Maria Pliushko

In my work as a marketing lead and advisor, I’ve often partnered with companies at early or transitional stages - where marketing either wasn’t yet structured or wasn’t delivering results. One of the first things I focus on is building a solid foundation - starting with a full marketing audit, competitor analysis, and market research to understand where the brand stands and how it’s perceived.

From there, I work closely with leadership to define or refine the ICP, buyer personas, and positioning statements that resonate, not just sound good. Clear UVPs have helped the teams I work with stand out in saturated markets and stop wasting time on the wrong channels or messaging.

In SEO and content, I’ve built strategies that drove +600% organic traffic growth. More importantly, these efforts translated into 3-4 qualified clients annually, all inbound.

For PR, I’ve launched campaigns from scratch that landed coverage in CIO, Business Insider, and Der Spiegel - and yes, we tracked MQLs from those stories.

Across several companies, I’ve also helped bridge the gap between sales and marketing, implementing joint planning cycles, shared KPIs, and hypothesis-driven campaign testing. This sync has led to faster iteration, clearer attribution, and stronger pipelines.

In events, I’ve developed participation strategies that go beyond “being visible” - from concept creation to lead follow-up and performance tracking.

Finally, I’ve served as a mentor and strategic advisor - both to in-house marketers looking to grow, and to companies that need a fresh outside view to quickly diagnose issues and focus efforts.

That’s where I bring the most value as a Fractional CMO - setting the right foundation, focusing on what matters, and building systems that keep delivering, even when I step out of the picture.