What's The Difference Between A Fractional CMO & CMO As A Service?

A fractional CMO is one experienced marketing executive who works inside your company part time, owning strategy, budget and results the way a full-time CMO would, just for a set number of days a month. CMO as a service is the broader model, where a firm delivers CMO-level leadership on a subscription, often with a team behind it that also handles execution.

When positioning your product or service in the marketplace, it's important to use the right terminology to make it easier for end users to find you (when searching online) or understand what you're offering.

In some cases, your product or service might be new to the industry, in which case you'll need to educate your potential clients about the service that you are offering and why they would benefit from it.

In this case, we are often approached by companies looking for external marketing help, but are unsure if they need a Fractional CMO, a CMO As A Service, or something else, since to be honest, they sound the same. In order to give the most accurate answer, we went to the internet to understand the difference ourselves.

As it turns out, there doesn't seem to be a lot of talk about "CMO As A Service." According to Google Trends, there's been almost no interest over the past 5 years.

Extensive searching on Google also resulted in a lack of responses about the distinction of the two offerings, so we did what anyone trying to write anything and needed some help would to: we asked ChatGPT. While we know it's a bad idea to rely on ChatGPT for your blog, we at least wanted to see what they could come up with. Below is an edited version, since what the bot put out initially didn't provide any real distinction between the two services:

A Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) as a Service and a Fractional CMO are both models for accessing marketing expertise, but they differ in engagement and scope of work. Here's an overview of each:

CMO as a service gives you marketing leadership on a subscription

CMO as a Service (CMOaaS) is a model where an external agency or consultancy provides the services of a CMO on an ongoing subscription. It allows organizations to access the strategic guidance and leadership of a seasoned marketing professional without hiring a full-time CMO. CMOaaS typically involves a monthly subscription or retainer with the firm, which often supplies its own team to carry out the marketing work as well.

A fractional CMO is one executive embedded in your team

A Fractional CMO is also a part-time marketing executive, but they work directly with a specific company rather than through an agency. Fractional CMOs are independent professionals who offer their expertise and services to multiple clients simultaneously. They work on a fractional (part-time) basis, typically dedicating a certain number of hours per week or month to each client. Fractional CMOs often have deep marketing experience and provide strategic leadership and marketing planning tailored to the needs of the company they work with, then direct the execution done by your in-house team, freelancers or agency.

When ClinicMind brought in KSW as its fractional CMO, cost per lead in paid search dropped about 86%.

The key difference lies in the structure of engagement. CMOaaS involves accessing marketing services through an agency or consultancy, while a Fractional CMO works directly with a company on a part-time basis. Both models offer flexible and cost-effective options for businesses to access experienced marketing professionals based on their specific requirements and budget.

Fractional CMO vs. CMO as a service at a glance

	Fractional CMO	CMO as a service
Who does the work	One senior marketing executive who works inside your team	A firm that provides CMO-level leadership, often with its own team behind it
Time commitment	A set number of days a month	An ongoing subscription with the firm
Typical cost	A flat monthly fee (see current pricing), with no salary and every plan month-to-month (a full-time CMO costs $180,000–$250,000 a year in base salary, and up to $300,000 all in)	Varies by firm, and usually more than a fractional CMO because you're also paying for the team
Execution included?	Strategy and oversight; execution comes from your team, freelancers or an agency the CMO manages	Often, since the firm's own team can carry out the plan
Best fit	Companies that already have people in-house or an agency to execute, and need someone senior to lead them	Companies that need senior strategy and the hands to carry it out, but can't justify a full-time CMO yet

Which one you need depends on whether you already have people to execute

Both models give you outsourced marketing leadership, so the real question is who will carry out the plan once it's set. If you already have marketers in-house or an agency on retainer, a fractional CMO gives you the senior leadership to direct them, and because you're paying for one executive instead of a firm's overhead, it's usually the cheaper option. If you have nobody to do the work, CMO as a service bundles the leadership with a team that executes it, and you pay more for that bench. Some fractional CMOs, such as KSW Solutions, sit between the two: we lead your marketing ourselves, and when a project needs more hands, we bring in freelancers we've worked with and trust, such as graphic designers, video editors and PR specialists, instead of keeping a standing team you'd end up paying for.

At the end of the day, once you know that you want a Fractional CMO the most important thing to look for in a service provider is making sure you are both on the same page about budget, scope, goals, and KPIs. And if you really want your investment to generate more revenue for your company, consider our Fractional CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) package.

Frequently asked questions

What is CMO as a service?

CMO as a service is a model where a company gets chief marketing officer leadership on a subscription instead of hiring a full-time executive, usually from a firm that can also supply people to carry out the plan. It works best for companies that need senior strategy and hands to execute it, but can't justify a full-time CMO salary yet.

Do I need a CMO or a fractional CMO?

If you're spending less than a full-time CMO's salary on marketing itself, you almost certainly need a fractional CMO, because a full-time hire would cost more than the budget they're managing. A full-time CMO makes sense once marketing is big enough that leading it is a full-time job, with a team, a meaningful budget and a board asking for results every quarter.

Do I need a fractional CMO or an agency?

An agency executes the work you hand it, while a fractional CMO decides what work should be done in the first place and holds the agency accountable for results. If you already have an agency and still don't know whether your marketing is working, that's the gap a fractional CMO fills.

How much does a fractional CMO cost?

A fractional CMO from KSW costs a flat monthly fee, with no salary, no benefits and every plan month-to-month, compared with $180,000–$250,000 a year in base salary for a full-time CMO and up to $300,000 once benefits, bonuses and overhead are added. You can pause or change your package anytime, and you'll find current prices for every tier on our services and pricing page.