Fractional CMO · Northeast Ohio

Marketing leadership that serves the mission and moves the numbers.

Whether you're navigating growth, organizational change, or a marketing team that's stretched too thin, I bring senior-level strategy that helps you move forward with clarity, alignment, and measurable results, without the cost of a full-time executive.

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"My work is helping organizations get clear on their message, their audience, and the results they're trying to drive."

Years of Experience

Healthcare, higher ed, nonprofit, public media, banking, agency

Campaign Mobilization

16.7K

Constituents activated in a single advocacy campaign

Surgical Growth

35%

Increase in procedures from targeted campaign at Summa Health

Social Reach

1M+

Facebook reach growth from thousands, Ohio public media leader

The Challenge

You have a strong organization. Your marketing isn't keeping up.

No marketing voice at the table

Leadership is making decisions without senior marketing insight. Strategy becomes reactive instead of intentional.

Campaigns without strategy

Work goes out the door, but without clear objectives, aligned audiences, or a way to measure impact.

Agencies without direction

You've hired outside help, but no one is connecting their work to your goals so you get activity, not outcomes.

Growth that has stalled

Awareness, enrollment, donations, pipeline — whatever the metric, it has plateaued and you're not sure why.

You don't need more tactics. You need someone who can see the whole picture, align the team around it, and move it forward.

What I Do

Strategic partnership, not a vendor relationship.

I work as an embedded partner in your organization, invested in your outcomes, not just your deliverables. Engagements are flexible and built around your needs.

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Marketing & Brand Strategy

Situational analysis, messaging frameworks, and integrated plans aligned to your mission and market.

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Campaign Planning & Demand Generation

Audience research, campaign development, and post-campaign analysis built to drive measurable results.

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Communications & Stakeholder Messaging

Internal and external communications that keep your brand consistent and your audiences informed.

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Team Leadership & Coaching

I support teams by giving them clear expectations, steady guidance, and the tools they need to do their jobs well.

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Operational Systems & Reporting

KPI dashboards and reporting structures that give leadership clear visibility into what's working.

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Fractional & Interim Executive Support

Flexible engagements for strategic partnerships, transitions, or interim CMO coverage.

On AI and Marketing Leadership

AI can generate the content. It can't lead the strategy.

A lot of organizations are asking whether they still need senior marketing leadership now that AI tools can produce briefs, campaigns, and content at speed. It's a fair question. AI is genuinely capable, and I use it every day to work smarter and move faster on behalf of my clients.

But there's a gap between output and outcomes. AI can draft a positioning statement. It can't tell you why your last one didn't land, or that the real problem wasn't the message, it was internal misalignment that never made it into the brief. It can generate a campaign. It can't read the room in a board meeting, navigate a stakeholder whose priorities just shifted, or make the call that protects your brand when circumstances change faster than a content calendar can.

That kind of judgment comes from pattern recognition built over time, across organizations, through the specific pressures that mission-driven work creates. Healthcare systems, universities, public media, nonprofits, these aren't environments where you can optimize your way to trust. They require someone who understands the terrain.

What I offer is the strategic leadership that makes AI useful: someone who knows what questions to ask, what the answers mean, and what to do next. Organizations that replace marketing judgment with marketing tools often find they've traded direction for volume. A fractional CMO who knows how to use these tools and how to lead through complexity is a sharper value proposition now than it was five years ago, not a weaker one.

The organizations I work with don't need more content. They need someone who knows what the content is for.

Results

30 years. Multiple industries. Real results.

16,700+

Advocacy Campaign · Public Media

A multi-platform campaign responding to federal funding threats mobilized over 16,700 viewers to contact their representatives, drawing direct attention from local legislators and demonstrating deep community trust.

1M+

Social Reach · Public Media

Built a content strategy around defined pillars, mentored the team, and grew Facebook reach from thousands to over one million. The station moved from last to first among Ohio public media stations.

35%

Procedure Growth · Healthcare

A targeted campaign at Summa Health System grew lower GI and colorectal surgeries by 35% and upper GI procedures by 25% through smart audience segmentation and aligned physician and consumer outreach.

