We run the function and own the number. The team runs the work. Strategy, budget, channel mix, agency oversight, and a coach for you and your team, so they get sharper instead of more dependent.
Most CMOs have run one brand. We’ve led marketing for over 222.
Built on referrals. Buried in your own calendar.
You built a business on referrals and reputation, and marketing became the thing you do at 11pm. Your digital presence is ten years behind your work, and every hour you spend fixing it is an hour off running the business. You do not need a $200K CMO or another junior hire to manage. You need senior judgment on call, off your plate.
Do you need a fractional CMO? Seven signs
You need a fractional CMO when nobody senior owns where marketing goes next and the business is large enough that guessing costs real money. If two or more of these sound like your company, the seat is worth a conversation.
Marketing happens after hours, not during them
If strategy gets decided at 11pm because it never made the calendar during business hours, that is a resourcing problem, not a discipline problem.
You are comparing a $200K salary to doing nothing
Those are rarely the only two options, but they are the only two most owners have priced out.
Your digital presence is ten years behind your work
Referral-built businesses are prone to this. The work is excellent and nobody with senior marketing judgment has owned the storefront.
You have a marketing person, but no marketing direction
A coordinator can execute. Most cannot set strategy, and should not be asked to. The gap is seniority, not headcount.
You want strategy, not another person to manage
Hiring in-house means onboarding, managing, and eventually replacing someone. The seat is built to skip that.
You are doing $1M to $20M in revenue
Below that, the founder can usually still hold marketing. Above $20M, most companies can staff a full team. In between is where the seat earns its cost.
You want the option to walk away
A full-time hire is a long commitment either way it goes. Month to month with 30 days notice is a different kind of bet.
Three kinds of company this isn’t built for.
- Pre-revenue or early-stage. The seat is built for $1M-20M operators with a real business to protect, not a startup still validating an idea.
- Anyone who wants to manage a marketer day to day. If you want to approve every post, hire a coordinator instead.
- Anyone who wants content volume without strategy. That is a retainer, not a seat. See Services for that.
Fractional CMO for companies doing $1M to $20M
The seat is built for owner-operated companies between $1M and $20M in revenue, and what it does changes across that range. Here is what the job actually looks like at each size.
The founder is still the marketing department. The seat buys back the 11pm shift and puts one prioritized move in front of you each month instead of ten half-finished ones.
There is usually a coordinator or an agency, and nobody senior directing either. The seat sets the plan, holds the vendors to it, and builds the scoreboard.
Budget is real enough that the wrong channel mix costs six figures a year. The seat owns budget allocation and the decision of what to stop doing.
Most companies here can justify a full-time CMO and an in-house team. We will tell you that rather than sell you a seat you have outgrown.
What a seat includes.
a 60-90 minute strategy session. Not a status meeting.
a written Marketing Command Brief: what moved, what I'm flagging, what's next.
one prioritized strategic recommendation, scoped and ready to execute.
direct text access to me. Not a support queue.
You get the strategy and the hands.
Most fractional CMOs hand you a plan and leave you to execute it. Most agencies execute without a plan. We own the number and run the function, and the team runs the work, so nothing falls in the gap between strategy and delivery.
Fractional CMO vs full-time CMO vs agency: the real cost
A full-time CMO runs $200,000 or more per year before benefits, bonus, and equity. A fractional CMO seat starts at $4,000 per month. The point is not that the seat is cheaper, it is that it is the right shape for a company that needs senior direction without needing a full-time executive.
| Option | Cost | What you get | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time CMO | $200,000+ per year | Full ownership and senior strategy, plus a fixed cost and a hire to manage | Companies past roughly $20M |
| Marketing coordinator | About $65,000 per year | Execution capacity. A coordinator runs a plan, they do not set one | Any of the above, once someone senior sets direction |
| Agency retainer | From $4,000 per month | A team and production capacity: content, campaigns, paid media | When you need volume shipped |
| Fractional CMO seat | From $4,000 per month | Senior strategy and accountability on call, with no headcount to manage | $1M to $20M owner-operators |
None of these are mutually exclusive. The setup we see work most often is a seat setting strategy, a coordinator or agency executing it, and the owner finally out of the 11pm marketing shift.
