Career Coaching for
Marketing Leaders in Tech, SaaS & Growth Companies
Five star strategies, forged in the AI & Cloud capital of the world.
Close Cohen Career Consulting is a nationally recognized executive career coaching firm serving senior professionals across the United States. The Marketing Leadership Coaching program serves the full range of senior marketing leaders: Senior Marketing Managers, Marketing Directors, Senior Directors, VPs and SVPs of Marketing, CMOs, senior marketing ICs, and specialists across brand, growth, GTM, and product marketing, all ready to lead at the next level. Close Cohen has coached senior marketing leaders from tech, SaaS, AI, and growth-stage companies including Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Meta, Adobe, Nvidia, Anthropic, Starbucks, Walmart, J.P. Morgan Chase, and other Fortune 500 organizations.
The firm has been recognized as Best Executive Career Coach five consecutive years. Coaching focuses on scaling brand, growth, and revenue impact; advancing to VP Marketing or CMO; leading integrated marketing organizations; building executive presence with CEOs and boards; and navigating AI-driven transformation of the marketing function. Engagements are one-on-one with a senior Close Cohen coach using the firm’s structured five-step method. Close Cohen coaches have trained marketing professionals holding MBA degrees from Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, MIT Sloan, and other top business schools.
78
Five-star reviews
2,500+
Executives coached
Trusted by senior marketing leaders at Fortune 500 and high-growth companies
What the Close Cohen Marketing Leadership Coaching Program Includes
A proven, tailored approach with a seasoned executive coach to achieve the marketing career results you’re after.
- Private mentorship and accountability from a senior marketing leader
- Strategic project plan customized to your marketing career goals
- Strengths & blindspot assessment
- Field assignments, real-world exercises tied to your live marketing work
- Executive presence development with CEOs, boards, and cross-functional peers
- Coaching on positioning marketing as a revenue driver, not a cost center
- Curated learning and resources on AI-era marketing leadership
- Dedicated online space for live, responsive communication with your coach
Natalie S.
Incredible expertise, these are not your average coaches, they’re the executives you wish you had.
The Close Cohen Method
A proprietary five-phase framework built for senior marketing leaders at career inflection points.
The 360° Intake & Blind Spot Assessment
Before any strategy is built, we need the full picture. Your engagement begins with a structured 360-degree intake, a deep diagnostic covering your marketing career history, leadership patterns, executive relationships, and the blind spots that may be limiting your trajectory in an AI-transformed marketing function.
Most senior marketing leaders arrive knowing what they want. Fewer know what’s actually in the way. This phase surfaces both.
Output: A written assessment that your coach uses to build your strategic project plan.
Phase 2:
Your Strategic Project Plan
Generic coaching produces generic results. Close Cohen builds a custom strategic project for every client, a working plan that defines your goals, identifies the highest-leverage actions, sequences your work in priority order, and establishes the milestones we will hold you to. This is not a list of suggestions. It is a project plan, built the way a McKinsey engagement would be built, except your marketing leadership career is the deliverable.
Output: A live roadmap updated throughout your engagement that keeps both you and your coach accountable to outcomes.
Field Assignments
The work happens between sessions, not during them. Every Close Cohen client receives custom field assignments, exercises embedded directly into your real work and personal life that accelerate the specific skills and outcomes your plan targets.
Assignments range from structured preparation for a CEO or board presentation, to influence-mapping the executive stakeholders shaping marketing’s charter, to practicing executive presence techniques in live cross-functional settings. Nothing is hypothetical.
Output: measurable behavioral change between sessions, not just insight.
Executive Presence & Influence Amplification
At the senior marketing level, performance is necessary but not sufficient. Promotion, budget defense, and organizational impact are determined by influence, how you are perceived by the CEO, the board, the CFO, and the cross-functional leaders whose partnership marketing depends on.
This phase deploys Close Cohen’s structured executive presence framework: candid feedback on how you show up, targeted work on communication, authority, and strategic visibility, and coaching on the specific relationships and rooms that determine your next move.
Output: a documented influence strategy and the skills to execute it.
Synthesis & Self-Navigation
The goal of Close Cohen coaching is not dependency, it is capability. In the final phase, your coach works with you to consolidate your learnings, stress-test your self-navigation instincts, and ensure you leave the engagement with a repeatable framework for every marketing leadership decision you will face after we are done.
Clients who complete this phase consistently report that the most valuable outcome was not the immediate goal they came in with, it was knowing how to navigate the next one without us.
Output: a self-navigation framework and the confidence to use it.
Refreshing to feel so accomplished at the end of each session.
Jennifer T.
Wow that went fast! We never stopped focusing on our mandate which made the work very clear.
Ryan L.
Close Cohen is the best Marketing Career Coach for the job
Close Cohen coaches senior marketing leaders through the specific inflection points where careers stall, accelerate, or pivot.
