Fractional CMO Engagement
Options for Engagement after Free Health Check
A clear, transparent Fractional CMO rate structure helps SMEs understand exactly what they’re paying for and the commercial impact they can expect.
At Communications Edge, our pricing model is built around measurable outcomes — not agency retainers or activity-based fees.
Whether you need light-touch advisory support, hands-on growth leadership, or near full-time CMO coverage, each tier includes strategic direction, performance measurement, and ROI accountability.
This guide breaks down Fractional CMO day rates, monthly cost ranges, and engagement tiers so you can choose the level of marketing leadership that delivers the highest impact for your business.
Key Metrics on Fractional CMO v Full Time CMO and Agency
Fractional CMO Costs, Alternatives and how to Engage them.
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Methodology
We take on limited clients and only after a Free Health Check.
Why the Health Check?
So we can see where your marketing is at and what the Digital Marketing Tools we use tells us about your company and competitors.
Essentially from a data driven marketing approach how you sit:-
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As a company and domain
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Within your competitive set
Once we do the 2 x 45 minute Health Check sessions:
a) We will have all the data to diagnose what you need.
b) You'll have a full digital marketing view of where you stand.
c) You'll have a short, medium and long term costed plans that you can review in the second 45 minute session.
Why this approach?
We do not promise to help any company till we know:
- What the data tell us they need in terms of support.
- Whether we have the expertise to support them.
- Whether the Owner, MD or CEO agrees with the outlined plan & budget required.
What are the Fractional CMO costs to implement the plan?
That depends on a number of variables:
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How fast you want to grow?
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What Plan you agree?
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What internal or External resources you have?
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What Expertise thos resources have?
Broadly we find customers need any one of four types of support:
Advisory Engagement
- SMEs needing strategic direction, governance & performance oversight.
Growth Engagement
- SMEs running active PPC/SEO/content campaigns with intern support.
Scale Engagement
- High-growth SMEs needing near in-house CMO coverage
Full Time CMO - Short Term
- Companies restructuring, rebuilding or needing full setup fast
What's the advantages of a Fractional CMO
V
an Agency?
Cost
Fractional CMO is considerably cheaper and better value for money.
Why?
Fractional CMO more focused on revenue,pipeline, payback. Agencies on vanity metrics, clicks & Impressions.
There are 12 other Reasons that an SME would Favour a fractional CMO V an Agency.
They are detailed in the graphic and self explanatory.
This £3.2M SMB turned to a fractional CMO & Agency hybrid model because:
- They were spending £25k a month and generating no tangible business results, leads, pipeline growth.
INSERT Charles Slater Case Study
There are many differences between the models
The Excel has the full list as sample is below.
The results are agency and Fractional CMO comparisons in a £3m SME (90 days after the change over)
How Fractional CMO Rates Compare to Agencies & Full-Time CMOs
Cost
Fractional CMO is considerably cheaper and better value for money.
Why?
Fractional CMO more focused on revenue,pipeline, payback. Agencies on vanity metrics, clicks & Impressions.
There are 12 other reasons that an SME would Favour a fractional CMO V an Agency.
They are detailed in the graphic and self explanatory.
This £3.2M SMB turned to a fractional CMO & Agency hybrid model because:
- They were spending £25k a month and generating no tangible business results, leads, pipeline growth.
The first thing a Fractional CMO does is assess everything looking at the data.
The second is make people own their number and become accountable for the results and responsible for driving them forward.
Very quickly the fear young interns or internal teams have of being challenged to improve is replaced with fun when they are coached to get better results.
Their confidence grows, they start experimenting and pushing for better numbers and the growth the customer is after starts to accelerate as every number, at every stage of the enquiry to deal funnel, starts to move in a positive direction.
Whilst it sounds like common sense, that ownership & accountability are hard to achieve with an agency that is simply pointing a specialist at a certain task. They are task orientated and not performance driven.
To often we see the same pattern emerging and fractional CMO's and young interns outperforming disparate agency teams.
£3m SME UK Case Study Below
Start Up Recruitment company here
What’s included in a Fractional CMO Engagement
Strategy & Positioning
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Leadership is the most powerful factor
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Leadership that knows marketing detail, the right steps, the right course of action and what good looks like.
