From linear to invisible. The evolution of the funnel

Once upon a time, the buyer’s journey was relatively linear. A prospect became aware of a problem, encountered your brand, consumed your content, spoke with sales, and ultimately made a decision. It wasn’t always neat or predictable, but it was pretty much trackable.

Not anymore.

Today’s buyer journey is a tangled web of digital touchpoints, anonymous research, influencer opinions, and AI-curated content. Much of this activity takes place outside of your website, your CRM, and even your intent data tools. This dark funnel, the hidden portion of the buyer journey, is now where most buying decisions begin.

AI is at the heart of this change. And while it’s enabling powerful personalisation and efficiency for marketers, it’s also making traditional funnel tracking and attribution models obsolete.

How AI is reshaping buyer behaviour

What Is the Dark Funnel

The term dark funnel refers to the parts of the buyer’s journey that are invisible to your tracking systems. These are the behaviours, conversations, and influences that shape buying decisions long before someone fills out a form or books a demo.

Examples of dark funnel activity include:
• A prospect hearing your CEO on a podcast
• Someone recommending your tool in a Slack group or private community
• A LinkedIn post that gets seen but not clicked
• Internal buying committee discussions based on past experiences
• A customer sharing your product offline, with a colleague
• Product review sites such as Capterra and G2

None of these show up in your analytics.

They don’t trigger a conversion pixel or get picked up by attribution tools.

But they are genuine activities taken by your prospective audience and they can have a huge impact on whether or not someone engages with you at all and ultimately, buys your product, service or solution.

Why the Dark Funnel is not an excuse

But here’s where many marketers go wrong.

They treat the dark funnel like a black box. ‘We can’t measure it, so we can’t manage it’. Or worse, ‘Let’s ignore it and focus on what we can track’.

This mindset is outdated.

We’ve all heard the stat from Forrester that buyers do 70% of their research online.

Modern buyers are self-educating, peer-driven, and increasingly sceptical of traditional marketing. If your strategy is built only around what’s trackable, you’re missing a huge part of how real buying decisions happen.

Instead of using the dark funnel as an excuse for inconsistent results, high-performing marketers treat it as a strategy to build around.

The question isn’t ‘How do we make the dark funnel go away?‘ It’s ‘How do we intentionally influence this funnel’?

Rethinking your strategy for the Dark Funnel

Accepting that the dark funnel exists is just the beginning. The real opportunity lies in designing a marketing strategy that works in this untrackable space.

Here are just a few thoughts.

1. Invest in trust and value, not just impressions

You don’t need every buyer to click on your Ad. You need them to remember your brand when they’re ready to buy. That means creating content that educates, inspires, and builds trust and value, regardless of whether it’s measurable.

Podcasts, LinkedIn content, speaking engagements, community participation and events are all high-impact, low-visibility activities that influence purchase decisions.

Your goal isn’t to capture every interaction. Your goal is to be present where trust is built.

2. Embrace content that works without attribution

The most effective content in the dark funnel often can’t be tracked:

– A CEO post that gets screenshotted and shared in a group chat
– A customer success story shared in a private Slack channel
– A podcast episode discussed internally by a buying team

You may never know where or when that content had an effect, but it did.

That’s why your content strategy should include ungated, high-value, shareable content designed for consumption, not just conversion.

You want to capture those prospects with high intent, not just those that sit languishing in your traditional funnel as MQLs because they were attracted by a well optimised article but do not have the budget or intent to buy.

Think instead of how people inform themselves.

Behavioural signals such as prospects researching competitors or visits to product review sites.

Their intent and attitude – are they sponsoring events, what are their company priorities, combined with their personal attitudes and interests. And are they ready to buy?

Have they recently got funding? Are their employee numbers increasing?

3. Map Your invisible influence

You can’t measure every step in the dark funnel, but you can build models of how your buyers are likely moving through it:

– What communities are they part of?
– Who do they trust?
– What topics influence their thinking?

