Lead: a leadership role
A senior marketing leader in your team.
A fractional CMO leads your marketing part-time, from inside your team. As yours, I decide with you who you sell to and what you say, lead the team and the agencies, manage the budget and answer for the results.
- How often
- 1 to 3 days a week
- Minimum
- Six months
- You keep
- A clear plan and agreed priorities
In one sentence
What is a fractional CMO?
A fractional CMO is a senior marketing leader who works inside your team 1 to 3 days a week, instead of full time.
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Who it suits
Companies whose team or agencies can do the work, while nobody senior sets the direction.
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What I take on
The strategy, the budget, the team and every decision where marketing meets the rest of the company.
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What stays the same
Your people and agencies keep doing the work. I set the direction and answer for it.
What the role covers
Four things I answer for.
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Direction
I set the positioning and priorities and write the marketing plan against your commercial goals.
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People
I lead the team and the agencies and make the hiring calls. When two priorities compete, I decide.
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Results
I make the budget calls, run honest reviews and change the plan when the numbers say so.
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AI
I put AI to work where it helps marketing and can take the AI role too, on the same contract.
How the two roles work together
When it makes sense
When does a fractional CMO make sense?
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You have people.
Your team or your agencies can do the work but nobody senior sets the direction.
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You are changing.
Marketing has to be built or reorganised for a new stage of the company.
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You want an owner.
You want a leader who stays after the plan is written and sees it through.
How it starts
From a first call to the role.
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30 minutes
Discovery call
We talk about where marketing stands. If I'm the wrong fit, I'll say so and suggest someone else.
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Optional, 2 to 3 weeks
The Marketing + AI Audit
You can start with the audit and decide about the role once you have read the roadmap.
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Within two working days
A fixed quote
In writing, after the call.
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Six-month minimum
The role starts
1 to 3 days a week inside your team. The first 90 days follow the plan below.
What it looks like
The first 90 days, month by month.
What you are looking atThree months on one line. Each card says what I do, what you get and what you decide at the end of the month. Under it: the three shapes the role can take from day 90.
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Understand
What I do
I read the plan and the numbers and sit in with the team and the agencies to find what slows you down.
What you get
A shared view of what works and a short list of ideas to test.
Your decision on day 30
Which ideas we test first.
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Test
What I do
I test the top ideas on a small budget and set up the briefs and reviews the team works to.
What you get
Tests running in your team, with a plain account of what each one showed.
Your decision on day 60
Which tests get more time and budget. The rest stop now.
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Keep what works
What I do
We look at what failed and why, then turn what worked into a routine the team runs without me in every meeting.
What you get
The plan and the priorities, written down.
Your decision on day 90
How many days a week the role needs from here.
The usual shapes after day 90
- About one day a week. Strategy and priorities for a team that runs the work on its own.
- About two days a week. Strategy plus hands-on leadership of the team, the agencies and the creative.
- About three days a week. I run the whole function while it changes, including hiring and the budget.
What you keep, what it needs
What stays with you, and what I need from you.
What you keep
- A clear plan The plan and the priorities, written down and agreed.
- A team with a steady rhythm Briefs and reviews the team works to, also when I am not in the room.
- What worked, as routine Tests that worked become the way the team runs.
What it needs from you
- The plan and the numbers I read them in the first month.
- Time with the team and the agencies I sit in to find what slows you down.
- A decision at the end of each month Which ideas to test, which tests get more time and budget, how many days the role needs.
When it is not a fit
When something else works better.
A full-time hire is better if
- Marketing needs a leader every day Then a full-time CMO is the better choice. If I think that is your situation, I'll tell you on the first call.
Another way in
- Already have a head of marketing? I work beside them, with the team and agencies you already have. If marketing is in good hands and your open question is AI, the Chief AI Officer role works on its own, next to them.How the AI role works
- Not sure yet what to change? The audit puts the changes in order first.How the Marketing + AI Audit works
Words used on this page
- Fractional
- Part-time, inside your leadership team, for an agreed number of days a week.
- Positioning
- How you want buyers to see you next to the alternatives.
- Retainer
- An ongoing contract for an agreed number of days, instead of a one-off project.
Who you work with
You work with me directly.
Anže Frantar
12 years in B2B and B2C marketing. I have built marketing departments from scratch and led teams across Central and South-East Europe.
More about meQuestions
Questions about the role.
How many days a week does a fractional CMO work?
Usually 1 to 3 days a week, with a six-month minimum. The role stays open-ended after that.
Can we start with an audit instead?
Yes. You can do the Marketing + AI Audit first and decide about the role once you have read the roadmap.
How is this different from hiring an agency?
An agency delivers the work you agreed on. A fractional CMO leads the marketing function and decides what comes first, and the two work side by side, with the agencies getting clear briefs and useful feedback from someone who answers for the whole plan.
How is this different from an advisor?
An advisor tells you what they would do and leaves the doing to you. I lead the work with your team and I am still there when it is carried out and reviewed, because the role runs for at least six months, 1 to 3 days a week inside your team.
When would a full-time CMO make more sense?
When marketing needs a senior leader in the company every day of the week, a full-time hire is the better choice, and if I think that is your situation I will tell you on the first 30-minute call instead of selling you days you don't need.
Do you work outside Slovenia?
Yes. I'm based in Ljubljana and work with companies across Europe, in English, Slovenian, Croatian or Serbian.
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.