Leadership. In the room.
Grant Richards as fractional CMO or CGO, setting priorities and leading the marketing function.
Talk through the opportunitySenior marketing leadership without the gap between strategy and execution.
For businesses that need executive marketing ownership, Grant Richards serves as fractional Chief Marketing Officer or Chief Growth Officer. He works directly with leadership to set priorities, align teams, guide investment, and establish a reporting cadence. Engage Grant for fractional leadership, with Caliber’s integrated agency services available when the scope calls for delivery.
Based in the Kansas City metro, Grant Richards leads fractional CMO and CGO engagements for organizations nationwide. Remote collaboration and on-site work are scoped to each engagement.
When fractional leadership is a fit.
- The founder is still carrying marketing.
- The business has outgrown its current approach.
- A marketing leader has left or has not yet been hired.
- The internal team needs direction and support.
- Multiple vendors are working without shared priorities.
- Sales and marketing are not aligned.
- Reporting does not answer leadership's questions.
- The company is preparing for a launch, expansion, transaction, or new stage.
- Marketing activity is high, but ownership is unclear.
- The business needs senior capability without a full-time executive commitment.
Executive direction. A working plan.
A shared roadmap makes priorities, ownership, and decisions visible to leadership and the delivery team.
From ambition
to alignment.
What matters
now?
- PriorityBusiness relevance
- OwnershipOne accountable lead
- DecisionCommit, sequence, or defer
What Grant can lead.
Fractional CMO and fractional CGO.
As fractional CMO, Grant Richards leads marketing strategy, brand priorities, team alignment, and performance review. As fractional CGO, he connects marketing with sales alignment, acquisition, and expansion priorities. The role, decision authority, and delivery scope are agreed with client leadership.
- Business and marketing alignment.
- Annual and quarterly strategy.
- Market and audience priorities.
- Channel and program decisions.
- Roadmap and sequencing.
- Budget recommendations.
- Success measures.
Operating system.
- Weekly and monthly cadence.
- Project and decision structure.
- Team responsibilities.
- Vendor coordination.
- Sales and marketing alignment.
- Reporting rhythm.
Team and capability.
- Team design and role definition.
- Hiring support.
- Capability planning.
- Internal team and agency alignment.
- Mentoring, review, and quality control.
Agency delivery, when included.
- Positioning.
- Websites.
- Demand programs.
- Content.
- CRM and automation.
- Sales enablement.
- Social and events.
- Analytics.
Executive visibility.
- Leadership updates.
- KPI dashboards.
- Board and investor marketing support.
- Budget and forecast input.
- Decision briefs.
- Risk and opportunity reporting.
A practical first 90 days.
Every engagement is different, but an initial phase often follows this pattern. This is an example, not a fixed promise.
Understand and baseline.
Leadership and team interviews, plan review, channel, content, website, and CRM audits, a performance baseline, a risk and opportunity map, immediate fixes, and project-board setup.
Clarify and build.
Positioning and priority messages, roadmap and budget alignment, an operating cadence, initial sales or website improvements, CRM and measurement cleanup, and a content and campaign plan.
Launch and establish rhythm.
Priority programs in market, an active reporting cadence, a connected lead and sales process, a moving content system, a first optimization cycle, and a next-quarter plan.
The two questions everyone asks.
How this differs from hiring a full-time CMO.
Fractional leadership gives you executive-level direction on an agreed scope and cadence, without a full-time executive appointment. Grant works with your leadership and team to understand the business and establish priorities. If a permanent hire becomes the right next step, Caliber can support role definition, hiring, and a structured handover. The engagement is shaped around the business’s stage and needs.
How this differs from working with an agency.
Agency services deliver agreed programs and projects. Fractional leadership provides executive direction for the marketing function, including priorities, budget recommendations, team alignment, and performance review. Caliber offers either engagement or both: Grant leads the function, and our agency team delivers the agreed scope. Responsibilities and decision authority are defined at the outset.
Leadership that connects to delivery.
Grant guides strategic direction and works with client leadership, while the team translates priorities into coordinated execution.
- 01
Align leadership
Agree on the business priorities and mandate.
- 02
Set direction
Define focus, ownership, and the operating plan.
- 03
Guide delivery
Keep teams connected and decisions moving.
- 04
Review together
Use evidence to adjust priorities and investment.