We were lucky to catch up with Marc Ensign recently and have shared our conversation below.

Marc, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business

This one is indirectly related to my business, but it’s a great marketing lesson nonetheless.

I’m not much of a car guy but on my bucket list was a Tesla Model 3. I wanted to hit a few goals in my business before I technically earned it and by September of last year I hit that goal.

When I brought the car home, my wife asked me what I was going to name it. Apparently “the car” was not a good enough answer so she asked again and I spit out the first thing that came into my head.

Maurice.

She laughed and if you can still get your wife of 20+ years to laugh at your jokes, you go with it. So, my new car’s name was Maurice. And everyone was on board with it too. We would open the garage and everyone would say “good morning Maurice!” And then when we got to the mall “be right back Maurice!” And then at the end of the night “good night Maurice!”

Maurice had become a member of our family.

Fast forward 3 months and 3,198 miles later and Maurice saved our lives.

On Christmas, we were hit head-on hit by someone without a license or insurance. The front of the car practically disappeared but from the windshield back the car looked untouched.

I walked away with a concussion and injured shoulder, my wife broke her wrist, and my son had some bumps and bruises. But by some miracle, we had survived.

A few days later in an effort to get the experience out of my head, I wrote a thank you letter and sent it to all of the safety engineers, customer service reps, technicians, and anyone having to do with the building of that car and shared our story of hour their work had saved not just me but my family as well.

Within hours I started receiving responses. First, a few tricked in. And then dozens and eventually hundreds from 8 or 9 different countries. Apparently, my email was printed out and shared on the board at one of Tesla’s headquarters.

One of the emails that I received was from someone whose team was responsible for crash-testing the cars. They were so touched by my story that they decided to name one of their crash test prototypes “Maurice” so he would live on within the company and continue to help save lives.

So, what does that have to do with marketing? Everything. Because if you are able to get the attention of a multi-multi-multi-billion dollar company by sending one email and get them to share it and take action on it without even being asked, you can reach just about anyone.

It just shows you the power of a good story combined with good marketing.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Marc Ensign is a renowned marketer, prolific storyteller, and accomplished musician.

After spending over a decade playing bass with the Broadway Show Rent, Marc discovered he had a talent for turning great ideas into even better marketing. How else does a kid with no experience and no connections pass up thousands of other musicians to land the most coveted gig in New York City?

When his stint on Broadway came to a close, he (temporarily) hung up his bass and built a successful digital marketing agency to help companies compete in otherwise impossible industries to break into. This approach caught the attention of Fortune 500 Companies such as Berkshire Hathaway, American Express, and Nike, as well as Celebrities, Athletes, and Entertainers like Tiger Woods.

But eventually, that sort of thing got boring, so Marc moved on.

Now, leveraging over twenty years in the marketing industry, Marc has started a unique fractional CMO agency focusing on what he has coined “forensic marketing.” A methodology of dissecting every marketing dollar a company spends in order to cut waste and uncover hidden opportunities before creating a new strategy and building the right team to implement that strategy. Much like a forensic accountant might do for finances.

That’s when Forensic CMO was born.

As the Chief Forensic CMO, Marc and his team have saved companies hundreds of thousands a month in wasted spend, ineffective vendors, and missed opportunities.

And business is booming.

Yet, none of this would be possible if it wasn’t for Marc’s incredibly understanding wife, who has been on this rollercoaster for 22 years and counting. Together, they have two kids. Bella who is currently attending FSU with a major in political science and journalism, and Zach who is studying to be a game designer.

As far as that whole music thing goes, Marc still tours a few times a year with various Broadway shows. It’s a pretty cool side hustle and an even better way to get people to give you a standing ovation at the end of the night.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I exited from my first agency, I started a personal branding company. Since my number one core value is “impact,” I thought I could make a big impact by helping people find their voice and build a community who would listen to it. It went really well for about 15 minutes.

And then COVID hit.

All of a sudden all of the speakers, authors, coaches, and new entrepreneurs had no place to share their message. So the first thing they did was stop their marketing because nobody was listening.

Overnight I lost 80-90% of my business and it was clear I was going to have to pivot. I just wasn’t quite sure which direction.

Around that time, a friend of mine who was a COO reached out and asked me to help him with one of his clients. Apparently something didn’t add up with their marketing and they needed help. I spent a few weeks digging through their campaigns and they were right. I submitted my report and suggested they find a CMO to manage their marketing because the mish-mosh of agencies and vendors wasn’t working.

He asked if I would be interested in joining as their CMO and I said yes!

Had it been a few weeks earlier while my business was doing well, I likely would not have taken it and as a result I would have missed out on this incredible new journey that I’m on that I absolutely love.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

It’s a bit too long to type here, but it’s definitely the story of how I got on Broadway. You can read the story here and take whatever you want from it: https://marcensign.com/unbreakable/

Let me know if you need something else.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://forensiccmo.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marcensign/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marc.ensign/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcensign/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarcEnsign
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MarcEnsign