Once you understand that, you can start planting the seeds that guide their journey and be where they are, online, even if you can’t trace every path.

How do you measure the impact?

if the dark funnel can’t be tracked, how do you prove its value?

You don’t need perfect attribution. Rather, a mix of leading indicators, blended metrics, and qualitative insights.

Leading indicators:

– Direct traffic (especially home page and pricing pages)
– Branded search volume
– Demo requests with “unknown” sources

These often point to demand being created somewhere you can’t see.

Ask how did you hear about us?

Simple, but highly effective. Add this as an open-text field on your high-intent forms. If you’re worried about making your form overly long, look to see which field you can replace.

Don’t overthink it, just ask the question, and use what you learn.

Look at blended performance:
Track metrics such as:

– Pipeline velocity
– Sales cycle length
– Marketing-sourced pipeline (even loosely defined)

If these are improving, your activities are likely working, even if you can’t pinpoint where.

Turning the Dark Funnel into your advantage

Whilst your competitors are still trying to track every click, they are under-investing in trust-building channels – and creating their dark funnel.

This is your opportunity.

By focusing on the dark funnel:

– You will build brand equity before your buyers ever talk to sales
– You will shorten the sales cycle by influencing decision criteria earlier
– You become the choice when the prospect’s moment of intent finally arrives

The companies winning in B2B today aren’t winning because of better copy – whether Ad copy or organic. They’re winning because they show up consistently in the places buyers trust, even if those places aren’t trackable. Be where your audience is, online.

How companies are owning the Dark Funnel

Let’s take a SaaS company. Instead of just running paid ads and gated eBooks, they:

– Empower their Head of Marketing to post thoughtful content on LinkedIn 3x/week
– Launch a podcast where they interview users and thought leaders
– Sponsor niche newsletters in their ICP’s industry
– Regularly ask new signups how they heard about them and track the responses manually

In their CRM, only 30% of leads have a clear source. But their pipeline triples over 6 months. Why? Because they’ve leaned into visibility and relevance, are building trust, delivering value and not just focusing on conversion mechanics.

The dark funnel is real. It’s not a myth, and as a marketer or if you’re leading the company’s marketing, it’s not something you can afford to ignore.

But it’s also not your downfall.

It’s your competitive advantage if you choose it to be.

– Start designing your strategy to influence your invisible audience
– Trust that building brand, trust, and community works

Your buyers are out there, making decisions before you ever see them.

And remember, Forrester’s Marketing Survey 2024, revealed that 64% of B2B marketing leaders feel that their organisation doesn’t trust measurement for decision-making – anyway.

So what have you got to lose?

Quick Refresher: Go to Market Strategy in a Nutshell

A go to market strategy is a detailed action plan for the distribution and delivery of a product or service to a new target market. Aimed at achieving product-market fit in a specific niche, this strategy needs to include the communication of brand values and marketing messages.  

Expanding into new markets is part of running a business. It’s the only real way to increase brand awareness, boost sales, and achieve stability. 

Because we understand how challenging this process can be, we’ve put together an 8-step checklist to help you craft a solid go to market plan. 

Your No-Fail, 8-Step Go to Market Plan

When planning your strategy, these are the main steps you’ll need to focus on:

When breaking into a new market, you need your company’s value proposition, customers, and distribution channels to align. It’s a necessary synergy, without which you might struggle to sustain any kind of success. 

Spend some time analysing the potential market using a tool like Google’s Market Finder to figure out if there is enough demand for your product in the region. If it seems like you’re onto a good thing, you can study the field further. 

Pay close attention to the market traffic for the previous year. If the traffic shows a downward trend, you know the market is becoming less interesting for business. If market traffic seems to be growing, you could be facing a solid option for business development and investment. 

2. Consider the Local Market

After your initial assessment, you should have a better idea of how your business will perform in the local market. A vague idea won’t get you very far however, so it’s necessary to do a deeper dive. 

