.
When you could pitch yourservices to various companies,
various startups, does theconcept of a fractional CMO
resonate with people?
Do you have to explain what thatis?
It's a relatively new term,right?
I think it started out in theCFO's office and then it's
(13:14):
gradually spreading through theC-suite.
But as I often say on this show,Unless you're a Fortune 500
company, chances are, you don'teven have a CMO?
right.
CMO be kind of a Fortune 500title.
But it's a concept, right?
It's somebody who's workingpart-time for your business on
behalf of your business formarketing or for finance or for
(13:34):
operations or whatever thefractional title might be.
How have you found the generalacceptance of it or
understanding of it?
Amanda Rabideau (13:40):
Well, it's certainly the acceptance and the
understanding of it has grownover these last few years.
And I think completely nailedit, Eric.
It started off as really a lotof fractional CFOs.
And so people were familiar withthat concept.
And in fact, when I started offdoing this, I met with a few VCs
and they even said, they'relike- Oh, I'm familiar with the
Fractional CFO, but not ever aCMO, kind of wanted to wait and
(14:05):
see, like, how does this work?
I haven't done that with any ofmy portfolio companies yet.
And I know, frankly, it wasactually a client of mine, Lucy
Stribley from Flyreel.
And she had said to me, she'slike, I think what you're doing
is it's called a Fractional CMO.
And cause I think I was stillusing interim COO.
And so she introduced me tothat, you know, this is
(14:27):
beginning of my time working at,um, Starting Arch Collective,
but it was something I had toeducate myself about and it's
something that a lot of peopleoutside of tech startups aren't
still familiar with.
You know, I kind of call it the,you know, ask my dad added if he
understands, you know, maybeit's a bit complicated.
And a lot of my family hadn'theard that term or even some
(14:49):
friends of mine, but in thestartup world, I think it's
beginning to be more commonplaceand where a lot of the questions
are, how does this work?
Like what happens when youleave?
You know, what really are yougoing to get done?
And then of course what'sdifferent about a Fractional CMO
and me bringing in an agency?
And so those are some of thequestions that I still get about
(15:10):
bringing on a fractionalexecutive.
Eric Dickmann (15:14):
Hey, it's Eric here and we'll be right back to
the podcast.
But first, are you ready togrow, scale, and take your
marketing to the next level?
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We can help build a strategicmarketing plan for your business
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(15:34):
We'll focus on areas like how toattract more leads.
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To find out more about ourconsulting offerings and
schedule a consultation, go tofiveechelon.com and click on
(15:58):
Services.
Now back to the podcast.
You know, when somebody islooking for somebody to come in
and fill a role like thisgenerally they don't know who
you are, right?
So there's always that elementof trust building that has to
happen in order for anengagement to start.
Do you find that with manyclients, they like to start with
a smaller, very, uh, purposefulengagement?
(16:21):
some sort of an audit or somesort of a project that they
have, and then that graduallyexpands out to a full fractional
CMO engagement, or do you find alot of your clients, that's what
they want, they know that that'swhat they need, they need
somebody to come in and build astrategy, and that's what they
bring you in for?
Amanda Rabideau (16:38):
It's been a little bit of both frankly.
And so you I have a lot ofclients that are like, I know I
need a CMO, whether it's theycan't afford it or like a
full-time CMO or they havesomething more specific in mind.
I do have those that they'relike, this is what I need.
And part of my process is tomake sure that this is what they
(16:58):
need as well, because it doesn'tbenefit either parties.
If they don't need a fractionalCMO, I go in there, we're not
aligned what they need and whatneeds to be accomplished.
Um, I do work with some earlierstage companies and they may
say, oh I found you I'minterested in you as a
fractional CMO.
And I frankly just tell them, Idon't think you need me right
(17:20):
now.
Like when you're really earlystage, you need to just, it's a
little bit of throwing thingsagainst the wall and seeing what
sticks and building things upand building up your client base
and making and mistakes as wellas getting things right.
And so your money is going intoyour product.
It's going into your engineeringteam probably.
And so having an executive andmarketing, like I probably
(17:41):
wouldn't have enough to do.
So in those cases, I might, youknow, start with a smaller
project and then thatrelationship could last, and
then you know, a little whilelater, it makes sense for me to
come in as a fractional CMO, butit's kind of like a 50-50.
It just depends.
But I really have a prettyrigorous vetting process myself,
(18:02):
because I want to make sure thatit's the right fit for what my
process and what I do with myplaybook and how I help the
companies and that they're atthe right place for me to come
in and help them.
Eric Dickmann (18:12):
I think that's so important what you said, because
especially when you're a smallerbusiness, right?
Leads are gold, right?
Leads are so important, butsometimes you've got to do the
right thing and you've got.
