Interview – Kerry Curran
Amanda: Welcome to Female Fractionals, the biweekly podcast for successful female fractional executives and those ready to take the leap. In each episode, I bring you actionable lessons and inspiration through interviews with thriving fractional leaders and experts. Let’s dive in.
Hi everyone, and welcome to today's episode of Female Fractionals. I'm your host and fractional CMO, Amanda Nizzere. Today we’re talking to Kerry Curran, a fractional CMO turned Chief Growth Marketing Officer.
In this conversation, Kerry shares her fresh perspective on the evolving fractional role—one that’s forward-thinking, strategic, and not just a replacement for full-time CMOs, but a valuable partner to them. We talk about building alignment across go-to-market teams, modernizing for scale, and positioning marketing as a core driver of business growth.
But first, a little about Kerry: She’s a revenue-driven marketing executive with over 20 years of experience helping B2B companies grow through data-led strategy, demand generation, and go-to-market alignment. She’s the founder of Revenue Based Marketing Advisors and host of the Revenue Boost podcast, with nearly a million downloads. Kerry has held executive roles at GroupM, Digitas, Catalyst, and Clarivate, where she led marketing and strategy for Fortune 500 brands like P&G, Samsung, Microsoft, and Nestlé.
Let’s jump into the conversation.
Amanda: Hi Kerry, welcome to Female Fractionals. I’m so excited you’re here.
Kerry: Thanks, Amanda. I’m really excited to be here too.
Amanda: I’d love to start the way I do with many guests—can you share a bit about your professional background and how you got started in this field?
Kerry: Sure. I’ve spent most of my career in B2B marketing and sales, primarily at media agencies. I was focused on marketing and selling agency services—paid search, SEO, display, social—to Fortune 500 brands. I spent nearly 20 years doing that. Today, I work with agencies, MarTech, and ad tech companies to help them with their go-to-market strategies and grow their customer base.
Amanda: What inspired you to pursue a fractional career?
Kerry: A few things. I love working across different business challenges and client types—solving different problems through strategy. I always approach things through a business lens: “What’s the challenge, and how can I help solve it with the tools I bring?”
Amanda: You’ve been in the fractional space for a while now and have talked about how the role is evolving—beyond just interim leadership or cost savings. Can you speak more to that?
Kerry: Absolutely. For startups and scale-ups especially, fractional roles are a cost-effective way to access expert-level strategic leadership. But increasingly, it’s not about cost savings—it’s about partnering with someone who can drive real business strategy. The modern CMO role spans brand, messaging, revenue strategy, sales, and customer success. A fractional CMO brings all of that to the table.
Amanda: You’ve proposed a really interesting idea—pairing a fractional with a full-time CMO, instead of replacing them. That’s a new one for me. Can you unpack that?
Kerry: Definitely. CMO tenure is notoriously short, often because a company’s needs evolve, and the CMO’s skillset may no longer align with those needs. Instead of replacing the CMO and losing all their institutional knowledge, you can bring in a fractional with complementary expertise. They can help upskill the in-house CMO, drive change, and take some political heat as an external voice. It’s a more strategic, cost-effective solution.
Amanda: That resonates. The CMO role keeps expanding—brand, demand, creative, AI, customer experience, go-to-market. How do you see the role of the full-time CMO evolving, and where does fractional support fit in?
Kerry: The role is becoming more and more tied to revenue growth—which is a good thing. CMOs who are integrated into the business strategy tend to outperform. Your brand, positioning, and messaging define who you are in the market. That’s not just marketing—that’s business strategy.
Whether full-time or fractional, the modern CMO needs to lead the charge on this. I’ve even started calling myself a Chief GTM Officer. The job is no longer confined to traditional marketing—it’s cross-functional, tied to revenue architecture, customer retention, and profitability.
Amanda: I love the title “Chief GTM Officer.” It feels like the perfect complement to a full-time CMO, especially in a mentor or advisor role. Can you say more about the rise of that function?