Begin by scrutinising the local economy. You need to fully understand your potential customers before you can even consider selling to them. Remember: there’s a reason Starbucks was able to expand into almost every foreign market but failed in Australia. 

Do your due diligence by assessing local laws and regulations, local politics, and any other potential barriers. 

Even big name brands, like Uber, aren’t exempt from the potential negative effects of the local market. When they tried to expand into Thailand, for example, they didn’t account for the fact that local transport laws rendered their services illegal. After a short run, they had to shut down their app service throughout the country in 2018.

3. Specify Target Demographics

In addition to a solid cultural footing, you need to develop an understanding of your target market’s demographics and interests. You may be surprised at the differences you find from one region to the next. 

Find out more about your audience’s age, gender, browsing habits, careers, device usage and hobbies to begin with. The more you know, the better equipped you’ll be to connect with them further down the line. 

4. Establish a Clear Value Proposition

Your potential customers need to know why you’re the business they should choose above all others.

Spend some time crafting a simple, 4-point value proposition that covers the following points:

• How your product or service solves a particular problem
• The benefits your customers can expect
• The value you deliver
• How and why you’re better than your competitors

5. Figure Out a Market Entry Strategy

You need to think about your distribution strategy carefully, especially considering the volatile nature of the heavily globalised world we live in. 

The three main distribution strategies to consider include:

1. Direct distribution, which means that your business will pass the product (or service) straight to the customer without involving a middleman. 
2. Indirect distribution, which means that a third party will deal with the client while you focus on development or production. Software development companies often use this approach when breaking into a new market. They develop the product, and a third party markets it.
3. Hybrid distribution, which is a combination of direct and indirect distribution. Big name shoe and clothing brands, for example, sell their products through various retailers but have their own flagship stores as well.

6. Map Out the Sales Funnel

With the information you’ve gathered about your target audience, you will be able to develop an idea of what your marketing and sales funnels should look like. 

To do this, you need to answer the following questions:

• How will customers find you?
• What will make them convert?
• How will once-off customers become loyal consumers?

Your main aim should be to attract new customers while motivating them to become repeat purchasers. As we all know, it’s more lucrative to retain customers than it is to acquire new ones.

7. Develop a Marketing Strategy

The smartest way to go about developing a marketing strategy is to check out what your competitors are doing. If it works for them, chances are it will work for you. 

Of course, it’s a good idea to take what your competitors are doing and build a better approach. Use what works, throw out what doesn’t, and keep improving all the time. 

Take a look at what types of content audiences respond to. Investigate the type of brand voice that resonates with them. See how you can be the brand they’re looking for. 

8. Confirm Your Readiness to Enter a New Market

After completing every step in your go to market strategy checklist, make sure that everyone in your business is on the same page about your business’ direction. 

Answer the following questions:

• Are you all aligned on the development of a new product or entry into a new market?
• Do you all believe in the company’s goals?
• Do you have measurable objectives?
• Can you afford the expansion?
• Do you need to invest in new infrastructure or talent?
• Is this the best time to act or could the timing be a little better?
• Have you properly analysed the target market, its current political climate, and local/global economics?

A Go To Market Strategy is Time-Consuming But Worthwhile

It will take some time to develop a solid strategy. You’ll need to do a large amount of research and planning to avoid the egregious errors made by other brands who overestimated their readiness to break into a new market. 

Use the points in this go to market strategy checklist to guide you as you expand your reach and scale your growth. 

What is a fractional CMO?

A fractional CMO – or fractional Chief Marketing Officer – is an experienced marketing executive brought in to work as a contractor on a part-time basis to help an organization elevate their marketing campaigns.

9 top qualities of a successful fractional CMO

Now we’re clear on what exactly a good fractional CMO is, let’s delve into the characteristics they should possess.

A quick peruse of their CV and references will tell you if they have the drive and work ethic to succeed in the role.

