Mike Capuzzi: Welcome back to another episode of The Author Factor Podcast. My guest today is Angela Frank. Angela is a fractional CMO - chief marketing officer - with a decade-long track of generating multimillion dollar marketing revenue for her clients. She's the founder of the Growth Directive, a marketing consultancy helping brands create sustainable marketing programs. She's also the author of the new book, Your Marketing Ecosystem: How Brands Can Market Less and Sell More. Angela, congratulations and welcome to the show.

Angela Frank:  Mike, thank you so much for having me. Your books inspired me to write mine, so I'm so excited to share more about that today.

Mike Capuzzi: I am really looking forward to speaking with you today because as you and I were touching base before we hit record, it was about not even two months ago where we met. You were kind enough to have me on your podcast, and in less than two months, out of the blue, I didn't even know it. Angela, but you wrote your first book. Congratulations. I mean, literally hot off the press, what? Two weeks ago? Three weeks ago, right?

Angela Frank:  Two weeks ago, yeah. Yeah. And it was really prepping for interviewing you for my podcast. When I was reading your books, I'm like, this is a great idea. Why have I not done this for my own business? And I'm somebody. When I set a goal, it gets done. And I try to waste as little time as possible in between them. So I set an aggressive done line, and it took a lot of work, more than I thought, maybe originally when setting the deadline, but I did it so well.

Mike Capuzzi: We're going to talk all about that, Angela. And, you know, because it's inspiring. It inspired me. This is what I love, you know, I love seeing people just take what I've shared and go do their own thing and impact more, even more people. But before we do that, I want to talk more about you, your agency. I want to talk a little bit more about what a fractional CMO is. I know it's sort of a hot topic these days because there might be somebody listening that could really use your services. So tell me a little bit more about your background, how you serve your clients.

Mike Capuzzi: And I'm also going to preface it, and then I'm going to shut up. I was also very happy that you were able to join me today because when you and I met, I was very impressed by your intelligence. Like, you did a great interview. I did some checking up on you. And I don't say this lightly. I mean, you know, I talked to a lot of folks. I was very impressed by your background and what you've done. So, anyway, tell us a little bit more about that background.

Angela Frank:  Well, thank you so much. That really warms my heart to hear it. My background comes from a little bit of owning my own business when my husband was in the military, and that's where I started getting my marketing chops. But I really started to come into this idea of the marketing ecosystem, working in corporate as marketing director, head of growth at different organizations, different size organizations, different niches. And so I got to see a lot of different businesses and how they operate and what makes their marketing systems work. And it came to the point where I wanted to leave corporate. I'm really just not meant to have a boss. And I started my marketing consultancy.

Angela Frank:  And at first I was really insecure about what I was doing because I felt like I was really a generalist. And over time I realized that most people don't actually have this high-level view of what's going on in a marketing department and how to connect those pieces together. There have been CMOs that I've worked underneath that also have come up through their specific narrow lane of marketing and they don't understand it. Nothing against them, but just seeing how everything connects together and how it can produce better results. And that's what I do for my clients, and that's also the subject of my book, marketing ecosystem, or your marketing ecosystem.

Mike Capuzzi: So I'd like you to define what a fractional CMO is. And again, folks like you and I who live and breathe this every day, we know what it is, but it's a fairly new concept. Tell me what a fractional CMO is. Why does someone, why does a business owner, or why does a business choose to go the fractional CMO route versus is either no CMO or hiring a CMO?

Angela Frank:  Yeah. So hiring a traditional CMO is a big commitment. It costs a lot of money. You have to offer them benefits and then you have to have enough work for them full-time. The businesses I work with, it doesn't make sense to make that investment, but they still need marketing strategy support. And so that's where I come in. I can look at your marketing department and see what are the activities that you're over invested in, not are actually producing good results for you, and what are some areas where you might have some really good growth opportunities, and they just haven't had time to be addressed. And then my job is to see who on your team can support that.

Angela Frank:  Do you need to hire more people? And then I'm a partner with you in your business, really, to make that marketing function work as a profit generating asset for your company. And so that's what I do. A lot of other CMOs also offer the strategy support, but really that, but really, that idea of profitability is what's important in what I do.

Mike Capuzzi: And is there a particular niche, niches that you like to focus on, Angela?

