Days 1–30
Assess
Diagnose the funnel, the team, the agencies, the stack and the numbers. Pressure-test positioning, pricing and ICP. Deliver a short, blunt findings document and a 90-day plan.
01
The engagement
How it works.
Engagements run on a monthly retainer, typically one to three days a week, for six to eighteen months. The CMO reports directly to the CEO or the board, sits inside the team and runs to a 90-day plan that ends with a working demand engine and a clear handover.
Cadence
1 to 3 days per week, on-site in Milan when needed and remote with the rest of Europe.
Reporting line
Directly to the CEO. Board-facing on the marketing and revenue agenda.
Mandate
Owns the marketing P&L line, the demand number and the team.
Exit
Clean handover to a permanent CMO or senior in-house lead, with documentation and the dashboards intact.
The 90-day plan.
Every engagement runs to a written 90-day plan, signed off in week one and reviewed fortnightly. The shape is consistent because the early mistakes are consistent. The same 90-day discipline is how the sister practice at temporarymanager.work runs temporary management mandates outside of marketing.
Days 31–60
Fix positioning & measurement
Lock messaging that the team can actually sell behind. Rebuild attribution so the board deck reflects reality. Cut the channels and agencies that don't deserve the budget.
Days 61–90
Build the demand engine
Rebuild paid, organic and lifecycle around the new positioning. Establish weekly operating cadence, KPI tree and forecast. Marketing starts shipping pipeline against a number.
Month 4 onwards
Compound & hand over
Coach the in-house team, hire the permanent leader when it makes sense, and exit cleanly with the engine running. Continued advisory if the company wants it.
Questions & answers
Engagement mechanics people ask about.
Onboarding, cadence, remote versus on-site, and how the mandate ends. Operational answers for the searches that end up on this page.
How long does it take to onboard a fractional CMO from signed contract to first output?
Signed contract to embedded operator is typically five to ten working days. Week one is data, team meetings and positioning pressure test. The written 90-day plan is signed off by end of week two.
Can a fractional CMO work remotely across Europe or is on-site required?
Both. The base model is remote with a set number of on-site days per month in Milan or at your HQ. Board meetings, kickoffs and key team offsites are on-site by default; the operating cadence in between is remote.
What happens at the end of a fractional CMO engagement?
Clean handover to a permanent CMO or a senior in-house lead: documentation, dashboards, agency contracts, hiring pipeline and the 12-month plan. Continued advisory (one day a month) is available if the company wants continuity.
How is a fractional CMO different from an interim CMO in day-to-day operations?
An interim CMO is full-time for a fixed period, typically covering a departure or an acquisition. A fractional CMO is one to three days a week on an ongoing basis. Same seniority, same accountability, different weekly footprint and different price point.
Next step
Let's see if it's a fit.
Twenty minutes on a call. You describe the growth problem and the timeline. I tell you straight whether renting a fractional CMO is the right move, and what it would look like.
Book an intro call