Fractional CMO marketing strategy and leadership
You have the plan. Now someone has to run it. Ongoing leadership across your team and every partner you pay.
I join your business as your senior marketing leader. I own the strategy, lead through your team and the specialists I bring, and hold every agency and rep to one plan and one set of numbers.
Where this sits
Step one
Discovery call
Twenty minutes to see whether the fit is right and which starting point makes sense.
Step two
Half-Day Consult or the Planning to Scale™ Audit
The diagnosis. What is working, what is wasting money, and what to fix first. See the audit ›
Step three, you are here
Fractional CMO leadership
Someone senior owns the plan and runs it, quarter after quarter.
A plan nobody owns is just a document.
Most brands at your stage do not have a strategy problem for very long. They have an ownership problem. Somebody writes the plan, everybody agrees with it, and then the quarter starts and the plan goes in a folder.
Your agencies wait for direction. Your marketing director is busy and capable, and half of what they are busy with is not attached to the goals it is supposed to move. You end up as the tiebreaker on every decision, which means marketing runs at the speed of your calendar.
The audit tells you what to fix. This is the part where it actually gets fixed, week after week, by someone who is accountable for the number and not for a channel.
Strategy, then leadership. One without the other does not move the business.
The post-agency era
The agency model is broken.
Not because agencies are bad at their jobs. Because of where they sit. Here is the difference between paying three of them and having one senior leader inside your business running the whole thing.
Without me
The agency model
With me
The post-agency model
You are not buying more execution. You are buying the layer above it that nobody has been filling.
What I own
I join your team as a senior leader, not a vendor.
Your people keep their tools and their cadence. I bring the plan, the standards, and the accountability, and I run the marketing function the way an in-house CMO would.
- The strategy. Market, message, media, machine and team, tied to your goals and your margin.
- The 90-Day Roadmap. A short sequence of projects with owners and dates, and the discipline to say no to everything else.
- The Big Three KPIs. Three numbers everyone can name. Every partner reports against them.
- Your marketing director and team. I lead through them and make them look good. I would rather you have one than not.
- Proven specialists when you need them. An expert in their area, not a generalist or a junior rep at a full service agency.
- Every agency, rep and partner. Briefed, aligned, and held to the plan. You stop managing the managers.
- AI-enabled workflows. Execution that scales without more headcount, with the strategy still human led.
The operating rhythm
How a quarter actually runs.
Not a monthly check-in and a deck. A cadence your team can feel, borrowed from how the best in-house marketing organizations run.
Week one
Set the quarter
We agree the Big Three KPIs and build the 90-Day Roadmap. Every project on it has an owner and a date. Everything not on it waits.
Every two weeks
Sprint briefs
The roadmap breaks into two week sprints. Each one goes out as a brief so your team and every partner know exactly what they are building and why.
End of each sprint
Sprint retro
What shipped, what moved, what did not. We cut what is not working while it is still cheap to cut.
Every ninety days
Quarterly retro and reset
A full read against the Big Three, an honest look at every partner, and the next 90-Day Roadmap built from what we learned.
Standing cadence throughout
- Daily standups with the CEO and marketing director
- Weekly leadership call with you
- Working session with your marketing director
- Agency and partner reviews against the plan
- Monthly reporting in plain English
- Direct access to me in between
I lead through your team, or the proven partners I bring.
Your people keep their tools and their cadence. I bring the plan, the standards, and the accountability.
The benefit of proven partners is that you get an expert in their area, not a generalist or a junior rep at a full service agency.
Ways to engage
Two levels of leadership.
Both start after the Half-Day Consult or the Planning to Scale™ Audit, because I will not lead a plan I have not built. Both give you direct access to me and no account managers.
Option one
Fully-Engaged CMO
I run marketing. Best when marketing is central to how you grow and you need a senior leader owning it week to week.
- Own the marketing strategy end to end
- Build and run the 90-Day Roadmap and the Big Three KPIs
- Lead your marketing director and team day to day
- Bring in, brief and manage proven specialists
- Hold every agency, rep and partner to the plan
- Sprint briefs, sprint retros and monthly reporting
- Install AI-enabled workflows so execution scales without new headcount
- Quarterly retro and the next quarter built with you
Monthly retainer, quarter by quarterFor brands that need the marketing function led, not advised.
Option two
Advisory CMO
You have capable execution and need senior direction, not another operator in the day to day.
- Quarterly strategy and the 90-Day Roadmap
- Big Three KPIs set, reviewed and defended
- Standing advisory call with you and your marketing director
- Agency and partner performance reviewed against the plan
- On call for the decisions that actually matter
- Quarterly retro and reset
Monthly retainer, lighter touchFor teams that can execute and need someone senior aiming them.
We decide which one fits on the call, and it can change. Plenty of brands start Fully-Engaged and step down to Advisory once the system is running.
What changes
Your first ninety days.
Not a discovery phase. Work starts in week one.
Big Three KPIs agreed and the 90-Day Roadmap on one page.
Every partner briefed against the same plan. The first sprints shipped.
Reporting rebuilt around your numbers instead of platform numbers.
First quarterly retro. What worked, what got cut, and the next quarter set.
Kim SnellFounder and Fractional CMO
Direct access guarantee
You work with me. Every call, every report, every decision.
No account managers. No handoffs. No runaround. Just one senior expert, fully accountable for your results.
The person who audits your marketing is the person who leads it. That is the whole reason a fractional CMO works, and it is the first thing most firms give away as they grow. I only work with a small number of brands so it stays true.
What founders say about the leadership
“Her Fractional CMO services provided the strategic leadership we needed to align our marketing efforts, optimize our campaigns, and drive real growth. She quickly identified gaps in our strategy and implemented systems that streamlined our processes and increased efficiency across the board.”
Byron YoungFounder and CEO, CordaRoy’s“She seemed genuinely interested in my business and even though I was fairly busy before, she has blown it out of the water for me. In 25 years, my office has never been so booked. I have tried other marketing companies before, and they have all helped to a certain degree, but it is nothing like what Kim has provided.”
Scott KoppelFamily PodiatryQuestions
What founders ask before they hire me.
Do you replace my marketing director?
No, and I would rather you have one. A marketing director owns execution day to day. I own the plan they are executing against, and I am here to make them look good. If you do not have one, I lead through the proven partners I bring instead.
Do you run the ad campaigns yourself?
No. I am not another hand on the keyboard. I set the strategy, decide where the budget goes, brief the people who build it, and hold them to what we agreed. I negotiate with medias, agencies, and vendors to ensure you are getting the most from your budget. That is the job that is missing in most businesses at your stage.
What if I do not have a team?
Then I bring one. I have proven partners across creative, paid, email and retention, and I lead them the same way I would lead your own people. You get an expert in each area rather than a generalist, and you still only manage one relationship.
Which option should I start with?
If marketing is central to how you grow and nobody senior is steering it, start Fully-Engaged. If you already have execution you trust and the gap is direction and accountability, Advisory is usually enough. We decide together on the call.
Do I have to do the audit first?
Yes, in some form. Either the Half-Day Consult or the Planning to Scale™ Audit. I will not lead a plan I have not built, and you should not hire a leader who has not looked at the business first.
How long is a typical engagement?
Quarter by quarter, and most run well past the first one. The goal is a marketing function that runs on a system rather than on me, so stepping down from Fully-Engaged to Advisory is a good outcome, not a lost client.
Next step
Start with a twenty minute discovery call.
We will talk through where the business is, who is running marketing today, and whether leadership is the right next move. You will likely leave with at least one takeaway you can implement. If I am not the right answer, I will tell you and do my best to point you to someone who is.
