Can a fractional CMO manage our existing agency?

Yes, and that is one of the most common arrangements. Expect the agency's output to get more useful and the invoices to get more scrutiny.

How many hours is "two days a month"?

About sixteen, spread as the work needs. Some weeks it is a two-hour call. Some weeks it is a day on site.

What does the first month look like?

Listening. I read everything you have, talk to your customers and your team, and come back with a one-page plan and a budget. Nothing gets spent until you see that.

Do you do the ads and the posting yourself?

No. I find and direct the people who do, which costs you less than my rate for that work.

When would you tell me not to hire you?

When you are under a million and the money would be better spent on one good project, or when you are over fifty million and you need someone there every day.

Fractional CMO, marketing agency, or a full-time hire?

It depends on revenue. Under about a million, run a one-page plan yourself with a freelancer. From one to twenty million, a fractional CMO who directs an agency or freelancers usually wins. Past that, hire full-time. An agency alone, with nobody on your side directing it, is the option that most often disappoints.

Most companies make this call on gut feel. Here it is with numbers.

What do the three options cost?

Marketing agency. Twin Cities agencies run $3,000 to $15,000 a month on retainer depending on scope, plus media spend. You get hands: writing, ads, posting, design. You do not get a strategy unless you pay for one separately, and you do not get someone whose job is to tell you the agency is wasting your money.
Fractional CMO. Nationally $3,000 to $15,000 a month (MarketerHire, 2026). Mine start at $3,500 a month (about two days a month). You get the strategy and the management, plus someone who hires and directs the hands.
Full-time CMO. Nationally $175,000 to $300,000 or more in total pay (MarketerHire, 2026). Minneapolis runs higher: Salary.com puts the median base salary alone near $391,000. You get everything if you hire well. If you do not, you get a six-month search and a bad bet.

Which one for my size?

Under $1 million: none of them. A one-day brand and marketing workshop, a plan on one page, and a freelancer for the hands. Revisit in a year.
$1 to $20 million: fractional CMO plus either an agency or two or three freelancers. At this size the owner is usually still doing the marketing at night, and it shows.
$20 to $50 million: fractional CMO at the higher level, two days a week, or start the full-time search with the fractional person holding the seat meanwhile.
Over $50 million: hire full-time, and use a fractional person only to bridge.

Why does agency-alone disappoint so often?

Nobody on your side is directing it, so the agency does the work that is easiest to do and easiest to show. Posts get posted. Reports get reported. Revenue sits still, and nobody can say why, because nobody had the job of asking.

Put a good fractional CMO over the same agency and somebody is writing the plan, setting the targets, and reading the reports with a skeptical eye. The good agencies prefer working that way.

Can the fractional CMO also build the brand and the website?

Yes, as separate fixed-price projects, not inside the retainer, so you can see what you pay for each. I have been doing brand and web work since 2000.

What about just hiring a marketing manager?

A good in-house marketer is a great hire when there is a plan to execute. Without a plan, you have a capable person waiting for direction and feeling like they are failing. Federal wage data puts Twin Cities marketing specialists at a median near $98,000 and marketing managers near $173,000 (BLS, May 2025). Put a fractional CMO in for six months first, then make the hire.

Answered by Jared Lukes, Minneapolis. Twenty-five years in brand, UX, and technology, currently holding fractional AI and technology seats at three companies. About Jared.