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Fractional CMOA marketing leader on your team, without the full-time salary.
Jose leads your marketing plan, your budget and the people or vendors running it. Every month we sit down with your numbers and decide what to change.
- For businesses doing $500K to $10M a year
- Part of your leadership team
- Monthly KPI review
- 1Learn your numbers
- 2Set the 90-day plan and KPIs
- 3Fix what’s leaking first
- 4Review the numbers with you monthly
You don’t need more marketing. You need someone leading it.
Most owners we meet have a few vendors, a team member doing social, and an ad account nobody fully understands. Everyone is busy. Nobody owns the result.
- Nobody owns the plan.Each vendor works on their piece. Nobody connects them.
- Budget goes everywhere.A little on every channel, not enough on any one to work.
- Sales and marketing don’t talk.Leads come in and nobody knows what happened to them.
- You can’t see the return.You know what you spent. You don’t know what it made.
A CMO on your leadership team, not another vendor.
We join your leadership meetings, set the plan with you and hold everyone to it, including us. It’s a partnership of creation. You know your customers. We know how to reach them and track what happens next.
What your Fractional CMO does
- Builds the quarterly marketing plan and budget
- Sets the KPIs and reviews them with you monthly
- Manages your vendors and in-house team
- Decides which channels get money and which don’t
- Coaches your sales process and follow-up
- Coaches you and your leaders, not just the marketing
- Reports to you in plain numbers: spend, leads, booked, closed
Strategy. System. Scale.
- 1
Strategy
We learn your numbers: operating cost, average ticket, close rate. Then we set a 90-day plan and the KPIs that go with it.
- 2
System
We fix what’s leaking first. Usually tracking, speed to lead and follow-up. Then we put budget behind what works.
- 3
Scale
Monthly reviews. One change at a time, so we know what moved the number. Then we push.
What does a Fractional CMO save you?
A full-time marketing manager earns a median of $166,790 a year in salary alone, before benefits, bonus or the team they need. A CMO costs more. We give you senior leadership for a flat monthly fee, quoted in writing, and the difference goes into ads, people or profit.
| Feature | Traditional agency | In-house CMO | The Idea Farm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategy | Their plan for their services | Yes | Yes, tied to your P&L |
| Execution | Their team only | Needs a team | Our team or yours |
| Tracking | Platform reports | Depends on the hire | Tracked to booked and closed |
| Accountability | To the contract | To you | Monthly KPI review with you |
| Leadership | No | Yes | Yes |
| Cost | A retainer for their services | $166,790 median salary for a marketing manager, before benefits | One flat monthly fee |
Salary figure: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, median annual wage for marketing managers, May 2025. Source.
I’ve done this to my own company first.
“Find what’s leaking, fix the system, then scale what works.”
When I bought into The Idea Farm in 2022, it had one lead source and no real systems. I rebuilt the product, the team, the delivery and the cost structure, and moved the agency from design to ads to the systems that connect marketing to sales.
That’s the same work I do as your Fractional CMO. I sit in your leadership meetings, own the plan, and review the numbers with you every month. I don’t guarantee results. I put KPIs in place and we hold everyone to them, including us.
One flat fee. A 90-day start.
The fee depends on how much we’re leading: just the plan and the reviews, or the vendors and the team too. You get the number on the first call, in writing, before you sign anything.
| Monthly | One flat fee, sized to how much we lead |
|---|---|
| Minimum | 3 months, the length of the first 90-day plan |
| Ad spend and vendors | Paid by you directly. We never mark them up |
| Quote | On the first call, in writing, before you sign |
Your CMO leads the whole system.
Fractional CMO questions, answered straight.
How much does it cost?
A flat monthly fee based on how much we’re leading. We quote it on the first call, in writing. There’s a 3-month minimum so the first 90-day plan has time to work.
How is this different from an agency?
An agency runs its services. A Fractional CMO runs your marketing, including the agencies.
What does the CMO actually do each month?
Sets the plan, reviews the numbers with you, manages vendors and decides where the budget goes.
Will this work with my current team?
Yes. Most clients keep their people. We lead them and fill the gaps.
Who will I actually work with?
Jose leads every Fractional CMO engagement. Our team handles the execution you need, or we lead the people and vendors you already have.
Is this a fit for my business?
It works best for owner-led businesses doing about $500K to $10M a year that are spending on marketing and can’t see what it returns. If you’re earlier than that, we’ll tell you to start with ads.
Ready for someone to own your marketing?
20 minutes. Bring your budget and your current numbers. We’ll tell you if a CMO is what you need, or if you should start with ads.
Book a 20-minute call