Sounds like you
“We pay an agency every month and I cannot tell what we get for it.”
“Our brand looks like five different companies, depending on who made the thing.”
“Marketing is whoever has time this week.”
“We need a CMO, but not a full-time one, and not yet.”
The problem
Nobody on your side knows what good looks like.
Without a marketing lead, the agency picks the work, the freelancers pick the tools, and the reports measure whatever looks good that month. A full-time CMO in Minneapolis runs a median base near $391,000. A fractional seat puts a senior person on every one of those decisions, from about two days a month to about two days a week.
Who it is for
Who it is not for
I am not the right CMO for every brand.
If the job is a national media budget, a retail shelf, or a channel sales team, hire someone who has run those. I fit when the work is the brand, the website, the search results, the tools, and the people making it. The first call is where we find out which one you have, and I will tell you if it is not me.
What you get
One plan, one brand, and someone who answers for both.
- A one-page marketing plan. What to do, what to stop, and what it costs, in the order that pays back first.
- A brand that holds together. Naming, identity, and voice written down, so every agency and freelancer works from the same page.
- Vendors who deliver. I pick the agency and the freelancers, write down what each one owes you, and check the work.
- A report you can read. Once a month, in plain language: what moved, what it cost, and what gets cut.
The marketing record
At U.S. Asset Appraisals I run the marketing technology and the AI rollout for a firm working in 35+ states. At Thread I was brought in to turn a fifty-person print shop, 3M among its clients, into a digital studio, and renamed it on the way. I co-founded Misplaced Music Radio and grew it to 80,000 listeners a month. At Olson I programmed and scored the UV Vodka site, a One Show Interactive Merit, for a launch with no TV, print, or outdoor that became the best-selling product in Phillips history.
How it works
Talk it through
A 30-minute call. What you sell, who buys it, what you spend, and what is not working.
Read what you have
The first month is mostly listening: the customers, the agency, the reports, the bills.
Run the marketing
The plan, the budget, the vendor calls, the monthly report.
Hand it over
By two years at the latest, the work runs with a full-time owner I help you hire, or with the team you have.
Questions
What does a fractional CMO seat cost?
Why three months minimum and two years maximum?
Do you write the ads and the posts yourself?
We already have an agency. Do we still need a CMO?
Can you turn around a marketing program that has run for years?
Do you also take technology or AI seats?
Before you hire this, people ask
- 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.
- What does a fractional CMO cost?Nationally, fractional CMO retainers run about $3,000 to $15,000 a month (MarketerHire, 2026). Mine are $3,500 a month for about two days a month, $6,500 for about a day a week, or $11,000 for about two days a week.
- What does a fractional creative director do?A fractional creative director keeps the brand, the campaigns, and the people making them pointed the same way, part time. They review the work, set the standard, run the creative calls, and manage the designers, writers, and agencies. With me it is $3,500 a month for about two days a month, $6,500 for about a day a week, or $11,000 for about two days a week.
- Why does a fractional seat end at two years?Two years is enough to take a new initiative from zero to working, and short enough that nobody can hide in analysis. Every fractional seat I hold runs at least three months and at most two years. By the end, the work stands on its own with a full-time owner or the team you have, or we stop it.
- How do I find new customers without hiring a sales team?Pick one or two channels, run each one like an experiment for a month, and keep the one that works. The usual options are asking current customers for referrals, being findable on Google and in AI assistants, partnering with a business that already has your customers, and using automated research to find and qualify leads so the few hours you have go to the best ones.
- Should I get my marketing campaign reviewed before launch?Yes, if real money is about to go behind it. An hour with someone outside the team catches the unclear offer, the broken link, the wrong audience, and the line that reads differently than you meant, while fixing them is still free. With me a campaign review is $150 an hour, and I can also join the team that makes it.
- What is a fractional executive?A fractional executive is a senior leader who works for your company part of the week, on an ongoing basis, and is accountable for results like any member of your leadership team. The common seats are CMO, CTO, CFO, and Chief AI Officer. I take CMO, CTO, and Chief AI Officer seats for three months to two years: $3,500 a month for about two days a month, $6,500 for about a day a week, or $11,000 for about two days a week.
- How do I get my business mentioned by ChatGPT?Answer the questions your buyers ask, in plain sentences, on pages that say who you are, where you are, and what things cost. Keep your name, address, and services the same everywhere you are listed, get mentioned on sites assistants already trust, and measure it with the AI citation reports in Bing Webmaster Tools, because nobody's guess is reliable. On my own appraisal firm's site, Bing Copilot citations went from 835 to about 2,100 between readings five weeks apart.
Tell me what you spend on marketing and what it brings in.
If you do not know the second number, we start there.