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What is the difference between a fractional CMO, a marketing consultant, and an agency?

A consultant advises, an agency executes, a fractional CMO owns the strategy and the team.

A consultant delivers a recommendation and leaves. An agency executes a defined scope. A fractional CMO sits in the leadership seat, owns the strategy, and directs the internal team and the vendors, including the agency. They solve different problems and cost different amounts.

The marketing consultant

Buys you an outside opinion. You get an assessment, a set of recommendations and usually a deck. Then implementation is your problem. This is the right purchase when you already have a capable team and a specific question you cannot answer internally. It is the wrong purchase when the real issue is that nobody is going to act on the recommendation.

The agency

Buys you execution against a named scope. At LevelUp that looks like ad management at 10% of spend with a $1,500 per month minimum, SEO from $1,850 a month, social from $2,700 a month, or flexible support hours from $1,900 a month. An agency is the right purchase when you know what needs doing and need it done well. It is the wrong purchase when nobody internally can say what should be done in the first place.

The fractional CMO

Buys you the decision maker. A fractional CMO sets positioning, chooses the channel mix, allocates the budget, sets the metrics, manages the internal marketing staff, and holds vendors accountable including us. At LevelUp this is $195 an hour, typically 10 to 20 hours a month, and it can sit inside an existing retainer at the same rate.

The sweet spot is businesses around $2M to $20M in revenue: large enough that the decisions are expensive, not large enough to fund a full time CMO salary.

How to pick

  • You know what to do, you need hands: agency.
  • You have a team and one hard question: consultant.
  • You have budget and people but no one setting direction: fractional CMO.
  • You have none of the above and a small budget: buy execution in one channel and get good at it first. That is cheaper and we will tell you so.

Related: What is a fractional CMO?, What does a fractional CMO actually do?, Who is a fractional CMO a good fit for?, How much does a fractional CMO cost?