Hey, I, I'm not what you needright now.
You may be just need afreelancer to create a logo or
something, or maybe you need afull service agency because you
just want to go through andcreate a whole bunch of stuff
all at once.
(18:33):
And it's finding the right placeto enter a company because it's
to everybody's benefit if it canbe a valuable engagement from
day one.
Amanda Rabideau (18:42):
Couldn't agree more.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Eric Dickmann (18:44):
Well, you talked a little bit about your process
and so over time, I'm sureyou've developed and refined
that process.
At a high level, can you sharesort of some of the things that
you do as part of that processor some of the deliverables from
it?
Amanda Rabideau (18:57):
Happy to.
Well the first thing I do when Istart with a Fractional CMO
client is put together amarketing plan.
You know, it's the proverbial ifyou're driving cross country,
you don't just get in your carand hope that you arrive in the
right location, right?
You need to have a plan for howto get there, you know?
And plus to me, t starts tobuild that relationship.
(19:17):
And going back to your commentabout, you need to build trust
where when I put that plantogether and I'm sharing the
process and taking them through,like, this is why the plan is
the way it is and here's whatwent into it, and what did I get
out of the voice of client andall the different pieces that go
into it, it does start to buildthat relationship.
Then once the plan's done, italigns both myself and typically
(19:39):
the CEO and the board if they'vegot involved in approving it to
say, okay, this is going to beaccomplishing over the next six,
12 months or whatever thetimeframe may be, then it, and
I'll say easier and air quotes.
I got to figure out which way Igot to go easier and air quotes,
for to go ahead and do my job,because one of the reasons that
(20:01):
CEOs typically want a fractionalCMO and not a lower level
marketer is because of theautonomy, the ability to get
things done, to make decisionsand to take things off of his or
her plate as a CEO.
And so once that plan's beenapproved, the same way I would
as a CMO of another company, I'dbe executing against it.
You know, reporting on theresults, tracking on the budget,
(20:24):
all of the things necessary toget that done.
And typically in those first fewmonths, what a startup company
needs at post series a, theyneed a refresh on or for the
first time, you know, a propermessaging framework.
So getting really clear on thestory, we need to start building
out a content library thataligns to the buyer's journey.
(20:44):
There probably needs to be someupdates to their digital
properties, maybe entireoverhaul, but oftentimes we can
just update those digitalproperties and then just start
thinking about building out afull-time team.
And so those are typically someof those first things that I'm
doing when I'm coming in.
And so I like to say, I like toget that foundation set that we
(21:05):
can then build and grow fromthere.
Eric Dickmann (21:08):
I love the way you put the focus on the plan
and the strategy, because Idon't know about you, but what
I've seen with so manybusinesses is that they're just
randomly doing things thataren't really connected to a or
a strategy.
Amanda Rabideau (21:20):
Yep.
Eric Dickmann (21:21):
And let's face it, marketing is a cost center,
right?
Marketing is an expense and itcan add up very quickly,
especially if you're buyingadvertising or doing something
like that.
And if you don't really knowwhat you're trying to accomplish
or how to measure it, or are howall your various marketing
objectives are tied together,you can waste a lot of money
quickly and be prettydisappointed with the results.
Amanda Rabideau (21:40):
Yep, exactly.
And I mean in that strategy,there's an opportunity to
educate the other executives.
So sure, there are some foundersthat they have some marketing
background or they understandit, or this isn't their first
startup so they get it.
You know, a lot of times the CEOcould have been an engineering,
(22:01):
you know, an, excuse me, anengineer, have an engineering
background or something thatisn't necessarily aligned
marketing.
So there can be some educationand letting them know, Hey, this
is why this is going to work.
And this is why, what you havebeen doing the proverbial, you
know, throwing it against thewall, seeing what sticks, why it
wasn't effective.
It doesn't mean marketing isn'teffective, it just may mean that
(22:22):
those tactics you were usingweren't the right ones.
Whether it be the message thatwas included or the channel that
you were using, or you weretrying to go after this
audience, and that's not wherethey are.
You know, all sorts of differentthings.
So I try and do some educationtoo, because we can't assume
that everyone knows marketinglike we know marketing.
Eric Dickmann (22:41):
Well, and that sort of is a great segue to a
question about what do peopleask when they engage with you?
Is it that we're at the stage ofgrowth now where we know we need
marketing.
We don't have any in place rightnow.
So we really need a plan.
Is it we've been doing somemarketing, but it's not working.
What is a typical sort of a painpoint that somebody calls you up
(23:04):
on the phone, sends you an emailand say- Hey, I need help with
blank.
Amanda Rabideau (23:08):
It's such a great question, cause I actually
ask almost that exact questionwhen I'm with a potential
client, which is which one ofthese best describes you?
