Do you need a fractional CMO, or a marketing strategy project?

Branch offers both, so this is not a sales pitch for one over the other. A strategy project builds the plan: who you are for, what you say, what you spend, and who owns each piece, in a defined engagement with a fixed price. A fractional CMO owns running that plan, one or two days a week, inside your leadership team. The question is whether your gap is the plan or the person. Most growing companies have one gap first, and it is usually the plan.

When a strategy project is the right call

Start with strategy if you cannot answer three questions in writing: who is the company for, why do they choose you, and what are this year's three marketing objectives. Without those, any marketing leader, fractional or full-time, spends their first months building the foundation instead of running the engine. A Branch strategy workshop gets the leadership team to those answers in two days, and the five-phase plan that follows turns them into owners, budgets, and metrics your current team can execute. Defined scope, fixed price, defined end.

When a fractional CMO is the right call

Bring in a fractional CMO when the strategy exists and execution is stalling for lack of senior ownership. The signs are familiar: a marketing manager or agency producing activity nobody ties to revenue, new business still arriving through the founder's relationships, campaigns that start strong and drift, and executive-level decisions about spend, vendors, and hires that keep landing on your desk. A fractional CMO sits in your leadership meetings, owns the pipeline number, runs the team and the vendors, and reports weekly. You get a CMO's judgment without a CMO's salary, quarter to quarter.

How the two fit together

The most common path we see is sequence, not choice. The workshop and plan come first, because they give the fractional CMO a mandate the whole leadership team has already agreed to. The CMO then starts executing in week one instead of spending the first quarter doing strategy work at a retainer rate. And when the plan is running and the numbers say the function can carry a full-time leader, the fractional CMO helps you hire and onboard one, then steps back. Plan, then person, then hand-off.

Cost and commitment, side by side

A strategy project is a fixed fee quoted before you commit, with a defined end date. A fractional CMO is a fixed monthly retainer scaled to one or two days a week, on a quarter-to-quarter commitment. A full-time CMO is six figures plus equity, benefits, and a recruiter fee, and three to six months to find. The fractional executives page lays the three options out in one table.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a fractional CMO cost?

Typical U.S. fractional CMO retainers run several thousand to $15,000 or more per month. Branch's fractional CMO is a fixed monthly retainer scaled to one or two days a week, quarter to quarter, and a strategy project is a defined scope with a fixed price. We give you a number for either on the first call.

Can I do both?

Yes, and it is the most common path. The workshop and plan come first, so the fractional CMO walks into a mandate the whole leadership team has agreed to, and starts executing in week one instead of spending the first quarter on strategy.

How do I know which one I need?

If you cannot write down your ideal customer, your message, and your three marketing objectives, start with a strategy project. If those exist and execution is stalling because nobody senior owns it every week, you need the fractional CMO. The free Marketing Effectiveness Assessment shows which gap is bigger.

What if we already have a marketing manager?

A fractional CMO does not replace them. It gives them a leader. Most marketing managers in growing companies are executing without direction, and a CMO one or two days a week is usually the cheapest way to fix that.

See which gap is bigger in 3 minutes

The free Marketing Effectiveness Assessment scores your strategy, alignment, and execution. A low strategy score points to the project; a strong strategy with weak execution points to the seat.

Take the assessment Book a 15-minute call