Fractional Chief Marketing Officer.
Strategic co-piloting for early-stage platforms and transitioning C-Suites.
The Boardroom Imperative
Establish a centralized, scalable marketing engine that can systematically absorb tuck-in acquisitions and launch de novo clinics without fracturing brand equity or ballooning operational costs.
The Vendor Model vs. The Operating Partner Model.
The gap between strategic direction and in-market execution is where PE value creation stalls. Strategy frameworks without embedded execution capability, and execution capacity without strategic alignment, both carry a cost—measured in time to revenue, C-suite bandwidth consumed by vendor orchestration, and growth mandates that underdeliver against the hold-period thesis. The Operating Partner model closes that gap by design.
- ✗ Siloed execution that demands heavy C-Suite micromanagement.
- ✗ Junior account management without PE pro forma fluency.
- ✗ Vanity metrics (impressions, clicks) instead of EBITDA contribution.
- ✓ Embeds C-level marketing strategists directly into your executive leadership team.
- ✓ Consolidates vendor sprawl and builds scalable internal infrastructure.
- ✓ Translates marketing data into board-ready financial reporting.
Three Inflection Points. One Strategic Partner.
We serve as your Fractional CMO and Digital Operating Partner, bridging the gap between your PE Sponsor’s pro forma and hyper-local execution. We typically embed into leadership teams during three critical lifecycles:
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Embedded Within 14 Days of Signed Engagement01. Platform Inception & Foundation (Years 1-2)
When PE stands up a new healthcare platform, we are brought in to lead marketing and establish the enterprise architecture. We deploy the foundational infrastructure and install our proprietary playbooks—including The De Novo Launch Playbook, The Tuck-In Playbook, The New Provider Playbook, and The Service Line Intro Playbook—ensuring the platform is fortified for rapid scaling.
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02. The CMO's Strategic Execution Arm
When the platform has an existing marketing leader, we act as their specialized Agency of Record. Our fractional program brings true strategists to the table, not just account managers. We plug capability gaps, execute the heavy lifting, and serve as a high-level value-add to internal marketing leadership.
“Having a Strategy Collective operator embedded in our Monday operating rhythm changed everything. We finally had someone who spoke the language of both the board and the clinical operators.”
— CEO, PE-Backed Multi-Specialty Platform -
03. Executive Transition & 30-Day Assessment
When a marketing leader exits, CEOs and boards bring us in to run a deep-dive evaluation. We execute a 30-Day Paid Assessment to identify gaps, evaluate enterprise performance, and build a 6-12 month roadmap. We then drive those recommendations as Interim CMO—holding the seat for 6 to 12 months while you recruit a permanent backfill.
ALIGNED
STREAMLINED
Four Years. Five Workstreams. One Partner.
Private equity hold periods demand phased execution that compounds. This is the strategic roadmap that aligns CapEx infrastructure, OpEx scaling, M&A integration, de novo launches, and exit preparation.
The 30-Day Enterprise Assessment.
When a marketing leader exits, momentum stalls. Our 30-Day Assessment provides a completely objective deep-dive into enterprise marketing performance, uncovers blind spots, and delivers a concrete 6-12 month roadmap. We can then step in as Interim CMO for 6–12 months to execute while you recruit.
Performance Audit
Full-stack evaluation of paid media, SEO, web architecture, reputation, and vendor performance across all locations.
Gap Analysis
Identification of blind spots in your tech stack, data pipeline, and patient journey that are silently eroding EBITDA.
6-12 Month Roadmap
Concrete, board-ready execution plan with prioritized initiatives, budget allocation, and projected EBITDA impact.
Interim Execution
Option to deploy Strategy Collective as Interim CMO for 6 to 12 months to drive the roadmap while your executive search firm secures a permanent backfill.
A Playbook for Every Growth Event.
Most platforms make it up as they go. You get a new acquisition — you figure out marketing. You open a de novo — you figure out marketing. You add a provider — you figure out marketing. We show up with the exact playbook for every scenario, tested across multiple platforms, ready to run on day one.
