How much impact can a fractional CMO really have? 

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We get asked this question a lot. 

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When you’re building a business, finding the right marketing leadership can make or break your next growth phase. Whether you’re looking to bring your product to market, prepare for the next funding round or start scaling your customer base, having the right person at the helm is crucial.

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Bringing in a full-time, permanent CMO isn’t your only option to do this well. A fractional CMO can give you access to executive-level marketing expertise without the full-time commitment. And they get just as entwined in the details of your business. 

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We’re going to be looking at what some of the fractional CMOs on our platform get up to in their day to day, to lift the lid on everything they get up to. 

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Meet Rose… 

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Rose works primarily in D2C across a broad range of industries - from neurodiversity and mental health diagnostics to pet food and packing organisers. Recently she’s been enjoying working with early-stage startups - from pre-launch (working on everything from naming & branding) to launch and ongoing growth. 

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Mornings typically start with a bit of exercise to set the tone for the day, followed by a review of the news and social media - looking for any updates relevant to her clients and industries. 

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First meeting of the day is a bi-weekly check-in with the founders of one of the businesses she is working with. These catch ups might include reviewing budget allocations and acquisition targets, through to prioritisation discussions to balance short-term initiatives and long-term objectives.

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Then it’s straight into looking at the performance metrics - this sets the foundation for the day’s strategic discussions and tactical decisions. CRM and nurture campaigns have been a big focus, so time is spent specifically digging into the Zoho reports to identify opportunities for improvements. 

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Armed with that info, it’s time to catch up with the team, overseeing a mix of employees, freelancers, and agencies. Checking in on their plans and priorities for the day and week ahead working through any blockers.

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There’s some challenges with the PPC campaigns so it’s time for a deep dive with the agency - reviewing performance and reworking ad copy and landing pages. 

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Next it’s onto planning a workshop for next week, focused on how to communicate and position a product effectively in the market where the challenge is creating demand for a lesser-known offering that potential customers don't necessarily know exists, and so aren’t actively searching for it. 

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Finally, the last task of the day is working on long-term hiring plans, building out the job spec for a full-time marketing manager.

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Meet Emma… 

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Emma has 20 years of experience under her belt, with expertise across a variety of industries within the B2B tech sector. Her clients range from early-stage startups that need help building foundational marketing structures to scaling businesses that need more support optimising performance and building teams.

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Emma starts her day with a cup of tea in bed checking LinkedIn for updates and bookmarking any interesting content for later in the day. 

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The morning kicks off with an in-person strategy session with the newly onboarded Chief Growth Officer at the healthcare software company she’s working with. They’re working together on positioning and setting commercial targets for 2025. After the meeting, she shares the notes and action points ready to push the plan forward.

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Back at home for the rest of the day, it’s time to get to work on messaging. Some recent discussions with clients unearthed new insights which need to be integrated and tested. 

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After that it’s time for some team catch ups, first up is the junior marketing lead based in Egypt. The focus of the call is reviewing the recent persona development work and discussing how the new learnings can be applied to content that’s being created. 

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Then it’s time for a weekly 121 with the founder. Emma recently led the process of developing the business level goals, and this discussion is now centred around agreeing the marketing objectives needed to support those goals!

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Next it’s straight into a webinar on a topic Emma’s keen to keep upskilling on. Most days there’s some time set aside for personal development. Being a CMO requires a broad breadth of knowledge across a lot of areas, enough to know when certain strategies make most sense and to be able to effectively oversee specialists. 

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Last task of the day is finishing off a job description for a new marketing manager role for another company she’s working with, with a specific focus on managing their future trade show preparation and attendance - which is fast becoming a key channel. 

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The day wraps up with final checks on LinkedIn, responding to interactions on her posts, and organising any last-minute logistics (booking train tickets!) for the following day’s in-person client meetings.

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