National

Media Coverage · Higher Education

A communications strategy for a bold tuition transformation at Hiram College led to national press coverage and a significant increase in enrollment inquiries. It showed what happens when an institutional story is told with focus and confidence.

Recognition

Best of Show

Healthcare Advertising Award

"Size Matters" TV Campaign

Memorial Hospital of Union County

Best of Show

SIAA Award

"We Foresee" Direct Mail Campaign

Citizens Bank

Gold

Addy Award

Women's Health Direct Mail Campaign

Summa Health System

Additional Recognition

Silver — 35th Annual Educational Advertising Awards "What Will You Do?" Total Advertising Campaign Hiram College
Bronze — 35th Annual Educational Advertising Awards Acceptance Package Hiram College
Bronze — 35th Annual Educational Advertising Awards "We Foresee" Direct Mail Campaign Citizens Bank
Three Thoroughbred Awards — KSHPRM Cardiovascular Advertising — Print, Outdoor and Total Campaigns Ephraim McDowell Health
Gold CVA — Total Advertising Award "I Choose" Campaign, hospital under 149 beds Memorial Hospital of Union County
Gold Level — SIAA "Banking Your Way" TV Spot Citizens Bank
Gold — Addy Award Women's Health Direct Mail Campaign Summa Health System
Silver — Addy Award Testimonial TV Campaign Summa Health System
Regional — Addy Award Women's Health Direct Mail Campaign Summa Health System
Gold — Aster Award Oncology Insights Publication Summa Health System
Gold — Healthcare Advertising Award Cancer Services Patient Binder Summa Health System
Bronze — Healthcare Advertising Award Cancer Services Advertising Campaign Summa Health System
Bronze — Aster Award Patient Education Booklet Summa Health System
Gold Regional — Addy Award Community Health Report Summa Health System

About Kimberly

Meet Kimberly Holm

Kimberly Holm, Fractional Chief Marketing Officer serving Northeast Ohio

I did not start my career in marketing. I started in healthcare operations, which means before I ever wrote a creative brief or launched a campaign, I understood what it felt like to work inside an organization trying to accomplish important goals with limited resources. That perspective never left me. In many ways, it is still the most valuable thing I bring to my work today.

Over the past 30 years, I have worked in healthcare, higher education, public media, nonprofits, specialty insurance, and agency environments. I have been the client responsible for results, and I have been the partner responsible for delivering them. Those experiences taught me how to align strategy, leadership, and execution so organizations can move forward with confidence.

Throughout my career, I have led integrated marketing campaigns, developed brand and messaging strategies, mentored cross-functional teams, and built marketing systems designed to support long-term growth. Some of the work I am most proud of happened in organizations facing real constraints. Those situations often require the clearest thinking, the strongest leadership, and the most creative solutions.

One experience that continues to shape my work, especially with nonprofits, was overseeing individual giving and corporate support alongside marketing. That responsibility gave me a deeper understanding of donor psychology, stewardship, and the relationship between mission, messaging, and action. It also taught me that successful organizations communicate differently with every audience while remaining true to the same core purpose.

Clients and colleagues have often valued my ability to see both the strategic picture and the operational realities behind it. I believe good marketing leadership requires both. Strong ideas matter, but so does understanding how decisions affect teams, budgets, stakeholders, and the people doing the work every day.

I started this practice because I saw too many organizations doing meaningful work without access to senior marketing leadership. Fractional support is a practical way to close that gap. Organizations gain executive-level strategy, guidance, and accountability without the cost of a full-time hire.

Today I work with nonprofits, healthcare organizations, educational institutions, and growing businesses throughout Northeast Ohio as a Fractional CMO, marketing strategist, and trusted executive partner.

If that sounds like the kind of partnership you are looking for, I would welcome the opportunity to connect.

Who I Work With

The kinds of organizations I support

I know what it's like to work in organizations that are doing important work with limited time and staff. That experience has served me well across every sector I've worked in.

