CMOs Without Borders
CMOs Without Borders
Podcast Description
Welcome to CMOs Without Borders — the podcast where two seasoned marketing leaders with decades of experience from opposite sides of the border cut through the noise and get real about what actually drives growth in financial services.
Hosted by fractional CMOs Joel Crampton, founder of CMO/Alpha (U.S.), and Mandy MacPhee, founder of illumination (Canada), this show explores the strategic marketing moves that help RIAs, fintechs, credit unions, and financial brands thrive — regardless of size, structure, or postal code.
We bring different lenses to the mic: U.S. vs. Canada, Fintech vs. Institutional, Independent firms vs. Enterprise marketing
But we’re united by one mission: helping you build a smarter, more strategic marketing function that actually drives results — not just more activity.
Each episode delivers candid conversations, real-world examples, and field-tested insights to help you:
- Align your marketing with business goals
- Outperform the competition without wasting time or budget
- Gain the clarity and confidence to lead — or delegate — marketing that works
If you’re a financial advisor, fintech founder, credit union exec, or marketing leader in the financial space, this is your “no-fluff, behind-the-scenes look” at what works — and what doesn’t.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The show focuses on driving growth in financial services, covering topics such as strategic marketing alignment, competition analysis, and marketing plan failures. Episodes include deep dives into real-world case studies, such as the analysis of why most financial services marketing plans fail and actionable frameworks like the 'Three C’s' for resilient marketing.
Welcome to CMOs Without Borders — the podcast where two seasoned marketing leaders with decades of experience from opposite sides of the border cut through the noise and get real about what actually drives growth in financial services.
Hosted by fractional CMOs Joel Crampton, founder of CMO/Alpha (U.S.), and Mandy MacPhee, founder of illumination (Canada), this show explores the strategic marketing moves that help RIAs, fintechs, credit unions, and financial brands thrive — regardless of size, structure, or postal code.
We bring different lenses to the mic: U.S. vs. Canada, Fintech vs. Institutional, Independent firms vs. Enterprise marketing
But we’re united by one mission: helping you build a smarter, more strategic marketing function that actually drives results — not just more activity.
Each episode delivers candid conversations, real-world examples, and field-tested insights to help you:
– Align your marketing with business goals
– Outperform the competition without wasting time or budget
– Gain the clarity and confidence to lead — or delegate — marketing that works
If you’re a financial advisor, fintech founder, credit union exec, or marketing leader in the financial space, this is your “no-fluff, behind-the-scenes look” at what works — and what doesn’t.
Trust happens because you show up the same way, meeting after meeting, until people just assume otherwise.
In this episode, Joel Crampton and Mandy MacPhee sit down with Marc Shaffer, CFP and Principal at Searcy Financial Services and Allos Investment Advisors, to talk about what 20 years in the business has taught him about earning trust on purpose. Marc lays out a career built less on sales tactics and more on consistency, delegation, and showing people you actually listened, from why he wrote “One For All,” to how compliance makes AI adoption slower in financial planning than other industries.
Key Takeaways
Trust is a system, not a personality trait.
Marc has built his practice around consistency: following up, delivering small promises and keeping checks in place so nothing slips through the cracks. Trust comes from doing what you said you’d do, every time.
A book is content you can mine for years.
Writing One For All gave Marc a well of material he’s still pulling from, one blog post a week, long after the manuscript was finished. He didn’t enjoy writing it, but the ripple effect, the SEO, strangers reaching out, kept him going back for more.
Podcasting builds familiarity before the first meeting.
Marc’s show started as an accountability project with a friend, nothing more. But people now show up to meetings already feeling like they know him, from listening on the drive over.
AI is useful, but compliance keeps advisors cautious.
Marc’s firm is mid-transition from ChatGPT to Copilot, which syncs securely with email and calendar data. He’s candid that compliance fears make advisors slower to adopt new tools.
Delegation is what lets relationships scale.
As his business grew, Marc leaned harder into relationship building and handed off technical planning to people better suited to it. Trust scales by the right people doing what they do best.
Events don’t need to be big to work.
A pizza party, a lunch for 10, a client appreciation night, none of it is meant to generate business, but it does. Marc’s take: don’t wait for a 100-person event. Eight people still works.
For Founders, RIAs, and Growth-Focused Firms
Marc’s story reminds us that visibility doesn’t need a perfect strategy. A book, a podcast, a coffee meeting followed up on properly, they all feed each other, and none of it works without follow-through.
Connect with Marc Shaffer
Marc Shaffer, CFP®, AIF®, EA — Searcy Financial Services & Allos Investment Advisors
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcshaffer/
searcyfinancial.com
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FRNNW3Y8/
https://searcyfinancial.com/oneforall
Connect with the Hosts
Joel Crampton — Fractional CMO for RIAs and Wealth Managers
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelcrampton/
cmoalpha.com
Mandy MacPhee — Fractional CMO for Founder-Led Companies
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mandymacphee/
illuminationcmo.com
Disclaimer
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