2. High level of experience

A quality fractional CMO will be experienced executive who have already worked in a number of companies to deliver stellar marketing results. They should know marketing key performance indicators (KPIs) like the back of their hand and have a solid understanding of strengths and weaknesses in a marketing strategy – as well as know what works.

While it can be advantageous to hire a fractional CMO that has already worked with companies comparable to yours – i.e. in the same industry or of the same size – the most impressive fractional CMOs will have worked across a range of industries and can tailor their strategies and market research accordingly.

Typically, the more broad the range of experience of your fractional CMO, the more adept they are at tailoring a strategy to your unique marketing needs.

3. Excellent communicator

Communication skills are up there as one of the top qualities a successful fractional CEO should possess. This is because they need to liaise with multiple team members, departments and founders – as well as stakeholders. They need to know what questions to ask and how to get answers.

They should also have the tactics for helping you see what’s wrong with your current strategy and how to improve it. Plus, they should be skilled at conveying complex marketing ideas to laypersons, as not everybody on your team will be knowledgeable about marketing.

4. Bring a fresh perspective

One of the main attractions of bringing in a fractional CMO to hone your marketing strategy is that they come with a fresh pair of eyes. They should be able to easily identify areas for improvement – which might not be so clear to those who’ve been in the company a long time. They’re also unbothered by office politics or the noise of daily operations – they’re an outsider there to do a particular job without distractions. This means they have a level of clarity and focus your in-house employees may lack.

5. Shared values

When it comes to hiring a fractional CMO, you should aim to choose someone that matches your company values.

If you’re concerned with conducting business with an environmentally conscious ethos, for example, you might not mesh well with a fractional CMO who prioritizes financial gain over everything else.

However, the most successful fractional CMOs will be able to adapt to your company culture and work in line with your values, to ensure you achieve your goals.

6. A good market leader

Having excellent leadership skills is another must-have in a fractional CMO.

Whether you have a small team with no dedicated marketing department, or you’re a large firm with a marketing budget and a whole in-house marketing team, the fractional CMO needs to be able to gel with employees and lead with ease, breeding confidence within the team.

7. Understands sales

The best fractional CMOs understand that marketing is inextricable from sales. Your CMO should align themselves with the sales, product and customer success teams, using sales data to inform a successful marketing strategy.

8. A lifelong learner attitude

While you want your fractional CMO to have plenty of experience under their belt, a know-it-all attitude is a red flag. The best CMOs know that they always have something to learn and thrive off new challenges.

9. Honesty and humility

This is a big one.

The CMOs at the top of their game know when to admit when they made a mistake – and learn from it. They will also never promise anything they can’t deliver on when it comes to their marketing strategies, and will communicate clear and transparent expectations from the get-go.

Every great fractional CMO has a track-record of success, is a strong leader, can communicate effectively and delivers on their word.

To achieve your maximum marketing potential as a company, make sure you seek out a fractional CMO who meets all of the above criteria.

What is a fractional CMO?

A fractional CMO is a marketing executive that works with multiple companies on a part-time basis to help them take their marketing to the next level. Think of them as dedicated marketing consultants. They typically come with years of experience and have worked in companies across a variety of industries. They can bring expertise, skills and resources to the table at your business to help you achieve your marketing goals and scale up. 

The perks of hiring a fractional CMO

Apart from the obvious – elevating your digital marketing strategy and game – fractional CMOs can also offer a number of other benefits for your business. Here are some of the main ones:

Cost-effective

When you compare the cost of hiring a fractional CMO to hiring a full-time, marketing director, executive or team – or indeed working with consultants on a temporary basis – the former usually works out as far more cost-effective. There’s no training required as these guys already come with the talent and experience, and, as they’re working as contractors part-time, you have less to pay in the way of benefits and taxes.

Experience and skill level

Fractional CMOs are an experienced bunch and have often worked with a multitude of companies in different commercial areas. They have the skillset to revolutionize your marketing strategy and help you scale. 

