Lead: both leadership roles
One person leads your marketing and your AI.
A fractional CMO and Chief AI Officer is one person who leads your marketing and your AI on one contract. Before we start, we agree how my days split between the two, and we check the split every quarter.
- How often
- 1 to 3 days a week
- Contract
- One, for both roles
- You keep
- The marketing plan, AI rules and tools
In one sentence
What is a fractional CMO and Chief AI Officer?
One person holds the marketing role and the AI role on one contract, and the split between the two is checked every quarter.
-
Who it suits
Marketing and AI often start as two projects with two owners. Sooner or later they meet in marketing, because that is where customers first see AI.
-
The problem
A new tool lands in the middle of a campaign and nobody's job is to say yes or no.
-
What changes
One person makes the calls where marketing and AI meet.
When it makes sense
When one person for both makes sense.
-
Marketing needs an owner.
Your team or your agencies can do the work but nobody senior points it at the business.
-
The board wants an AI position.
Someone in the leadership team has to say where AI is used, who can use what and who decides.
-
The two keep colliding.
Marketing plans the year, AI arrives mid-campaign, and nobody decides where the two meet.
What it looks like
See how a week can split.
We agree a starting split before the work begins and move it when the results say so.
What you are looking at A control that shows how a week can split between the two roles. Pick the days and where the weight sits, and the lines below say what each role carries at that setting.
Days a week
Where the weight sits
A rough split of the week. We agree the actual days together.
At this setting
About two days a week, split evenly between the two.
- The marketing role
- Strategy and priorities for a team that runs the work itself.
- The AI role
- The AI rules plus the tools your team is building or rolling out.
- Stays with one person
- The decisions where marketing and AI meet, whatever the split.
How it starts
Usually with the audit.
-
30 minutes
A 30-minute call
If I'm the wrong fit, I'll say so and suggest someone else.
-
2 to 3 weeks
The Marketing + AI Audit
2 to 3 weeks that end in one written roadmap for marketing and AI together.
-
The first quarter
The first quarter
The role starts with the days and the split the roadmap points to.
The first 90 days
What the first 90 days add for AI.
-
Month one
A list of AI use
A list of where the company already uses AI, who uses it and on what data.
-
By day 60
The first AI rules
The first AI rules in writing: approved tools, data limits and where a person checks the output.
-
Day 90
The next quarter
We set the days and the split for the next quarter.
Alternatives
Two hires, an agency or one person: which fits?
The usual ways to cover both roles, compared on four points.
| Option | Leads your team from the inside | One person decides where marketing and AI meet | There every working day | One contract for both roles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two fractional leaders | Yes | No | No | No |
| Two full-time hires | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| An agency | No | No | No | No |
| One person in both roles | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
When it is not a fit
When one of the two roles is enough.
A full-time hire is better if
- Marketing needs a leader every day If marketing needs a leader every day of the week, a full-time hire is the better choice, and I'll tell you so on the first call.
One role is enough if
- Marketing is in good hands and your open question is AI.How the AI role works
- Marketing is the open question The CMO role puts AI to work where it helps marketing, and can take on the AI role too, on the same contract.How the CMO role works
Words used on this page
- Chief AI Officer
- The senior person who owns AI in the company: the strategy, the tools, the rules and getting people to use them.
- Fractional
- Part-time, inside your leadership team, for an agreed number of days a week.
- The split
- How the agreed days divide between marketing and AI. It goes into the written quote.
- AI rules
- A written policy: the approved tools, the data limits and where a person checks the output.
Questions
Questions about both roles.
How is the week split between marketing and AI?
We agree the days and a starting split before the work begins, both go into the written quote, and at the end of every quarter we look at what the business needs next and move the weight toward it on the same contract.
Won't one of the two get less attention?
It can happen, and it is the obvious risk of combining the roles. That is why the split is on paper and checked every quarter, instead of being left to whatever is loudest that week. When one side needs more than the agreed days can hold, we change the days or talk about a different setup, which can include a full-time hire for one of the two roles if that is what the business needs.
How is this different from hiring a CMO and an AI lead?
Two people means two contracts and a handover at every point where marketing and AI meet, and there are a lot of those points. One person makes those calls in one place. Two full-time hires fit better when both functions need a leader every day and the budget is there for both, and I would rather say that on the first call than in month four.
Start with two sentences.
Tell me where your company stands and what you want to change. I read every message myself.
Anže FrantarWrite or call in English, Slovenian, Croatian or Serbian.
- A personal reply within one working day.
- A fixed quote in writing within two working days of the call.
- If I'm the wrong fit, I'll say so and suggest someone else.
Or write to anze@failagainfailbetter.com, or call +386 40 191 468.