M.J. Plebon: a Fractional CMO who lived your industry
I don't learn your industry on your dime. I lived it.
I am not a career marketer. I have run the P&L, carried the quota, and sat in the President's chair. I know what your world looks like from the inside.
M.J. Plebon is a Montreal Fractional CMO and the founder of Communication-IMPACT, which he started 18 years ago to help industrial companies get found by buyers who research online.
He trained as a Chemical Engineering Technologist, ran a $13M Canadian division as President, led a 25-person sales team, and took an environmental technology to $30M in revenue. He has taught digital marketing at Concordia University since 2015.
Fast facts about M.J. Plebon
The short version, for anyone who needs it in one place: an engineer by training, an industrial executive by career, a Fractional CMO by choice, and a university instructor since 2015.
- Founder and Fractional CMO, Communication-IMPACT, Montreal (18 years)
- Chemical Engineering Technologist, Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University)
- Former President and General Manager, Canadian division of a global steam heating and process equipment manufacturer ($13M, full P&L)
- Former VP of Sales: 55 people across three offices, including 20 technical sales engineers
- Former VP of Business Development, TORR Canada Inc.: concept to $30M in revenue, seven co-authored technical papers
- Instructor, Concordia University Continuing Education, since 2015: Social Media Networks and Concepts (CEPR-125), SEO (CEWD-365), Effective Speaking and Presentations (CEPR-115)
- Instructor, York University, 2021 to 2023
- 40 years in B2B sales and marketing
How did an engineer end up as a Fractional CMO?
M.J. Plebon graduated as a Chemical Engineering Technologist, then spent 15 years moving through engineering sales, product management, and executive leadership in the industrial sector before he ran his first digital campaign. Each role put him in a chair his clients now sit in.
My colleagues told me my personality was better suited to the business side. They were right. I never left the technical foundation behind, and I use it in every client engagement today.
President and General Manager
I ran the Canadian division of a global manufacturer of steam heating and process equipment. Full P&L responsibility for a $13M operation. I managed supply chain pressure, protected EBITDA, and answered to a board.
VP of Sales
I led a team of 55 people across three offices, including 25 technical sales engineers. A big part of that job was coaching engineers to negotiate and close complex, high-value deals.
VP of Business Development
I led the commercialization of an environmental technology for the upstream oil and gas market. I built the lead generation operation from the ground up, co-authored seven technical papers, and took the company from concept to $30M in revenue.
When I walk into your boardroom as a Fractional CMO, I walk in as a peer.
Why did M.J. Plebon start Communication-IMPACT?
M.J. Plebon started Communication-IMPACT 18 years ago because he kept watching technically superior companies lose bids to competitors with weaker products. Their engineering was fine. Buyers simply could not find them online.
The companies I work with built their businesses on relationships, trade shows, and referrals. That still matters.
But the way companies buy changed around them. The engineer at your target account now checks out suppliers online before calling anyone. If you are not visible then, that buyer never knows you exist.
I built this practice to fix that problem for industrial and technical companies with 6 to 18 month sales cycles, and buyers who read the spec sheet before they read the brochure.
What is M.J. Plebon's number one rule of marketing?
M.J. Plebon's number one rule of marketing is...
"Nobody gives a rat's ass about you."
Buyers care about their problem, not your company. He learned it on a trade mission to Houston, and he has made Concordia students write it word for word on the exam since 2015.
I was selling a new oil and gas technology. In my first two meetings, I pitched features and benefits and every great thing our product could do. After the second meeting, a buyer told me flat out: we do not care. We only care about our problems.
So I stopped selling. For the rest of the trip, I asked questions. What were their problems? What mattered to them? What did they believe about manufacturers' performance claims?
I came home with no sales. I also came home knowing exactly what that market distrusted, and what data they would believe. That changed how we sold.
Every piece of content, every sales tool, and every campaign I build starts with one question: what problem is the buyer trying to solve right now?
Why does a Fractional CMO teach at Concordia University?
