Oklahoma City has lived through more than one oil bust, including the 1980s collapse that closed Penn Square Bank and emptied downtown. The city answered with a penny sales tax called MAPS that paid for Bricktown, the arena, the streetcar, and Scissortail Park, and its economy is far broader today. Tinker Air Force Base is the largest single site employer in Oklahoma. The FAA trains every new air traffic controller at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center. Paycom and Love's are headquartered here next to Devon Energy. Yet many local companies still earn most of their revenue from customers whose budgets rise and fall with the price of crude.
Hiring a fractional CMO in Oklahoma City costs about $3,000 to $13,000 per month for part-time senior marketing leadership, compared with $180,000 to $285,000 a year in total pay for a full-time CMO. Typical clients earn $3M to $60M and want a second or third customer base that is not tied to energy.
Most energy service companies already have skills that other industries pay for: machining, fabrication, field service, safety programs, logistics, and software for remote equipment. What they lack is a way to be seen by those new buyers. A machine shop known to every operator in the SCOOP and STACK plays is unknown to an aircraft maintenance planner at Tinker. Diversifying means picking one adjacent market, rewriting the story for it, earning the certifications it requires, and building relationships before the next downturn arrives.
| Current strength | Adjacent market | What it requires |
|---|---|---|
| Precision machining | Aircraft maintenance and repair | AS9100, past performance, base contacts |
| Field service crews | Utilities, wind, and solar | Safety records, utility vendor lists |
| Fleet and logistics | Distribution along I-35 and I-40 | Lane data, service levels, shipper references |
| Data and software | Other remote asset industries | Case studies outside oil and gas |
The Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex at Tinker overhauls engines and airframes for aircraft such as the KC-135, B-1, and B-52, and Boeing, contractors, and parts suppliers have grown around it. Selling into that work follows federal rules and long timelines. Companies win by registering properly, presenting relevant past work, and getting known to the planners and prime contractors who decide which suppliers are invited to bid.
OU Health, INTEGRIS, and Mercy anchor a large medical economy, and growth in Edmond, Moore, Yukon, Mustang, and Norman keeps demand rising for clinics, home services, and builders. These businesses compete on reviews, local search, and referrals, which gives them steadier revenue than energy but asks for a different set of skills.
| Option | Typical cost | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| Fractional CMO | $3,000 to $13,000/mo | Moving into a market outside energy |
| Full-time CMO (total comp) | $180,000 to $285,000/yr | A marketing team is ready for a leader |
| Diversification plan | $2,500 to $7,000 | Choosing which adjacent market to enter first |
Details on pricing are in the cost guide.
Engagements are mostly remote, with planning days in Oklahoma City, Edmond, Norman, Moore, Midwest City, Yukon, Mustang, and Shawnee. Related markets are covered on the Dallas Fort Worth, Wichita, and Kansas pages.
In Oklahoma, mineral rights are often owned separately from the land above them, and the people who own the oil and gas under a section are often heirs scattered across the country who have never seen the property. Many companies in Oklahoma City serve them: firms that buy minerals and royalties, mineral managers, landmen, title and probate attorneys, accountants who handle royalty income, and software for tracking division orders and checks. These owners receive frequent unsolicited offers in the mail, and many have learned to distrust them. The firms that do well treat the owner as someone who deserves to understand what they own before they are asked to decide anything.
| Owner situation | What they want to know | What earns trust |
|---|---|---|
| Just inherited an interest | What it is, what it pays and what to do first | Plain explanations of probate, division orders and the check stub |
| Received a purchase offer | Whether the price is fair | Showing how the offer was valued and encouraging a second opinion |
| Wells being drilled nearby | How a lease or pooling order affects them | Neutral guides to the Corporation Commission process |
| Managing many small interests | How to keep track without spending a weekend on it | Simple reporting and a person who answers questions |
Publish guides that help an owner understand the asset, answer questions without pressure and make it easy to check the numbers elsewhere. The Tulsa page covers the state's other big metro, the Wyoming page covers another state built on energy and minerals, and the Oklahoma page covers the rest of the state.
Every June, the eight best college softball teams in the country come to Oklahoma City for the Women's College World Series. The tournament has been played at the stadium now known as Devon Park, next to the USA Softball Hall of Fame near the Adventure District, almost every year since 1990, and its growth has followed the sport's. Crowds, television audiences and ticket demand have all risen, and the stadium has been expanded to keep up. For the city, that means more than a week of sellout sessions. Fans travel from the home states of every team, families plan vacations around it, and youth softball players come to watch the athletes they hope to become. Hotels, restaurants, bars, sports retailers and transport services see the demand directly, and so do the businesses that serve the wider softball world, from travel ball organizations and training facilities to equipment and apparel brands. The difficulty is that the field changes each year. A business does not know which fan bases are coming until the super regionals finish, a few days before the first pitch, so the marketing has to be ready before the teams are.
| Business | What tournament week brings | How to prepare |
|---|---|---|
| Hotels and short term rentals | Fan bases arriving on short notice | Offers ready to aim at each school once the field is set |
| Restaurants and bars | Crowds between sessions and after night games | Hours, seating and a watch party plan |
| Sports retail and apparel | Young players and parents buying gear | Inventory and displays planned months ahead |
| Travel ball and training | Families who live the sport all year | Camps and clinics promoted while interest is high |
Build the offers in spring, aim them at the qualifying schools the moment the field is known, and keep the families who came. The Tulsa page covers Green Country, the Wichita page covers the plains to the north, and the Oklahoma page covers the state.
