John
Robertson

ABOUT JOHN

With years of sales, marketing and product know-how, John provides strategic GTM support for growth businesses.

John helps growth businesses build and execute smart Go-to-Market (GTM) strategies that deliver measurable commercial results. With 25+ years of experience in sales, marketing and product roles, he works as a fractional or outsourced Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for ambitious startups, scaleups and SMEs.

He has held senior in-house roles as a CMO and advised some of Scotland’s most innovative companies — including Chroma Ventures, Broker Insights and Thorntons Law — across B2B and B2C markets.

John specialises in go-to-market planning, customer acquisition, and full-funnel customer journey optimisation. Whether developing positioning and propositions, improving engagement and retention, or supporting international expansion into markets such as North America, his work is practical, collaborative and rooted in real-world results. Clients often view him as an extension of their team — someone who can lead workshops, challenge thinking, and help embed lasting capability.

His ecommerce expertise includes subscription and D2C models, and he oversaw significant online growth for Scott Brothers Butchers.

John has supported major public and private sector innovation initiatives. He was involved in setting up The Data Lab — the Scottish Government’s data science accelerator — and worked on the digital transformation of Entrepreneurial Scotland. He’s also supported commercialisation teams at Heriot-Watt and Edinburgh Universities.

Committed to lifelong learning, John has completed formal training with Section’s AI Academy to stay at the forefront of AI-driven sales and marketing. His approach blends practical experience with new thinking — helping clients navigate complexity and find competitive advantage.

Previous experience

After working with Broker Insights as a strategic marketing consultant and serving as the Interim CMO, John transitioned into the permanent role of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), where he led the marketing function until achieving the key goals of establishing solid marketing foundations and successfully launching the company’s expansion into the US market.

In this strategic leadership role, he drove growth and unlocked value through marketing and communications strategies. He led and executed the company’s market positioning strategy and successfully launched the business in the US. As Chair of the product board, John helped guide product development priorities to align with market needs while implementing agile marketing practices that enhanced our go-to-market effectiveness.

John was previously marketing director at one of the UK’s fastest-growing online publishing businesses – Brightsolid. He was responsible for creating the marketing strategy, including customer acquisition and retention programme and analytics. During his time, revenues increased by almost 400%, and staff numbers grew from 40 to over 200. John was also part of award-winning partnerships, national consumer launches and the first factual ad-funded programme in the UK.

Client Chris van der Kuyl stated, “Having worked with John since 2007, I have strong experience of his superb ability to deliver leadership in strategic marketing and all areas of digital commerce. For businesses looking to grow and transform digitally, John has a rare combination of skills and experience that will undoubtedly deliver results.”

Prior to working in ecommerce, John worked in business-to-business technology for NCR, a Fortune 500 company, in sales, product management and marketing roles. Being earmarked as a “bellwether” employee by the firm’s CEO fuelled John’s drive for success. With his results-driven business experience and digital marketing expertise, John can bring innovative thinking and a fresh perspective to help take your business further.

Non-executive director roles

Until June 2017, John served as a non-executive director on the board of Marketing Edinburgh, which was the official destination marketing organisation dedicated to promoting Edinburgh to the world. Over his nearly five-year tenure, he helped the organisation embrace digital. John welcomes roles such as this, where his digital know-how can help organisations develop. In addition, John completed the Dale Carnegie Leadership Training Programme and has a reputation as an engaging leader.

Outside of work

John enjoys sport, playing golf in St Andrews. He would like to ski more and is a lost soul without a cycling event to train towards with his teammates, the Newport Massif. He is always learning something new through good old-fashioned paper books and is a proud patron of Dundee V&A.