Because if it's, they've alreadylike- Hey, I just want a bunch
of leads then I'm probably notthat person or they might not be
in the right stage, but where myclients typically are it's kind
(23:29):
of like- Oh shit, we just gotall this funding and we have no
idea where these clients arecoming from, help.
You know, or like we don't havea lot of leads.
And so you know, I'm reallythere to help them drive revenue
and acquire new customers.
That's typically what's neededat that post series A.
And so when they're asking mequestions, you know, it's
(23:52):
around, you know, these are mygoals, this is the revenue
target or this competitor iseating my lunch.
Like how do I get out frombehind that company?
And, you know, start chippingaway at the marketplace.
There's a whole host of thingsthat these companies need to do,
but typically it comes down toclient acquisition and and
(24:12):
driving awareness around thecompany.
You know, towards the call, likethe middle or the end of my
engagement, when we're startingto think about that next round
of fundraising, some of ourfocus does shift away cause
hopefully at that point, we'vegot a little bit of the
marketing machine up and runningand building, you know, built
out where we're starting to seethe outputs of the work we've
(24:33):
done.
And now it's time to say, okay,how do we start positioning the
company in the minds ofpotential investors?
And then that becomes adifferent exercise and a
different end goal, which is toget the funding for the next
round.
Eric Dickmann (24:46):
And do you look at these companies and that they
have locked themselves into aparticular strategy?
What I mean by that is do theysay we need some sort of a
Fractional CMO?
Do they say we need a full-timehire?
Are they considering a fullservice agency?
Have they sort of settled on onecamp or the other or in your
(25:06):
experience has been, they'relooking at a broad, a wide
variety of options?
Amanda Rabideau (25:10):
I think that they're looking at a wide
variety of options, which is whyI often get the like, well,
what's different about you than.
an agency or why shouldn't I geta full-time CMO right now?
And I think that that's part ofthat education, you know?
They're looking to understand,do I need you or not need you?
And, you know, I don't want towork for a company that doesn't
(25:32):
need me any more than they don'twant to be, you know, bringing
someone on that they don't needas well.
So I do really try and get into,you know, the details and like
have multiple meetings withthese clients, make sure that we
are on the same page with whatis it that I'm going to come in
and do and how is that differentthan if you did bring in a full
service agency or if you didbring in someone full-time and
(25:53):
everything in between and allthe other options.
So yeah, I think typicallythey're exploring and they're
trying to understand what's bestfor their business to help them
achieve their growth targets.
Eric Dickmann (26:03):
So because we believe in marketing, we want to
make sure we get a chance to dosome of it here on this show
today.
So if somebody is listening tothis program and say, I'm
considering getting a FractionalCMO, what do you say is your
ideal client?
Amanda Rabideau (26:18):
Well, say post series a funding, or like you
just closed your series A,you're a B2B tech company, where
you're located doesn't matter tome.
I don't think it, you know, intoday's world, I'm working with
people all over the globe.
So you know location is youknow, pretty much
inconsequential.
And while I do have a deepbackground in prop tech or
(26:39):
insuretech, meaning likeproperty and casualty PNC
insurance, and the wholeproperty ecosystem, you know,
I'm really open to clients thatare also making an impact in a
positive way on the climate andsustainability.
And so, um, if you're a B2B postseries A Funded tech company,
out to me, happy to have aconversation, and see if it's a
(27:02):
good fit and we're aligned onwhat you need and how can I help
you.
Eric Dickmann (27:05):
That's perfect.
I think that's a greatdescription.
Amanda, tell everybody wherethey can find out more about you
and more about the ArchCollective on the web.
Amanda Rabideau (27:13):
Sure.
my website isarch-collective.com.
And of course I'm on all thesocial media channels as well,
but you can find a lot of mycontent on LinkedIn and then you
can catch me doing some funcontent and reels on Instagram
as well at Arch CollectiveMarketing is where you can find
(27:34):
me on Instagram and then justsearch Arch Collective on
LinkedIn, and you'll find methere as well.
Eric Dickmann (27:39):
That's perfect.
We'll make sure that we have allthat linked up in the show notes
so that people can find you,Amanda, this has been a great
discussion.
I love talking about thebenefits of being a Fractional
CMO and how they can reallybenefit businesses out there.
so glad you could come on theshow today.
Thank you so much for your time.
Amanda Rabideau (27:55):
Thanks for having me, Eric.
I appreciate it.
Eric Dickmann (27:59):
Thank you for joining us on this episode of
The Virtual CMO podcast.
For more episodes, go tofiveechelon.com/podcast to
subscribe through your podcastplayer of choice.
And if you'd like to developconsistent lead flow and a
highly effective marketingstrategy, visit fiveechelon.com
to learn more about our VirtualCMO consulting services.
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