Marketing should be a growth engine, not a guessing game.
Strategy, execution and scale for B2B leaders ready to grow.
Does this resonate?
You’re building something amazing. You’re dialed in to the market you serve, with a great product, momentum, and funding. Marketing is the remaining gap to growth, but you’re not ready for a full-time hire.
Maybe you’re gearing up for investment, but your narrative and go-to-market packaging aren’t quite there. Or, you’re a revenue leader with ambitious goals, and day-to-day responsibilities are keeping you from the high-stakes jobs to be done.
Meanwhile, K-12 and higher ed purchasing windows follow their own timeline, competitors gain traction, and every quarter without a clear go-to-market plan costs you momentum you can’t get back.
I can help.
Heather Shelstad, Fractional CMO
Full-stack marketer with 20+ years leading marketing teams. 4x VP/CMO across B2B and PLG SaaS. Edtech industry expert.
Results snapshot
$100MM revenue eclipsed
19X ARR growth for a single product in less than 12 months
5X marketing pipeline growth
Average 5:1+ ROI
8:1 LTV / CAC ratio
Plus multiple product launches, PE/VC exits, and strategic recapitalizations.
What I love: Brand as a growth strategy, winning positioning, smart GTM, mission-driven businesses, building with AI, measurable marketing results.
How I work: Senior leader and hands-on operator, AI-enabled, with a trusted network of experts.
Growth happens when the right work gets done well.
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I’m a full-stack, AI-enabled, senior marketing leader embedded in your team without the full-time cost.
I bring the accountability of a CMO, including strategy, leadership, and P&L responsibility. I ensure marketing performance on the metrics that matter. My approach is data-informed at every stage, so your marketing investment delivers a reliable return to the business.
In addition to the direction you provide, every engagement includes an optional 360-degree audit of the current marketing function that assesses alignment with business goals, team potential, and GTM gaps, with actionable recommendations based on your stage of business.
Where I personally go deepest, and where clients get the most value from my 20+ years of experience, follows. -
When brand, communications, and content resonate, companies attract the right buyers and spend less on customer acquisition and renewal. Your brand, product positioning, and the content that connects to customers should tell a consistent story, especially in modern, AI-impacted marketing.
AI reads every touchpoint as a unified signal. Messy signals lose volume.
I align positioning with a differentiated brand narrative, then translate that alignment into the communications assets that bring your brand to life consistently across every channel.
I've led rebrands, brand refreshes, and repositioning efforts, along with PR, corporate communications, and content development, to deliver measurable growth and revenue outcomes. -
AI has made it possible for products and features to be shipped faster than ever, which means positioning & messaging tailored to the most valuable Ideal Customer Persona (ICP) have never been more important. Further, winning positioning delivers better growth outcomes at every stage of a customer lifecycle with less marketing investment.
With more than two decades of experience in product marketing, research, and testing, I’m an expert at crafting resilient, defensible positioning that serves as the foundation for every campaign.
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Never miss a timing window or product launch opportunity again.
The education market is complex and operates within explicit timing windows, with regional and state-level constraints, such as legislation and funding, playing a key role. As an education market expert, I build campaigns that distance your company from the competitive set, with go-to-market plans that align business objectives to strategy and tactical execution, including channels, budget, and measurement.
I can lead many elements of campaign execution independently and pull in trusted partners when needed.
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Good decisions can be led by instinct, but confident decisions are backed by data.
Whether collaborating with a full-service research partner or using AI tools to swiftly aggregate and analyze publicly available data, research & testing derisk every investment.
Market, customer, and campaign performance insights are an integrated thread that runs through everything I do.
Over the years, I've led primary and secondary research, including brand audits, customer satisfaction studies, NPS, trend analysis, and ICP validation, with findings that inform confident decision-making. -
I believe people do their best work when they feel seen, supported, and trusted. Young teams especially benefit from having a “been there, experienced that” coach in their corner.
My leadership style is rooted in servant leadership, positivity, compassion, and accountability, with a healthy dose of fun. I've built and transformed marketing teams, hired and developed talent at every level, and designed marketing training programs used by Fortune 500 companies. Nothing brings me greater joy than seeing those I’ve led or mentored shine in the spotlight.
Get in touch.
I start with a no-charge discovery conversation. Whatever you include in the message section will help me prepare. I look forward to hearing from you!