Stop Lost Sales From Agency & Freelancer Chaos or Inexperienced In-House Teams. Start Profitable, Rapid, Growth
You’re Getting an Operator & Operating System, Not Just an eCommerce Fractional CMO
What Problems Does Your Fractional eCommerce CMO Solve?
Your business has hit a wall. What worked before is no longer effective, and you lack the strategic insight to unlock the next level of growth.
You’re spending money on marketing and your team is busy, but the activities feel random, disconnected, and there’s no clear ROI.
You are spread too thin trying to be CEO & CMO, or you have junior marketers, freelancers, or an agency that needs high-level direction you can’t provide.
You recognize the need for C-suite marketing talent is holding your growth back, but cannot justify or afford the cost of a full-time executive salary ($200k+ with benefits).
You have a collection of marketing tools (e.g., CRM, analytics, email platform), but they operate in silos. You’re drowning in data but starving for actionable insights.
You’re facing a specific, high-stakes event like a new product launch, market expansion, or rebranding, and you lack the internal strategic experience to navigate it successfully.
What To Expect From The Fractional CMO For eCommerce Brands
The Operator & OS Approach To The Fractional CMO For eCommerce
Weekly Structure
Each month, we break the weeks up into key focus areas, leaving room for attention to critical deadlines on projects that may fall outside that week’s focus area.
– Week 1: Conversion Rate Optimization
– Week 2: Advertising
– Week 3: AISEO & SEO
– Week 4: Social Media, PR, Email & SMS, Influencer Marketing, Affiliate Marketing
Why Choose The Source Approach As Your Fractional CMO For eCommerce
| Others |
|
|---|---|---|
| Marketing Operating System (OS) | ✔ Install & Hand Over | ✖ (They keep the "Secret Sauce") |
| Team Structure | ✔ I Build/Train Your Internal Team | ✖ They Replace Your Team |
| SOP Library (200+ Processes) | ✔ Included | ✖ Non-Existent |
| Vendor/Agency Management | ✔ I Hold Them Accountable | ✖ Conflict of Interest |
| AI Integration Strategy | ✔ Enterprise-Level AI Training | ✖ Basic Tools / None |
| Data Ownership | ✔ Single Source of Truth (SSOT) | ✖ Fragmented Reports |
| Executive Reporting | ✔ Profit/Loss & Board Ready | ✖ Vanity Metrics (Clicks/Likes) |
| Channel Oversight | ✔ Holistic (Omni-Channel) | ✖ Siloed (Channel Specific) |
| Contract Structure | ✔ Flexible / Month-to-Month | ✖ Long-Term Retainers |
About: Tanner Rankin CEO, Fractional CMO, Consultant, Author, Speaker
Tanner Rankin is a top-rated eCommerce Fractional CMO, eCommerce Consultant, and Amazon Consultant.
Tanner is the AI Brand Architect, who installs Brand Source OS, the Marketing Operating System, that drives rapid, predictable, and profitable growth by aligning AI, agencies, freelancers, and internal teams with a single source of truth.
Tanner builds a coherent, predictable growth engine you actually own for brands drowning in Agency & Freelancer Chaos OR frustrated by Inexperienced In-House Teams and AI hallucinations.
Tanner brings 10+ years of operator experience as the CEO of The Source Approach (eCommerce Consultancy) and Referazon (Amazon Influencer Search & CRM).
Seen on: Forbes, Entrepreneur, The Business Journals, Tanner is an Author, Amazon Keynote Speaker, and eCommerce Speaker, and has authored SEO For Everyone and Social Media Marketing For Everyone.
Who Should Take The Source Approach?
You Rent Growth With Agency & Freelancer Chaos.
You feel trapped by high retainers and vague reports. Worse, you are terrified to fire them because the strategy lives in their heads, not your business. If they leave, your momentum vanishes. You need to stop renting results and start owning the Source Code.
Your In-House Team Is Guessing With Your Budget
Your team is well-intentioned but lacks the 10,000-hour expertise to navigate platform volatility. You are stuck micromanaging to get results and are tired of paying for their education through wasted budget. You need a Strategic Partner to upgrade their output immediately.
Your Internal or External Team Must Succeed.
You’re all-in on your current team—whether they are internal employees or external, like agencies and freelancers, or likely a mix of both. But their efforts are still falling short, costing you growth, and you can’t afford to keep guessing. You need to unlock their potential.
You’re Expanding To a New Channel “Blind.”
You’re expanding into Amazon or DTC, which is unfamiliar to you and your team. You can’t afford to “learn” by paying for it with your budget and lost growth; you need to install a coherent operating system to stop the guesswork and to win, fast.
Your Growth Has Hit a Hard Plateau.
The strategies that got you here won’t get your brand to the next level where you want to go. You’re missing the high-level expertise to navigate the complexity of scaling profitably, and need experienced leadership to guide your team to break through to predictable, profitable growth.
You’re Wearing Too Many Hats.
You’re the owner & operator stuck in the marketing weeds instead of leading the company. You want to empower your team, but can’t delegate without a leader to install a system & coach them to success. You’re not just looking for a strategic partner; you’re looking to buy back your time.
What I Do As Your Fractional CMO For eCommerce Businesses
Create Rapid, Scalable Growth by Installing Your Marketing Operating System (Brand Source OS)
- Train your AI
- Teach your team.
- Install Agentic Guardrails.
