Fractional CMO & Marketing Consulting
A seasoned CMO, without the full-time cost.
Fractional CMO and senior marketing strategy engagements for founders who need executive leadership, not a full hire.
What it is
A fractional CMO engagement brings senior marketing leadership into your business for 1–3 days per week — strategy, hiring, vendor management, and board reporting, without full-time cost.
Why it matters
- The median tenure of a CMO is now 4.2 years — the shortest of any C-suite role — reflecting how often early CMO hires are a mis-fit (Spencer Stuart CMO Tenure Study, 2024).
- Full-time CMO comp at growth-stage SaaS ranges $280K–$550K base plus equity; fractional engagements typically deliver comparable strategic leverage at 20–35% of that cost.
- A great fractional leader compounds across every vendor, agency partner, and internal hire — turning fragmented execution into a coordinated growth system.
Outcomes
- Clearer strategy
- Faster decisions
- Better ROI on marketing
Tools we love
Who this is for
Growth-stage teams that want fractional cmo treated as a discipline — not a side project. You have a real business to grow, budget to deploy thoughtfully, and an exec team that wants answers in numbers.
When you'd hire us
- Launching a new brand, product, or market.
- Current results are plateauing and you need a reset.
- You need senior thinking without hiring a full-time team.
Engagement shape
Standalone sprint, multi-month program, or embedded team — you pick what fits. Fixed-fee sprints start small; programs scale with scope; embedded engagements run on a monthly retainer.
Compare tiers →Our process
A transparent, six-step cadence we run for every engagement — adapted to your business.
Onboarding
Business deep-dive and audit.
Plan
90-day plan + 12-month roadmap.
Execute
Weekly leadership, hiring, vendor mgmt.
What you get
- Marketing strategy
- Org design
- Board-ready reporting
How we're different
Fractional CMO is a noisy space. A few things we believe — and push back on — that shape how we run every engagement.
- Sell you a fixed template and adapt your business to it.
- Hand the work to juniors after the pitch.
- Report on vanity metrics that don't tie to revenue.
- Lock you into proprietary tools you can't take with you.
- Chase shiny tactics without a durable strategy.
- Build a fractional cmo system tuned to your P&L.
- Senior practitioners on every call, every week.
- Report on pipeline, revenue, CAC, LTV — not impressions.
- All files, data, and docs live in your accounts. No lock-in.
- Strategy first. Tactics second. Always in that order.
FAQs
How long does a fractional CMO engagement typically run?+
6–12 months, reviewed quarterly. Most engagements extend beyond the initial term because the role compounds — once a fractional CMO has the business context, org relationships, and reporting systems in place, the ROI is highest in months 6–18.
How many days per week do you work with clients?+
Typical fractional CMO engagements run 1–3 days per week. 1 day works for early-stage startups needing strategic direction. 2–3 days is standard for Series A/B companies managing multiple agencies, internal hires, and executive reporting.
When should I hire a full-time CMO instead?+
When your marketing organization crosses ~8 people, you're past Series B, or marketing is itself becoming a strategic leadership capacity question. Below that threshold, full-time CMO comp ($280K–$550K + equity) typically outpaces the leverage the role provides. A great fractional leader bridges to that full-time hire and often helps recruit them.
Recent writing on Fractional CMO
Fresh thinking from our team — browse all B2B Growth articles.
Sales Enablement: The 3 Assets Every Rep Actually Uses
Despite the library of content most orgs build, reps use three things. Build these first.
B2B GrowthWhy We Killed Our MQL Metric
MQL became meaningless. Here's the replacement metric we use and why sales stopped complaining.
B2B GrowthAccount Scoring vs Lead Scoring: Why We Switched
A shift in how we prioritize — accounts over leads — and what changed in pipeline performance.
Related services
Ready to start Fractional CMO?
Book a free strategy call — we'll draft a fractional cmo plan tailored to your business.