I met Lisa Doyle, CEO of Galt, at a Women Impact Tech event in New York City in September. We clicked immediately. The kind of conversation where you're both leaning in, nodding, and already thinking three steps ahead together. We kept talking after we got back home, and by October, I was on board as Galt's fractional CMO.
Galt is an 18-person nonprofit staffing company with a powerful mission: placing people with disabilities in the workforce. They needed marketing leadership but weren't even considering hiring a CMO. That's where I came in.
So what does a fractional CMO actually do? Let me walk you through it.
The first month was all about immersion. I embedded myself in leadership team meetings, spent significant time with Lisa, and had one-on-ones with every key stakeholder. I also met with all their marketing vendors to understand what was working, what wasn't, and where the gaps were.
This foundational work is critical. You cannot build a marketing strategy and execution plan that aligns with business needs without deeply understanding the organization first.
But here's the thing: while I was doing all that strategic groundwork, the business didn't stop. I was immediately pulled into the day-to-day.
All of these things are critical to maintaining forward momentum and giving the CEO what they need. But the key is how you deliver it.
Everything I hand to Lisa needs to be bite-size and digestible. I'm not sending play-by-play updates of every little thing I do. I'm not overwhelming her with long digests.
I make it simple, easy, and clear. She should be able to quickly understand what I'm asking, validate that she agrees with my recommendation, and then easily take action. Everything should feel like a no-brainer and make her life easier.
That's the job.
By the second month, I had a solid foundation for understanding the business needs. I started building out the overall marketing strategy: high-level goals aligned to the business and the top priorities marketing should focus on to achieve those goals.
That's the strategy. Once I have that, I get buy-in to make sure we're directionally aligned. Then I dig into the execution plan.
But I'm still keeping the business moving forward.
After getting validation that the marketing strategy is sound, I start building out the programs, processes, and tools for each of the top priorities. This takes effort and deep thinking. But it's where the real impact happens.
The job doesn't begin or end with the marketing strategy and execution plan. Even if something doesn't fall in the top priorities, if it's something I can influence during the engagement and it will make the business better, I do it.
For instance, if the brand guide needs to be modernized and I can quickly give direction and get the agency working on it, I'll do it. Even if that's not specifically called out in the contract.
That's what fractional leadership looks like in practice.
I like to hand off the plan as I go, breaking it into digestible pieces. Within the first month at Galt, I handed off the first toolkit: how to maximize event ROI.
Events are a huge lead generation driver for staffing and talent acquisition companies. But how do you make sure you're getting the most out of each event? How do you hold yourself accountable, measure results, and evaluate whether to attend again?
I built a repeatable process that could be embedded in the business through a quick training. That's the kind of thing that keeps delivering value long after the engagement.
When you don't have marketing expertise inside your organization, it's easy to get drowned in marketing requests and tactics. Your agency might tell you that you need to create more blog content or post more on social media. But do you? Is that the best use of your time?
I like to think of all marketing activities (cold outreach, blogs, social media, SEO, events, etc) like a control panel. These are levers you can move up or down.
The question isn't usually whether you should do something or not do something. It's about whether you need to turn the dial up or ratchet it down to get the best outcome.
A fractional CMO provides that guidance.
It's also easier for someone from the outside looking in to see what's a good or bad use of your time. When you're in the weeds and basically in survival mode, it's hard to differentiate which things are more important, especially if you don't have marketing expertise inside the organization.
It's a perfect solution for companies that don't have the budget to bring in a head of marketing, VP of marketing, or full-time CMO, yet they crave marketing expertise and leadership to drive the business.
Maybe you have a small budget with a small marketing team or agency doing the work. A fractional CMO brings a wealth of experience and knowledge for a fraction of the cost of hiring someone full-time.
It's a way to level up and leapfrog trying to do it yourself.
