Services
Fractional CMO services for companies ready to grow on purpose
Senior marketing leadership on a part-time basis: I own your positioning, your plan, your team and vendors, and the numbers. Three ways to work together, each starting with clearly scoped proof.
What you get
A strategic quarterback, not another vendor.
A fractional CMO does the job of a chief marketing officer for a fraction of the time and cost. In practice that means I sit between your leadership team and everyone producing marketing, turning scattered ideas into one plan that’s trackable and justified by revenue.
I’m hands-on where it counts: I write positioning, build plans, design the tracking, run campaigns and coach your people. I’m also the person who says no to work that doesn’t serve the plan.
Across every engagement
- Brand positioning and messaging, ratified by leadership
- A marketing constitution: one governing plan with an amendment process
- Go-to-market strategy by segment or product line
- Lead capture, CRM hygiene and source attribution
- Email nurture, retention and lifecycle programs
- Agency, freelancer and vendor management
- Sales enablement: playbooks, proof points and collateral
- Monthly dollar-for-dollar reporting to leadership
Where most clients start
The 90-Day Foundation Sprint
A fixed-scope, three-month engagement that builds the foundation every later marketing dollar depends on, and proves the working relationship before either of us commits to more.
Discover & align
Audit of your website, analytics, CRM, past campaigns and vendors. A light-touch Any-Three-People Test across leadership and sales. Positioning and brand voice drafted for ratification.
Deliverables: audit report, ratified positioning, one accountable plan, KPI dashboard v1.
Launch the priorities
Differentiated messaging for your top priorities. Source and UTM tracking into your CRM. First trackable campaigns and a structured nurture cadence for existing customers.
Deliverables: live campaigns, working attribution, first monthly ROI report, playbook draft.
Prove it & propose
Optimization on real performance data. SOPs and onboarding materials so new hires execute from day one. Results compared against the month-one baseline.
Deliverables: 90-day results package, SOPs, quarterly business review and scaling plan.
The sprint ends with an honest recommendation. If the right next step is an internal hire rather than an ongoing fractional role, I’ll say so and help you hire.
Monthly retainer
Ongoing Fractional CMO
Once the foundation is in place, I stay on as your marketing leader for a set number of days each month. I run the plan, lead the team and vendors, keep the content cadence on schedule, and report results to leadership every month.
This is the right fit when marketing is clearly working but doesn’t yet justify a full-time executive salary, or when you want senior oversight above a marketing manager.
Typical monthly rhythm
- Weekly working session with your marketing lead or team
- Vendor and agency check-ins against the plan
- Monthly dollar-for-dollar report to leadership
- Quarterly business review and plan amendments
- Hiring, onboarding and coaching support as needed
Near full-time
Embedded Interim CMO
For companies with no marketing infrastructure yet, or a leadership gap to cover while they hire. I work close to full time, on-site and remote, to build the department: strategy, tools, team and processes, designed to transition smoothly to internal staff.
- Comprehensive marketing plan with KPIs and budget
- Analytics, CRM, email and paid media infrastructure
- Recruiting, hiring and day-to-day team management
- Website projects managed to launch
- PR, content and SEO operating plans
- Documented hand-off to a permanent leader
Compare your options
Fractional CMO, full-time hire or agency?
Weighing candidates? Read how to choose a fractional CMO: the criteria, questions and red flags.
| Fractional CMO | Full-time CMO | Agency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seniority | Executive-level strategy and leadership | Executive-level | Varies by account team |
| Time to start | Weeks | Often months of recruiting | Weeks |
| Cost structure | Monthly retainer, no benefits or equity | Salary, benefits, often equity | Retainer or project fees, plus markups |
| Sets strategy | Yes, and owns it | Yes | Usually executes yours |
| Manages vendors | Yes | Yes | Is the vendor |
| Accountable to | Your leadership and your numbers | Your leadership | The scope of work |
Questions
Fractional CMO services: common questions
When is a company ready for a fractional CMO?
Usually when marketing has become important enough that the founder or a partner can’t keep running it on the side, but a full-time executive isn’t justified yet. Common triggers: a merger or new product line, new sales hires who need a playbook, agencies that need direction, or a board asking for marketing ROI.
Do I need an existing marketing team?
No. I’ve led companies with a full team, with only agencies and freelancers, and with no one at all. Where hands are needed, I coordinate specialist support from a trusted network, scoped and approved before any cost is incurred.
Do you replace our agency?
Rarely. Agencies are good at production; what they usually lack is a senior client-side leader setting priorities and holding them to a plan. I sit between your leadership and your vendors so their work lines up with your goals.
What do you need from us?
Access to your data (analytics, CRM, past campaigns), a leadership team that will ratify decisions in a reasonable time, and front-line input from sales and account teams. The engagement defines who owns what before we start.
Who owns the work?
You do. Every plan, playbook, SOP and asset produced during the engagement belongs to your company, so the knowledge stays when the engagement ends.
Is media spend included?
No. The retainer covers my time. Paid media and any specialist production are scoped and approved separately before any cost is incurred.
Let’s find out if I’m the right fit.
A 30-minute discovery call. You walk away with a clear read on what your marketing needs next, whether or not we work together.