A new perspective

Fractional CMOs arrive at your company with a fresh set of eyes and, unlike business owners or long-time employees, have no particular affection or attachment to the organization. This means they can often identify where you can improve and help make more cut-throat marketing decisions. 

What to look for in a fractional CMO

If all this has convinced you and you’ve decided to go ahead and hire a fractional CMO, make sure you bear in mind the following factors when recruiting:

Level of experience

While most fractional CMOs are far from new to the full marketing leadership game, you may want to look out for ones that have previous experience working in a company that resembles yours – either in size, industry or goals. Candidates should come to interview armed with references and a track record, making this an easy thing to find out.

Communication abilities

One of the main skills a fractional CMO should possess is top-notch communication. This is because they’ll have to liaise with multiple team members and departments, including stakeholders. Plus, an essential quality is being adept at conveying complex marketing ideas to regular folk. Fortunately, communication skills usually come off in interviews, meaning you’ll know well ahead of time whether that’s an ability they possess or not. 

Strategic mind

Naturally, in order to formulate an effective strategy you need to have the ability to think strategically. Part of this involves identifying opportunities in the market and methods for capitalizing on them. Make sure you hire a fractional CMO that can adapt their marketing plan to your organization and its specific goals. 

Data comprehension

Finally, your fractional CMO should be able to demonstrate a keen ability to analyze marketing data and trends to inform your marketing strategy. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Fractional Chief Marketing Officer 

What is the cost of hiring a fractional CMO?

The cost of working with a fractional CMO is widely variable and depends on their level of experience and the tasks at hand. They will typically charge you a monthly fee as well as bill by the hour. 

How is a fractional CMO different from a full-time CMO?

While a full-time CMO has a permanent contract with your company and works full-time hours, a fractional CMO is considered a contractor, works on a part-time basis and is often working with several companies simultaneously. 

Will I see fast results with a fractional CMO?

The timeframe for seeing results will depend on what your goals are as well as the complexity of your marketing strategy. Scaling the business, for instance, is more of a long term goal and it may take over a year before you see tangible results. The outcome of your marketing tactics or improving your reach by penetrating social media channels, on the other hand, will be visible within a matter of weeks or months.

Can I work with a fractional CMO without having a marketing team?

An in-house marketing team is not prerequisite to hiring a fractional CMO. Instead, they can simply work with yourself and other team members to achieve your marketing goals. 

Fractional CMOs: The answer to scaling your business

Hiring a fractional CMO can make a huge difference to your marketing results and how quickly and successfully you’re able to scale your business. With their skills, experience and resources, you’ll be able to put together a marketing budget and orchestrate a marketing strategy that will expand your reach exponentially.

Understanding the role of a fractional CMO

Fractional CMO Services

Setting Goals and Objectives

A fractional CMO plays a crucial role in developing the business’ overall marketing strategy. They will collaborate with key stakeholders to understand the business objectives and goals, so your marketing strategy, aligns with and supports the overarching strategy.

 This may sounds obvious, but all too often, marketing strategies are created in isolation of the overall company strategy, focusing instead on executional tactics such as content creation and paid marketing campaigns. Whilst execution forms the backbone of marketing activities, the marketing activities are there to support the strategy, not replace it. The real strategic marketing planning comes in understanding the vision of the company, the competitive advantage and the value you deliver to your customers.

Market Research and Analysis

Strategic Marketing Foundations

Research has shown that over 80% of a marketing budget is wasted by rushing headlong into executional activities. Whilst this is tempting – and let’s face it, we’ve all done it at one time or another, the marketing strategies that really generate revenue are those that have strong foundations.

But what does this mean?

A fractional CMO should be highly experienced in the following: 

• Creating your Ideal Client Profile (company) and buyer personas (individual)

  There are thousands of articles on buyer personas, but sadly practical, usuable versions of buyer personas are still pretty non-existent within companies when it comes down to it. Everyone has an idea of what their buyer personas are, but there is nothing tangible or documented that will help to inform either your marketing or sales teams.

