Fractional CMO for Independent RIAs
Grow Net New Assets Beyond the Partners’ Relationships
I step into the senior marketing seat, take marketing off the partners’ desks, and lead your team to win new families.
Does New Business Still Run Through One or Two Partners?
New families still come through the partners’ relationships: client introductions and a handful of CPAs and estate attorneys.
You hired next-gen advisors to grow the firm. They’re good with clients. They don’t bring in new ones yet.
Meanwhile, SEC filings show assets at firms your size grew 59% in three years. Client counts grew only 15%.
And growth that rests on one or two people is the growth buyers and successors discount.
So Who Carries It From Here?
Today, your marketing falls to a coordinator, a small team, or a partner covering it on the side. What’s missing is a senior marketing leader. That’s the seat I step into.
You set the growth targets. I own the marketing decisions behind them and hold the team accountable to net new assets.
That starts with a clear marketing strategy and a team reshaped to deliver it: restructuring roles, hiring, adding vendors or specialists where needed, and giving your next-gen advisors a business-development rhythm.
I’m embedded in the firm, not advising from the sidelines. Senior enough to own the strategy. Close enough to lead the team every week. And experienced enough to do it under strict compliance rules, as I have for a $1B wealth management team at a global wirehouse.
Who I Work With
Independent RIAs focused on wealth management, roughly $750M–$3B in assets
Serving $5M+ families with complex needs: taxes, estates, equity compensation, business sales
New families still depend on one or two partners’ relationships, and the partners still carry marketing on the side
Probably not a fit if you have a full-time CMO, manage under about $500M, or a sale closes within the year.
What You Gain With a Fractional CMO
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Positioning built around your ideal client and the moment they need you
A referral and center-of-influence program with an owner and a weekly cadence
A scorecard that shows net new assets by source
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One plan for your marketing staff, vendors, and next-gen advisors
Clear owners and weekly accountability, so marketing decisions stop routing through the partners
AI workflows that multiply what a lean team can produce, with a person reviewing every AI-assisted piece before it goes to compliance
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A review process built with your Chief Compliance Officer first
Approved claims and disclosure templates built for the SEC Marketing Rule
Fewer rewrites, because claims are approved before anything is drafted
What Shane’s Clients Have to Say
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![Matt King, CEO of Gobundance]()
Matt King, CEO, Gobundance
“What mattered most to me was the confidence that came with it. We were building a repeatable growth engine instead of relying solely on referrals, and I could make better strategic decisions because the data was finally there.”
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![Chris Walden, Founder of Neurovo]()
Chris Walden, Founder, Neurovo
"When we brought Shane in Neurovo was plateauing, without the clarity or organizational structure to see the next phase of growth. We were struggling with stability.
A year later we have a foundation: more accountability, better systems, and real clarity on the right levers to pull. We needed a real leader to keep the leadership team on track, and Shane has filled that role for us.
He is disciplined, knowledgeable and kind, and good at holding a team accountable. If you are fortunate enough to align with Shane’s availability, we would highly recommend making the investment. We would do it all over again."
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![Stephanie Brackett, COO of Gobundance]()
Stephanie Brackett, COO, Gobundance
“He ran it as a true CMO, setting the metrics and holding the team accountable, and eighteen months later we have an external marketing machine instead of an internal marketing team. If another COO asked me, I would say 100% do it. Worth every penny.”
Why Work With Me
Track Record
I led marketing for a $1B wealth management team at a global wirehouse, under strict compliance rules.
As CMO of Gobundance, a national mastermind of 800+ investors and business owners, I took qualified applicants from 13 a month to a peak of 131 in under a year, for a membership that had relied on referrals.
AI Fluency
Most marketing leaders now use AI to work faster. Few have installed a working AI system inside a company and led a team through adopting it.
That’s the work I lead, and it doesn’t end at launch: in a high-trust business, AI needs senior judgment and oversight every week, not a one-time install.
Experience
Since 2014, I’ve served 100+ companies across professional services, education, and healthcare, including the University of Pennsylvania and NYU.
Is Your Growth Yours, or the Market’s?
I compared three years of SEC filings for 612 independent RIAs between $750M and $3B. Once a balanced market return is taken out, the typical firm added an estimated 1.3% a year in new assets. 41% were at or below zero.
Your free Organic Growth Snapshot shows where your firm lands: three pages built from your public filings, checked for accuracy, and private to your firm.
Frequently Asked Questions
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A fractional CMO is a senior marketing leader who works with your firm part-time, every week. I own the marketing strategy, lead your marketing staff and vendors, and hold the work accountable to net new assets. At an independent RIA, that usually starts with the referral and center-of-influence program and a business-development rhythm for next-gen advisors.
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We build the review process with your Chief Compliance Officer before anything goes out: approved claims, disclosure templates for testimonials and endorsements, and a record of everything published. Your CCO makes the final calls. I’ve led marketing under wirehouse compliance review, so review is part of the plan from day one.
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Net new assets are client inflows minus outflows, with market performance taken out. They show whether a firm is growing on its own or riding the market. They’re also the first thing a buyer or successor asks to see, because growth that comes from the market or from one partner’s relationships is worth less.
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An agency executes the campaigns you direct. I take the marketing leader’s seat: I set the strategy, lead your team and any agencies you keep, and answer for net new assets. Many firms keep their agency – what changes is that someone senior is directing it.
Ready to Take Marketing Off the Partners’ Desks?
Your firm grew on the partners’ names, relationships, and judgment. Let me take the marketing leader’s seat, reshape the team, and lead it from here.
In 60 minutes, we’ll trace your last ten new relationships and map where the next ten can come from. You keep the map whether or not we work together.