Sideminds.
High Performance Career Partners.

Sideminds.
High Performance Career Partners.

Sideminds helps business leaders achieve their short and long-term career goals. Our experienced leaders blend coaching with practical step-by-step career management and development. We are ‘side minds’ supporting you today and developing your career for tomorrow.

Our Services

Job co-piloting

Career Strategy

Marketing audits

Fractional/Interim

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Job co-piloting

Marketing has become complex and often a volatile place, as businesses fight for growth and remain competitive. In this fight marketing leaders can rise and fall, as the business recognises the skills it has today may not be right for the future.

Sideminds can support these transitions by co-piloting up and coming leaders and supporting leaders going through change and exiting the business.

Our team are all experienced C-suite marketing leaders and trained in coaching. This gives us the unique ability to help your marketing leader learn for themselves, but also benefit from direct advice or project leadership support when needed. This combo approach gives the marketing leader a ‘side mind’, so they build new skills quickly and deliver key projects in line with the pace of the business.

In parallel to helping future talent, Sideminds help existing leaders exit well. Leaving a business is never easy, but unplanned exits happen 2-3 times in an average executives career 1 . Sideminds has a programme to help reset and come back better by defining individual purpose, brand, career and job-hunting strategies. From settlement agreements to CV writing, coaching to curated head-hunter lists, job finding tactics to interim work assignments.

Sideminds research amongst TMA CMO community Sept 2023 (see blog for details)

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Career Strategy

Careers are often be said to be squiggly. It can be hard to predict what is around the corner, so careers can seem driven by chance and often feel out of control. But it needn’t be this way.

Brands and businesses operate in the same uncertain world and perform because they have a clear strategy and plan. At Sideminds we believe the same is true for every executive too. By defining your personal purpose and vision, you can develop a career and marketing strategy, and execute against this over the long term. This means creating a plan that helps you develop the right skillset, whilst also building the right connections and nurturing these relationships, so you are in the right position at the right time for the next big moves.

Rarely do executives have time to do this. They are focused on the job at hand andonly face into this when there is organisation change, often leaving them out of a job and wondering what to do. In this situation they can find their network is too small and too cold to help them get back quickly.

Sideminds works with executives in roles, in-between roles and at different life stages. We develop a career strategy, personal brand and proposition, build a relevant network and show you how to use online digital tools to stay in touch and keep connected easily. Developing your career like this is a lifetime investment: you’ll have a structured plan and network if you become an ‘in-betweener’, more control with clear job goals when you are in a role, and be better prepared for a total career reset.

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Marketing audits

Every year the performance bar gets raised higher and marketing teams need to deliver more, often with less. As the incumbent marketing leader it can be hard to independently and impartially look at the plan and decide where there are opportunities to squeeze out more. This is a question we have been asked regularly and having been marketing leaders ourselves, we can look at the plans and suggest opportunities.

This helped a UK food manufacturer improve gross margin and marketing investment, by properly understanding what was adding value to the product mix and resetting the value proposition.

We also helped a global B2B IT consultancy, where the marketing mandate was driving underperformance and constraining growth. Marketing wasn’t engaged enough in the business planning process, minimising their input into sales collateral, which inevitably affected the quality and quantity of prospect leads. By reframing the relationship, creative execution and performance was improved.

And finally, a digital marketplace business required an audit of its multi-channel B2B and B2C marketing activity. This showed the overall approach was strong, but the translation of strategy into execution was flawed. There were over 50 different brand messages being communicated in different media channels, without a clear prioritisation or role down the acquisition funnel. Simplifying the strategy and focusing the messages enhanced performance.

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Fractional/Interim

Sometimes there are leadership gaps that need filling. This could be as a fractional CMO supporting the existing team, interim cover for a short-term vacancy or full permanent recruitment.

Sideminds can help in these situations. We are part of a network of over 40 C-suite marketing leaders, who are either independent consultants or ‘inbetweeners’. ‘Inbetweeners’ is our term for our pool of VP/Marketing Director or C-suite level leaders, who are between jobs and keen to take on roles as they look for their next full time post.

If you are recruiting for a more permanent role, we also help getting the brief right. The Marketing Leader’s CODE assessment helps decipher the blend of marketing skills you need in your company. It is the only marketing leadership assessment tool available and is used by CEOs and recruiters as a pre-screener to avoid the costly mistake of recruiting the wrong person.

The CODE report can be discussed directly with your recruitment company, or Sideminds can promote to our personal network of leaders, including The Marketing Academy Fellowship. The Fellowship is a network of over 300 senior C-suite marketers, who have been recognised by McKinsey for their marketing capability. Sideminds connections has placed CMOs recently in sectors like financial services and property.

“I am a big believer in marketing being the engine of business growth and CMO's being the key. Gareth is the absolute role model in delivering this.”

Richard Harpin,
Founder and CEO, HomeServe PLC

“Gareth’s unique toolkit will prove hugely valuable for every
CMO who seeks more impact.”

Thomas Barta,
Co-author The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader

“We live in an age of ambiguity – in marketing, business and in life. Gareth goes beyond the usual vaugeries and helps marketers tackle the nuts and bolts of marketing with cool precision.”

Colin Michell,
Former Senior Vice President Global Marketing, McDonald’s

Our Approach

Our Approach

Businesses are constantly changing, so marketers and marketing departments need to adapt. We help them adapt by fitting in alongside the marketing leader; tackling immediate problems they face or giving them a second pair of eyes to optimise their brand, their team or their marketing plans.

