Case studies
What ongoing leadership produces.
Every engagement is different, so every story is too. Some businesses need one or two tactics executed with rigor. Others need the full LEAD Method, sometimes with more than one fractional leader in the room. Client names are kept private. The work, and the results, speak for themselves.
Trades · Tire shop, Chicago · Local SEO + GBP + Website
Eighty years in business. Never needed marketing. Until they did.
The situation
Eight decades built on reputation and repeat customers, until newer competitors with sharper digital strategies began eclipsing them in local search. Calls had dropped 50% year over year. By the time they came to me the profile was still sliding: 45 calls that month, down 31%, with profile views down 19%, and every top search term was branded, only people who already knew them. No one new was finding them.
How I'm leading it
I sequenced Google Business Profile optimization, citation cleanup, and off-page SEO ahead of the new website, so the foundation was already paying off before the site even launched. I designed and launched the new site myself, built SEO-forward from the ground up.
What's showing so far
New customers are finding them for the first time, and the momentum is still building.
By month two, still with no website, calls rose another 10%, directions requests 20%, and total interactions climbed from 210 to 240. After the website launched in month three: commercial tire service ranked #1 on Google Maps, flat tire repair moved from #19 to #3, fleet tire service from unranked to #3, and truck tire repair to #2 in organic search, all within days.
Nonprofit & education · Two affiliated organizations, Chicago
They built the category. The LEAD Method is rebuilding what's underneath it.
The situation
This organization, Business #1 and its affiliated Business #2, pioneered its category and built a reputation families trusted. Then well-funded, venture-backed competitors entered the space and invested heavily in marketing. Visibility had never had to compete before, and critical processes, like family intake, lived in one person's head with no system behind them.
The levers I pulled
The full LEAD Method, running across both organizations.
Landscape: Assessed goals, budget, and team capacity across both organizations.
Evaluate: Full competitive analysis and SWOT analysis for both Business #1 and Business #2.
Activate: Scoped a full website rebuild and sourced vendors; built a complete wireframe for the first site, with the second underway. Local SEO program initiated for both organizations. CRM vetted and implemented, with a family intake protocol built around it.
Direct: Pending. Execution oversight and performance reporting begin once Activate closes out.
The result
Landscape, Evaluate, and Activate are done or underway across both organizations. Visibility work is already showing real, separately-tracked movement for each. This is a seven-week update; Direct-phase results to follow as execution begins.
Fractional CHRO and COO partners are engaged alongside this work on people and operations, coordinating with the LEAD Method wherever the two overlap.
Hospitality & membership · Social membership club, Chicago (two locations)
A strong concept leaning on one revenue channel, and one founder carrying all of it.
The situation
The concept was strong, but the business ran on a single revenue channel, and nearly all of the responsibility was falling on the founder. The brand identity was unclear and the voice wasn't landing. Real opportunities in offers, pricing, partnerships, and advertising sat untapped, and there was no one holding the marketing function together while the founder ran everything else.
The levers I pulled
Fractional CMO leadership: sharpened brand identity and voice, a messaging strategy, new thinking on offers and pricing, Local SEO, citation building, and off-page SEO at the original location and again for the second location from its October opening, paid social used opportunistically, and structured preparation for the first hire.
The result
A brand that sounded like the founder's vision instead of a generic membership playbook, a clear path to revenue beyond one channel, weight lifted off the founder, and strong local rankings holding steady across both locations, backed by a full year of growth in leads and search visibility since the SEO program began.
Health & wellness · Concierge and functional medicine, Chicago suburbs
Two failed marketing investments before us. Here's what we built, and what held.
The situation
Two prior investments had failed her. A web developer outsourced the project abroad without disclosure; the result was unusable. An ad campaign drove high-volume clicks with almost no fit to the ideal patient. She arrived with a digital footprint near zero, two citations to her name, no local presence, and a positioning problem running through every surface of the practice.
The levers I pulled
Citation building, off-page SEO, Google Maps optimization, a strategic blueprint, patient-segment definition, competitive analysis, an aligned ad campaign, and monthly performance reporting.
The result
A foundation that took hold fast and held, with category-defining rankings across the services that matter most to the practice.
Across service lines, medical weight loss and aesthetics held #2 and #3 on Maps, hormone replacement therapy ranked #2 organically, and Botox held #1 organic throughout, with one priority term climbing six organic positions in a single month.
A later site redesign, made by an outside vendor with no visibility into the strategy, stripped location signals and disrupted on-page rankings. I identified the cause, documented it, and issued a recovery plan; positions are trending back up. Under a full fractional CMO engagement, that change would have been coordinated and the rankings protected. The foundation held. The lesson was clear.
Trades · Concrete contractor, Chicago
Zero online presence. Ten months later, a business that runs on inbound.
The situation
A family-owned concrete business with excellent work and a loyal customer base built entirely on word of mouth, but no website, no local search presence, and a 34-follower Instagram account to their name. Competitors with weaker reputations were outranking them, and there was nowhere to send interest even if it came.
The levers I pulled
Google Business Profile optimization came first, claimed and fully built out before anything else. From there: a full website and a dedicated landing page, built before a dollar of paid traffic ran, then local SEO to keep the foundation earning attention long after ad spend stopped, and an AI web chat added later that now converts visitors into detailed, ready-to-quote leads: dimensions, materials, timelines, not just a name and a number.
The result
In ten months, a family business with zero digital footprint built a steady, month-over-month flow of leads and calls, a foundation that keeps producing whether or not ads are running.
Home & lifestyle services · Pet grooming and self-wash, Chicago
A new shop, an unclaimed profile, and 13 keywords at #1, all before there was even a website.
The situation
A new shop with strong word of mouth but no local search presence and an unclaimed, incomplete GBP profile. New pet owners searching nearby were finding competitors first.
The levers I pulled
Local SEO, GBP optimization, and a simple, repeatable review strategy, a deliberately small, high-impact set, all organic, no ads, and no website for the first seven months.
The result
Rankings climbed to dominant local positions on GBP and local SEO alone. The owner put up a simple microsite seven months in, well after the rankings were already won, and the momentum has held steady since.
Operator credibility · Indoor playspace, pre-launch
She didn't find a consultant. She found an operator whose work spoke for itself.
The situation
An entrepreneur preparing to open an indoor playspace had a vision and a location, and needed someone who had already solved the problems she was about to face, not a generalist with a framework. She found Jessica online, and flew to Chicago to learn from her before launch.
The levers I pulled
Pre-launch strategy, business-plan review, pricing structure, space and capacity planning, party programming, customer experience, and the kind of guidance only an operator who has run the same business can give.
The result
A successful launch with a clear plan, defined pricing, and a differentiated experience built in from day one. The parent-lounge concept refined in our work became central to the business. She went on to build a thriving playspace, then became a leading consultant in the industry herself.
New engagements are added here as results mature. Specific client names are kept private; the work and the numbers speak for themselves.
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