Marketing rarely stalls for lack of effort.It stalls for lack of focus.
Helping small businesses, scaling startups, and established companies turn scattered marketing into a connected growth strategy—combining executive-level thinking with hands-on execution.
What that discipline has produced for businesses I've worked with
You already know
something isn't working.
Most companies don't call me because marketing failed. They call because they know their business and the power of marketing, but not how to build a strategy around it — or how to keep up with a digital landscape that changes every quarter.
It's time-consuming, you're not an octopus, and despite throwing dollars at it, little has reached your bottom line. Which usually looks like:
- You can't trace a dollar of marketing spend to revenue.
- You're focused on operating your business, not running the marketing.
- Your product is good. Growth is stalling anyway.
- Your messaging describes what you make, not the problem you solve.
- You're nowhere near ready for a full-time marketing hire.
- Your agency sends beautiful reports, and you still don't know what's working.
- Customers can't articulate what makes you different. Neither can you.
- Traffic is down, sales are following, and AI search is quietly rewriting how people find you.
If two or more of those landed, we should talk.
Book a free 30-minute consultFour steps, no mystery.
It starts with a real conversation
Thirty minutes, free. You tell me what's happening. I ask uncomfortable questions. If I'm not the right fit, I'll say so and point you somewhere better.
I look at your data before I propose anything
Analytics, funnel, spend, customers, competitors, back-end technology. Opinions are cheap. I'd rather come back with what your numbers actually say.
A scoped plan with a number attached
What I'd do, in what order, what it costs, and what should change as a result. No open-ended retainers.
I get to work
Weekly contact, monthly reporting against the metrics we agreed on. You always know what I'm doing and whether it's working.
In their words.
“She came in with “here's YOUR business. Here's what I found. Here's what could be improved, with a clear explanation as to why.” Then hit me with a detailed, measurable 3-month plan to execute it. At that point I remember saying: shut up and take my money. In the first 30 days I've seen a massive uptick in bookings.”
“Maria brings the strategic thinking and marketing discipline of a seasoned CMO, but she is equally willing to roll up her sleeves and do the work required to move the business forward. She became more than a marketing consultant — she became a trusted strategic advisor and an extension of our team.”
Big-brand discipline.
Without big-brand overhead.
Large companies don't win because they're smarter. They win because they have process — research before campaigns, positioning before creative, measurement before spending, and someone accountable for the numbers. That process is learnable. It just isn't free, and most small businesses have never had access to it.
I've spent two decades running it inside global brands, and six years installing it at companies from 500 employees down to five.
Corporate rigor, minus the corporation
Hasbro. Reebok. The Mom Project. Agency work for New Balance, Maybelline, and Mastercard. I learned marketing where the budgets were big enough to prove what works — and small enough to apply the versions that survived.
Strategy and execution, same person
I research your business and your competitors, write the plan, then build it. Campaigns, content, launches, site architecture, analytics, the messy middle. No handoff to a junior team. No “that's outside the scope.”
A plan built for your business, not a template
Cookie-cutter is how agencies stay profitable. It isn't how you grow. Every engagement starts with your data — your customers, your funnel, your numbers — and the plan emerges from what's actually there.
Four ways in.
Fractional CMO
Marketing leadership embedded as a genuine partner in the C-suite. I own the strategy, lead your team and vendors, and stay accountable for the numbers.
Interim CMO
Your CMO left, or you're between hires. I parachute in at full capacity, keep the function moving, and hand over an organization in better shape than I found it.
Strategy sprint
A defined project with a defined end. Go-to-market plan, brand repositioning, marketing audit, launch strategy. One deliverable you can actually run on.
Growth execution
Demand generation, SEO and AI search visibility, content, campaigns, launches, social, website. Built and run — not outsourced and hoped for.
Industry-agnostic, on purpose.
I've spanned a lot of industries — because while your business might be unique, the principles and the landscape stay the same.
I've also operated in highly regulated environments, from toys to health tech, so I understand how to work inside legal requirements, industry guidelines, and guardrails.
- Small business owners spending real money on marketing who can't tell what it's buying.
- Late-stage startups past product-market fit, scaling beyond founder-led marketing.
- Mid-market companies modernizing a brand or a go-to-market motion that's out of date.
- PE-backed portfolio companies with a value-creation plan their marketing function can't yet carry.
- Companies hiring a fractional or interim CMO — full-time leadership without full-time overhead.
Where I have the most depth: consumer products and D2C e-commerce, digital health, B2B manufacturing and industrial, and mission-driven brands reaching parents and caregivers. I've worked in more — that's just where the pattern recognition is fastest.
Who this isn't for
Companies looking for the cheapest hands to run ads, or for someone to validate a plan that's already been decided. I'll tell you that on the first call rather than three months in.
Trusted by
Brands that rely
on Calibrate.
Let's find out
if we're a fit.
Thirty minutes, no pitch deck, no obligation. Bring your biggest marketing problem and I'll tell you whether I'm the person to solve it.
Want the longer version first? Read about how I got here.
Based in Boston. Working with companies across the US.