Angela Frank:  Yeah, I like to focus on health and wellness businesses, mostly because that's what I'm interested in. And so I am not only the strategy support, but as somebody who buys a lot of things in this space, I also have a little bit of that consumer mindset as well. Once in a while, businesses in other industries, like B two B SaaS or something, slip through because they're a good fit for what I do, but mostly health and wellness.

Mike Capuzzi: All right, and before we move off, this idea of the fractional CMO, and I guess over the years, I really consider myself a fractional CMO, even though I didn't call myself one then, like I said, it's a fairly new term, makes a lot of sense. Right. You know, why invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in one person when you can hire for what you really need, which might be 1020, 30 hours, whatever it might be.

Angela Frank:  Right.

Mike Capuzzi: So share a little bit more, just paint a picture. Because I think I just get a very brief description of what a fractional CMo looks like. I mean, it's a part time job. I mean, on average, how many out is it by the month, Angela, or the week? What's an average week or month that you're working with a client? Client?

Angela Frank:  It depends on the level of support needed. So how I operate is I offer a brand evolution audit where I sit down one on one with you, learn all about your marketing systems, and then we work on a project plan. So a lot of CMOs price hourly, and I price by the project. So I'll do a lot of the, you know, high level strategy where we're not working on the nitty gritty, but I do a lot of this at the outset of the project, before you even bring me on. This is where I think you're overspending. This is where I think that you need to invest more. And then we set a plan. Can be a three month plan, six months or twelve month, or somewhere in between, depending on your individual needs.

Mike Capuzzi: And that's, I think that's really the value that fractional CMOs offer. Really. It's, you're only paying for what you need as a business owner. Obviously, you can scale up, scale down, but rather than making that huge investment, you can get a lot of smart people, yourself included, to be working for you and on behalf of your business for literally a fraction of what a full-time employee costs. So nice job there. So let's go move towards your brand that you've developed this marketing ecosystem, your marketing ecosystem. Tell me a little bit more about that concept.

Angela Frank:  Yeah, so the marketing ecosystem is the ability to connect all of your different marketing channels. You're on organic search, you're running paid ads, you're doing social media. But how do you connect all of these different channels together in a way that produces better results and costs less in the long run? I find a lot of my clients are really over invested in paid ads and other really costly channels and underutilizing things like making sure their website is totally up to date and optimized to bring people through the funnel and other organic channels that really you're just leaving money on the table by not utilizing them. So that is the power of the marketing ecosystem, making sure you're using everything and it's all connecting together to create a strong profit-generating marketing strategy.

Mike Capuzzi: So this is a concept you've developed. Obviously, it makes for a good first book, or in your case a shook, a short, helpful book. So I want to talk about that a little bit more. You and I spoke when I was on a guest on your podcast, I think it was mid-June, recording this in early August. So like I said, less than two months. What attracted you? Because I didn't know when we were speaking. I mean, I didn't recall. I don't recall, but maybe we did talk about it a little bit.

Mike Capuzzi: But what attracted you, Angela, to this idea of a short, helpful book working for you?

Angela Frank:  Yeah. Well, there were two things. One, I always really wanted to write a book. However, I didn't think it was right for me now. And I think that a lot of business books are too long. They kind of get out what they need to say in the first like 150 pages, and then they kind of just say the same thing to fill the rest of it. And so me personally, who reads a lot of business books, that is something that I wanted to do, but I didn't feel was quite right because I'm all about providing the most amount of value in the least amount of time. The second thing is that I really liked what you were saying about how this is not only a business card for your business, where you can give it to clients and they can hold it and they can feel, or prospects.

Angela Frank:  You can give it to prospects, and they can hold it and feel it and feel really good about the discovery call or whatever your next step is, because they feel connected to you, but also that I could use it as a tool to explain my system. Marketing ecosystems are not new. It's something that if you Google marketing ecosystem, there will be a definition on it. It's not something that I just divined from the universe, but I don't think it's something that people are very aware of. And so I'm able to use it as an education tool and show what differentiates my services from other consultants or fractional CMOs.

