One year ago I launched The CMO Marketing Mindset with a simple goal: create a space for real conversations about marketing strategy and business growth. Now, 1,059 subscribers later, I'm sharing the biggest lesson from year one, the new direction for the newsletter, and where this next chapter is headed.

This small business week belongs to us — the builders, the risk-takers, and the ones who bet on themselves. created with ChatGPT by Fisher Marketing Services National Small Business Week 2026 runs May 3–9, and this year's theme hits close to home: the comeback of Main Street. Not a corporate rebound. Not a Wall Street rally. The return of the small business owner — the person who chose vision over a steady paycheck and built something from scratch. That's me. That's probably

You have been writing SMART goals wrong, and so has almost everyone else. The framework's creator, George T. Doran, said the action plan was the most critical step. Somewhere between 1981 and today, it quietly disappeared. Find out how it happened, who normalized the mistake, and what a real SMART goal looks like.

Client Acquisition Cost (CAC) gets thrown around like it’s a marketing strategy, but most law firms and SMBs don’t actually know what moves it. This article explains the core levers behind CAC, how ROI must be part of the conversation, and the simple marketing and operational system shifts that stop you from overpaying for every new client. Learn the 6 components you need in place and how Fisher Marketing Services' fractional CMO support can get it done right.

Marketing theater is paramount to The Emperor’s New Clothes tale for small to mid-sized business owners . Shiny profit frameworks that promise clarity and growth, then leave owners confused, blamed, and overpaying. This article shows what it is, red flags you can spot, and what real strategic SMB marketing support looks like.