Fractional CMO
A marketing leader in the seat, without the full-time hire.
You need someone who owns the number: sets the direction, runs the agencies and partners, and reports to you in signed contracts. I've sat in that seat reporting to a PE-backed CEO. Now I sit in yours, for as much of the week as the work needs.
When the seat needs a leader, not another vendor.
Most $20M to $100M contractors reach a point where marketing is too big to run on the side and too important to hand to an agency alone. Spend is spread across search, lead vendors, a call center, sponsorships and a few agencies. Each one reports on its own piece, and every piece looks fine on its own.
What's missing is one person who sees the whole picture, decides where the money goes, and answers for the result. That's the seat.
Where it usually starts
- Marketing outgrew the side of someone's deskThe founder or president still approves every spend decision, and it keeps pulling them back in.
- Every partner reports on its own pieceAgency reports, platform dashboards and the CRM each count differently, so the numbers never agree.
- The board wants revenue, not lead countsGrowth has a number and a date, and marketing has to answer in the same terms.
- Growth is adding piecesNew markets, new partners or an acquired brand, and the fog compounds with each one.
Each of these needs an owner more than it needs another vendor.
What the seat covers
Everything a CMO owns, scoped to what you need.
- Direction and the mix.Which channels, partners and markets get the money, and which don't, decided on what each one returns.
- Agencies and partners.I built and sold an agency, then hired them. I know how to get the best from one, and when a change is the better outcome.
- One clear read on spend and return.Every source, partner and number traced to signed contract value, so the numbers finally agree.
- The sales floor.Marketing measured in signed contracts, with lead sources the reps trust and follow-up they'll actually use.
- Reporting up.You and your board see what I see, in revenue terms, before you have to ask.
- Your team.I work alongside the people you have, and help you hire the ones you need.
What it looked like in the seat.
As CMO of a PE-backed roofing platform, I changed how the company measured marketing. The main number moved from "closed" to signed contract value by lead source, because closed lags and misreads any recent month. Brand sponsorship came out of channel math, so one large commitment couldn't distort what each channel returned.
Then I made a call that looked wrong on a dashboard. Third-party lead sources were closing at roughly a fifth the rate of website leads, so I cut that spend and brought monthly lead count down by about 30%, on purpose. I defended it upward as a quality shift, and the sales math supported it.
That's the job: a straight read, a decision, and the numbers to stand behind it in the room where it matters.
Nearly double. Same window, same-year leads only.
Want to see what the seat would cover at your company? That's what the first thirty minutes are for.
Book a working conversation →Thirty minutes. You'll leave with a straight read on where to look first, whether or not we work together.
Fractional, full-time, or an agency.
An agency
Runs channels well.
It's built to execute its piece. It isn't built to judge its results against your other partners, or to recommend you spend less with it.
A full-time CMO
Every hour of every week.
The right call when marketing needs a leader full time and the budget carries the salary, benefits and equity. Many $20M to $100M companies aren't there yet.
A fractional CMO
The seat, sized to the work.
Owns the number and the direction for the hours the work needs, and keeps every agency and partner answering to one read.
How it works.
Lead is one of the three ways I work. It can be the fractional CMO seat itself, or working alongside the marketing leader you already have. The difference is how much work and how long, and it's scoped and priced that way.
No timeframes until the situation is known. Once it is, you get a scoped finish line before you commit to anything.
Inside every engagement
- See the whole picture.Every source, partner and number, brought onto one read.
- Get a straight read.What's working, what's noise, and what it's costing you.
- Build what holds.Alongside your team or in the seat, so it keeps working after I step back.
Who this is for.
Operators at $20M to $100M
Presidents, founders and PE-backed CEOs who want growth they can plan around and a marketing function they trust without watching it. I lead the marketing, alongside your team or in the seat.
Marketing leaders at $100M and up
You already have the seat. I advise on agencies, partners and systems, and you stay the one your CEO relies on. Different work, same allegiance.
Questions operators ask first.
How much of the week does a fractional CMO spend with you?
As much as the work needs, and that's set once I know the situation. A company in the middle of an acquisition needs more than one with a steady plan. You get the scope and the price before you commit.
Will you replace our marketing manager or our agency?
No. I work alongside the people you have. Agencies often stay, too: because I've built one, I know how to get the best from them, which is usually a better outcome than a switch.
What happens in the working conversation?
Thirty minutes on the challenges in front of you. You leave with a straight read on where to look first, and if I'm not the right answer, I'll say so.
Lead the business. I'll lead the marketing.