Hire a fractional CMO
A fractional CMO owns marketing strategy a couple of days a week. They decide what the company says, to whom, and through which channel, then hold the agency or the junior team to it. They are not another pair of hands making content.
What a fractional CMO owns
- Positioning and messaging, which is usually the real problem underneath the traffic problem
- Channel strategy and where the budget actually goes
- Managing agencies and freelancers, and firing the ones that are not working
- The pipeline number, alongside sales rather than separately from it
- Hiring and shaping the marketing team you will eventually need
Signs you need one
- You are spending on ads and cannot tell what any of it returns
- Three agencies have each told you a different story about why growth stalled
- Your marketing hire is talented but junior and has nobody to learn from
- The product is good and nobody can explain it in one sentence
What it costs in the UK
Higher end for category creation, rebrands and full funnel rebuilds.
Rates are set by the operator and paid to them directly. We are not in the payment path, and the operator never pays us a fee.
How this compares
An agency executes a channel and is paid to keep executing it, which is a poor place to ask whether the channel is right. A full-time CMO is £120k to £180k and hard to justify before you have a team to lead. A fractional CMO gives you the decision-making layer without either problem, and can manage the agency you already have.
What to look for
- Ask what they would kill first, and whether they will name a channel you are attached to
- B2B and B2C are close to different professions here, so match the one you are
- Whether they have built a team or only ever run one that already existed
- Somebody who talks about pipeline and revenue rather than impressions
Common questions
- What does a fractional CMO cost in the UK?
- Typically £700 to £1,300 a day, most often one to two days a week, which lands around £3,000 to £10,000 a month. Rates run higher for category creation, a full rebrand, or a funnel rebuild that touches product and sales as well as marketing.
- Is a fractional CMO better than hiring an agency?
- They do different jobs and often work together. An agency executes a channel well. A CMO decides which channels deserve budget and holds the agency to a number. If you have an agency and no strategy, a fractional CMO is usually the missing piece rather than a replacement.
- How many days a week does a fractional CMO work?
- One to two days a week is the most common arrangement. Less than one day tends not to be enough to hold the seat properly; more than three and you are close to justifying a full-time hire.
- What should a fractional CMO deliver in the first month?
- Expect positioning you can actually repeat, an honest view of which channels are working, and a plan with numbers against it. If the first month produces a content calendar and nothing else, that is a tactician rather than a CMO.
- Do I pay a commission on top of their rate?
- No. You book them direct and pay them direct, and we take nothing from the engagement. The operator never pays us either.
Operator Search: £999 to run, £2,500 if you hire
Can't find the right CMO, or haven't got the time to look? We run the search and put three vetted operators in front of you in five business days. Both numbers agreed before anything starts, and the operator pays nothing either way.
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