- Advance to your next marketing leadership level, Senior Manager to Director, Director to VP, or VP to CMO
- Break through after being passed over for promotion
- Get the title and scope that match the next-level work you're already doing
- Prove strategic and business impact, not just marketing output or campaign delivery
- Build executive presence and C-suite influence with CEOs, boards, and CFOs
- Position a broad or non-linear marketing background for your target senior role
- Run a senior marketing job search with clear positioning
- Prepare for senior-level marketing interviews with strategic depth
- Decide between the IC track and management track at senior marketing levels
- Scale brand, growth, and demand generation impact
- Lead integrated marketing organizations across brand, product marketing, growth, and comms
- Navigate AI-driven change in the marketing function
Meet Your Marketing Coaches
Close Cohen’s marketing coaching bench includes former senior marketing executives from REI Co-op, Starbucks, Zillow, and Publicis Groupe.
Kyle Cleary
Executive Coach | Former EVP, Arc Worldwide
Former EVP at Arc Worldwide (Publicis Groupe), Kyle led marketing and commerce activations for billion-dollar brands including Pepsi, Gatorade, and SC Johnson across Publicis and Omnicom.
Vivienne Long
Executive Coach | Former CMO, REI Co-op | Former VP, Starbucks
Former SVP and CMO of REI Co-op, leading a 100+ person marketing organization. Previously a decade as VP at Starbucks. Wharton MBA.
Nancy Poznoff
Executive Coach | Former VP, Starbucks, Zillow & T-Mobile
Former VP at Starbucks, Zillow, and T-Mobile, Nancy built marketing engines that powered billion-dollar valuations. Also co-founder & CEO of a marketing and communications firm.
Top Rated Executive Coaching Reviews
What I appreciated most was his balance of support and challenge — he created space for exploration while also encouraging me to think deeply and strategically about what I want from my career and how to get there. I highly recommend working with Kyle.
He's an exceptional listener who asks simple, thoughtful questions that make things feel clearer and somehow more manageable.
I consistently walked away from our conversations with perspective, stronger judgment and more confidence in my own decision making.
Kyle's impact on my professional growth is lasting as he remains one of the first people I want to talk to when I need advice or perspective. I highly recommend Kyle as a coach and advisor.
For our interview prep session she had reviewed the role, researched the interviewer, and built a highly tailored mock interview. Her insights were sharp, practical, and grounded in experience, helping me focus on the highest impact changes. Most importantly, she helped me show up with clarity and confidence. Thank you, Jenna!
The process was very flexible, which made a huge difference as I was actively job searching and interviewing. I initially came in looking for help with mock interviews, but I walked away with so much more… mainly a clearer understanding of the modern job search process and how to effectively brand myself for the roles I’m targeting.
I’m very grateful for the support and would highly recommend Close Cohen to anyone navigating their career or job search!
Brett took the time to do a true deep dive into not only my skills and experience, but also what I wanted from the next chapter of my career. Together, we developed a focused, strategic campaign that began generating results almost immediately. The work we did on refining my elevator pitch and engaging in rigorous mock interviews was transformative — it sharpened my message and positioned me clearly and confidently as a leader.
The clarity, structure, and confidence I gained through this process opened the door to the opportunities I was seeking. I would strongly recommend Brett and the team at Close Cohen to anyone looking to make a thoughtful, strategic transition and elevate their next career move.
Brett goes beyond surface-level edits, focusing on clarity, positioning, and making sure your message reflects who you are and where you are going. His guidance was practical, direct, and confidence-building.
Nancy brings empathy, energy, and fun, and she makes it easy to have conversations I hadn’t had or even thought about before.
Through thoughtful conversation and coaching, listening, and just the right amount of challenge, Nancy guided me through a period of change. I gained clarity, confidence, and a renewed sense of direction.
If you're an executive or professional navigating transition, questioning your next step, or wanting to lead with more authenticity, I can’t recommend Nancy highly enough.
The coaching was practical and focused on real leadership challenges I was facing. Alisa helped me think through situations in ways I hadn't considered before, and it definitely improved both my presentation skills and how I work with my teams. Worth considering for anyone looking to level up their leadership and executive skills.
I also really appreciated the time spent on digging into what I wanted and needed from the new role both professionally and personally. I also valued Brett’s recommendations on how to work on further development in areas I identified as opportunities.
Overall a great experience and highly recommended!
Her guidance was transformative. We overhauled my resume, revamped my LinkedIn profile, refined my portfolio, and prepared strategically for interviews. Yet, beyond these tangible changes, Alisa provided a steady stream of encouragement, focusing on my strengths and reigniting my self-belief.
