A Fractional CMO is an executive-level leader who provides strategic direction and operational oversight to the marketing and GTM function, working within your leadership team on a part-time basis. Fractional CMOs focus on driving cross-functional alignment across product, marketing, sales, and customer success; building sustainable growth engines; and overseeing marketing execution and results. They may also assist with hiring, overseeing and mentoring marketing staff, and managing agency resources.

A marketing agency is an important external partner that focuses on specific areas of marketing execution—building and executing creative strategies, campaigns, and other marketing tactics that help bring marketing strategies to life. A Fractional CMO often manages your agency relationships to ensure they deliver against strategic priorities.

A Fractional CMO acts as a member of your team and is involved in both developing the strategy and overseeing and guiding its execution—often adjusting strategies based on results and learnings to optimize longer-term performance. A consultant focuses on helping to build a focused strategy but typically does not oversee its execution and optimization.

No, a Fractional CMO is not an employee of your business. They operate as an independent contractor that integrates tightly with your team to provide strategic marketing and GTM leadership.

However, Fractional CMOs are often onboarded similarly to an employee, with access to your company's data, systems, and tools such as email and calendars to enable them to work collaboratively and seamlessly with your team.

Yes, a Fractional CMO can oversee internal and external resources, including leadership, mentorship, and execution oversight. Depending on the scope of the engagement, a Fractional CMO may or may not take on direct people management responsibilities (e.g., performance reviews, compensation decisions).

Most commonly, Fractional CMOs provide strategic direction, coach team members, manage vendor relationships, and ensure accountability—without being the HR manager.

Fractional CMOs can often identify and capitalize on early wins within 8-12 weeks: improved lead quality, better conversion rates, clearer messaging, identified revenue leakage, or eliminated wasted spend.

However, the Fractional CMO model is focused on helping businesses build sustainable growth engines, and this longer-range strategic work typically takes 6-12 months to show higher-impact results including significant pipeline growth, improved marketing ROI, and scalable systems.

Fractional CMOs are part-time and generally cost about 40-70% less than hiring a full-time executive marketing leader. They're also faster to onboard and ramp up than a full-time employee (weeks vs. months) and pose less risk since the engagement is flexible with no long-term commitment.

Yet Fractional CMOs provide the same benefits as a full-time senior marketing leader:

• Strategic clarity that focuses resources and budgets where they make the biggest impact

• Sharpened positioning and messaging that deliver better leads, higher conversion rates, and stronger pipeline

• Improved customer retention and revenue expansion

• Full revenue cycle optimization to maximize efficiency and results

• Team development and vendor management to improve execution quality

Most clients see quick wins within 90 days and more robust ROI within 6+ months through increased pipeline, reduced CAC, improved conversion rates, higher customer retention, and eliminated waste.

At ScaleCraft, our Fractional CMO engagements typically range from $5,000-$15,000/month for 1-2 days per week, with most engagements lasting 6-12 months.

This is 40-70% less than hiring a full-time CMO (average salary $250K-$300K+ plus benefits, overhead, recruiting fees, and ramp-up time).

The exact investment depends on:

• Scope of the role and responsibilities

• Weekly or monthly time commitment needed

• Complexity of your market and GTM motion

• Length of the engagement

We work with each client to define the right level of support for your business stage and growth objectives.

Leadership team alignment is critical. Ensure your leadership team is aligned on hiring a Fractional CMO and committed to treating them as an extension of the executive team, not a vendor.

Provide access and integration. Give your Fractional CMO access to senior leaders, systems, data, and tools (email, calendar, Slack, CRM, etc.) so they can work seamlessly with your team and ramp up quickly.

Set clear goals and empower execution. Align on clear, measurable goals at the start and empower your Fractional CMO to make decisions and drive execution against those goals.

Commit to transparency. Share your challenges, constraints, and aspirations openly. The more your Fractional CMO understands about your business, the better they can serve you.

Be open to change. One of the biggest advantages of a Fractional CMO is the fresh perspective they bring. Be willing to challenge assumptions and try new approaches.