When Should You Use a Fractional CMO?

You don't need to wait until everything falls apart to bring in a fractional CMO. But there are definitely moments when it makes the most sense to do it.

The most obvious time is when you're at an inflection point. Maybe you just closed a significant funding round. Maybe you're launching into a new market. Maybe you hit a revenue milestone and realized your current marketing isn't built to scale further. These are moments when you need leadership that understands how to navigate change and execute fast.

Another clear scenario is when you're trying to fix something that's broken. Your pipeline has dried up. Your customer acquisition cost is too high. Your marketing team is producing activity but not results. You've got inconsistent messaging across channels. You're not sure if your positioning is right. These are situations where you need someone to come in, diagnose what's actually happening, and chart a new course.

Sometimes it's about building. You've got a strong product and sales team, but marketing has never been intentional. You've never had a real strategy. You're just reacting to what sales asks for. You need someone to actually build your marketing engine and get it running right.

You might also bring in a fractional CMO when you're testing a new market or new product line. You want to enter that space, but you don't want to hire a full-time marketer exclusively for it. You need someone senior to guide the go-to-market strategy and oversee the execution. A fractional CMO can split their time between your core business and this new initiative.

Another common situation is when your VP of Marketing or head of marketing is drowning. They're good at what they do, but they're overwhelmed. They're managing the team, handling campaigns, doing admin work, putting out fires. They have no bandwidth for strategy. They're burning out. A fractional CMO can handle the strategy and big-picture work while your existing leader focuses on execution and team management.

You might also need fractional support after you've gone through leadership turnover. Your CMO left or got fired or moved on. Now you've got a team that needs direction and the business can't wait six months for you to hire someone full-time. A fractional CMO steps in immediately, provides continuity, and keeps things moving forward while you figure out your permanent structure.

There's also the situation where you're not sure you need a full-time CMO yet, but you know you need more marketing leadership than you currently have. You're in that middle ground. You've outgrown having just one marketing person, but you're not ready to commit to a six-figure executive salary. Fractional lets you test out what it feels like to have senior marketing leadership without the long-term commitment.

THE PATTERN YOU'LL NOTICE

If you look across all these scenarios, there's a common thread. You need marketing leadership, but you don't necessarily need it permanently. You need it now. You need it for a specific period or project or challenge. You need someone who can come in and immediately add value without the overhead of a full-time hire.

That's really what fractional is about. It's not about saving money, although it does. It's about matching your need for leadership with the right resource at the right time.

WHAT A FRACTIONAL CMO IS NOT

Fractional CMO work is not a substitute for having an in-house marketing team that handles execution. You still need people running campaigns, managing social media, creating content, and managing analytics. What you're getting with a fractional CMO is the person who decides what those people should be doing and holds them accountable for results. Sometimes, as in our situation, you can find fractional support with a built-in team. When setting up this solution, you’ll want to be honest with the fractional about your expectations.

It's also not a quick fix for a broken marketing team. If your team has fundamental performance issues, those won't magically disappear just because you bring in a fractional executive. But a fractional CMO can help you see what's actually broken and guide you on how to fix it.

And it's not a replacement for agencies or freelancers. In fact, most of the time a fractional CMO works alongside your agencies and freelancers. We coordinate with them. We make sure they're aligned. We make sure they're delivering.

THE COMPANIES THAT WORK WITH FRACTIONAL CMOS

The companies I work with tend to fall into a few categories. First, there are growth-stage companies between five and eighty million in revenue. They've moved beyond the stage where they can operate on instinct and scrappiness. They need structure and strategy. But they're not yet at the scale where they need a permanent full-time CMO sitting in a corner office.

Second, there are companies with good product-market fit that need to scale customer acquisition. They've figured out their product works. Now they need to figure out how to market it efficiently and grow revenue fast. They need a CMO who understands growth and can be hands-on about execution.

Third, there are established companies that are going through transition. They're entering new markets. They're launching new products. They're changing their business model. They need leadership that understands strategy and change management.

Fourth, there are companies led by technical founders or operators who've built something great but never had real marketing. They know they need it. They just haven't known how to structure it or where to start.

And fifth, there are companies that recently had CMO or marketing leader turnover and need continuity while they figure out their permanent structure.

If you're in any of these situations, fractional probably makes sense for you.

THE RIGHT TIME TO START THE CONVERSATION

You don't have to have it all figured out before you reach out. You don't have to know exactly what you need or how many hours per week or for how long.

If you're running a company between five and fifty million in revenue and you know you need more marketing leadership, that's enough reason to talk. If you're trying to scale and you're not sure whether you should hire full-time or explore fractional, that's worth a conversation. If you're stuck and not sure what the problem is but you know marketing isn't working as well as it should, reach out.

The worst case is we talk and figure out that fractional isn't the right fit right now. But most of the time, when we have that conversation, companies realize fractional is exactly what they've been looking for.

If you're running a company in that five to fifty million range and you need someone to own your marketing strategy and execution, let's talk about whether fractional makes sense for you. Set up a time and we'll see if we're a good fit.