Kerry: Go-to-market has always included sales and marketing, especially in ABM. But now, customer success is a critical third pillar. I worked at a company focused on new customer acquisition, but churn was high. That’s where GTM comes in—mapping your ICP to your most profitable, highest-retention customers, and aligning marketing, sales, and CS to serve them.
I even conduct NPS interviews myself. Clients will tell me things they won’t tell the company directly. It helps with retention, brand messaging, and refining the ICP. It’s all about holistic alignment.
Amanda: So true. How do you actually build that cross-functional alignment as a fractional?
Kerry: It’s challenging, especially in siloed orgs. I start with an audit—I call it a GTM maturity score. I look at brand identity, handoffs between marketing and sales, customer success strategy, ICP clarity. Then I identify the gaps. There’s often great work happening, but no one’s connecting the dots.
I focus on short-term wins while building the long-term strategy. And education is key. For alignment to work, it has to be driven from the top. The CEO has to own it and drive it down across teams. Otherwise, it feels like a departmental agenda.
Amanda: You’ve clearly built a strong point of view. How are you applying this thinking to your own business?
Kerry: Like a lot of agency people, I used to be the “cobbler’s kids”—doing amazing work for clients but not for myself. I’ve learned that my superpower is helping companies market to marketers. That helped refine my ICP: I’m a GTM expert for agencies, MarTech, and ad tech companies who sell to marketers. There’s a huge opportunity there, especially because B2B services haven’t fully embraced ABM or GTM strategies yet.
Amanda: I’ve seen the same. Any communities or resources that have helped you grow as a fractional?
Kerry: So many. I’m in tons of Slack groups and active on LinkedIn. I sign up for lots of webinars and love Pavilion for more structured learning. It’s helped bring more rigor and formulas to GTM work. I’m always looking for ways to apply B2C strategies—like social listening and influencers—to B2B.
Amanda: I agree—being an entrepreneur gives you so much freedom to explore. I love that you mentioned Pavilion. I’ve found that same spirit of curiosity among fractional leaders.
Kerry: Yes! And that’s a huge benefit of hiring a fractional—we’re exposed to so many clients, industries, and tools. We bring that knowledge to every engagement.
Amanda: Okay, let’s end with some rapid-fire questions. One-word or one-sentence answers:
Most unusual place you’ve taken a client call?
Kerry: A ski resort. It was urgent, so I took the call. I don’t think I told them where I was!
Amanda: Client service at its finest. What’s your favorite meeting opener?
Kerry: “If you were to sell a sandwich, what would it be and where would you sell it?” You learn so much about people!
Amanda: That’s a great one—I’m stealing it. A fun fact not on your LinkedIn?
Kerry: I was a synchronized swimmer as a kid.
Amanda: That’s amazing! Favorite business book?
Kerry: The 12 Week Year. It helps you work faster and be more productive in shorter cycles.
Amanda: Three apps you can’t live without?
Kerry: New York Times, Audible, Waze—and Kindle, too.
Amanda: Most unexpected skill that’s helped your career?
Kerry: I was a psych major. Understanding people has helped in marketing, sales, and leadership.
Amanda: A mentor shout-out?
Kerry: Beth Lader, my boss of 12 years. She’s retired now, but I keep asking her to go back to work so she can hire me again.
Amanda: And finally, where do you look for inspiration?
Kerry: Somewhere with a beautiful view—water, ocean, lake, or mountains. I need space to decompress and think.
Amanda: That sounds inspirational just hearing it. Thank you so much, Kerry. This was a fantastic conversation. I really appreciate your time and insights.
Kerry: Thank you, Amanda. It was a pleasure.
Amanda: And to our listeners—don’t forget to follow, like, comment, and share. Head over to femalefractionals.com for the full transcript and all the links from today’s episode. Thanks for listening!
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