01 The pitch

A Fractional CMO is not a consultant. Consultants advise. I'm accountable for the numbers. If marketing doesn't deliver against the plan we agreed, that's on me to fix.

For one, two, or three days a week, I run your marketing function like it's my own. I sit in your leadership meetings, report to your board, and make the calls a full-time CMO would make. Just without the full-time cost.

02 What the role means

Running marketing properly is six jobs in a trench coat.

"Marketing" isn't one thing. It's a function that has to hang together across strategy, people, budget, execution, data, and politics. Here's what running it actually looks like.

— 01

Strategy & positioning

Annual plan, quarterly priorities, positioning decisions. What your company says, to whom, through which channels. The thinking that shapes everything else.

— 02

Hiring & team

Deciding what roles to fill, interviewing candidates, onboarding new hires, managing performance. Building the marketing team you'll still have when I'm gone.

— 03

Agency & freelancer management

Reviewing the work of any external partners you have — paid ads, SEO, content, PR. Firing the bad ones. Finding better ones. Making sure they earn their fees.

— 04

Budget & P&L

Owning the marketing P&L. Deciding how the budget gets spent, what we stop doing, where to double down. Defending the number when finance asks questions.

— 05

Board & leadership reporting

Monthly updates to the CEO. Board-ready reports every quarter. Translating marketing into the language of revenue, pipeline, and payback — because nobody at that table cares about impressions.

— 06

Cross-functional politics

Working with sales on pipeline. With product on positioning. With finance on spend. With the CEO on their next big idea. Marketing lives or dies by its relationships across a business.

03 How much time

One, two, or three days a week. Pick what your business needs.

"Fractional" needs definition. Below is what each tier typically covers. Most companies start at 2 days, then either scale up as things get urgent or scale down as the team I've built takes over.

— Tier 01
1 day / week
4 DAYS / MONTH

For companies with a competent team that just needs strategic oversight and a senior sounding board. I lead the quarterly plan, review the work, show up for board meetings, and stay reachable.

Best for: post-launch SaaS with 2–3 marketers already in seat.

— Tier 03
3 days / week
12 DAYS / MONTH

Effectively a CMO role. I'm in leadership meetings weekly, doing hands-on work on top of strategy, and integrated into the business almost as a full-time hire would be.

Best for: funded startups mid-scale-up, or companies that just lost their CMO.

04 Who does what

I run the function. You give me what I need to run it.

A Fractional CMO only works when the CEO and leadership team are genuinely handing over the function — not just renting a title. Here's the split.

— I do this
  • Own the marketing strategy and the annual plan
  • Hire, manage, and develop the marketing team
  • Manage any agencies and freelancers on retainer
  • Own the marketing budget and defend it
  • Attend leadership meetings and report to the board
  • Be accountable for the numbers we agree against
  • Hand the function over cleanly when the engagement ends
— You do this
  • Treat me as part of the leadership team, not a vendor
  • Give me decision authority on marketing hires and spend
  • Be available for weekly check-ins with the CEO or founder
  • Share financials, pipeline data, and real board context
  • Back the calls I make — or tell me why you disagree
  • Plan for what happens after: hire a CMO, promote internally, or extend me
05 Who this is for

A Fractional CMO works best at a specific stage.

This is a fit if

  • You're a B2B or SaaS company roughly $1M–$30M in revenue
  • You've outgrown the founder or CEO running marketing on top of their day job
  • You're not ready to commit to a $200k+ full-time CMO hire
  • You have (or are about to hire) at least one in-house marketer to manage
  • Your CEO genuinely wants someone to own marketing, not just advise on it
  • You're planning for 6–18 months, not 3

Not a fit if

  • You want a strategist who doesn't touch execution — that's the SEO Strategist role
  • You want a consultant to advise and disappear — that's a different engagement
  • You need hands-on execution and nothing strategic — hire a senior marketer full-time
  • Your CEO isn't willing to share real P&L data or treat me as leadership
  • You're pre-revenue or pre-product-market-fit — you need a founder marketer, not a CMO
  • You want 1 day a month of my time — this isn't coaching
06 Honest answers

Three things people ask me before they sign anything.

"Why not just hire a full-time CMO?"

If you can afford one, can attract one at your stage, and know exactly what you need them to do, then do it. A full-time CMO is the right answer for the right company.

But most companies between $1M and $15M in revenue can't justify the comp, struggle to attract real senior talent, and don't yet know what the permanent CMO job actually looks like at their company. A fractional CMO gives you the senior thinking now, figures out what the permanent role should look like, and helps you hire for it when the time is right.

"Can one person really run a marketing function two days a week?"

Yes, if the function is sized for it and the support is there. Running marketing for a 20-person company with two marketers and an agency isn't the same as running marketing at a 500-person company. You'd hire accordingly.

That said — two days a week means two days a week. I don't take on more clients than I can serve properly, and I won't pretend that a Tier 02 engagement is going to cover a job that actually needs Tier 03 or a full-time hire. If you need more, I'll say so.

"What happens when you leave?"

Most engagements run 6–12 months. Some longer. Part of the job from day one is making the function work without me — documented strategy, documented processes, a team that's been built up, an agency relationship that's stable.

When the engagement ends, you're either (a) ready to promote someone internally, (b) ready to hire a full-time CMO with a clear brief, or (c) extending me because it's still the best option. The goal is never to make you dependent on me.

07 Pricing

Flat monthly retainer. Priced by days.

No hourly billing. No "additional charges." The monthly rate covers whatever the tier agreed means — meetings, strategy work, hiring interviews, board reporting, agency management, execution on priority projects. If you need more of me, we move you to a higher tier.

— Tier 01 · 1 day/week

Strategic oversight

from$6,500
/ £5,200 · per month

4 days per month. Quarterly strategy, monthly board reporting, standing availability for the CEO, review of team and agency output.

Six-month minimum engagement.

— Tier 02 · 2 days/week

Run the function

from$12,500
/ £10,000 · per month

8 days per month. Full strategic and execution authority over marketing. In leadership meetings weekly. Hires, manages, and reports on the whole function.

Six-month minimum engagement.

— Tier 03 · 3 days/week

CMO-in-residence

from$18,000
/ £14,400 · per month

12 days per month. Operating as a near-full-time CMO. Hands-on across strategy, execution, and hiring. For urgent or high-growth situations.

Six-month minimum engagement.

Pricing shown is a starting point, not a fixed quote. Companies with complex go-to-market motions, multiple product lines, or active fundraising may scope higher. I'll quote properly once we've talked.

08 Start here

Let's see if you actually need a CMO.

One conversation. I'll tell you honestly whether a fractional CMO is the right call at your stage, or whether SEO Strategist, a senior hire, or a different shape of engagement would serve you better.