  Your fractional CMO should be well versed in creating buyer personas that reflect the key members of your target audience. These buyer personas should stand alone or form part of the Decision Making Unit of stakeholders, decision-makers and influencers

• Customer journeys

  Each of your personas will follow their own individual buying and decision-making journey. Understanding their journeys and the different routes to market each of your personas take, is essential in informing your Go to Market strategy. It will provide you with a clear direction of where to focus your marketing efforts and your budget. If your personas like to use Google to search, then paid media or an organic content strategy will provide a strong starting point. If they visit particular sites, advertising on those sites, reciprocal backlinks or creating a partner relationship will help.

By researching and analysing the customer journeys your fractional CMO will give you a strong head start over your competitors.

Value proposition

Showcasing the true value that your company, product, service or platform provides is what is going to set you apart. Your value proposition is not a feature, or even a benefit – it’s the end goal that your prospect is searching for. The thing that will help solve their pain point, their problem.

Your fractional CMO will help to draw out your true value. An experienced fractional CMO will draw on their specific and cross-industry experience. The best fractional CMOs will also be able to use their global experience – what works and what resonates with your prospects.

Brand Development and Positioning

Your company needs a strong brand identity, personality and tone of voice – and without doubt, your fractional CMO will help develop and create these elements. But your brand does not end there. Having a consistent brand message is key. Your fractional CMO will help to develop your company’s messaging platform – a set of key messages used internally by your sales, marketing, product and customer service teams and externally, to attract and resonate with your prospects.

Additionally, you will also want a set of messages for each of your buyer personas, reflecting their pain points and customer journey, that will help to overcome their objections.

These messages, together with your market position and value proposition will help to ensure consistency and differentiation in the marketplace. To position you away from your competitors and to win the hearts and minds of your prospects. Your fractional CMO will work with you to ensure you have these strategic foundations in place.

Marketing Strategy Creation

Just because you have the foundations though, you will still need a comprehensive marketing strategy – your Go to Market. This will identify the activities required to get in market and the channels to attract, engage and convert your prospects into leads and onto customers. Your fractional CMO will typically take responsibility for creating the strategy, aligning with your business’ goals and objectives. 

Marketing Strategy Execution

Once you have the strategic foundation and your strategy created, your fractional CMO will lead the implementation of your marketing initiatives outlined in the strategy.

 Unlike many internal CMOs, a fractional CMO will not execute themselves, but will collaborate with your internal marketing team or external vendors/ resources to implement your content marketing, social media and paid advertising etc.

Your fractional cmo services and role is to get the job done. They will provide guidance, insights and oversight to ensure your marketing plan is delivered.

Performance Measurement and Optimisation

A key role in executing any marketing strategy is to monitor and analyse the performance of your marketing activities to evaluate their impact or your business objectives and strategy. Typically, you will agree the metrics to be measured in advance of the execution of your strategy with your fractional CMO.

Whether you’re using KPIs or OKRs, website traffic, conversion rates, cost of acquisition, cost per lead etc will be crucial metrics to monitor. Based on the analysis and insights, your fractional CMO will make data-driven recommendations for improvement and optimisation to drive return on investment.

Team Development

If you have an internal marketing team, your fractional CMO may also be responsible for talent development and training. They will assess the team’s skills and competencies, identify gaps and provide guidance on hiring, training and development initiatives. Their role will be to build a high-performance marketing team that can effectively deliver.

 Your fractional CMO will also take the rough with the smooth and if members of your marketing team cannot deliver, it is your CMO’s role to identify this and report to the business, so appropriate actions can be taken.

Evaluating Suppliers

If you don’t yet have an internal marketing team or you need to supplement or resource a smaller team, it will be part of your fractional CMO’s role to identify, liaise with and engage the relevant suppliers. This can include:

• Identifying supplier needs. your fractional CMO will understand the scope of the marketing activities, the needs and outcomes and any specific industry or niche considerations

• Research and selection. Your fractional CMO will conduct research to identify potential suppliers who can meet the business’ requirements. They will leverage their industry knowledge, network and experience to identify suppliers.

