The flagship offer
The Village CMO.
A fractional Chief Marketing Officer for Australian retirement village operators. One to two days a week. The seniority and accountability of a full-time CMO.
Operating creed
No family forgotten.
No enquiry lost.
What this is.
Most retirement village operators don't need another agency. They need a marketing leader.
The Village CMO is a fractional Chief Marketing Officer engagement built specifically for Australian retirement and aged care operators — a senior marketing leader embedded in the business one to two days a week, owning strategy, driving execution, leading the team, and answerable to the board.
It is not an agency contract. It is not a project. It is a part-time leadership role with the seniority, accountability, and continuity of a full-time CMO, scoped to fit a single village, a small operator group, or an independent provider that doesn't yet justify a full-time marketing executive.
What the role owns.
A Village CMO engagement covers what a senior in-house marketing leader would cover — adapted to the realities of one to two days a week, and to the specific operational shape of retirement living.
Marketing strategy & planning
Annual and quarterly marketing plans tied to occupancy targets, with channel mix, budget allocation, and quarterly board reporting on what marketing is contributing to pipeline.
Campaign leadership
Brief, oversee, and approve all major campaigns — paid acquisition, email, content, events, open days, facility launches. The marketing leader for the engagement, regardless of who executes.
Reporting & accountability
Monthly performance reports, quarterly board updates, and a single source of truth on what marketing is producing — by channel, by campaign, by pipeline stage.
The marketing engine
Ownership of the CRM (typically HubSpot), lead capture systems, automated nurture workflows tuned to the 12-to-24-month decision cycle, and the integration between marketing, sales and village operations.
The team
Direct the work of in-house marketing staff, coach junior marketers, and manage external agency or freelance relationships so the operator gets coherent, accountable execution.
Resident & family experience
Communications across the resident journey, license renewals, family engagement, reputation management — all sit within the Village CMO remit because all of them affect future enquiries.
What success looks like in the first 90 days.
A Village CMO engagement isn't measured by activity. It is measured by what changes inside the business.
In the first 90 days, the operator should see:
A complete picture of where every enquiry has come from, where each one currently sits, and what's been done about it — for the first time, possibly ever. A documented marketing plan tied to occupancy outcomes, with quarterly board reporting in place. Automated workflows that mean every enquiry gets a meaningful response within hours, not days, regardless of who is at their desk. A clearer view of which marketing investments are working and which can be cut. And a marketing team — internal or supplier-side — that knows what it's doing this quarter and why.
By month 6 to 12, the system has compounded. Dormant leads are re-engaging. The board sees a defensible link between marketing spend and resident contribution. The village manager and sales consultant are operating from one shared view of the pipeline. And the operator is making decisions on data they previously didn't have.
Who the Village CMO is for.
The Village CMO engagement is built for:
Independent retirement village operators and small operator groups in Australia where senior marketing leadership doesn't yet exist in-house. The work is currently being done by a stretched coordinator, by an agency the operator doesn't fully trust, or by no one at all.
Operators preparing for a new facility launch, a major rebuild, or a strategic occupancy push where the next twelve months matter more than the previous five.
Not-for-profit aged care providers who want senior marketing leadership without the cost or commitment of a full-time CMO.
Operators who have outgrown the agency-of-the-month model and want a single accountable marketing leader who knows the sector.
Who the Village CMO isn't for.
This is the conversation that saves both sides time.
If you have an experienced marketing manager
The Village CMO probably isn't the right fit, and that's a good outcome to know upfront. What you most likely need is specific capability brought in on defined projects: a HubSpot implementation, a website rebuild, a CRM and lead-flow redesign, a campaign program.
The practice offers exactly this through The Modules — seven defined-scope project engagements built for operators with internal ownership who need expert capability layered in. The Modules are not "Village CMO Lite." They are a different offer for a different situation, and many of the practice's longest relationships are Module-only.
If you want cheap campaign execution
The Village CMO isn't the right fit either. The role only works when the operator gives a fractional leader real authority — and when both sides treat the engagement as leadership, not service delivery.
If you only want an independent assessment
Start with a Digital Diagnostic. Four weeks, $1,995 ex. GST, fixed price. Many operators run the Diagnostic, act on the findings themselves, and never come back — and that is a successful engagement.
How the engagement works.
One to two days a week, typically split between on-site presence (where the village is within reasonable distance) and remote work. Monthly leadership team participation. Quarterly board reporting.
Month-to-month retainer, not locked-in contracts. The relationship continues because it's working, not because of a contract clause. Either side can step away with reasonable notice.
A defined start point: most Village CMO engagements begin with the Digital Diagnostic — a four-week, fixed-price audit that maps the current state and prioritises what to fix first. The Diagnostic is independent of any ongoing engagement; many operators run the Diagnostic and act on the findings themselves. Where the fit is right, the Diagnostic becomes the foundation for a Village CMO retainer.
Why a fractional CMO, not an agency.
Three reasons that matter to operators in this sector.
Accountability.
A fractional CMO is in your leadership team. They sit in your board meetings. They own outcomes, not deliverables. Agencies own deliverables; that's a different relationship, and a different level of skin in the game.
Continuity.
Most operators in this sector cycle through agencies every 18 to 24 months — the strategy resets each time, the institutional knowledge walks out the door, and the marketing engine never compounds. A fractional CMO relationship is built to last years; the system that gets built gets deeper every quarter, not reset.
Cost.
A full-time CMO with retirement living and aged care experience commands $200K+ in Australia. A Village CMO engagement at one to two days a week delivers that seniority at a fraction of the cost — the right answer for operators who need leadership but cannot yet justify a full-time hire.
Start with a conversation
Is the Village CMO right for your village?
A 20-minute discovery call is the easiest way to find out. We'll ask the right questions, listen to where you are, and tell you honestly whether the fit is there. If it is, the next step is usually a Diagnostic. If it isn't, we'll tell you that too.
Operating creed: No family forgotten. No enquiry lost.