Mike Capuzzi: So I got to ask you this, as a marketer, an expert marketer, and I literally just got the digital version in the last 24 hours that you sent me. I see you didn't really sway too much for my formula, my template, my recipe for a shook. I noticed from page one to the last page, you pretty much followed the guidelines. You know, again, any. Any thoughts or commentary? Because there's folks that are listening to this that probably should do the same thing you did, which is read one of my shooks and go write one of your shooks. Right?

Angela Frank:  Yeah.

Mike Capuzzi: What about that framework? Was there anything in particular? You know, as a marketer, you appreciate it.

Angela Frank:  Yeah. First of all, you laid out the formula step by step, so why deviate from that? Mike, you're somebody who has, you know, decades of experience. Experience. You've met Dan Kennedy. You are somebody that I look up to in the marketing world, and you are very successful. Why would I take your formula and do anything different with it? That would not make sense to me. And so you have it so clear. I followed the formula, and not only is it step by step, but I again, set such a short deadline that the formula really helped create that outline of the book, which then I could go and plug in the pieces about the marketing ecosystem and then continue to use your formula for selling and things like that.

Mike Capuzzi: So I know when I sit down to write a book, even though I think I have it really solid in my head, like how I articulate it or what's included, how I describe a program or whatever, I always find that after I invest the time and energy in writing a book or a shook, that I get additional clarity. I see things I didn't see. Did that happen to you, Angela, as you were working through this process, did you notice any things that maybe you weren't describing, that you should be describing, or just tell me about that?

Angela Frank:  Yeah. The actual concept of the marketing ecosystem was something that I developed through writing the book. I always knew that I connected things together and my strategies produced better results, but I didn't really know how to tie that up with a nice bow. Like what? What do you call that in a way where people can sort of understand what you're doing? And that's where I came to the marketing, your marketing ecosystem for the title of the book and the concept. And so by just sitting down and brainstorming, trying to figure out what is the special sauce and the message that I want to get across, that really helped me solidify the value I was trying to provide, but also the actual name and everything that I wanted to position my service as.

Mike Capuzzi: Did you see any new opportunities after going through this process, even for your own services that you're providing? Obviously, you can help clients write shooks, a lead generation, a lead magnet like this, I'm sure most of your clients could benefit from. But did anything bubble up that maybe you, like I said, a new opportunity that you just didn't really think about until you expensive, focused energy to write.

Angela Frank:  Yeah. So two really great things have come out of the book. One is that I was able to send it to existing clients and they really liked that I got feedback from every single client. I got your book. When did you put it out, like. And they were very excited to just have it in their hand and feel good about already having me working in their business. The other thing is that it's been a great lead generation tool, and this is something that was the primary driver of why I was going to write the book, just to position myself as authority, as an authority in my space and get more leads. And so when I'm guesting on podcasts, I'm able to use it as a lead gen.

Angela Frank:  I'm able to use it as a way to get people who are listening to my podcast onto my email list and then nurture them that way, because I am able to, you know, gauge engagement with my email list and then see who might be ready to convert and then bring them further down into my funnel using automations and things like that. And so the opportunities for me were really those two fostering relationships and bringing more people into my ecosystem.

Mike Capuzzi: So from the time we last spoke to today, you went from literally a concept, an idea, to a finished book. It's up on Amazon. You're handing it out to clients and prospects just to give our listeners an idea. Do you, do you know what the word count was of the manuscript, Angela? I know you're about, what, 94, 96 pages? Somewhere in that range.

Angela Frank:  Yeah. So the word count was actually a little short based on your recommendation, but I didn't feel at this point that making it longer would benefit the reader.

Mike Capuzzi: Do you recall what it was?

Angela Frank:  I think it was 11,000.

Mike Capuzzi: I mean, that's still. Yeah, we say twelve to 15. You know, I've had ten. I don't even know if I showed you this when I was on your podcast. But now we even have little pocket shooks, which are six to 8000 words, even smaller size, but that's not too bad. So the reason I ask is how much time. I know you said it took more, a little more energy than you expected. You got a lot done quickly.

Mike Capuzzi: So again, congratulations there. And you wrote this, right? This is not chat GPT.

Angela Frank:  No, I'm anti chat GPT for Copenhagen. Be writing 100%. Yeah.

Mike Capuzzi: Do you have an idea, angel? Were you working on weekends? At nights?

Angela Frank:  Yeah. So we actually were traveling during this time. We had taken a road trip from Colorado up to see family in Minnesota. And so my husband, bless his heart, drove the whole time while I wrote the book in the passenger seat of the car.

