The Creative Process of Great CMOs

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Marketing Isn’t Magic—It’s Math (With Better Fonts)

Let’s get one thing straight: marketing isn’t a mystical art practiced by hoodie-wearing wizards in WeWork dungeons. It’s not about “going viral,” manifesting brand vibes, or praying to the algorithm gods. Marketing is math. It’s strategy. It’s psychology. And yes, it’s occasionally a well-placed meme. But mostly? It’s math—just with better fonts and a sassier attitude.

The Myth of the Marketing Unicorn

Somewhere along the way, we started believing that great marketing is about finding a unicorn—a single campaign that explodes, trends on Twitter, and gets you a TED Talk. Spoiler alert: unicorns aren’t real. And if your strategy depends on one, you’re not a marketer—you’re a gambler with a Canva subscription.

Real marketing is built on repeatable, scalable systems. It’s not about one big win. It’s about stacking small wins until your competitors start Googling “how to pivot to alpaca farming.”

Framework: The 3M Model (Message, Market, Math)

Here’s a framework that won’t make your eyes glaze over like a stale donut at a trade show. I call it the 3M Model:

Message: What are you saying, and why should anyone care?
Market: Who are you talking to, and what keeps them up at night?
Math: What’s the ROI, CAC, LTV, and other sexy acronyms that make your CFO smile?

Let’s break it down like a DJ at a B2B rave (yes, that’s a thing—ask Salesforce).

1. Message: Say Something Worth Hearing

If your brand message sounds like it was written by ChatGPT on NyQuil, you’ve got a problem. “Innovative solutions for modern problems” is not a message—it’s a word salad with no dressing.

Instead, get specific. Get bold. Say something that makes your audience spit out their LaCroix and say, “Wait, what?”

Example: When Slack launched, they didn’t say “team communication platform.” They said, “Be less busy.” That’s a message. That’s a vibe. That’s a mic drop.

2. Market: Know Your People (Better Than Their Therapist)

If you’re targeting “decision-makers at mid-sized companies,” congratulations—you’ve just described 40% of LinkedIn. Narrow it down. Get creepy-specific.

Ask yourself:

What do they complain about in Slack DMs?
What’s the KPI that keeps them from sleeping?
What would make them look like a genius in front of their boss?

Marketing isn’t about reaching everyone. It’s about reaching the right someone and making them feel like you read their diary.

3. Math: The Part Most Marketers Avoid Like Leg Day

Here’s the truth bomb:

“If you can’t measure it, you’re not marketing—you’re just making noise with a budget.”

Marketing math isn’t just for the finance team. It’s your secret weapon. Know your CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost). Know your LTV (Lifetime Value). Know your ROAS (Return on Ad Spend). And if you don’t know what those mean, stop reading and Google them. I’ll wait.

Still here? Good. Because when you know your numbers, you can scale with confidence. You can test, iterate, and optimize like a boss. You can walk into the boardroom and drop data like it’s hot.

Case Study: The SaaS Startup That Stopped Chasing Rainbows

One of our clients—a scrappy SaaS startup—was spending $50K/month on paid ads with no clear attribution. Their strategy? “Let’s just get our name out there.” That’s not a strategy. That’s a cry for help.

We implemented the 3M Model:

Message: We rewrote their value prop to focus on a specific pain point: “Cut your onboarding time in half—without hiring more people.”
Market: We narrowed their audience to HR managers at tech companies with 50–200 employees.
Math: We set up proper tracking, calculated CAC, and optimized campaigns based on LTV.

Result? CAC dropped by 42%, LTV increased by 28%, and the CEO stopped stress-eating protein bars in meetings. Win-win-win.

Stop Chasing Cool. Start Chasing Conversion.

Look, I get it. It’s tempting to chase the shiny stuff. The viral TikTok. The Super Bowl ad. The brand refresh with a $200K logo that looks like Helvetica on a juice cleanse.

But real marketing isn’t about being cool. It’s about being clear. It’s about being consistent. And it’s about being accountable to results.

So the next time someone says, “Let’s make something go viral,” respond with this:

“Let’s make something go profitable.”

Final Thoughts: Marketing Is a Business Function, Not a Vibe

If you want to be taken seriously in the C-suite, stop acting like marketing is a creative playground and start treating it like a growth engine. That means frameworks. That means metrics. That means strategy with a capital S.

And yes, it also means better fonts. Because if we’re going to do math, we might as well look good doing it.