ABOUT

ABOUT

ABOUT

About Embedded

When it's too early to hire a full-time head of marketing but too late to keep winging it, a fractional CMO can help you find your voice.

Embedded helps founders and funds cut through the noise.

APPROACH

APPROACH

APPROACH

Field Notes

Field Notes

Field Notes

Competition → marketing

Early industries prioritize product development. Tech operates this way, while mature industries like CPG are largely marketing-led. As industries commoditize, standing out becomes more important. Anticipating these pressures will help you stay ahead. Signal > noise.

Quality marketing takes specialists

Not just a single generalist. Don’t think of marketing as a singular skill. Marketing has countless sub-disciplines, each with its own experts. Across product, performance, brand, and communications, you can find specialists who will materially accelerate your progress. Working directly with them keeps you agile and informed, and will drive the highest quality outcomes.

Branding is objective

Creative aspects of brand building are often considered a matter of taste. In reality, good creative performs because it reliably appeals to a specific audience, and prospects often agree on what feels credible and compelling. Brand considerations are prone to internal team preferences, but connecting with your audience is your only real measure of success. With the right inputs (strategy, research, feedback), brand building can be an empirical process instead of a guessing game.

Community is your moat

It builds trust, drives honest feedback, creates goodwill, and becomes a sticky advantage when it works. The most successful companies automate their operations, but not their relationships. Even when you’re running a developer community with hundreds of thousands of MAUs. Once a community forms, it generates network effects, and network effects are notoriously difficult to compete with.

Marketing is about focus

Good marketing isn’t just upper-funnel work like a clean website or active social channels. Sometimes your ideal customer profile warrants investing in awareness and engagement, but developing a strong sales enablement function and driving customer loyalty might drive more ROI. An informed strategy will guide your investments and build team morale.

Competition → marketing

Early industries prioritize product development. Tech operates this way, while mature industries like CPG are largely marketing-led. As industries commoditize, standing out becomes more important. Anticipating these pressures will help you stay ahead. Signal > noise.

Quality marketing takes specialists

Not just a single generalist. Don’t think of marketing as a singular skill. Marketing has countless sub-disciplines, each with its own experts. Across product, performance, brand, and communications, you can find specialists who will materially accelerate your progress. Working directly with them keeps you agile and informed, and will drive the highest quality outcomes.

Branding is objective

Creative aspects of brand building are often considered a matter of taste. In reality, good creative performs because it reliably appeals to a specific audience, and prospects often agree on what feels credible and compelling. Brand considerations are prone to internal team preferences, but connecting with your audience is your only real measure of success. With the right inputs (strategy, research, feedback), brand building can be an empirical process instead of a guessing game.

Community is your moat

It builds trust, drives honest feedback, creates goodwill, and becomes a sticky advantage when it works. The most successful companies automate their operations, but not their relationships. Even when you’re running a developer community with hundreds of thousands of MAUs. Once a community forms, it generates network effects, and network effects are notoriously difficult to compete with.

Marketing is about focus

Good marketing isn’t just upper-funnel work like a clean website or active social channels. Sometimes your ideal customer profile warrants investing in awareness and engagement, but developing a strong sales enablement function and driving customer loyalty might drive more ROI. An informed strategy will guide your investments and build team morale.

Competition → marketing

Early industries prioritize product development. Tech operates this way, while mature industries like CPG are largely marketing-led. As industries commoditize, standing out becomes more important. Anticipating these pressures will help you stay ahead. Signal > noise.

Quality marketing takes specialists

Not just a single generalist. Don’t think of marketing as a singular skill. Marketing has countless sub-disciplines, each with its own experts. Across product, performance, brand, and communications, you can find specialists who will materially accelerate your progress. Working directly with them keeps you agile and informed, and will drive the highest quality outcomes.

Branding is objective

Creative aspects of brand building are often considered a matter of taste. In reality, good creative performs because it reliably appeals to a specific audience, and prospects often agree on what feels credible and compelling. Brand considerations are prone to internal team preferences, but connecting with your audience is your only real measure of success. With the right inputs (strategy, research, feedback), brand building can be an empirical process instead of a guessing game.

Community is your moat

It builds trust, drives honest feedback, creates goodwill, and becomes a sticky advantage when it works. The most successful companies automate their operations, but not their relationships. Even when you’re running a developer community with hundreds of thousands of MAUs. Once a community forms, it generates network effects, and network effects are notoriously difficult to compete with.

Marketing is about focus

Good marketing isn’t just upper-funnel work like a clean website or active social channels. Sometimes your ideal customer profile warrants investing in awareness and engagement, but developing a strong sales enablement function and driving customer loyalty might drive more ROI. An informed strategy will guide your investments and build team morale.

CONTACT

CONTACT

CONTACT

Get in touch

With Embedded, Jaap Ruoff helps founders and funds cut through the noise. Embedded also hosts GTM Lab, an independent community of CMOs, senior operators, and GTM specialists.

To connect or get involved, send a message.