Leveraging a Fractional CMO to drive GTM Growth

Executive Summary

Hubstaff, double-digit high growth start-up and a leader in global time tracking software, partnered with TMarketers to address critical marketing challenges and build a scalable growth strategy. With a focus on optimizing the go-to-market (GTM) approach, restructuring the marketing team, and enhancing paid media and SEO efforts, TMarketers delivered transformative results. Key achievements included a 35% increase in sales-assisted leads, a 166% improvement in ROAS, and a 33% growth in non-brand search impressions. These efforts culminated in the successful hiring of a senior marketing leadership team to sustain long-term growth.

Company Background

Hubstaff, a 130 employee organization provides time tracking, productivity monitoring, and workforce management tools to remote teams and organizations worldwide. As a fast-growing SaaS company, Hubstaff faced challenges scaling its marketing to align with its growth trajectory.

Challenges

Hubstaff’s marketing challenges included:

  • A lack of scalability in the marketing strategy, which relied heavily on brand content marketing. With an over reliance on less measurable demand creation activities.

  • Suboptimal performance in paid media channels, limiting ROI. Inexperienced internal team, learning how to manage paid. Putting role development above achieving high results.

  • Missed opportunities in organic growth due to a deprioritized SEO strategy.

  • Inefficiencies in aligning marketing and sales, hindering the effectiveness of lead generation.

  • The absence of senior marketing leadership to drive a clear, focused GTM strategy.

“Partnering with TMarketers was transformative for Hubstaff. Their clear strategic blueprint and execution not only

delivered measurable results but also positioned us for long-term success by helping us build the

right leadership team. The results speak for themselves.”

Jared Brown,

CEO, Hubstaff

Solution

TMarketers, led by Fractional CMO Kevin O'Malley, implemented a comprehensive approach:

  • Marketing Strategy Findings and Recommendations: Conducted a full reassessment of Hubstaff’s marketing strategy, delivering findings and actionable recommendations.

  • GTM Reset: Shifted Hubstaff’s GTM approach to balance Product-Led Growth (PLG) and Sales-Assisted models, enabling scalable customer acquisition.

  • Team Restructuring: Reorganized the marketing team to prioritize growth and performance marketing over brand content marketing.

  • Paid Media Expansion: Expanded paid media spend 3X through agency partnerships and optimized campaign strategies, achieving a ROAS improvement from 1.2 to 3.2.

  • SEO Optimization: Refocused SEO and content strategy on organic performance, increasing non-brand search impressions from 6M to 8M.

  • Leadership Transformation: Supported the hiring of a full-time Senior VP of Marketing and Senior Director of Demand Generation to scale and sustain progress.

Implementation

Led by the alignment of Mission Critical Priorities and operating in two-week agile sprints, TMarketers ensured rapid iteration and alignment with Hubstaff’s goals. Key actions included:

  • Conducting detailed audits of GTM motions and channels such as paid media and SEO performance.

  • Partnering with external agencies to optimize paid campaigns for higher-value markets.

  • Enhancing collaboration between marketing and sales to boost lead conversion rates.

  • Building a strategic blueprint for long-term growth, leading to the hiring of senior marketing leaders.

Results

The engagement delivered the following outcomes:

  • Increased Sales-Assisted Leads: Achieved a 35% increase in sales-assisted leads through refined CRO strategies and improved marketing-sales alignment.

  • Improved Paid Media Performance: Reallocated ad spend to focus on higher-value markets, boosting ROAS from 1.2 to 3.2.

  • Enhanced SEO Results: Improved non-brand search impressions from 6M to 8M through a restructured content and SEO strategy.

  • Strategic Scalability: Successfully hired a Senior VP of Marketing and Senior Director of Demand Generation to scale and sustain the marketing function.

“I had the pleasure of working alongside Kevin for 7 months when I came in as the new SVP of Marketing for Hubstaff …

Kevin helped onboard me and get me up to speed, allowing me to accelerate my impact and prioritize the big rocks

I needed to focus on to take Hubstaff to the next level. ”

Alex Schutte,

SVP, Marketing at Hubstaff

Conclusion

Hubstaff’s nearly two-year engagement with TMarketers demonstrates the power of leveraging a Fractional CMO to achieve rapid results while building a foundation for sustainable growth. By resetting the GTM strategy, restructuring the team, and delivering measurable improvements across paid media and SEO, TMarketers empowered Hubstaff to scale efficiently and effectively.