Brian Fidler

Brian Fidler is a fractional CMO who helps $5M–$50M businesses get executive marketing leadership — and practical AI integration — without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire. With 25+ years in marketing and digital, Brian steps in as the senior marketing leader your business needs: setting strategy, guiding the team you already have, and building the systems that turn marketing into a predictable growth engine. The focus is on what moves the number — demand generation, AI-enabled marketing operations, content systems, and consolidating a bloated marketing tech stack into something that actually gets used. AI is where most mid-market teams are stuck between hype and "where do we start?" Brian closes that gap by integrating AI into the workflows your team runs every day — not bolting on tools no one touches. The result is more output, better targeting, and measurable growth your leadership team can see. WHO THIS IS FOR • Founders and CEOs ($5M–$20M) who need marketing leadership but not a full-time salary • VPs of Sales and CROs ($10M–$50M) who need pipeline and lead quality, not activity • Marketing directors who need senior strategy and AI guidance to level up their team • Regional and Southwest business owners who value in-market understanding HOW TO START • AI Readiness Diagnostic ($1,500, one-time) — a clear-eyed assessment of where AI can drive growth in your marketing • Ongoing fractional CMO retainers — embedded leadership, monthly Phoenix-based, serving clients across the Southwest and nationally. Design and development build work is delivered through a separate sister consultancy, Crafted Group. Book a free 30-minute strategy call: https://www.brianfidler.com/contact

Co-founded CoolRankings with Savelle McThias (https://savellem.com) to help HVAC companies get found where homeowners actually look — local search, Google Maps, and AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. I run the search and AI side: auditing a company's local + AI search visibility and fixing what's holding them back, with specific, verifiable findings instead of vague "SEO" promises — proven with tracked results and real phone calls. → Free Local + AI Search visibility audit: coolrankings.com

Hashtags are how the internet names what it cares about. A single # can launch a movement, sell out a product, define a subculture, or capture a moment the world never forgot. Most disappear in a day. A few rewrite the culture. Hashpedia is the definitive encyclopedia of hashtags — a reference for the symbols that shape online life. Each entry traces a hashtag from its origin: who started it, where it spread, what it came to mean, and the cultural and commercial impact it left behind. We treat hashtags the way an encyclopedia treats anything worth remembering — with sources, context, and a clear-eyed account of why it mattered. Social movements, marketing campaigns, fandoms, memes, causes, and the moments in between: if it earned a #, it has a history worth documenting. Built for the curious — journalists, marketers, researchers, students, and anyone who has ever wondered where a hashtag actually came from. Explore the encyclopedia at hashpedia.org.

Directed marketing strategy for 11 dealership locations in four states, serving as both Marketing and Creative Director. Oversaw a full digital transformation that modernized the website, optimized advertising, and deployed AI-driven workflows—resulting in dramatic growth in leads, reputation, and cost efficiency. Key Achievements: Website & CRM overhaul: Led complete re-platforming of LaMesaRV.com using Next.js, Tailwind CSS, GitHub/GitHub Actions, and ButterCMS; incorporated onsite search using TypeSense; integrated ActiveCampaign CRM with DealerSocket for attribution and automation. Customer engagement: Implemented call monitoring and rotating toll-free numbers; automated customer feedback workflows that improved Google My Business ratings by 1+ star per location and cut average response times to <12 hours. Advertising optimization: Tripled site traffic via organic and paid search, secured page-one SEO rankings across all markets, and grew monthly lead captures to 10,000+. Reduced broadcast ad spend by $500K/month while adding QR codes to broadcast/CTV spots for attribution. AI-driven workflows: Automated video editing and production pipelines (artifact removal, dynamic spot creation, voice talent cloning) and built an MJML-based responsive email system with AI-assisted copywriting for consistent, efficient campaigns. Creative & brand growth: Directed all campaigns across 11 stores; developed brand and eCommerce site for VanUp (Shopify, custom theme). Data-driven insights: Deployed a Looker Studio dashboard with near real-time reporting by store, vehicle class, and campaign.

Delivered a comprehensive digital marketing curriculum to adult learners and career changers, focusing on practical, real-world application of marketing strategies and tools. Designed and led interactive sessions on SEO, SEM, social media, content strategy, analytics, and campaign management, while mentoring students through hands-on projects and portfolio development. Taught and guided cohorts of 15–20 students per program cycle, providing individualized feedback and career mentorship. Translated complex marketing concepts into accessible, actionable lessons that supported diverse learning styles. Facilitated project-based learning where students developed and executed integrated marketing campaigns, leveraging platforms such as Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Facebook Business Manager. Supported student success and job readiness by incorporating industry best practices, case studies, and live campaign data into the curriculum. Collaborated with program administrators to refine course materials and improve overall student experience.

Directed all keyword research, content strategy, content management, SEO/SEM, and reputation management initiatives. Oversaw a team of eight UI/UX, Content, and SEO/SEM specialists to create, design, and market Plexus's health supplement product line and Ambassador/distributor business opportunity. Streamlined content localization processes as Plexus ventured into new global markets. Partnered with IT development and product teams to improve performance and functionality of the Plexus website.

