What is a fractional CMO?
A fractional CMO is a senior marketing leader who works part time for a company and is paid a monthly fee. Fees that fractional CMO firms publish run from about $8,000 to $35,000 a month. The job is marketing direction: positioning, budget, channels and the people who run them. A firm whose problem is too few sales conversations needs a different service.
What does a fractional CMO do?
A fractional CMO sets the marketing plan and owns the results. That means deciding what the company says about itself, which channels get money, what the website and the content should do, and who does the work. Most fractional CMOs work one or two days a week per client and direct an internal marketer or an agency. Some also do the work themselves, at a higher fee.
What does a fractional CMO cost?
The rates that national and Minnesota fractional CMO firms publish on their own sites run from about $8,000 to $35,000 a month. The number moves on three things: days per week, whether the CMO directs the work or also does it, and how much of the marketing function the company already has. A firm with one marketer and no plan sits at the low end. A firm asking the CMO to run campaigns sits at the high end.
Does a fractional CMO do the work or direct it?
Direct it, in most arrangements. The CMO writes the plan, sets priorities and reviews the output. An internal marketer, a freelancer or an agency does the production. Ask any candidate what happens to the plan when the firm has no marketer to run it. That is where fractional CMO engagements stall in a small firm.
How long do firms keep a fractional CMO?
Long enough to set the direction and see it run, which is usually six months to a year. Some firms keep the CMO on a lighter schedule after that. Others hire a full-time marketing lead once the plan is proven. A firm that needs new client conversations more than it needs a marketing plan can skip the CMO and put the money into having the outreach run. That is what The Build does, and it is written for founder-led firms. Agencies looking for the same answer will find it in Schmidt Consulting Group's article on fractional marketing for agencies.
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