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Hey! Sam here 👋 I’ve spent the last 10+ years leading marketing and growth for early-stage tech startups, helping them scale from 0 to 8 figures. Each week, I share actionable insights to help founders and marketing leaders like you drive sustainable growth.

A lot of CEOs don’t trust marketing.

Not because marketing doesn’t work.

Not because they don’t care.

But because they don’t understand how marketing is driving the business forward.

And that’s not on them.

That’s on us.

I’ve seen this over and over again—from scrappy startups at $1M ARR to growth-stage companies at $25M+:

• Founders who built great products

• But had no idea what their marketing team was doing last quarter

• Because no one ever explained it in language they understood

This isn’t a tactical failure.

It’s a communication failure.

And the best marketing leaders know that.

They don’t hide behind dashboards, acronyms, or complexity.

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The fix? Make marketing strategy CEO-obvious

If your CEO can’t explain your marketing plan in 60 seconds, you don’t have a strategy.
You have a to-do list with a CPM.

So here’s the 4-part framework I’ve used with clients across SaaS, DTC, and marketplaces:

1️⃣ What’s the #1 business goal?
- Are you trying to grow revenue?
- Enter a new market?
- Reduce CAC before a fundraise?
- Improve retention?
Ex. Grow revenue from $2M to $4M this year so we can raise a Series A on strong top-line momentum.

2️⃣ How will marketing contribute?
Be specific. What’s your piece of the puzzle?
- Are you generating SQLs?
- Driving expansion revenue?
- Improving conversion?
- Shortening the sales cycle?
Ex. Drive 1,000 new SQLs at $250 CAC

3️⃣ What’s the plan to get there?
This is where most strategies fall apart.
- What 1–2 bets are you making this quarter?
- What’s the insight behind those bets?
- What are you not doing, and why?
Ex: We’re going all in on:
- LinkedIn Ads → drives high-intent pipeline fast
- SEO content → builds long-term, low-CAC compounding channel
We’re pausing community, influencer, and events. Not because they’re bad — but because they’re not the highest leverage right now.

4️⃣ How will we measure success?
This isn’t just about volume. It’s about impact.
- What metrics actually matter to the business?
- What will you review weekly, monthly, and quarterly?
- What will tell you if you’re wrong fast enough to change course?
Ex:
- Target CAC: ≤$250
- SQL volume: 250/month
- SQL-to-Opp rate: 20%
- Total pipeline generated: $500K/month
- Reviewed bi-weekly with exec team, adjusted monthly

That’s it.

Simple and high-trust.

But strategy isn’t just about clarity. It’s about consistency.

I recommend sharing this 1-page strategy in two key rhythms:

🗓 Quarterly: to align on goals and bets
🗓 Monthly: to report learnings, results, and pivots

Bonus: If you're in high-growth mode, do a simplified bi-weekly update. Same structure, just tighter. Something like:

That simple rhythm builds trust fast — and keeps marketing at the exec table.

But here’s where most plans fall apart: execution.

Because clarity is one thing. Execution is another.

Here are 3 rules I use to make this framework stick inside real teams:

1. Translate marketing to money

If your plan starts with impressions, engagement, or MQLs—stop.

Executives care about revenue. Efficiency. Pipeline. Retention.

Make sure every initiative ties back to a business outcome—or don’t run it.

2. Ruthlessly prioritize 2–3 growth levers

Most marketing roadmaps are bloated and unfocused.

Your job isn’t to do more things.

It’s to find the few channels or plays that will move the needle — and double down on them.

That’s how you get compounding results instead of incremental noise.

3. Build trust with clarity

If your CEO has to dig through a dashboard to understand marketing performance, you’ve already lost trust.

Send a simple update every two weeks that says:

• Here’s what we did

• Here’s what we’re learning

• Here’s what’s working

• Here’s what we’re changing

No fluff. No filters. Just signal.

Steal this: A CEO-proof marketing update

If you want to send your CEO something simple, start here:

Bi-Weekly Growth Update
Date: April 8–19
Owner: Head of Growth

What we did:

• Launched 4 new LinkedIn ad creatives targeting ops pain points

• Published 3 inbound blog posts focused on “ROI of switching,” “implementation ease,” and “common alternatives”

• Rolled out lead scoring model v1 (based on firmographic + behavioral triggers) in HubSpot

• Met with Sales to redefine SQL criteria and align on lead handoff

What we’re learning:

• Top-of-funnel CPL from new LinkedIn ads = $312 (vs. $250 goal)

• Bottom-of-funnel ad set #3 with “Time to Value” hook = $189 CAC and 19% CTR (2x higher than avg)

• Blog posts generated 327 visits, 11 demo requests, but average Time on Page = 43s (needs improvement)

• New lead scoring surfaced 31 high-fit leads this week vs. 18 last week (+72%)

• Post-sales sync: SQL-to-opportunity rate improved from 14% → 20%

What’s working:

• “Time to Value” LinkedIn ad (Set #3) = 2.1x ROAS and best CTR to date

• Retargeting campaign = $118 CAC, 43 SQLs generated, pipeline value $185K

• Nurture email v2 = 32% open rate, 9.8% CTR, 7 demo bookings

• Weekly marketing <> sales sync reduced lead rejection rate from 26% → 9%

What we’re changing:

• Pausing 2 underperforming ad sets (Set #1 and #2 = CACs $360+ and low conversion rates <2%)

• Rewriting blog CTAs to push directly to demo page (currently <1% CTR)

• Adjusting lead scoring weights to deprioritize social-only leads (caused 17 unqualified SQLs this week)

• Adding new “ROI calculator” content block to mid-funnel pages (based on feedback from 6 recent demo calls)

Next Milestones:

• Hit 250 SQLs this month at ≤$250 CAC (currently at 143)

• Launch new video ad focused on “switching pain” narrative by April 26

• Secure 5 backlinks to inbound posts to improve SEO visibility

That’s what clarity looks like.

And it’s how great marketing leaders earn trust and budget.

Hope this gives you something actionable to run with.

If you’re stuck, reply and I’ll point you in the right direction.

Here are more ways to connect:

• Follow me on LinkedIn for content during the week.

• Work with me 1:1 to help you build a defensible growth engine to scale your business to $10MM ARR. Let’s chat.

  Ideal if you're a founder who reached $2M and now wants to scale.

Until next time 👋

Sam

PS. I’m here to help YOU grow. What’s the one thing you’re struggling with in your business that you’d like advice on?