I've worked for two Series A startups, a nonprofit staffing company, an MSSP, and a boutique consulting firm. Before that, I spent years at Apple, Motorola, Salesforce, and a number of tech startups. That's the kind of breadth of experience you get access to without the full-time commitment.
A fractional CMO can quickly cut through the noise and help you prioritize what your organization should focus on. We've seen the patterns. We know what works and what doesn't. And we help you avoid the expensive mistakes that come from not having that experience in-house.
It depends on what the organization needs and what the budget allows.
Some organizations bring in a fractional CMO for a longer timeframe, typically one to two years. Others bring one in for a shorter engagement, usually three to six months.
Both can have significant business impact.
In a shorter engagement, you might focus on helping the organization prioritize the most important marketing activities, providing templates and repeatable processes that allow the business to scale and move faster.
In a longer engagement, you're providing ongoing marketing leadership and direction. You're there to see things through, to build the team and the marketing function. You're helping the internal team and external vendors deliver what the business needs. You're there as the business evolves and priorities shift.
The timeframe matters less than the outcomes: clarity on priorities, systems that scale, and leadership that moves the business forward.
A fractional CMO provides senior marketing leadership on a part-time or contract basis. In practice that means setting marketing strategy, managing vendors and agencies, guiding the internal team, and handling the ongoing marketing needs that keep a business moving forward. It's not just high-level strategy delivered in a deck. A good fractional CMO is embedded in the business, attending leadership meetings, reviewing work, responding to media inquiries, preparing board materials, and making sure the CEO has what they need in a clear and actionable format.
A marketing consultant is typically brought in for a specific project with a defined scope and deliverable. A fractional CMO takes on ongoing marketing leadership responsibility. They're accountable for the overall marketing function, not just a single output. Think of it as the difference between hiring someone to redesign your website versus hiring someone to run marketing for your company.
Companies that need senior marketing expertise but aren't ready to hire a full-time CMO, VP of Marketing, or Head of Marketing. This includes startups that have raised funding and need to build a marketing function, small and mid-size companies with a lean team or agency doing the work but no one setting direction, and organizations going through a product launch, rebrand, or growth push that requires more leadership than they currently have in-house.
From day one, even while doing the deeper work of understanding the business. In the first month, a fractional CMO should be handling real marketing needs, reviewing agency work, supporting communications, setting up infrastructure, and beginning stakeholder interviews. The strategic plan comes together in parallel, not instead of, the day-to-day work.
In a shorter engagement of three to six months, the focus is typically on helping the organization identify the most important marketing priorities, building repeatable processes and templates, and giving the team a foundation to work from. In a longer engagement of one to two years, the fractional CMO provides ongoing leadership, helps build the team, manages vendors, and evolves the strategy as the business grows. Both can have significant business impact depending on what the organization needs.
By understanding the business goals first, then working backward to identify which marketing levers will have the most impact. Not every channel or tactic deserves equal attention. A fractional CMO helps cut through the noise, including the advice from agencies who may recommend activities that aren't the best use of your budget or time, and focuses the team on what will actually move the business forward.
A fractional CMO is significantly less expensive than a full-time CMO, VP of Marketing, or Head of Marketing when you factor in salary, benefits, and overhead. You're paying for senior-level experience and leadership scoped to what your business actually needs right now, without the long-term commitment of a full-time hire. For many companies, it's the most cost-effective way to access that level of marketing expertise.
A few signs: you're spending money on marketing but aren't sure if it's working, your agency or internal team lacks clear direction, or you're preparing for a significant launch or growth phase.
Many founders and CEOs also find themselves stuck in the middle of marketing decisions, trying to translate business goals into direction for agencies, vendors, or internal teams. A fractional CMO provides that strategic layer. They act as a thought partner to the CEO while also leading the day-to-day marketing execution across teams.
This creates a buffer between leadership and the marketing engine, so the CEO can stay focused on running the business while marketing is driven by a clear strategy and accountable leadership.
If you're a founder or CEO thinking about whether fractional marketing leadership might be right for your organization, let's talk.