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Commercially aligning the team against business goals.
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Managing and agency to deliver in specialist areas.
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Campaign oversight
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PPC/SEO oversight
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Reporting dashboards
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Diagnostic reporting to learn fast & spot issues
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Operational reporting to ensure "all KPI's are in line"
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Board reporting so they have the confidence to treat marketing as an investment not a cost.
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Funnel optimisation
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Team coaching
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Supplier and agency management
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Planning, forecasting & budgeting
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CAC, LTV, payback modelling
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High-performance landing pages
Whilst that's the top level, the table shows:
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What a Fractional CMO does?
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Why SMEs find that matters for their businesses.
Not included:
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Graphic design (outsourced or intern delivered)
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Deep technical SEO (unless offered)
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Web development
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Full-time management (unless using interim tier)
What Drives Fractional CMO Pricing Up or Down?
The Table over covers the factors that drive a fractional CMO's engagement type, length, days a month and cost.
Pricing varies based on:
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Business Stage.
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Marketing budget available.
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Existing team experience and skill.
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Channel complexity
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Agency dependency (if any)
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Data and tracking maturity.
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Commercial goals and ambition.
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Market competitiveness.
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Technology stack.
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Governance levels required.
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Required speed to impact.
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Number of channels in play.
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Whether interns need managing.
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Team size and supplier count.
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Reporting complexity.
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Whether CRO/landing pages are included.
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Amount of technical cleanup required.
So rates, engagement levels and length of engagements vary as does time to impact.
However, Fractional CMO's suit the SME that's over £1m and under £20m, perfectly, for results, focus and value for money.
Fractional CMO Return on Investment (ROI)
It clearly depends on the following:
The starting point
The Competition
The level of difficulty
Which is why we offer a Free Health Check to assess realistic goals and parameters - with objective data.
So we do not over promise, we are realistic with timescales, as we base every decision on data.
Plus we tailor every plan to the client & competitive landscape.
See Technology based SME Case Study here.
See some of the issues we inherit and fix with SME's that employed agencies here.
Real Fractional CMO Case Study
£3m UK SME → 8× increase in organic traffic in 30 days
Spending £25k a month and getting:
- No website leads
- Minimal Google Ads leads (4 in 5 months with a £10k spend)
Zero Enquiry to deal Transparency & pipeline → full-funnel dashboards in 4 weeks
- We implemented both SEO & Google Ads Dashboards in the first 60 days.
- We fixed the Click thru rate and conversion rate in 4 weeks.
2% PPC conversion → 4–6% targeted with landing page rebuild.
- We assessed every webpage & Landing page.
- We forecasted projected results
- We halted Pay Per Click Spend till the fixes were in place.
Fractional CMO Headline Results
Nothing spectacular just fixed issues the data pointed to.
MD's/CEO's/ Divisional Leads find it tough in today's digital world.
Why?
Google, Bing, AI are changing so quickly that it is hard to keep up.
They lack the technical marketing understanding to "know the detail" you need to know to have an impact.
They do not know who to believe, everyone says they can do better.
Reality
You have to trust your fractional CMO / agency / Internal team.
That trust can only be earnt.
That's why we offer the 2 x Health Check session, to base insights, on your data.
To tailor your plan to you and your competitors.
If you want value for money, that's what we do, we assumed you need a return on the investment, otherwise marketing is just a cost.
And every Financial Director will manage costs down!
FAQs About Fractional CMO Pricing and Rate Structure
What is the average cost of a Fractional CMO in the UK?
Between £3,000–£9,000 per month, depending on engagement tier.
What’s the minimum commitment?
Most SMEs start with 3 months, then move to rolling monthly.
How fast can a Fractional CMO make an impact?
Typically 2–6 weeks after fixing measurement and speed issues.
What’s the difference between a Fractional CMO and a marketing agency?
The CMO leads strategy and accountability; agencies execute tasks.
Can a Fractional CMO manage interns or juniors?
Yes — this is one of the highest ROI combinations for SMEs.