A stretch of the North Canadian River through the middle of Oklahoma City was turned into a calm, controlled course and renamed the Oklahoma River. The Boathouse District along its banks now holds university and club boathouses, a whitewater center built by Riversport, and a course that has been designated an Olympic and Paralympic training site. Los Angeles organizers chose Oklahoma City to host canoe slalom at the 2028 Games, alongside softball. Even before then, the river brings a steady flow of visitors with very specific needs: college crews and high school teams arriving for fall head races and spring sprints, masters rowers who travel to compete, paddlers training on the whitewater channel, and the parents who follow them. Teams travel with long boat trailers, arrive the night before, eat early and in large groups, and leave right after the last race. Coaches and team managers make the booking decisions, often a season ahead, and they compare notes with other programs. Hotels, restaurants, physical therapists, boat repair shops and team travel planners that understand this calendar can fill rooms and tables on weekends that would otherwise be quiet.
| Visitor | What they need | Who wins the booking |
|---|---|---|
| College or high school crew | Trailer parking, group rooms, early team meals | The team manager or coach, months ahead |
| Masters rower | A short stay close to the course | The athlete, guided by club members |
| Whitewater paddler in training | Longer stays, recovery care, gear repair | The athlete and the coaching staff |
| Family following an athlete | Somewhere to eat and something to do between races | Parents planning from out of state |
One good team weekend becomes a standing reservation. The Tulsa page covers the state's second metro, the Oklahoma page covers the rest of the state, and the Kansas page covers the state to the north.
Expect $3,000 to $13,000 a month, depending on hours and scope. A full-time CMO in Oklahoma City costs about $180,000 to $285,000 a year once bonus and benefits are counted. Energy companies exploring new markets often start with a $2,500 to $7,000 diversification plan, then continue monthly to build the messaging, certifications, and relationships it calls for.
Start with one adjacent market that values skills the company already has, such as aircraft maintenance for a machine shop or utility work for a field service crew. Rewrite the company story for that buyer, earn the certifications they require, and build relationships before a downturn forces the move. Trying to enter several new markets at once usually spreads the effort too thin.
Yes. Suppliers to the air logistics complex and its prime contractors need proper registration, documented past performance, quality certifications, and contacts with the planners who shape upcoming work. The engagement builds those assets, tracks opportunities, and helps the company present relevant experience in the terms that federal and prime contractor evaluators use.
When prices are high and cash is available. Building a new customer base takes a year or more of relationship work, certifications, and proof. Companies that wait until a downturn are forced to sell into a new market without the time or budget to do it well, which is why the strongest Oklahoma City firms invest in diversification during good years.
By educating before it offers. Many owners inherited small interests, live out of state and receive frequent unsolicited purchase letters, so trust is the scarce thing. Publish plain guides to division orders, check stubs, probate and pooling before the Corporation Commission, explain how any offer was valued, and encourage owners to get a second opinion. Answer questions without pressure, and the owner who is ready to sell or hire a manager will call the firm that helped first.
Prepare in the spring and launch the moment the field is set. The Women's College World Series brings eight teams and their fans to Devon Park each June, but those teams are confirmed only days before play begins. Have offers, hours and inventory ready ahead of time, then aim messages at the fan bases of the qualifying schools as soon as the super regionals finish, and follow up with the families and young players who came so they return.
Market to the people who book the trip. Coaches and team managers plan travel to Oklahoma River regattas and whitewater training a season ahead, and they share recommendations with other programs. Offer trailer parking, group rates, early team meals and a quick checkout after the last race, and publish the regatta calendar on your site. Reach out directly to visiting programs before each season, then follow up after the event so a good weekend turns into a booking next year.
MarkCMO provides the strategy and the roadmap, and then delivers it across three tiers, so you get direction and execution from one team instead of handing a deck to someone else to build.
Fractional CMO and COO leadership: strategy, positioning, go-to-market, and the roadmap that sets the direction.
Running the function day to day: managing teams, vendors, budgets, and the operating cadence that keeps the plan on track.
Hands-on delivery: marketing execution, software development, tech-stack build and integration, plus finance and operations support, everything a business needs to scale.
From tech to marketing to finance, strategy through execution, MarkCMO can lead it, manage it, and build it.
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