Mike Capuzzi: That's multitasking.

Angela Frank:  Yeah. So it took probably about. It was 15 hours both ways. So it took maybe about, like 40 hours because I did a little bit while we were there and a little bit when we get home. When we got home. And then we edited it, of course. So that took some additional time. But the sitting down writing probably took about 20, about 40 hours.

Mike Capuzzi: Yeah. Okay. Are you one and done? Did this inspire other ideas for potential future books?

Angela Frank:  Yeah. So right now, what I'm trying to do is make sure that, that this book is as clear and understandable as possible. One of the things that you said, I think in the hundred-page book that you wrote it is the 100-Page Book, right?

Mike Capuzzi: Yes, it is.

Angela Frank:  Okay. I see it here in the background, and I wasn't sure.  And so I want to make sure that I'm incorporating the feedback from readers and truly explaining what I do in understandable terms. Like you said earlier with the fractional CMO, like, we kind of understand that as a marketer and somebody who implements these every day, I'm so up close to it, I want to make sure that people are understanding it when I'm writing it in the book.

Mike Capuzzi: Maybe it's just my engineer brain or whatever it is, my personality. I've updated all, almost all of my shooks over time, some of them might update it once a year, and then you just put a new file up on Amazon. Sometimes you're fixing mistakes, but like you said, typically it's like you're clarifying things. And I'm really surprised, you know, the hundreds of clients we work with, how few of them, I think they're just like, oh, I got the book done. It's done good. You know, good is good enough, which, you know, oftentimes is, but there is that flexibility to do that. So nice job there. And I don't want you, I don't want to, like, take away from the fact that you literally just published this because there's a lot of, you know, a lot of energy has to go into using it and promoting it and doing all that you can to help others with it.

Mike Capuzzi: But do you see yourself writing a future shook?

Angela Frank:  I definitely do. I would need something new to add that wouldn't be able to be added to this book. But like you said, you know, processes and things, ideas change over time. And so as I continue to work with brands and have new things to say, I think the shook is the perfect format for that. Again, most business books, I, like, you say it, I agree, they're way too long. And most of those ideas could be easily communicated. And half the pages, I've got two.

Mike Capuzzi: Sitting next to my bed that I bought because I really want to read them. And I'm reading both at the same time, same topic, and I'm like, oh, my God, help me, on and on. Now, I haven't read this from COVID to cover. I paged through it. But, you know, you could potentially flavorize this and have your marketing ecosystem for health and wellness companies. You know, you could literally take it that without a lot of work, take it more narrow, and have, you know, a series of shooks based on this concept. So. But you're a smart young lady.

Mike Capuzzi: I think you'll, you'll figure something out. So I know it's fresh. I know. You know, being a published author is literally measured in weeks for you now, Angela. But you've had the experience of the author factor, that impact of being a published author. What has it meant to you so far?

Angela Frank:  Yeah. So two things. One, writing the book has not only clarified my message, but it's given me this confidence in the services that I provide. Like I mentioned earlier, I knew that I was making things better in companies and producing great results, but I didn't know quite what that was from what the reason was. But the other thing is, it's helped to position me as the authority in this niche. I've been able to carve out this little space of the market for myself and say, no, not only am I a fractional CMO, but I'm the one who makes your marketing profitable. And so those two things combined have really embodied the author factor for me.

Mike Capuzzi: Well, that's awesome. Well, listen, again, congratulations. It's, you know, you've done something that a lot of people have never done, and you've done it quickly, so congratulations on that. Angela, how can wide listeners learn more about you? How can they learn more about your fractional CMO services? And where's the best place to get your brand-new book?

Angela Frank:  Yeah, so you can get a digital copy of my book for free@yourbrandevolved.com. freebook. We also can send it to you for free. You just have to pay a little bit in shipping if you want the physical copy. Otherwise, if you are noticing that you have a strong need for some marketing strategy support in your business, you can find me at www.growthdirective.com.

Mike Capuzzi: Angela, again, congratulations. Thank you. And keep kicking butt.

Angela Frank:  Yay. Thank you, Mike, again, thank you so much for the books that you have written, which have laid the foundation for me to even be able to do this now in the first place.