Should I get a fractional CMO?
Most companies asking this don't need one. A few badly do. Four minutes tells you which you are — and what to do about it either way.
Run the diagnosticThe verdict comes first. The email is optional.
Where is revenue today?
Trailing twelve months, roughly.
The title is doing a lot of work. Here's what's actually underneath it.
- A decision-maker
Owns positioning, offer, channel mix, and the calendar. Says no to things.
- Part-time by design
One to two days a week. Enough to lead; not enough to do the doing.
- A 90-day shape
Works best against one measurable outcome, then renewed or ended on the number.
- A cheaper agency
If you need output, buy output. A strategist without hands is a slide deck.
- A fix for founder time
They will need four hours a month of you. If those don't exist, neither does the result.
- A replacement for a full-time CMO
Above roughly $10M, part-time leadership is the wrong shape. Hire.
Full-time, fractional, or a retainer
Type a salary, a day rate, and a retainer. The page multiplies them. The numbers it starts with are a round illustration so you can see a month. They are estimates, not quotes, and not a survey of what fractional CMOs charge.
- Full-time lead$12,500/mo
$120,000 salary, 25% added for tax and benefits, divided by 12. Illustration until you change it.
- Fractional, a few days a month$6,000/mo
$1,500 a day × 4 days. Illustration until you change it.
- Agency retainer$8,000/mo
The monthly figure a firm put in writing, typed in here. Illustration until you change it.
Nothing here is a fee from Primortul, Fracs, or any firm on the lists. A quote is a number a firm sends you. If you want that, ask for it in writing.
Three cases where the answer is no.
The diagnostic returns these word for word. A right answer you leave with beats a wrong purchase you stay in.
- 01
You're under $500K.
Strategy is cheap at this stage and execution is everything. A fractional CMO will tell you to build a system. Skip the telling; build the system.
- 02
You already have a senior lead.
Two people who own strategy is one too many. What you're feeling is an execution gap. Give the lead more hands.
- 03
You can't give it four hours a month.
Every decision they make needs one from you. Without the hours you'll pay for a plan nobody runs, and conclude marketing doesn't work.
Three numbers decide it. Any one of them can veto the other two.
Under $500K in revenue, a senior marketing lead already in the building, or fewer than four founder hours a month — each is a no on its own, whatever the rest of the answers say.
- Need
Is marketing the constraint, or just the loudest complaint?
Revenue, what's broken, what happened the last time you paid someone to fix it.
- Readiness
Would a strategist's decisions actually get acted on?
Who's on the team, the hours you can give it, and who closes the deals today.
- Fit
Is part-time the right shape at all?
Budget, timeline, and whether you've outgrown a two-day-a-week leader before you've hired one.
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Scope it in one call.
Thirty minutes with Fracs. You leave with a 90-day scope and a number, or with a reason not to do it.