What a fractional CMO costs
Hands-on execution: content production, ad management, website builds. That is real work, priced and scoped separately so the seat stays strategic advice, not another vendor bill in disguise.
Projects (site rebuilds, ad management at scale) priced separately so the seat stays strategic.
No contract. Thirty days is the whole commitment. If the work is not earning its keep, you walk. No penalty, no hard feelings.
We hold a maximum of three seats at a time. Senior attention does not scale past that without becoming the exact problem a fractional seat is supposed to solve.
“They grew our engagement 400%. It doesn’t feel like I’m partnered with a large company, we have a real relationship, and we always have access to them.”
“They’ve grown our Instagram and Facebook presence — professional, creative, and a real pleasure to work with. The photos and videos they capture are beautiful and captivating.”
Fractional CMO by industry
The seat is the same in every category. What changes is how much of the first quarter goes to learning your rules instead of fixing your bottleneck. Three categories where we start on day one instead of month seven.
Hospitality and resorts
Hospitality sells a specific place, not a category, and it runs on seasons a generalist has to be taught. We have run social for Resorts World and the Polynesian Cultural Center.
A fractional CMO for hospitality →Wine and spirits
Three-tier compliance and age-gating shape every post before creative does. The founder built the first marketing department at Southern Wine & Spirits before starting the agency.
A fractional CMO for wine brands →Franchise and multi-location
The problem is rarely content. It is that nobody has written down who is allowed to decide what. Blaze Pizza ran ten years to 300+ locations on that framework.
A fractional CMO at franchise scale →Straight answers about the seat.
Why not hire a full-time marketer?
You could. A real CMO runs $200K+. A coordinator runs $65K and still needs managing. A seat gives you senior judgment on call, at a fraction of the cost.
What if we already have a marketing person?
Keep them. The seat gives them direction, systems, and a senior sounding board instead of guessing alone.
What results should we expect?
Fast, then compounding. Month one is foundation fixes you can see. Ninety days in, you have a working system and a scoreboard. Ask our clients: most stay 3+ years.
Is there a contract?
No lock-in. Month to month, 30-day notice. That is the guarantee: the work has to earn the renewal every single month.
What does a fractional CMO actually do?
A fractional CMO sets marketing strategy, budget, and channel priorities on a part-time basis and stays accountable for the result, without becoming a full-time hire. In practice that is a monthly strategy session, a written brief covering what moved and what is next, one prioritized recommendation scoped and ready to execute, and direct access in between. Hands-on execution is priced separately so the seat stays strategic.
How much does a fractional CMO cost compared to a full-time CMO?
A full-time CMO runs $200,000 or more per year before benefits, bonus, and equity. A fractional CMO seat starts at $4,000 per month on a month-to-month basis with 30 days notice. The seat is not just cheaper, it is a different shape: you are buying senior judgment and accountability rather than headcount you have to manage, onboard, and eventually replace.
What size company needs a fractional CMO?
Owner-operated companies doing roughly $1M to $20M in annual revenue are the best fit. Below $1M, the founder can usually still hold marketing themselves. Above $20M, most companies have the budget and the workload to justify a full-time CMO and an in-house team. In between is where marketing run on instinct starts costing real money and a full executive hire is still hard to fill.
Is a fractional CMO better than an agency?
They solve different problems. An agency gives you a team and production capacity: content, campaigns, paid media. A fractional CMO gives you senior strategy and ownership of the number, without embedded execution. Many companies use both, with the seat setting strategy and an agency or in-house coordinator executing it. If you already have a plan and just need more of it shipped, you want the retainer, not the seat.
Why hire Fifty & Five instead of a fractional CMO?
Most fractional CMOs hand you a strategy and leave. Most agencies execute without one. Fifty & Five does both: senior marketing leadership that owns the number, plus the team that runs the work. A CMO typically runs one brand over a career. Fifty & Five has led marketing for 222+ brands across five continents since 2008.
Fractional CMO in Orlando
Fifty & Five has run from Orlando since 2008, and the founder takes a small number of Central Florida owner-operators as fractional CMO clients in person. If you are in Orlando, Winter Park, or Lake Nona, start with the Fractional CMO Orlando page.
One conversation decides fit.
A 30-minute call. Your numbers, your bottleneck, and whether it makes sense. No deck, no pressure.