Fractional CMO
Senior marketing leadership without adding a full-time CMO.
I work with leadership teams that need experienced marketing direction, clear priorities and someone accountable for the decisions connecting marketing to the business. This is leadership work, not an extra pair of hands for a list of tactics.
Business outcomes
- Positioning
- Revenue / Growth
- Sales Alignment
- Resource Allocation
- Team + Vendors
- Measurement
- Search + AI
- Go-to-Market
When a Fractional CMO makes sense
Too much activity
Marketing is busy, but nobody is sure what deserves priority.
Too many owners
Internal teams, agencies and vendors are moving in different directions.
Not enough senior direction
Important marketing decisions are reaching the CEO without a marketing executive owning them.
A fractional role makes sense when you need senior judgment and continuity, but a full-time CMO is not yet the right commitment. The starting point is the business, not a preferred channel or tool.
What I take responsibility for
Direction
- Strategy
- Positioning
- Priorities
Alignment
- Sales + Marketing
- Teams + Vendors
- Go-to-Market
Accountability
- Measurement
- Decision Rhythm
- Course Correction
I own the marketing direction we agree on: priorities, positioning, go-to-market decisions, measurement and the rhythm for reviewing progress. The scope is defined with your leadership team so responsibility is clear.
Start with the questions that matter
- What is working, and what is only keeping us busy?
- Is our positioning clear to the people we need to reach?
- Does our marketing activity support the business outcomes we care about?
- What should change as search, AI and digital discovery change?
- Who owns each decision, and what evidence will tell us to reconsider?
Leadership across the people doing the work
Leadership team
- Internal team
- Agencies
- Specialists
I work with your internal team, agencies and vendors, not around them. We establish shared priorities, clear briefs, decision rights and a practical review rhythm.
The role is to provide direction, challenge assumptions and make decisions with the leadership team. It is not to personally execute every campaign or replace every specialist.
Leadership and execution are different jobs
I provide the marketing leadership. If you need people to carry out the plan, Darby is one option.
Darby Digital is the company I founded in 2008. It can support digital optimization and implementation where that makes sense. You do not have to use Darby. Existing teams and partners can continue doing the work with clearer direction.
The first 30 / 60 / 90 days
30 days
Understand the business
Listen to leadership and the team. Review positioning, activity, systems and evidence. Identify the important gaps and agree on the decisions that cannot wait.
60 days
Set the direction
Agree on priorities, responsibilities and measures. Turn the strategy into a practical plan that internal teams and partners can work from.
90 days
Establish the rhythm
Review what the work is showing us. Adjust the plan, address dependencies and establish a repeatable process for decisions and accountability.
The sequence depends on the organization. This is a general starting framework, not a promise that every business needs the same plan.
A good fit and not the right fit
A good fit
- Leadership access
- Real decisions to make
- Willingness to act on evidence
- Team or partners available to execute
Not the right fit
- Need only channel execution
- Need a task-list manager
- Plan cannot be questioned
- Expect guaranteed outcomes before diagnosis
I cannot substitute for the leadership team's commitment or promise a specific result before understanding the business.
Where the ideas come from
The essays cover the calls I find hardest to make. The Vanishing Brand, my forthcoming book, examines the evidence behind AI visibility. Those ideas also inform my speaking and public work.
Need focused advice instead?
Marketing Consulting is focused strategic advisory work around a defined question or period of work. It provides an outside perspective without the ongoing leadership responsibility of a Fractional CMO.
What does your marketing need next?
Tell me where the business is, what is becoming difficult and what you need marketing leadership to take responsibility for. If a fractional role is not the right fit, I will say so.
Start a conversation →