Episode 114: Fractional CMO Secrets: How Chief Outsiders Transforms Mid-Market Growth

On this episode of Marketing Moves, Ashtyn Morris sits down with Aurora Toth, Area Managing Partner and Fractional CMO at Chief Outsiders, for a conversation about what it actually takes to drive growth inside mid-market businesses. From Fortune 1000 brand leadership to helping companies navigate stalled growth, Aurora shares lessons from decades of experience across retail, hospitality, private equity, and marketing leadership. The conversation explores the rise of fractional executives, the growing pressure on CMOs to prove measurable business impact, and why the best marketers are often the best listeners in the room.

Aurora Toth did not plan on becoming a marketer.

Originally pursuing a pre-med track at Miami University during the recession of the 1980s, Aurora found herself reevaluating her future after graduating with a zoology degree into a difficult job market. Rather than immediately continuing into medical school, she accepted an opportunity at Procter & Gamble — a move that ultimately became the foundation for her entire career.

That early experience at P&G gave her what she describes as “business school round two.” Beyond learning marketing fundamentals, it taught her the discipline of brand strategy, critical thinking, and understanding how businesses actually operate.

From there, Aurora built a career spanning multiple industries and leadership roles, including Toro, Supervalu, Best Buy’s Musicland division, Carlson Hospitality, and Bluestem Brands. Along the way, she navigated mergers, acquisitions, digital transformation initiatives, private equity ownership changes, and major shifts in consumer behavior.

What stands out most throughout her story is adaptability. Whether helping hospitality brands transition into the digital booking era or repositioning outdated catalog brands for eCommerce, Aurora repeatedly found herself at the intersection of business transformation and marketing strategy.

Eventually, that journey led her to Chief Outsiders, a role she initially resisted because she saw herself as someone who worked best “on the inside” of organizations. Ironically, it became the perfect fit.

Chief Outsiders positions itself as “executives-as-a-service” for mid-market businesses. The company provides fractional CMOs, CSOs, and other executive leaders who embed directly inside organizations to help solve growth challenges.

Unlike traditional consultants who often deliver recommendations and walk away, Chief Outsiders emphasizes execution. Aurora explains that the firm’s philosophy is “results, not consulting,” meaning they stay involved long enough to ensure the strategies being developed actually produce measurable outcomes.

That distinction matters, especially in the mid-market.

Many growing companies either cannot justify a full-time CMO salary or are not yet mature enough operationally to need a permanent executive in that seat. The fractional model gives those businesses access to highly experienced leadership without the long-term overhead of a traditional executive hire.

Aurora also notes that the model is expanding beyond marketing. Fractional CFOs and general counsels have existed for decades, but now companies are increasingly embracing fractional sales leaders and operational executives as well.

One of the most interesting aspects of Chief Outsiders is the collaborative structure behind the scenes. While clients may work closely with one primary executive, they also gain access to the broader network of over 120 experienced operators within the organization. Internal peer reviews, collaborative problem solving, and shared expertise allow the firm to bring significantly more perspective into client engagements than a single consultant could alone.

One of the strongest themes throughout the episode is the disconnect between marketing teams and executive leadership.

Aurora explains that many mid-market CEOs still fundamentally misunderstand what strategic marketing actually is. Too often, marketing is reduced to trade shows, sales collateral, social media posts, or “soft” brand work that feels difficult to measure.

That misconception creates tension across organizations, especially when business leaders expect immediate results from long-term marketing investments.

According to Aurora, one of the biggest mistakes marketers make is failing to educate the broader C-suite about how marketing works, what outcomes should realistically be expected, and how those efforts tie directly back to business growth.

This challenge becomes even more apparent when discussing the notoriously short tenure of CMOs. Aurora points out that many companies still expect instant success from marketing initiatives while lacking the patience necessary to allow strategies to mature. At the same time, many marketers struggle to communicate business impact in a language CEOs and CFOs actually understand.

The marketers who succeed long-term are often the ones who can bridge that gap between creativity and business strategy.

One of the more practical sections of the episode focuses on Chief Outsiders’ Growth Gears framework, a model designed to help businesses think about marketing more systematically.

The framework breaks growth into three primary stages:

1. Insights

2. Strategy

3. Execution

Aurora explains that too many companies jump directly into execution without fully understanding their customers, competitors, or long-term positioning.

The “insights” phase focuses on gathering intelligence through research, customer conversations, market analysis, and data mining. From there, businesses build a foundational strategy that clearly defines goals, positioning, and measurable outcomes. Only then should companies begin executing channel strategies, campaigns, and tactical initiatives.

What makes the framework especially valuable is its simplicity. It gives non-marketing executives a more digestible way to understand how strategic marketing contributes to long-term business growth.

The marketing portion of the conversation centers heavily around accountability and measurement.

According to Aurora, one of the biggest marketing mishaps she still sees repeatedly is companies failing to properly measure marketing performance. Despite the rise of digital platforms, attribution tools, and analytics software, many organizations still struggle to connect marketing spend directly back to business outcomes.

Aurora explains that too many businesses focus on vanity metrics like impressions, clicks, or engagement without clearly understanding return on investment. CEOs and CFOs ultimately care about revenue impact, customer acquisition efficiency, and growth. If marketers cannot explain how campaigns contribute to those outcomes, skepticism naturally grows.

The episode also explores the complicated relationship between marketing attribution and organizational alignment. Sales and marketing teams frequently battle over who deserves credit for revenue generation, especially in B2B environments where customer journeys involve multiple touchpoints. Aurora argues that alignment on attribution models must happen upfront, ideally with executive leadership helping mediate the conversation.

Another key takeaway is that modern marketing requires far more than channel expertise. Aurora repeatedly emphasizes that marketers need empathy, listening skills, and strong cross-functional communication abilities to succeed at the executive level.

This episode of Marketing Moves is a masterclass in what modern marketing leadership actually looks like.

Aurora Toth’s career reflects the reality that the best marketers are rarely just marketers. They are operators, strategists, communicators, and problem solvers who understand how businesses grow from the inside out.

Whether discussing fractional leadership, customer acquisition, sales alignment, or CMO turnover, the conversation consistently returns to one core idea: marketing only earns a seat at the executive table when it can clearly connect strategy to business outcomes.

At a time when marketing is evolving faster than ever, Aurora’s perspective offers an important reminder that strong leadership still comes down to empathy, listening, adaptability, and a relentless focus on delivering measurable value.