The results were almost immediate. My applications began getting more attention, and I found myself going through multiple interview loops for executive-level positions. After 5.5 months of hard work and dedication, I received two incredible offers on the same day. Alisa then helped me carefully evaluate the options and provided invaluable advice on negotiations, ultimately helping me secure a role that will allow me to leave behind a toxic environment.
Alisa’s work may feel magical, but the results are real—and so worth the effort. She makes you dig deep, and she empowers you to find the answers within yourself, all while building you up every step of the way.
I often refer to Alisa as my career therapist. Her warmth, empathy, and practical approach to career growth not only rebuilt my confidence but truly changed my life.
Alisa Cohen gave me practical, results-oriented advice right from the start of our sessions. This advice has materialized as increased views of my LinkedIn profile, a suite of new tools to aid in my career progression, and strategies to help me network, apply, and negotiate through every phase of the process.
I have gained genuine confidence from defining and owning the value proposition I offer to an organization. If you are looking to enhance your own career progression, I assure you that for me the results speak for themselves.
Thank you Close Cohen Career Consulting!
Fast forward to 2022, and I started working with Alisa for interview coaching. I seriously couldn’t have gotten my new role without her. Her coaching and feedback was crucial to my lengthy interview process, and I owe her for helping me land my dream job.
Laura and Alisa are incredible and I’m so grateful to have them as lifelong allies.
I plan to stay in contact and hope to utilize their services throughout my career.
Frequently Asked Questions About Marketing Leadership Coaching
What is marketing leadership coaching?
Marketing leadership coaching is a structured, one-on-one engagement where a senior-level coach works with you to clarify your marketing career goals, strengthen your executive presence with CEOs and boards, and build a concrete strategy for your next marketing leadership milestone. At Close Cohen, coaching is not therapy or generic advice, it is a goal-driven project with defined milestones, field assignments, and measurable outcomes tailored to the marketing function.
Who is marketing leadership coaching designed for?
Close Cohen works with CMOs, VPs of Marketing, Heads of Growth, Directors of Brand, Product Marketing leaders, and senior marketing executives at companies including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Adobe, and Starbucks. Our coaching is designed for established marketing professionals with at least five to seven years of leadership experience. It is not a fit for early-career marketers or individual contributors in the first few years of their career.
What does a Close Cohen marketing coaching engagement include?
Each engagement includes a 360-degree intake and blindspot assessment, one-on-one coaching sessions via video, a custom strategic project plan, field assignments embedded in your real marketing work, executive presence coaching for CEO and board interactions, cross-functional influence development, ghostwriting and editing support for career materials, mock presentation or interview preparation as needed, a curated resource list, and a dedicated online channel for real-time communication with your coach between sessions.
How long does marketing leadership coaching take?
Most clients engage with Close Cohen for three to six months, depending on the scope of their project. Common project areas include VP Marketing or CMO promotion campaigns, CMO-track job transitions, executive presence development for board-facing marketing leaders, and coaching on leading integrated marketing organizations. Some clients return at multiple career inflection points over many years.
Do you coach both B2B and B2C marketing leaders?
Yes. Close Cohen coaches marketing leaders across B2B SaaS, enterprise technology, consumer brands, retail, financial services, healthcare, and other industries. The coaching method is universal, the strategic project plan is customized to the specific market context you operate in.
How does AI change marketing leadership?
AI is restructuring the marketing function faster than any prior technology shift. Senior marketing leaders are being asked to consolidate teams, integrate AI into brand and demand generation, defend headcount against automation, and articulate marketing’s ROI to CEOs increasingly skeptical of traditional marketing spend. Close Cohen coaches marketing leaders through this transition, positioning you as the marketing executive who leads the change rather than the one displaced by it.
How do I get promoted from Director to VP Marketing?
Promotion at this level is decided on scope of impact, executive presence with the CEO and CFO, and the ability to lead cross-functional initiatives that produce measurable revenue outcomes, not tenure or campaign delivery. Close Cohen’s Marketing Leadership Coaching works one-on-one to define the target role, close the specific blindspots holding the promotion back, and build the visible leadership signals decision-makers look for at the VP level.
What's the difference between coaching for a VP Marketing search and a CMO search?
Both use the same Close Cohen method, but the emphasis differs. VP Marketing searches weight functional depth, team leadership, and cross-functional influence. CMO searches weight enterprise strategy, board-facing presence, revenue accountability, and the ability to shape the company narrative. Coaching is tailored to the altitude you’re targeting.
How much does Close Cohen marketing coaching cost?
Close Cohen offers a complimentary 20-minute intake consultation to understand your goals and recommend the right program. Pricing is discussed during that call based on the scope and duration of your engagement.
Still have questions? Send us a note
Get all your questions answered in your complimentary 15-minute consultation.
Reviewed by Laura Close, Founder — Close Cohen Career Consulting.
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