A fractional CMO is a part-time marketing director on contract: the same responsibility as a full-time C-level hire — strategy, team, budget, pipeline — without the salary, equity and severance risk. In 2026 the model went mainstream for B2B, SaaS and service companies that need C-level marketing but cannot justify (or cannot find) a full-time executive. Here is what the role actually covers, what it costs, and an honest checklist of when it does — and does not — work.
Market and competitor analysis, positioning, a 6–12 month plan with channels, budgets and a qualified-lead definition. A plan you can execute, not a deck.
Hiring and managing in-house marketers and contractors. You get a working team without HR overhead and without keeping me on payroll.
I own the number. Every spend line has an owner metric: CAC, ROMI, payback period. Budget reviews are weekly, not quarterly.
End-to-end pipeline from first touch to revenue: CRM, call tracking, attribution. A weekly dashboard instead of monthly slides.
Agencies, media buyers, PR — managed on your behalf with KPIs on qualified leads, not on activity. You stop reading contractor reports in a language you don't trust.
"You approve the strategy and budget — I execute and report with numbers every week."— Vyacheslav Shubin
| Model | What's included | Typical price |
|---|---|---|
| Strategy sprint (2–3 weeks) | Audit, positioning, 6-month plan with budgets | $1,500–3,000 one-off |
| Fractional retainer | 2–3 days/week, full scope: strategy, team, budget, analytics, vendors | $3,000–6,000/mo |
| Partnership (after 6 months) | Lower fixed fee + % of growth, shared risk | Negotiated |
| For comparison: full-time CMO | Salary + taxes + equity + 2–3 months hiring + severance risk | $150,000–250,000/year |
The exact quote appears after the free 30-minute audit: scope defines price, not the other way around. What is always fixed — the first step is free and ends with 3 growth points you can execute with or without me.
| Criterion | Full-time CMO | Fractional CMO |
|---|---|---|
| Time to start | 2–3 months of hiring | 1 week |
| Annual cost | $150–250K + equity | $36–72K on retainer |
| Wrong-hire risk | Severance + restart | Contract + KPIs |
| Flexibility | Fixed salary in slow months | Scale with season or funding round |
| Coverage | One person's bandwidth | C-level + managed vendor stack |
You are pre-product-market-fit with no revenue yet; you need a full-time presence 5 days a week from day one; your total marketing budget is under $2K/month.
Sales exist but marketing is chaotic or absent; you outgrew agencies but can't justify a C-level hire; you enter a new market and need someone who has done it before.
Analytics, funnel, unit economics, vendor contracts. Output: 3 growth points and a list of what to stop paying for.
Channels, budgets, qualified-lead definition, reporting cadence. You approve; I own execution.
First decisions made on numbers, not opinions: reallocated budget, fixed funnel leaks, vendor KPIs reset.
| Project | Metric | Result |
|---|---|---|
| UAE · B2B consulting | Revenue / cost per lead | +20% / −43% ($350→$200) |
| Thailand · construction | Qualified leads | ×2, 100% plan completion |
| Russia · B2B construction | Lead processing / conversion | 45→8 min / +22% |
A niche example for the agro sector — fractional CMO for agro companies. More verified numbers — in the cases section.
Why outsourcing beats hiring in a seasonal industry with long B2B cycles — with the same numbers, agro lens on.
Read →From a free 30-minute audit to fractional retainer and risk-sharing partnership.
View formats →In 30 minutes I will show 3 growth points in your marketing and honestly say whether a fractional CMO is your case. No obligations, no sales pitch.
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