What a fractional CMO actually does
A fractional CMO is not a consultant who leaves a deck. It is an executive who owns the marketing number, runs the team you have, hires the team you need, manages your agencies, and reports to you the way any other leader does, for two to four days a month instead of five days a week. The arrangement works when the company is too small for a full-time CMO and too big to keep guessing. To compare the cost with a full-time hire, use my free fractional vs full-time cost calculator.
- The number and the plan. A quarterly growth plan with one owner, a weekly operating cadence, and a dashboard your board can read. I have run marketing where 65 to 70 percent of decisions were made on data, with BI housed inside the marketing function.
- The team. Hiring, coaching and, where needed, replacing. Managing agencies so they deliver against your plan instead of theirs.
- Launches and pricing. Product launches, repositioning and pricing decisions, treated as growth levers rather than announcements. Pricing is positioning.
- Retention as a line item. Retention is the real growth engine; a fractional CMO who only reports on leads is measuring the wrong thing.
- The board-level view. Translating marketing into the language of margin, payback and capacity, so the CEO and the board can make decisions rather than approve budgets. Why the CMO role is shrinking, and what to do about it.
Proof, not promises
Three engagements that show the pattern. Each one opens the full case study.
Why a fractional CMO with a public-health degree
A growing share of Michigan's mid-market is healthcare, health-tech, wellness and regulated consumer categories, where the marketing leader has to understand clinical operations, compliance and trust as well as funnels. I hold an MPH and the CHES credential, ran operations for a clinical group as COO, and directed growth for a hospital brand. That combination is rare in a fractional role, and it is the reason a health company can hand me the number without a translation layer.
Who this is for, and who it is not
It is for founder-led Michigan companies between roughly one and fifty million in revenue, in healthcare, health-tech, consumer and B2B services, whose marketing is currently run by the founder, a junior team, or an agency with nobody above it. It is not for companies ready for a full-time CMO now; if that is you, I will say so and help you hire one.
Start with a thirty-minute call
Bring the number you are trying to move. I will tell you what I would look at first, and whether I am the right person to look at it.
Questions people ask before we talk
How many days a month is a fractional engagement?
Typically two to four days a month, with a fixed weekly cadence. The first month is heavier, because the diagnosis and the plan happen then.
How is a fractional CMO different from a consultant or an agency?
A consultant advises and leaves. An agency executes in a channel. A fractional CMO owns the number, leads the people, and is accountable to you the way any executive is, for a fraction of the time.
How long is a typical engagement?
A quarter at minimum, reviewed every quarter. Most run two to four quarters, either until the company hires a full-time leader or the growth plan is running without me.
Do you replace our agency?
Usually not. I lead it. Most agencies perform better with a client-side executive who sets the plan and holds them to it.
Which industries have you led marketing in?
Fintech, e-commerce, consumer technology, telecom, education and healthcare, including a hospital group, a clinical group and a fintech platform serving ten million users.
Md Shafaat Ali Choyon (also written Shafaat Choyon) is a fractional marketing and growth executive based in Redford, Michigan. MBA, MCIM, MPH and CHES®. Founder of HSREP, a health-system resilience platform. The same body of work, presented for other needs: growth marketing, Michigan, growth marketing, Bangladesh, brand and communications, health communication, digital health, population health. Bangladesh readers: বাংলায় পড়ুন.