Nonprofits and community organizations ready for strategic marketing leadership
Healthcare, higher education, and public sector organizations navigating growth or change
Small to mid-sized businesses seeking senior expertise without the overhead
Organizations going through leadership transitions, rebrands, or market expansions
B Corps and mission-aligned businesses that want marketing to reflect their values

"I understand how organizations really work, the pressures, the pace, and the people doing the work every day."

My career began in healthcare operations before moving into marketing, and that foundation never left me. I understand how organizations actually work from the inside, how to communicate across departments, and how to build marketing systems that last beyond any single campaign.

I'm based in Northeast Ohio and focus my practice here because I believe in the organizations doing good work in this region.

My Approach

How I work, and why it matters.

Serve the mission, move the numbers.

Strategy only works when it's tied to what your organization is trying to accomplish. I start with your mission and work outward from there, making sure every marketing decision has a reason behind it.

Build capacity, not dependency.

My goal is to leave your team stronger than I found it. I coach, mentor, and build systems that work long after I'm gone. The measure of good fractional leadership is what stays when the engagement ends.

Outcomes over deliverables.

A campaign that launches on time and misses the goal isn't a win. I measure success by results — awareness, pipeline, enrollment, loyalty, advocacy.

Integrity is non-negotiable.

I'll tell you what I actually think. If your strategy needs rethinking, I'll say so. You deserve a partner who's honest, not just agreeable.

How We Work Together

Flexible engagements built around your needs.

Every organization is at a different stage and has different needs. Here are the most common ways we work together and all of them start with a conversation.

Ongoing Partnership

Fractional CMO Retainer

Embedded strategic leadership on a part-time basis. I join your leadership team, guide your marketing strategy and own outcomes, without the cost of a full-time hire.

Best for: Organizations ready for consistent, long-term marketing leadership.

Defined Scope

Project-Based Engagement

A focused engagement with clear deliverables: a brand repositioning, a go-to-market strategy, a campaign launch, a marketing audit.

Best for: Organizations with a specific challenge or initiative to address.

Bridge Leadership

Interim CMO Support

When your marketing leader departs, a search takes time. I step in to keep strategy moving, support the team, and maintain momentum during the transition.

Best for: Organizations navigating a leadership gap or transition period.

Common Questions

What you may be wondering.

What is a fractional CMO?

A fractional CMO is a senior marketing executive who works with an organization on a part-time or retainer basis, providing the same strategic leadership as a full-time Chief Marketing Officer without the cost of a permanent hire. They are embedded in the leadership team and own marketing outcomes.

How is a fractional CMO different from a marketing consultant?

A marketing consultant typically delivers a specific project or set of recommendations, then steps away. A fractional CMO is an ongoing strategic partner embedded in your leadership team, attending meetings, guiding decisions, managing execution, and accountable for results over time.

What kinds of organizations benefit most from fractional CMO support?

Nonprofits, healthcare organizations, higher education institutions, and mission-driven businesses that need senior marketing leadership but cannot justify the cost of a full-time CMO. Organizations in leadership transition, rebrand, or growth phases also benefit significantly.

How does a fractional CMO engagement typically work?

Engagements begin with a conversation to understand your organization's goals, challenges, and current marketing state. From there, the structure is built around your needs: a retainer for ongoing leadership, a defined project scope, or interim support during a transition. Most retainer engagements involve a set number of hours per week and regular leadership team participation.

What does a fractional CMO cost?

Fractional CMO engagements are priced based on scope, hours, and the complexity of the work. They typically cost significantly less than a full-time CMO salary while providing the same level of strategic expertise. Pricing is discussed during an initial consultation based on your organization's specific needs.

Why would a nonprofit hire a fractional CMO?

Nonprofits often have the most to gain from senior marketing leadership and the least budget to support a full-time hire. A fractional CMO brings donor psychology, community engagement, and mission-driven messaging expertise at a fraction of the cost, helping organizations grow awareness, increase donations, and build lasting community trust.

Does AI replace the need for a fractional CMO?

No. AI tools can generate content and accelerate execution, but they cannot provide strategic judgment, organizational leadership, or the pattern recognition that comes from decades of experience. A fractional CMO who knows how to use AI as a force multiplier, while providing the oversight those tools lack, is a stronger value proposition today than before AI became widespread.