brand is operations.
I'm Alex Bargen. I built a marketing function from scratch at a family-owned youth sports business in St. Louis, with no team, no big budget, and no playbook. I write and speak about what that taught me, for every marketer doing more with less.
The Thoughts of a Future CMO. Notes from the climb, free.
selected work
Real campaigns, real constraints. Most of my work lives at Barron Sports, where marketing is a team of one and every idea has to earn its spot.
Launching Barron Dance
Barron Sports, Ballwin, MO
- The challenge
- Barron added dance at its Ballwin location and needed a brand families would recognize, trust, and sign up for.
- My role
- Led the brand and the launch, from identity and mascot to signage, print, web, video, social, and the open house.
- What I learned
- The logo was the easy part. The launch worked because every touchpoint, from the front desk to the flyer, told the same story.
Local moms, real reach
Fourteen St. Louis moms partnering with Barron Sports, built and run by one marketer.
The cheesiest deal in the NFL
A brand partnership pitch built on his league nickname, Mac n' Cheese.
View the deck →Keeping kids in the pool
Retention emails that move summer swimmers into year-round classes.
Marketing a real estate practice
Running my own listings and local content on the same playbook.
Dinner, prepped in one trip
Meal-prep ready foods for busy families, riding the prepared-foods trend.
View the deck →Road to the CFP
A contingency campaign ready to roll out the moment a College Football Playoff bid lands.
View the deck →Cards tagged Concept are strategy work from coursework. Their numbers are projections, not live results.
Organizations I've worked with
not a CMO yet. that's the point.
I'm a few steps ahead of a lot of marketers, not on top of a mountain. I'm sharing the climb while I'm on it, because the unfinished part is where the useful lessons are.
- AgencyWhere I learned the craft and the pace.
- Real estateWhere I learned that marketing has to close, not just look good.
- Barron SportsMarketing Director. Nearly four years building the function from zero.
Also: SMCKC board member, Marketing Happy Hour community, based in St. Louis.
speaking and podcasts
Talks for marketers without the big team or the big budget. Practical, honest, and built from work I'm doing right now.
Brand is operations
Why your brand is how the whole business runs, not your logo, and how a team of one can build it on purpose.
The invisible hire
How I use AI as a working marketing team at a small business, and where it still needs a human.
What actually stuck
The tactics that survived four years of trial and error on a Main Street budget, and the ones I'd skip.
the thoughts of a future CMO
My Substack. Lessons from building marketing from scratch, written while it's still messy.
I'm not a CMO yet. That's the point.
Why I'm sharing the climb in public, mid-journey, and who it's for.