Remuda
Unlocking Growth: How clearmotive Became Remuda’s Fractional CMO — And
Changed the Game
When Steve Schouten started Remuda, he wasn’t just building barns and supplying materials — he was building a brand. But with growth comes complexity, and by 2024, Remuda had outgrown the traditional way of doing marketing.
“We needed to be sharper, faster, and more strategic,” Steve argued. “The team was doing the best they could, but it was clear we needed senior marketing leadership — without adding another full-time executive.”
Enter clearmotive.
Instead of just hiring another agency, Steve made a bigger move: he brought in clearmotive as a fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) — a strategic partner who could guide the company’s brand evolution, marketing priorities, and growth strategy from the top down.
The Solution
Remuda had already established a strong reputation across the Canadian prairies. But after acquiring a building supplies company and launching a new manufacturing arm, things got more complicated.
How do you unify multiple businesses under one brand? How do you generate leads without wasting marketing dollars? And how do you do it all while giving support to a lean marketing team?
With clearmotive, the answer wasn’t another campaign. It was a framework. A set of systems. A way of making decisions that tied every move back to the business’ bigger goals.
"One of the key benefits for Remuda is clearmotive's Marketing Evaluation & Activation Framework—a reusable, 7-step decision-making tool to empower the team and support effective, streamlined, prioritized marketing initiatives," Steve explains.
For Steve, it was about more than marketing — it was about focus.
"I need to prioritize as the CEO," he says. "The clear, simple principles that clearmotive established helped me to understand what we were doing, and why we were doing it. That allowed me the space I needed to run my company."
Growth Marketing Over Guesswork
One of the biggest shifts clearmotive introduced was a different philosophy around marketing itself.
Rather than relying on long, expensive campaigns that might — or might not — work, clearmotive applied growth marketing principles: fast experiments, real-time data, constant learning, and the agility to pivot as needed.
"Where conventional marketing strategies can be resource-intensive, clearmotive prioritizes growth marketing, with micro-strategies and iterative cycles that respond to our business decisions, market changes, and ability to activate quickly," Steve says.
It wasn’t just smarter. It was faster — and better aligned with Remuda’s entrepreneurial pace.
Full Firepower
Without the Overhead
What really impressed Steve, though, was that clearmotive didn’t stop at strategy.
"I’ve worked with agencies and made internal hires, but clearmotive’s fractional CMO approach has been a whole different experience — in the best way," he says. "The depth, clarity, and speed they bring to shaping a path forward really stands out. Even better, they’re not just strategists — they come with a full creative team that can actually bring it all to life, without the overhead of building it all in-house."
New web pages. Reimagined branding. Digital advertising campaigns. Lead pipelines. Everything came together with the speed and discipline of a seasoned internal team — without Remuda needing to hire and manage one.
Tangible Results — And Room to Dream Bigger
Since partnering with clearmotive, Remuda has seen clear, measurable results:
- Two divisions — Building and Supplies — now united under a single, clear brand.
- Scalable marketing infrastructure that the team can manage confidently from the inside.
- A sales pipeline strong enough to support their boldest new venture: manufacturing.
"Today, clearmotive is an important partner in our growth, supporting our internal team, structuring priorities, and setting a clear path forward," Steve says.
And perhaps most importantly?
"Having clearmotive step in as a fractional CMO has unlocked a whole new level of potential for our team," Steve says. "As a CEO, I’m pulled in a lot of directions—but with their leadership, marketing is one area I don’t have to worry about anymore. From planning to process to execution, they’ve got it handled. For the first time, I’m actually excited to see what our marketing can do."
Conclusion
Remuda’s story shows what’s possible when businesses think beyond the traditional model.
A fractional CMO doesn’t just fill a gap — it gives growing companies the strategic horsepower they need, exactly when they need it.
"clearmotive brings a formulaic approach to marketing, understanding Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs), Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs), revenue targets, and prioritizing our investments for the best returns," Steve sums up.
For Remuda, the future is wide open.
And with clearmotive beside them, they’re not just building barns anymore — they’re building something much bigger.
Let’s make some noise together.
Learn more about how clearmotive’s Fractional CMO services can help your business scale smarter.