Senior marketing leadership without hiring a full-time CMO.
Second Order provides Fractional CMO support for Australian B2B companies that need someone senior to set priorities, work with management and take responsibility for the wider marketing system.
This can include positioning, demand generation, agencies and internal resources, CRM and pipeline, measurement, and the connection between marketing and sales.
The role is led directly by Chris Bland, drawing on more than 20 years building and running B2B businesses and marketing teams.
EXPERIENCE BEHIND SECOND ORDER
Senior marketing leadership where there is a gap
- You have an internal marketer who needs senior direction and support.
- Several agencies or suppliers are doing useful work, but nobody is coordinating the whole system.
- Marketing activity is happening, but priorities keep changing.
- Sales and marketing are not working from the same view of the customer or pipeline.
- Management wants a clearer view of what marketing is contributing.
- You need experienced marketing leadership, but not a full-time CMO.
What a Fractional CMO engagement can cover
Connect marketing to the business
- Make sure marketing reflects the sales cycle, target markets, positioning, pipeline and commercial priorities.
Set priorities
- Work with management to decide what marketing should be trying to achieve, what deserves attention now and what can wait.
Lead the marketing team
- Give internal marketers clear direction, priorities and support rather than leaving them to interpret a broad brief alone.
Coordinate agencies and suppliers
- Make sure paid media, SEO, content, web, creative and other suppliers are working toward the same commercial objectives.
Improve the marketing system
- Identify gaps in nurture, CRM, pipeline, attribution, sales handover and the processes around marketing.
Give management visibility
- Build reporting around useful commercial measures rather than simply activity volume.
Fractional CMO or B2B Marketing Agency?
Fractional CMO
Best where the main gap is senior leadership.You may already have marketers, agencies or other resources doing the work. The Fractional CMO sets priorities, works with management, coordinates those resources and takes responsibility for the wider marketing system.
B2B Marketing Agency
Best where the business needs ongoing marketing capability and execution.Second Order can provide senior direction together with practical delivery across strategy, content, campaigns, search, nurture, CRM and measurement.
Sometimes both make sense
A business can use Second Order for Fractional CMO leadership while also drawing on our agency capability for execution.
WHY SECOND ORDER?
What is different about our approach?
B2B experience
Chris Bland has more than 20 years in B2B, including founding, growing and selling a B2B media company and working across technical and industrial markets.
Wider commercial view
We look at marketing together with sales, CRM, pipeline, systems and customer behaviour rather than treating channels independently.
Independent recommendations
Second Order is not tied to a particular software platform, agency model or marketing channel. Recommendations are based on what the business actually needs
START A CONVERSATION
Have something you’re looking at?
f you are considering senior marketing support, tell us what is happening and what has prompted it. We’ll give you an initial view on whether a Fractional CMO engagement, another Second Order service, or something simpler looks like the sensible next step.
Test our THINKING
Download our B2B Marketing & Revenue Review Workbook and work backwards from real customers and opportunities to see what appears to be contributing, what is hard to see and what deserves attention next.