Acquisition Playbook
Brand transition, GBP and listings migration, provider profile rebuilds, scheduling activation, attribution tagging, and a 90-day post-close marketing ramp. Every acquired practice gets the same treatment — no one falls through the cracks.
De Novo Playbook
PR, paid media, local listings, SEO, and provider marketing sequenced 60 days before opening so the location books patients on day one. You don’t open a front door and then figure out how to fill the schedule. We build the demand pipeline before the doors unlock.
Add-On Provider Playbook
Healthgrades, Vitals, WebMD, and GBP provider profile setup. Scheduling integration. Provider video production. Paid media announcement plan. Every new physician who joins your platform gets their digital presence built from day one — so they hit the ground billing.
Tuck-In Practice Playbook
Patient communication, search consolidation, review portability, and brand transition for practices absorbed into an existing location. The patients follow. The reviews migrate. The old search equity gets redirected. Nothing is lost to the merge.
The Foundation Build.
You can’t run a fractional engagement on a broken infrastructure. Every Strategy Collective Fractional CMO engagement starts with a foundation build — the technical and operational stack that makes every playbook above actually work.
Call tracking, GA4 offline conversion import, and EHR-billed revenue attribution — so you know which marketing dollars drive actual appointment volume, not just clicks.
Selection and implementation of a compliant tracking proxy: Freshpaint, OursPrivacy, or Curve — chosen based on your EHR, site architecture, and existing vendor relationships. We evaluate all three equally and recommend the right fit for your stack.
We evaluate, select, and implement the right review generation platform for your clinical environment. No platform bias — Yext, Rater8, Birdeye, Podium, or comparable tools are all on the table based on your workflow.
Deep HubSpot expertise for healthcare CRM deployment. If your board or sponsor has a preferred alternative, we guide platform selection and manage the rollout — including EHR connection points, patient journey automation, and B2B referral tracking.
Board-Ready Reporting
Monthly executive dashboards and quarterly board readouts formatted the way your sponsor expects to receive them. Executive scorecards segmented by location and by payer mix. Metrics that connect marketing spend to new patient volume, revenue attribution, and EBITDA contribution — not impressions.
- ✓ Monthly performance scorecard by location and payer segment
- ✓ Quarterly board readout formatted for PE sponsor review
- ✓ LTV:CAC by channel, de novo ramp tracking, M&A attribution
AI & Innovation Roadmap
Healthcare marketing is changing faster than most operators can track. As part of every fractional engagement, we maintain a live AI and innovation roadmap covering the emerging capabilities that will affect how patients find your providers and book appointments.
- ✓ AI-to-AI scheduling: how autonomous agents are beginning to book patient appointments
- ✓ Provider video content at scale — building physician authority for GEO and social
- ✓ How AI answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) surface and recommend providers
What This Engagement Replaces.
Strategy Collective’s Fractional CMO program isn’t an add-on. It’s a replacement for three expensive, underperforming structures that PE platforms outgrow faster than they expect.
A VP of Marketing Hire
A fully-loaded VP of Marketing costs $250K–$350K annually, takes 90+ days to recruit, and takes another 90 days to ramp. You’re paying for full-time overhead whether you need full-time output or not. Our Fractional CMO gives you executive-level leadership at the pace your platform actually requires — scaled up for integrations, scaled appropriately in steady state.
A Patchwork of Vendors
A separate agency for paid media. A separate agency for SEO. A separate vendor for reputation. A separate tool for listings. Each one billing independently, each one blind to what the others are doing, and your CEO spending 4 hours a week managing the seams. We consolidate the strategy, the execution, and the reporting into one operating partner that answers for the whole picture.
Percentage-of-Spend Agency Pricing
The traditional agency model incentivizes media spend — not outcomes. When the agency earns 12% of whatever you spend, the recommendation is always to spend more. Our fractional model is fixed-fee and performance-aligned. We have no financial incentive to inflate your media budget. Our incentive is your EBITDA.
Our Operating Stack
Strategy without embedded execution infrastructure stalls at the whiteboard. This stack is how the playbook becomes operational across your portfolio.