The Fractional CMO Podcast

A great product isn't enough, if nobody knows about it, you don't have a business. In this episode of The Cemoh Marketing Podcast, Simon Dell sits down with Dean Salakas, four-time business exit veteran and co-founder of Retail Community, to talk about building The Party People into one of Australia's best-known retail brands and what he'd do differently if he started again today. Dean covers why buying customers only gets you so far and the real difference between selling products and solving a problem, why physical stores are set to remain the majority of retail sales in our lifetime even as the online giants grow, the psychology behind why shoppers still choose a person over a self-checkout, his rule for hiring passionate staff over cheap ones, and how AI and automation are reshaping retail without replacing the human connection that keeps customers coming back. Practical, hard-won advice from someone who's built and sold four businesses, for any retailer trying to stand out in a market being squeezed by Amazon, Shein and Temu.Connect with Dean on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deansalakas/We would love to know what you think, so give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.🌟 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel to learn weekly expert marketing tips and ideas.If you think you have a great story for the podcast, contact our producer at [email protected].🚀 If you need help growing your business, visit cemoh.com to find an experienced marketing consultant to help you.

AI doesn't run your business, it runs on whatever rules you give it. In this episode of The Cemoh Marketing Podcast, Simon Dell sits down with Fiona Campbell, founder of the Virtual Assistant Lead Network, to unpack how she's built her entire operation around Claude, and why she treats it like a brand-new staff member rather than a shortcut.Fiona covers how she's turned Claude into a shared knowledge base for her business, documenting brand voice, decision logs and a running backlog so the AI (and her team) stay consistent, why documentation beats clever prompting when it comes to getting AI to sound like you, the human checkpoints she insists on before anything ships or sends, and her golden rule for handling AI mistakes: treat it like a person, ask why it happened, and fix the process, not just the output. Practical, trust-but-verify advice for any business owner using AI to scale a team without losing control of it.We would love to know what you think, so give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.🌟 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel to learn weekly expert marketing tips and ideas.If you think you have a great story for the podcast, contact our producer at [email protected].🚀 If you need help growing your business, visit cemoh.com to find an experienced marketing consultant to help you.#AIinBusiness #VirtualAssistant #BusinessAutomation #AITools #SmallBusinessTips #BusinessOperations #AIForBusiness #BusinessGrowth #MarketingPodcast #Cemoh

AI hasn't fixed bad marketing, it's just made it faster and louder. In this episode of The Cemoh Marketing Podcast, Simon Dell sits down with fractional marketer Danielle Coffin (My Marketing Makeover) to unpack why so much AI-generated marketing falls flat, and what to do about it.Danielle covers what actually counts as bad marketing versus vanity metrics, why AI amplifies weak foundations instead of fixing them, and her three-step fix: truly knowing your audience's pain points, building one clear message instead of a hundred scattered ones, and choosing the right channels instead of trying to be everywhere. Practical, foundations-first advice for any business owner or marketer trying to use AI well instead of being used by it.We would love to know what you think, so give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.🌟 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel to learn weekly expert marketing tips and ideas.If you think you have a great story for the podcast, contact our producer at [email protected].🚀 If you need help growing your business, visit cemoh.com to find an experienced marketing consultant to help you.

The first 90 days with a new client make or break a fractional CMO engagement. In this solo episode of The Fractional CMO Podcast, Simon Dell shares a six-part framework for onboarding a new client, building trust, and proving your value fast.Simon covers what a client should feel in week one, why the audit comes before the action, how to build trust with the whole team, setting the right cadence, balancing early wins with long-term strategy, and what success looks like at day 90. Practical marketing and consulting advice for anyone starting a fractional CMO role, or hiring one.We would love to know what you think, so give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.🌟 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel to learn weekly expert marketing tips and ideas.If you think you have a great story for the podcast, contact our producer at [email protected].🚀 If you need help growing your business, visit cemoh.com to find an experienced marketing consultant to help you.

In this episode of The Fractional CMO Podcast, Simon sits down with Alison Dean, fractional CMO and founder of The Peppermint Group, who has spent 20 years in marketing and brand. Alison started her career at Clemenger working with multinational brands, then founded The High Tea Party, a live event experience that brought 30,000 women through the doors every year across Australia and New Zealand before she sold it to a media company.Simon and Alison explore why human connection is the one thing you can't automate, and why it's about to become the most valuable asset any business has. They cover what 15 years of live events taught Alison about trust and warmth, why businesses lose that warmth when they scale, how AI makes everything sound the same, her 80/20 formula for using AI without losing your voice, and the simple thing founders should do on a Monday morning to get their message right. Expect scones, capsule wardrobes, and a masterclass in making customers feel seen rather than sold to.Alison's website: thepeppermintgroup.com.auConnect with Alison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisonldean/We would love to know what you think, so give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.🌟 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel to learn weekly expert marketing tips and ideas. If you think you have a great story for the podcast, contact our producer at [email protected].🚀 If you need help growing your business, visit cemoh.com to find an experienced marketing consultant to help you.