I help companies create the marketing clarity that leads to stronger growth
I’m Michael Baer, a fractional CMO and senior marketing strategist with 35+ years of marketing leadership experience across Fortune 500s, mid-market companies, startups, and PE/VC-backed businesses.
I’m also a partner in TechCXO’s Revenue Growth practice, part of a firm that has provided experienced, on-demand C-suite leadership and consulting to growth companies for more than two decades.
That is where I help.
I work with CEOs and leadership teams to translate the company’s vision and growth goals into deeper customer understanding and insight, stronger positioning, a more intentional GTM approach, and practical direction for sales and marketing.
Depending on the business, that can mean building the foundation for the first time, creating a new approach when growth has stalled, or providing ongoing leadership to align teams, agencies, and execution.
When a company’s needs extend beyond marketing, I can also draw on experienced TechCXO partners across sales, finance, operations, technology, and people leadership. That can be especially valuable when the growth challenge crosses more than one part of the business.
Strategy, leadership, and practical execution
Over the course of my career, I have led marketing teams, built marketing functions, shaped brands, developed go-to-market strategies, launched and repositioned companies and offerings, created demand generation programs, guided agency and partner teams, and helped organizations connect stronger thinking with stronger execution.
That range matters because the growth challenge is rarely just about one piece of marketing. A stronger story needs to show up in sales conversations. Better positioning needs to shape the website. Customer insight needs to inform content, campaigns, and demand generation. Strategy needs to change what the company does next.
About 15 years ago, I started using the term Stratecution to describe that connection between strategy and execution. The idea is simple: strategy should not be an abstract exercise, and execution should not become disconnected tactics. The value comes from creating the clarity, focus, and structure that help companies make better decisions, use resources more wisely, and build momentum.
Most companies do not need more marketing activity before they need more clarity.
Where I tend to
be most useful
I’m especially useful when a company has gotten somewhere — customers, traction, expertise, investment, momentum, or a strong market opportunity — but recognizes that the current approach will not create the next stage of growth.
That may mean the company’s story is too generic. The target customer is too broad. Sales is pursuing too many different types of opportunities. Marketing activity is happening, but not adding up to enough momentum. The website no longer reflects the company. Or the business needs senior marketing leadership, but not necessarily a full-time CMO.
My experience spans B2B, healthcare, health tech, tech-enabled services, marketing services, media, and larger enterprise environments.
A few convictions that shape the work
Most companies do not need more marketing activity before they need more clarity.
Positioning is not just language. It shapes sales, marketing, content, website, demand generation, and GTM execution.
Trust is one of the most important jobs of marketing, especially in complex B2B and healthcare categories.
Founder-led sales can be a powerful beginning, but it eventually needs to become a more repeatable growth system.
Strategy only matters if it changes what people do next.
No customer ever sees your strategy. They only see how it shows up — in the story, the website, the sales conversation, and the experience of buying from you.
That is the work.
Talk through your growth challenge
If your current marketing approach is not creating the clarity, confidence, demand, or growth you need, I’d be glad to talk.
Talk Through Your Growth Challenge →