Marketing systems that turn your audience into revenue.
I help growing businesses build the lifecycle programs, marketing technology and data behind their growth, and find what is quietly breaking it. Senior marketing leadership, without a full-time hire.
Where I help
Most engagements start with a diagnosis of what is limiting growth, then a phased plan I lead through implementation.
Fractional marketing leadership
A senior marketing lead on a part-time basis: strategy, priorities, budget, vendors and the operating rhythm to keep it all moving.
Lifecycle & CRM
Automated email and SMS journeys that welcome, nurture, convert and win back customers, built on behavior rather than blasts.
Marketing technology & data
Stack audits, platform selection and migration, integrations, and attribution you can trust, so systems talk to each other without manual re-entry.
Website & conversion
UX diagnostics, landing pages and search, including visibility in AI answer engines, aimed at turning visits into leads and sales.
Results from in-house leadership
Before consulting, I led marketing operations, lifecycle and web growth at New Western, a multi-brand real estate investment company with $1.5B+ in annual transactions, and digital marketing at ABWE International.
Recent engagements
Selected work since 2025. Other client names are shared with permission on request.
Rebuilding a contractor's tech stack
Scoped a phased rebuild to end data silos and manual re-entry: a website refresh first, then a single CRM pipeline for bids, and an estimating platform with standardized takeoff templates and centralized pricing.
Relaunching a local beef brand
Repositioned the brand and built a go-to-market plan around local activation, including limited branded drops and farmers markets, backed by a refreshed website and a new direct online sales channel.
Building an owned channel beside Amazon
Ran Amazon advertising to strict ROAS targets, then reduced single-marketplace risk with a direct storefront, Stripe checkout and an automated lead magnet growing an email list the brand controls.
Communications for a rezoning fight
Advised the owner of a 20-unit small business park facing a municipal rezoning, and organized a coalition of affected businesses to petition the city council.
How I work
Change lands better in stages. I prove a fix on a small scale before rolling it out.
Diagnose
Find where growth is actually constrained, including the problems no report is showing.
Plan
Sequence the fixes by impact, with early wins first and clear measures of success.
Pilot
Test on a slice of the business, measure it honestly, and adjust.
Scale
Roll out what works and build it into systems your team can run.
Chris Kalbach
I've spent over a decade building the engine behind marketing growth. I'm close enough to customers to see what's breaking, and technical enough to tell engineers exactly how to fix it.
Most recently I was Director of Marketing Operations at New Western, where I led three platform migrations, rebuilt the company's lifecycle program, and ran web growth and analytics across 52 markets. Before marketing, I served as an airborne infantryman in the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade.
- Recent roleDirector of Marketing Operations, New Western
- PlatformsHubSpot, Iterable, Salesforce, Salesforce Marketing Cloud
- EducationMA, Philosophy, Florida State University
- ServiceU.S. Army, 173rd Airborne Brigade
- AuthorThe Sermon on the Mount: A Study Guide
Let's talk about what's holding your growth back.
Tell me a little about your business and where marketing feels stuck. I'll reply within two business days.
Email ckalbach@proton.me LinkedIn