• Supplier qualification. Once potential suppliers have been identified, your fractional CMO plays a key role in qualifying them. They may conduct interviews, request proposals and assess the supplier’s fit with the business strategy, strategic goals and culture.

• Negotiation and contracting. Your fractional CMO may negotiate contracts and agreements with the selected suppliers, ensuring their terms and conditions are favourable to the business and ensure a mutually beneficial partnership.

• Supplier performance monitoring. Once suppliers are onboards, your fractional CMO will oversee and monitor their performance. They will track the supplier’s delivery and quality, conducting regular performance reviews.

• Supplier relationship management. Fractional CMOs will also play a role in managing the relationship with the suppliers. They will foster open communication, and address issues or concerns. They act as a liaison to ensure effective co-ordination, timely delivery of services and resolution of any conflicts or challenges that may arise.

Often, they are brought in to lead change or transformation across the organisation – never an easy role and one that requires the company to be aligned behind that change. If they are not, then for the CMO, it can feel like wading through mud and if they don’t have the mandate or buy-in of their colleagues, particularly the C-suite, then tenure can be foreshortened, through the CMO’s choice.

Moreover, the role of CMO requires strong leadership capabilities, together with strategic expertise and executional knowledge. With the ever-expanding number of channels to market, it can be a fulltime job just staying on top of the channel opportunities and trends, never mind being ahead of the curve.

The role requires a blend of many skills which are often acquired through experience.

And of course, in challenging economic times, marketing is constantly under scrutiny, often still seen as a cost, rather than an investment.

Taking all of the above into account, many companies are working with, or at least considering the possibility of engaging with a fractional CMO.

The role of the fractional CMO

A fractional CMO is ideal for short-term engagements. These can include filling a CMO vacancy, refocusing strategies to achieve scale or providing leadership to a directionless team.

Where a company is looking to grow but hasn’t previously had a senior marketing role within the company, a fractional CMO can create and develop the overarching marketing strategies.  

At a strategic level, a fractional CMO will create and deliver the strategy, either through the business’ internal marketing team or by hiring a team that can execute and deliver. The fractional CMO’s role is not to get heads down in sending out emails or running paid campaigns, but to ensure they are delivered and are meeting the agreed KPIs. They are building your marketing engine to drive revenue.

Your fractional CMO needs therefore to be a strong leader, capable of getting buy-in from the team.

And that requires a balance of hard and soft skills. A fractional CMO should be able to share knowledge effectively within the company on both a marketing and business level, to engage, enable and inspire.

A fractional CMO will also be experienced at board level and comfortable with both challenging the status quo and reporting, ensuring the organisation’s key goals and objectives are met. They will have both internal and external empathy, able to see the marketing function from the outside in – as others may see it, but also able to bring their marketing function together as a team to power sales. 

Key areas within the strategic role of fractional CMO include:

• Positioning the company so prospects can see the true value you deliver

• Brand development

• Supporting brand development in creating a unified messaging platform for company and prospects that will unite teams internally and ensure that all functions are promising only what can be delivered

• Aligning and integrating the marketing and sales functions through sales enablement

• Development of cross-channel campaigns

• Demand gen and channel marketing initiatives

• Agreement to and alignment of KPIs

• Team leadership 

What is a Fractional Marketing Consultant?

A fractional marketing director or consultant is a professional who provides marketing services to businesses on a part-time basis. They can work independently or as part of a marketing team or department.

Unlike full-time consultants, fractional consultants work on a project-by-project basis or to an agreed plan, enabling businesses to access their expertise and experience as needed.

Fractional marketing consultants are typically, highly experienced marketing professionals who have worked cross industry and have a proven track record of success. They tend to focus on strategy creation, overseeing execution, rather than being executional themselves.