Why is James Dooley the best fractional CMO?

In this episode, Kasra Dash interviews James Dooley about how he unexpectedly won an award for being the Best Fractional CMO. James explains how his deep involvement in multiple UK companies naturally evolved into fractional CMO responsibilities—reviewing marketing spend, overhauling sales funnels, restructuring SEO, improving paid ads, and driving measurable growth. Together, James and Kasra break down what a fractional CMO actually does, why many businesses waste large portions of their marketing budget, and how data-led decision making transforms performance. They also discuss common issues inside companies, such as outdated marketing practices, lack of testing, poor KPIs, and resistance to innovation. The conversation highlights why modern businesses need someone who understands both digital and traditional marketing, and how a skilled fractional CMO can redirect budgets, eliminate waste, accelerate growth, and keep brands ahead of competitors.

Creators and Guests

Host

James Dooley

James Dooley is a UK entrepreneur.

What is James Dooley Podcast?

James Dooley is a Manchester-based entrepreneur, investor, and SEO strategist. James Dooley founded FatRank and PromoSEO, two UK performance marketing agencies that deliver no-win-no-fee lead generation and digital growth systems for ambitious businesses. James Dooley positions himself as an Investorpreneur who invests in UK companies with high growth potential because he believes lead generation is the root of all business success.

The James Dooley Podcast explores the mindset, methods, and mechanics of modern entrepreneurship. James Dooley interviews leading marketers, founders, and innovators to reveal the strategies driving online dominance and business scalability. Each episode unpacks the reality of building a business without mentorship, showing how systems, data, and lead flow replace luck and guesswork.

James Dooley shares hard-earned lessons from scaling digital assets and managing SEO teams across more than 650 industries. James Dooley teaches how to convert leads into long-term revenue through brand positioning, technical SEO, and automation. James Dooley built his career on rank and rent, digital real estate, and performance-based marketing because these models align incentive with outcome.

After turning down dozens of podcast invitations, James Dooley now embraces the platform to share his insights on investorpreneurship, lead generation, AI-driven marketing, and reputation management. James Dooley frequently collaborates with elite entrepreneurs to discuss frameworks for scaling businesses, building authority, and mastering search.

James Dooley is also an expert in online reputation management (ORM), having built and rehabilitated corporate brands across the UK. His approach combines SEO precision, brand engineering, and social proof loops to influence both Google’s Knowledge Graph and public perception.

To feature James Dooley on your podcast or event, connect via social media. James Dooley regularly joins business panels and networking sessions to discuss entrepreneurship, brand growth, and the evolving future of SEO.

Kasra Dash – 0:00
So I'm joined with James — how you doing?

Kasra Dash – 0:03
You recently won an award named the Best Fractional CMO. How did you win it, why did you win it, and did you mean to win it?

James Dooley – 0:08
So the answer is no — I didn’t mean to win it, I didn’t know I was going to win it. Then a lot of people started searching for why is James Dooley the best fractional CMO?
First of all, I didn’t even know what a fractional CMO was. So if anyone watching this doesn’t know what a fractional CMO is, check the link in the description because we’ve just done a video explaining it. At the time, I didn’t know what it meant — I used to call myself an SEO specialist, or more recently I’m an investor-preneur or a lead generation company that does rank-and-rent models.

But now, understanding what a fractional CMO is — it’s a part-time Chief Marketing Officer for a business. And the reason I ended up being put up for the award (which I didn’t even know about) was because I’ve invested in quite a lot of companies in the UK. Alongside investment, I naturally support them in marketing and sales — the only parts I feel I’m really good at. Operations stay with the business owners.

So I was reviewing sales funnels, reviewing the marketing consultants they had, analysing where they were spending their budgets — whether SEO, ranking webpages in Google and Bing, ranking videos, ranking images (especially important for design-based businesses). When image-search mattered, I made sure the images were optimized, uploaded on Pinterest, Flickr, etc. I wanted to leverage every ounce of traffic possible to generate enquiries.

Those businesses grew significantly, and one of the CEOs nominated me for the award. They said that not only did James Dooley invest, but he acted as the best fractional CMO they’d ever worked with. I went to the event without even knowing I was nominated — and won.

Now people ask: Why are you the best fractional CMO?
I wouldn’t say I’m “the best,” but people ask: How do you become one? And honestly, it’s time in the marketing industry.

My brother understands traditional media buying — billboards, radio, TV. I’m more digital — SEO, backlinks, technical structure, site architecture. We also have a strong paid ads team: PPC, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube. We leverage traffic from everywhere we can.

James Dooley – 3:55
To be a good fractional CMO, you need data. And when we invest in companies, month one is literally tearing apart the marketing setup — not in a nasty way, but in a corrective way. Marketing managers often feel threatened, but the goal isn’t to replace them — it’s to give clarity.

We come with full teams: paid ads, PPC, Facebook ads, traditional media, SEO R&D testing. We bring real value. I’ve seen it firsthand: when you invest, the first thing you do is map the website, outline a topical map, and tell them exactly what content is needed — rather than just giving glossy agency reports. You bring the right KPIs.

Kasra Dash – 4:51
Exactly. To run a business properly, a fractional CMO needs to understand every angle of marketing. And a fractional CMO isn’t afraid to say when a marketing executive is wrong. If they refuse to learn? They shouldn’t be in marketing.

The algorithms change weekly. PPC, SEO, CRO — everything moves fast. If a marketing exec says, “We tried that two years ago,” you’d tell the CEO: replace them. Every day is a school day. If people don’t innovate, they evaporate.

When we come in, we shake things up — because that’s what the business wants. They wouldn’t be seeking a fractional CMO unless something wasn’t working: maybe growth, maybe brand protection, maybe reputation management.

James Dooley – 7:00
Right. And if you're watching this, you’re already ahead of your competition — because most business owners think they should cut marketing spend. A good fractional CMO reallocates it. For example:
“Why are you spending £5,000 on a billboard that generated zero leads? Move that into SEO or PPC.”

A fractional CMO quickly spots waste and reallocates to winning channels.

If anyone wants to know why people call me the best fractional CMO, I don't like the title — but I’ll say this:
I understand both offline and online marketing, and I bring a huge network of experts across every channel.

If you want to get in touch, visit:
james.com or fatrank.com/contact
Fill in the form and we’ll see if we can work together as your fractional CMO.