Fractional cmo Marketing leadership for aCCOUNTING & Advisory FIRMS
Strategy without a marketing system
is like ideas without execution.
The Stalled Strategy Folder
Every firm I walk into has one of these. A collection of marketing articles. Strategic goals and new services to launch. The new brand identity from a few years back. The go-to-market plan from the last offsite. A positioning deck the agency delivered. Action items from the last partner retreat.
All of it reasonable and well thought out.
All of it in a shared drive nobody has opened since.
Most firms in this position don't have a marketing strategy problem. They have an ownership problem. A coordinator handles what he or she can. Different vendors manage design, copywriting, the website and SEO, each working from their own brief. Partners network on their own, independently, with no shared story. Sharing professional growth or business development tactics with emerging leaders becomes tribal knowledge. The strategy someone paid for eighteen months ago never had anyone accountable for running it, so it didn't survive fiscal year-end or tax season.
In the last few years, the problem has gotten worse...
Before AI
After AI
AI makes it extremely fast to generate ideas. Even great ideas. But without a system and a leadership team aligned on what matters, every new idea is more work for the same people. This creates resource-draining chaos and ad hoc projects. Result: more ideas, less execution.
Your marketing strategy doesn't need another rewrite. It needs an owner.
A proven marketing leader who aligns your team, builds the system, runs it until it produces, and hands it back to your team.
Build-Drive-Transfer
I'm Justin Robinette. I build compounding marketing operations — an approach that builds steady, long-term authoritative trust over time and sustainable marketing systems, rather than short campaign bursts of spending, stress, and collateral damage within your firm.
I have spent the last 15+ years leading the marketing function of accounting and advisory firms. I'll share what I've learned in my career that drives the highest enterprise value and marketing executive ROI...
The firms that grow sustainably aren't the ones that market the loudest — they're the ones that build a clear, differentiated message and align focused marketing execution systems.
B2B marketing strategy + the system that runs it.
I do both halves of the job. I can build your marketing strategy from scratch — I've done it repeatedly — or sharpen the one you already have. But strategy is only the input. What I'm actually accountable for is building the machine that turns it into execution and consistency.
What the system learns feeds back in
CustomerCustomer
Understand the market.
- Client & Stakeholder Interviews
- Competitive Set
- Pipeline & CRM Data
- Buyer Journey
- Market Research
Marketing StrategyMarketing Strategy
Decide where to play and how to win.
- Positioning & Messaging
- ICP & Segmentation
- Go-to-Market Strategy
- Service & Pricing Alignment
- Demand Generation
OperationsOperations
Build the system that runs it.
- Content Engine
- CRM & Automation
- Project Management
- Sales Enablement
- KPI Reporting
My Experience & Track Record
Supercharging the Marketing Function with Strategy, Positioning, and AI
600%+ growth in website traffic and an ICP-aligned brand positioning still in use today — what one marketing hire built alone inside a tech-forward advisory firm, and the systems set up to modernize the marketing function.
Brand equity transfer playbook for a top-20 firm's M&A entry into a new Midwest market
PR across national outlets, a healthcare industry collaborative marketing model still live years later, and an M&A brand equity retention playbook — how marketing integration worked inside a $1B roll-up's biggest Midwest deal.
Building Market Visibility Into a Firm's Growth Story and Driving in the Left Lane
For the fiscal year prior to the merger, Lurie grew 20% to $41.5 million. The previous fiscal year, revenue jumped by 15%. Head count grew from 160 employees in 2020 to more than 200 two years later. A collaborative growth function that aligned executives, partners, emerging leaders and marketing.
If you've got the strategy but not the operational traction, I'm for you.
I work with accounting, advisory, and B2B professional services firms — and the PE-backed platforms building them — at a growth or transition inflection point. In most cases you don't need a full-time CMO yet. You need someone at that level to build the machine.
Six signals:
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You've invested in strategy or branding before, and it never fully translated into pipeline
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Every significant new client still traces back to a founder's or partner's personal network
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Marketing is producing content but not contributing to revenue
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You're growing through M&A and the brands aren't aligning
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You're preparing for a PE transaction or capital raise and the marketing operation needs to sharpen — or transfer cleanly
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You've outgrown your agency but aren't ready to hire a full marketing team
"Since launching the refreshed brand, our network has taken notice — sales conversations are easier, and inbound referrals from our evangelists have increased. I would recommend [Justin] without hesitation to any organization seeking a senior marketing leader who builds with clarity, works effectively at the C-level, and executes complex initiatives with a lean, efficient mindset."
Frequently Asked Questions
Why not hire a full-time CMO?
A full-time CMO runs $275,000+ all-in, and you're asking a highly compensated professional to handle strategy and execution. You need the strategy, the system, and the marketing leadership to build it — not the headcount. When you eventually do need the headcount, I'll help you recruit for it and hand off a function that's ready to run.
Why not just use an agency?
Agencies are great in a lot of ways: a deep bench of talent, specialists on their team or a network you can top into. But Agencies typically don't execute inside a system; they don't build one, and they don't lead. They need someone to hand them strategy, judge their output, and connect their activity to pipeline. When nobody inside the firm can do that, you get deliverables instead of growth. I build the system the agency plugs into — and I've managed enough retainers to make yours accountable.
What makes you different from other fractional CMOs?
Two things. First, most fractional CMOs sell strategy — the thinking. I sell the machine that makes the thinking real, which is where firms actually get stuck. Second, fifteen-plus years exclusively in accounting, advisory, and financial services, so I'm not learning your business on your retainer. And the engagement ends with a handoff, not a dependency.
Let's talk about
what you're building.
If something here resonates — or if you know someone it might — I'm always glad to have a straightforward conversation about what's going on at your firm and whether there's a fit.
RobinetteCMO at a glance
Ideal fit
Accounting and advisory firms between $15M-50M in annual revenue.
Client's business goals
Remain independent and need a solid fractional CMO-level leader to help them build sustainable marketing operations, or they are preparing to transact and need systems that survive diligence, or already integrating after a deal and their stretched marketing team has to catch up or leverage my M&A experience.
Engagement types
Fractional CMO retainer & project-based marketing services
Based in
Minneapolis, MN · Available nationally
LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/justinrobinette