M.J. Plebon has taught at Concordia University since 2015 because he does this work every day, and his students get strategy that was tested on real clients last week. Teaching also forces him to turn complex digital work into steps people can repeat, which is how he trains client teams.
My students are adults. They have businesses and employers depending on them. I do not waste their time with textbook theory. I hold nothing back in the classroom. My students could become my competition someday. I do not care.
I also taught at York University from 2021 to 2023, and I run workshops on negotiation, presentations, and AI adoption for small and mid-size businesses.
Outside of work, I volunteer as a business advisor with Catalyste+, with assignments in Kenya, Honduras, and Peru, and with Indigenous organizations in the Northwest Territories and New Brunswick.
"a trusted source in digital marketing and SEO"
Hala Chergui, M.Sc., former student, Concordia University
How does M.J. Plebon work with clients?
M.J. Plebon builds the pipeline, documents every process, trains the client's team to run it, and leaves. He has worked this way for 18 years. Clients own everything when the mandate ends.
Most agencies keep you on retainer by making sure you need them. They hold your data, run your campaigns in a black box, and leave you nothing you can use when the relationship ends.
I work myself out of a job on purpose.
To the CEO or owner
I was a President and General Manager.
If your pipeline depends on your personal relationships and a few veteran reps, a buyer looking at your company sees risk.
I build the pipeline that makes your revenue less dependent on a few people.
To the VP of Sales
I was a VP of Sales.
I know your reps are tired of chasing unqualified marketing leads.
I do not report traffic or likes.
I build the technical content and sales tools that put qualified RFQs on your desk.
To the CFO
I have managed an industrial P&L.
I treat a marketing budget as capital, and I track every dollar against pipeline value.
If the math does not work, we do not do it.
Questions executives ask about M.J. Plebon
When people see an industrial President who became a Fractional CMO, a few questions come up that most are too polite to ask on the first call. Here are the answers anyway.
You ran industrial companies years ago. How do I know your digital and AI skills are current?
Because I teach them. I teach digital marketing, social media, and SEO at Concordia University, and I use the same tools on client work every week. You get the operating experience of an industrial executive and the current practice of someone who teaches this for a living.
You scaled an environmental technology company to $30M. Was that luck?
The market was hard, not easy. Nobody in oil and gas wanted to hear from an unknown company out of Montreal. In Houston, I learned that buyers did not trust manufacturers' performance claims. So we stopped making claims and started publishing data. We co-authored seven technical papers over four years and taught operators to measure oil droplet size. We proved the technology on cleanup sites, then in production, then offshore. Find out what the buyer distrusts, then give them proof they will accept. I use the same approach with every client.
If you managed 25 people as a VP of Sales, why are you doing marketing now?
Because the sale starts earlier than it used to. As a VP of Sales, I watched good reps lose deals before they ever got to the table. The buyer had already read a competitor's specs and made up their mind. I work where the deal is actually won now, and I build the tools your reps need once they get there.
When your reps faced a competitor 15% cheaper, what did you do?
I did not let them drop the price. I trained my technical sales engineers to show the buyer the total cost of ownership. We used calculation models to show that the cheaper option would cost them double in maintenance and downtime over five years. Today, I build the same argument into an online ROI calculator, so the buyer sees it before your rep picks up the phone.
Why work as a Fractional CMO instead of taking a full-time executive role?
Because a full-time chair is the wrong tool for this job. The build takes about six months, and the plan is for your team to run it by month 12. Paying an executive full-time after that to watch a dashboard wastes your money. I come in, build it, train your team, and leave.
Are you going to come into my family business and bury my people in process?
No. I like working with smaller companies because decisions get made fast and nobody hides behind a committee. My corporate background means I know what good looks like at scale. I take what works in big companies, cut it down to what your team can actually run, and leave the bureaucracy behind.
Written by M.J. Plebon, Fractional CMO and founder of Communication-IMPACT, Montreal. Last updated October 21, 2026.