Get Recommended by AI With AI Search Optimization (AISO)
- Get your products recommended in AI Searches
- Positively impact how AI sees your brand
- Boost your brand’s authority
Save Time by Integrating AI Systems Into Your Marketing
- Automate marketing & sales-related tasks
- Delegate administrative work to AI
- Gain invaluable insights
Get Found In Searches With SEO & GEO
- Moving beyond simple indexing to Noun Phrase Optimization (NPO) for conversational shopping engines
- Drive organic sales from product searches
- Show up ahead of competitors
Get Sales With PPC Advertising
- Boost Marketplace, Native & Google PPC
- Drive Profitability
- Skyrocket ROAS
Drive Revenue With Conversion Rate Optimization
- Boost Conversion Rates
- Drive Profitability
- Get Sales
Get Reviews With Product Review Optimization
- Skyrocket Clicks From Search & PPC
- Boost Social Proof
- Drive Sales
Boost Profitability With Effective Sales Funnels
- Boost your email marketing funnels
- Drive your social media marketing funnels
- Skyrocket your influencer marketing funnels
Skyrocket Demand with Influencer Marketing
- Grow Brand Equity
- Boost Awareness
- Drive Sales
Become Experts at eCommerce
- Avoid costly mistakes
- Target KPI’s & GPI’s
- Defend your brand
Don’t Just Get a Fractional CMO: Get an Operator & OS That Delivers Rapid Profitable Growth
How Your Marketing Operating System (MOS) Gives You An Unfair Advantage
Case Studies
Frontier Therapeutics
Before the Source Approach, Frontier Therapeutics faced complex operational friction. After deploying the Brand Source OS, they hit 54% growth and 400% ROAS in e-commerce.
La Joya
From zero D2C experience to a 7-figure seller. See how La Joya Jewelry utilized the Source Approach and Brand Source OS to dominate eCommerce.
Raising Mama
From a powerful idea to a hit launch. Raising Mama took the Source Approach, installing Brand Source OS, to exceed Q1 sales goals by 85%.
Erecta-Rack
From struggling online to 145% YOY growth. Erecta-Rack took the Source Approach, installing Brand Source OS, making eCommerce their #1 sales channel.
BioWave
From a fragmented DTC strategy to explosive growth. This luxury pain relief device brand unified its marketing to achieve a 640% sales increase on Amazon.
Cambio Roasters
From marketing chaos to 270% YOY growth. Cambio took the Source Approach, installing Brand Source OS, to become America’s fastest-growing K-Cup brand.
Fractional CMO For eCommerce Business Reviews
“Our company has dealt with quite a few consultants over the years, and Tanner is at the top. We meet for an hour each week, and he never seems rushed or annoyed at our questions. On the contrary, he excels at explaining concepts in such a way that we understand and can execute on his suggestions. The real challenge is finding the resources to implement all the amazing ideas he has. Because of his breadth of experience across industries and with multiple companies, he is well versed in about any area we address. Tanner is worth his weight in gold. We never second-guess our investment with Tanner.”
– Steve Larsen, Reminderband
“The Source Approach completely turned around our Amazon and E-Commerce performance fast. When we began with Tanner, our listings were at a standstill. As soon as we implemented his frameworks and followed his guidelines, our sales and entire brand presence skyrocketed. I have no doubt that this system is rock-solid and can be applied to any market segment. We’ve since been experiencing explosive YOY growth. Tanner at The Source Approach got our online sales on the right track, and set us up with the skills to maintain and improve our E-Commerce performance in perpetuity.”
– William Zelany, Frontier Therapeutics
“I ‘ve been working with Source Approach for only a few months and we’ve already seen excellent results. Everything they do is discussed through one-on-one consulting, where thoughtful strategic decisions are made. In this short period of time, they have completely overhauled the product copy using SEO data as the guideline, developed and implemented PPC ad, and conversion rate optimization campaigns as well as developing affiliate marketing strategies. We’ve already seen a major increase in our sales and are gaining traction in many market segments. We’re extremely pleased and excited to continue our marketing partnership with Source Approach. Five Stars for sure!!!!!!”
– Mike Pace, CEO Skate Anytime
How You’ll Work with Your Fractional eCommerce CMO
Weekly Video Calls
We meet 1,2, or 3 hours a week on video calls via Google Meet.
Daily Slack Communication
I join your teams Slack channel for daily chat communication.
Trello Project Management
I project manage and collaborate on our projects in Trello.
Fractional CMO For eCommerce Business Services
Award-Winning Fractional CMO For eCommerce Brands
The Fractional CMO Agency Trusted by Great Brands
What’s the Source Approach?
The Source Approach installs your Marketing Operating System (MOS) that teaches your internal & external teams and trains your AI from a single source of truth (SSOT). Then, I am the operator of your OS with your teams & AI to accelerate profitable growth at scale.
Over a decade ago, as a new CMO for a growing brand, I saw a frustrating pattern: we were churning through talented agencies and freelancers. The results weren’t there, and the churn was expensive.
The real problem became clear after hearing our CEO say something I’ll never forget: “Everyone we work with positions our brand differently. Every channel we’re on looks and feels different; none of it is how I would say it or show it.”
He was right. The problem wasn’t the talent we worked with; it was the channel chaos. We had different agencies and freelancers for Amazon, WooCommerce, PPC, Social Media, SEO, Email, and more, and they all went about their channel, their way.
So, I developed the first ‘Source Codes’—a single source of truth (SSOT) to bottle the essential founder-level knowledge about our brand, products, customers, and competitors. For years, this method, The Source Approach, aligned human teams for incredible results.
Then came the rise of AI, and I had a second lightbulb moment. That same ‘Source Code’ was the perfect way to give a brand’s AI its single source of truth. No more hallucinations.
This led to the creation of the ‘Brand Source OS’—the brand intelligence operating system I use today to teach your teams, train your AI, and achieve category-dominating results.
