A CMO crash course hidden in a binge read
If you are in marketing, you’re probably (1) stuck doing tactical execution and (2) feel like an imposter.
When expectations are high, resources tight, and timelines laughable, Ghost CMO: A Marketing Novel shows you a real path from executor to strategic leader. All playbooks are available as detailed courses with video tutorials and templates.
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.
Let me be your virtual coach. This isn’t theory. These are the frameworks I use with clients every day.
Our Courses
All playbooks used in Ghost CMO are available as courses with video tutorials and templates done by the author.
Master three core marketing skills
→ GameFrame: Create a brand story that improves every metric
→ Orca Plan: Produce a marketing plan the board will embrace
→ Swing Team: Align cross-functional teams to deliver on plan objectives
Three Ghost CMO Playbooks
GameFrame Story Building
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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.
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License this step-by-step training module with templates and video guides for $599.00.
Or, license all three Ghost CMO methodologies for $1,350.00
Orca-Style Marketing Plan
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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.
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License this step-by-step training module with templates and video guides for $599.00.
Or, license all three Ghost CMO methodologies for $1,350.00
Swing Team Alignment
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“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.
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License this step-by-step training module with templates and video guides for $599.00.
Or, license all three Ghost CMO methodologies for $1,350.00