A CMO crash course hidden in a binge read

If you’re not ready for a fractional CMO just yet, hand this book to whoever is in charge of your marketing.

It’s a fun read that shows a realistic path from newbie to CMO. All playbooks used in the book will soon be available below.

Marketing strategy. Corporate survival. For every imposter disguised as a leader.

Intern Doc Cortez is cornered by the new Chief Marketing Officer with an unthinkable ultimatum: 

“Secretly do my job on your intern salary, or I’ll fire you.” 

Doc has 30 seconds to make an impossible choice: fail now, or fail later in a soul-crushing showcase of his marketing cluelessness.

So Doc becomes something that shouldn’t exist. A ghost CMO. No authority. No credit. No safety net. Just a physics grad with $40 in his bank account, suddenly tasked with a multi-million dollar marketing turnaround that claimed the jobs of the last three CMOs.

The problem? The sales team ignores marketing completely. The product team considers him the enemy. And Doc has never built a marketing plan, crafted a brand story, or run an executive meeting in his life.

The lifeline? A mysterious mentor appears in his company chat, teaching him frameworks that transform struggling interns into strategic leaders.  

→ Why marketing teams fail and how to change the game

→ How to create a brand story that improves every metric

→ How to produce a marketing plan the board will embrace

→ How to gain influence when you have zero formal authority

Written by a Chief Marketing Officer with 18 years on executive teams at private, PE-backed, and public companies - filling the void between marketing theory and the messy reality.

Our Playbooks

Coming soon! Add your email to be notified as new playbooks become available. They are fun and easy to follow.

  • A step-by-step guide with everything you need to build your story

  • Connect your daily grind to the objectives that matter most the board and executive team

  • Align product, sales and marketing behind one clear goal

Top Three Ghost CMO Playbooks

GameFrame Story Building

  • The GameFrame story development process has been refined over decades.

    What’s the goal? Create a story that does three four things:

    • Elevates the company strategy

    • Improves all sales and marketing metrics

    • Creates a competitive firewall

    • Serves as a thought leadership platform for up to a decade

    Watch the process unfold in Ghost CMO, then get play-by-plan guidance and templates here when available.

  • License this step-by-step training module with templates and video guides for $599.00.

    Or, license all three Ghost CMO methodologies for $1,497.00

Orca-Style Marketing Plan

  • Instead of barnacles that feed passively from an endless task list generated by many masters, orcas go after selective prey: goals tied to the board’s highest priorities.

    Orca-style marketing plans balance the short and long game. They include all three elements required for growth: Fuel, machine and momentum. And they start with mastery of customers, products and the competitive landscape.

    See how these plans are built in Ghost CMO, then access expanded framework details here when available.

  • License this step-by-step training module with templates and video guides for $599.00.

    Or, license all three Ghost CMO methodologies for $1,497.00

Swing Team Alignment

  • “There is a thing that sometimes happens that is hard to achieve and hard to define. It’s called ‘swing.’ It happens only when all are rowing in such perfect unison that not a single action is out of sync.” -Boys in the Boat

    This is a metaphor for sales, marketing and product teams that prioritize, strategize and execute harmoniously. This alignment brings the story and plan to life to drive real growth, even in a messy reality.

    Watch it happen in Ghost CMO, then access the playbook here when available.

  • License this step-by-step training module with templates and video guides for $599.00.

    Or, license all three Ghost CMO methodologies for $1,497.00