Developed library of shareable marketing assets that our ambassadors (product distributors) use to promote products across social media channels. Ensured that shareable library content is formatted appropriately for each channel, using Open Graph and Twitter Card tags, in order to maintain brand and messaging standards. Developed system to pass click attribution to Plexus Ambassadors that shared content on their social media channels. Worked with multiple business units to gather business requirements for new website launched in November 2017. - Wrote user stories detailing the technical implementation of specific site features. Manage user acceptance testing for digital marketing team. - Worked with product owners to groom backlog and ensure digital marketing stories were completed and released in the appropriate QA and production releases. - Converted previous WordPress website into a headless CMS, allowing our new site to consume existing content via API endpoints. Currently manage all digital marketing of website through search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising using Google Adwords/Ads. The following KPIs are the result: - Increased external site backlinks to site from less than 4,000 to over 35,000. - Managed keyword research and increased keyword phrases ranking in the top 10 search engine results pages (SERPs) from 1,300 to over 8,200, and increased keywords ranking on the first page of the SERPs from 315 to 1,400. - Managed content marketing and grew Plexus' blog from zero articles to over 800 articles, focusing on organically ranking for our strategic keywords and keyword phrases. - Increased organic search traffic from 220,000 monthly visits to over 500,000 monthly visits. - Manage the development of KPI dashboards to provide up-to-date reporting.

Managed integration points of financial aid processing SaaS solution with multiple IT units, including legacy systems, financial operations, middleware, online classroom, and our CRM. Aggregated and organized three years of project detail into a centralized wiki. Migrated user stories from a SharePoint instance to JIRA and added the necessary structure to allow integration teams to link team specific technical stories to the respective epics and user stories containing our high-level business requirements. Improved project reporting by developing dashboards and wiki pages to provide both granular and high-level project status and details for our leadership team. Integrated education focused CRM into the marketing and enrollment workflow of multiple higher education client institutions. Worked with CRM vendor to identify opportunities to improve the UI/UX of existing product. Developed requirements and executed reporting features to provide role based business intelligence for enrollment personnel and executive level members of the business unit.

Managed a talented team of web developers, programmers, and web administrators that developed multimedia solutions for the University of Phoenix online classroom. Transitioned a Flash focused development team into a more platform agnostic javascript focused group. Project lead on instructional design and development focused project management application. Project had been in development for over 18 months and after joining the project I was able to redirect the project’s focus, provide creative direction to improve the user interface, and direct the completion and launch of the application. Led an initiative to migrate our multimedia content into a cloud-based content management system allowing us to better track and manage our content. The first release of this CMS allowed us to quickly and intuitively upload and transcode video for student and faculty consumption on both desktop and mobile devices.

Owner with clientele that includes Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Austin Commercial, MGM Grand (Las Vegas), Britannica.com, Robson Communities, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Swift Aviation, Sundt, and Safeguard Security. Designed and directed the development of content management systems, ecommerce sites, direct mail and email marketing campaigns, interactive presentations, brand identities, brand systems, marketing collateral, tradeshow displays, and other marketing and interactive solutions. Optimized clients’ online lead-generation by identifying key performance indicators (KPI), establishing benchmark goals, observing visitor behavior, and adapting sites to improve results. Evaluated and improved on-site search engine optimization for client websites. Helped clients understand the strengths and weaknesses of search engine marketing (i.e. Adwords) and organic search engine optimization in order to create the most strategic blend to meet their business goals. Developed SEM strategy for clients and manage the ad buying process for Google Adwords. Provided keyword research to clients to help them understand which keywords and phrases are actually being used on search engines, frequency of use, and potential for traffic generation. Applied keyword research to the planning and execution of clients’ site content and help manage content creation and acquisition. Analyzed keyword competition to help clients’ rank well for high-traffic and high converting keywords and phrases. Also identify competitive tactics that can safely be mirrored or replicated. Provided ongoing tracking of the search engine ranking positions (SERPs) for clients’ keywords and phrases to measure the effectiveness of our SEO efforts. Provided social media monitoring to identify opportunities for clients to engage with their audience. Developed and executed strategies which encourage the growth of clients’ friend and follower base on multiple social media platforms.

Reduced overhead by nearly $2,000 per month by migrating the Council’s website to a more cost-effective content management system and hosting solution. Redesigned and redeveloped website that improved its usability and functionality while increasing its visibility on the search engines. Website analytics results: increased traffic by 38%; increased page views by 59%; and increased time on site by 44%. Traffic from Google SERPs for February 2010 rose 109% over the same period in 2009. Traffic from Yahoo SERPs was up more than 23%. Redesigned site increased online sales by over 70%. Incorporated online donation and event registration functionality for Girl Scout sponsored events. Helped develop and manage a Girl Scout program to educate girls on website design and development processes and provide them with resources to design and develop their own girl focused website. Leveraged social media to increase awareness for Girl Scout programs, summer camps, cookie sales, and volunteer opportunities.