Our approach is a combination of coaching with direct advice and project work. We find this helps the marketing leader develop, without slowing down the pace of progress needed in the business. The balance of coaching or direct advice depends on the brief and the task at hand, but we can uniquely do this because we are trained in coaching and have all been C-suite marketing leaders.

To unlock potential we have many bespoke tools and approaches. ANCHOR Factors and the Marketing Leader’s CODE are the only assessment tools which looks at the critical skills for marketing leaders to be successful. Click on the arrow key below to read about each ANCHOR Factor and explore business case studies.

ANCHOR Factors

EXTERNALAUDIENCE INTERNALAUDIENCE

Change

Change

Embraces the CEO change agenda, finds ways to rapidly test new approaches and evolves the way of working. Encourages entrepreneurial thinking and break up siloed thinking. Adapts quickly, responds to change easily and copes with obscurity. Sensitive to the external market.

Consistency

Consistency

Establishes effective working practices, ensuring stakeholders and informed and individuals understands their operational freedom. Follows the business plan, monitoring progress and ruthlessly prioritises activity. Innovation is controlled and purposeful.

Ambition

Understands the natural homeostasis and works with the CEO to bring their business ambition to life and push the business forward. Tests new ideas and helps change areas which are sub-optimal and reinforces areas which need consistency.

Challenge

Challenge

Drives debate and discussion across the Leadership Team. Strong advocate for the customer and prepared to stick their neck out for what they believe. High resilience and persistence. Uses data smartly and in an unbiased way to make a point.

Unity

Unity

Builds trust and influence, establishing key relationship and alliances with the Leadership Team, so critical jobs get done. Constructively drives project prioritisation. Ensures discussions are brought to a conclusion, so clear unified messages are delivered to the wider business.

Network

Navigates the Leadership Team effectively and ensures the right discussions are held and the right activity gets done. Skilful at knowing when to challenge and when to create unity for the wider business benefit.

Assertive

Assertive

Sets exacting standards, builds a high performing team and holds people and agencies to account. Confidently makes organisational changes to deliver strategy. Clears the way in the wider business for the marketing team deliver their goals.

Supportive

Supportive

Builds team capability and creates a strong team culture with everyone having a clear role and responsibility. A good listener and role model. Creates a safe environment that encourages learning and growth. An authentic leader, with a clear sense of purpose for the team.

Capability

Creates and maintains a high performing marketing team. Makes assertive decisions about the team and agencies and is a skilful situational leader, who is supportive and helps talent feel valued and grow.

Creative

Creative

Turns business issues into creative opportunities. Uses data as a springboard for insight discovery, creativity and vision. Makes customer touchpoints high-quality customer experiences. Inquisitive and curious, interested in customers, the wider market and the headline opportunities new technology can bring.

Analytical

Analytical

Rigorously uses data and logic from multiple sources to inform decision making. Keeps the company honest with its data and ensures marketing metrics are tied to business metrics everyone understands. Finds ways to enrich data and scenario test. Detailed interest in the performance or revenue benefits new technology can bring.

Headspace

Moves comfortably from using their left brain, full of data and detail, to their right, full of images, concepts and connections. Combines analytical skills with creative aptitude and flair.

Connection

Connection

Creates long-term customer demand by developing a brand with a clear value proposition which is memorable, relevant and distinctive. Goes beyond the rational to build affinity and emotional connection. Develops compelling retention programmes for different audiences.

Conversion

Conversion

Uses direct response and optimisation techniques across multiple media channels to covert active audiences. Understands different customers’ buying journey and uses media throughout the funnel to enhance sales conversion. Carefully manages acquisition costs and maximises short-term return.

Output

Focuses on priority audiences and effectively manages the marketing activity throughout the marketing funnel. From building brand connection higher up the funnel, through to the conversion and retention lower down the funnel.

Long-Term

Long-term

Engages and aligns the Leadership Team in the development of a long-term plan with clearly defined goals and growth opportunities. Defines long-term ways to build value (innovation, M&A). Creates a compelling clarion call and storytelling for the business and investors.

Short-Term

Short-term

Gets to the root cause of performance and responds quickly. Accelerates activity to gap fill. Street fighter attitude who finds tactical growth opportunities. Focuses effort on highest returning activity to deliver the annual plan. Tests new channels and rapidly adjusts activity depending on performance.

Results

Vigilantly monitors performance in year and responds with short term initiatives to boost performance. Looks for future revenue opportunities and develops the long-term plan with key stakeholders.

Click a row for a description or click to see a case study

Discover your ANCHOR Factors and Marketing Leader’s CODE

What type of marketing leader are you and what does the business need?

Are you a Connector, who prioritises close relationships with the CEO, Leadership Team and wider business?
An Operator, who is into the detail, analysing data and maximising sales?
A Disruptor, who is opportunistic and thrives on change or an Explorer, who is strategic, insightful and brand-centric.

Connector

High relationship orientation with the CEO, Leadership Team and marketing

Operator

Analytical and data led, with a strong skill set in driving conversion and short term sales

Disruptor

Entrepreneurial and opportunistic, externally focused and assertively drives change

Explorer

Strategic, insightful and looking at building the longer term business growth