Service
Fractional CMO
Services
Senior marketing leadership without the full-time commitment.
Matthew Delmore embeds with growing businesses to set marketing direction, lead the function, direct execution, and hold the work accountable to meaningful commercial outcomes.
Direct Answer
What is a fractional CMO?
A fractional Chief Marketing Officer is an experienced senior marketing executive who works with a business on a part-time or flexible basis. They provide the strategic leadership of a full-time CMO — brand direction, campaign strategy, audience development, team oversight, agency management, and accountability for performance — at a cost structure a growing business can sustain.
A Different Model of Marketing Leadership
Every growing business reaches a point where the marketing thinking it needs is beyond what a marketing manager, content team, or generalist agency can provide — but where the full-time salary, equity, and overhead of a Chief Marketing Officer is not yet the right investment.
A fractional CMO is not a cheaper version of a full-time hire. It is a different model: senior leadership embedded in the organisation, involved in real decisions, and operating at the level of genuine strategic leadership rather than external advisory.
The fractional CMO sets direction from the inside, directs the execution through internal teams and agencies, and stays accountable for the performance of the marketing function.
What Matthew Delmore Provides
Brand Strategy and Positioning Direction
The engagement begins with the brand strategy foundation: ensuring the positioning, messaging, and identity direction are clear, specific, and aligned with commercial objectives. Every marketing decision is derived from that foundation rather than made independently of it.
Marketing Strategy and Annual Planning
Matthew develops the annual and quarterly planning that determines marketing priorities, budget allocation, channel choices, objectives, and measurement. The plan is owned operationally through execution and reviewed as performance and market conditions change.
Campaign Direction and Execution Oversight
Each significant campaign receives a strategic brief, audience definition, core messages, channel mix, success metrics, and evaluation framework. Internal teams and external agencies are directed against the brief and held accountable for commercial outcomes.
Audience Development and Growth Strategy
The engagement covers the strategy for reaching the right people, earning their attention, building trust, and converting that relationship into sustainable commercial growth through content, channels, community, and customer acquisition.
Team Development and Marketing Function Leadership
For existing teams, Matthew sets direction, coaches quality, establishes operating cadences, and supports hiring and resource decisions. For businesses building from scratch, he establishes the principles and processes of the function before directing its growth.
Agency Management and Partnership Direction
Matthew is the senior voice in agency relationships: setting the brief, evaluating output against it, and maintaining accountability for results. This gives agencies the strategic direction they need to execute the right work.
Marketing Performance Measurement and Reporting
The measurement framework is built from commercial objectives down rather than from easy-to-count metrics up. Reporting distinguishes genuine commercial contribution from activity that simply produces impressive-looking output.
The Fractional CMO vs the Alternatives
Fractional CMO vs Full-Time CMO Hire
A full-time CMO is right when the marketing function has enough complexity and scale to justify daily executive attention. Below that threshold, a fractional CMO provides the same quality of leadership at a cost structure a growing business can sustain. Moving from fractional to full-time leadership can be a natural milestone as the business grows.
Fractional CMO vs Marketing Agency Retainer
An agency provides execution: campaigns, content, media, and creative. A fractional CMO provides the strategic layer that directs those agencies, makes the work coherent with the brand strategy, and measures commercial contribution rather than execution volume.
Fractional CMO vs Marketing Consultant
A consultant advises and hands over recommendations. A fractional CMO leads: making decisions, directing implementation, staying engaged when execution drifts, and holding accountability for the outcomes the marketing function was designed to produce.
Who the Engagement Is For
Growth-Stage Businesses
Businesses that have outgrown a marketing manager or small team without senior strategic leadership. Marketing is happening, but strategic coherence and commercial effectiveness are not yet at the level growth requires.
Businesses Preparing for a Significant Marketing Investment
A major campaign, new channel launch, brand refresh, or fundraising round can require senior leadership for a defined period without the ongoing cost of a full-time hire.
Founder-Led Businesses
When the founder is the de facto CMO, their attention is split between business development and marketing leadership. A fractional CMO takes on the marketing function so the founder can focus where their contribution is most valuable.
Wellness and Purpose-Driven Businesses
Matthew's current fractional CMO practice focuses on wellness, health, wellbeing, and purpose-driven brands where authentic product purpose and authentic brand strategy need to work together.
How the Engagement Works
Onboarding and Marketing Audit
Every engagement begins with a structured assessment of the brand strategy, marketing function, competitive landscape, current performance, and the most significant opportunities and gaps.
Strategic Foundation and First Quarter Plan
The first priority is confirmed, whether it is a brand strategy rebuild, channel restructure, campaign launch, team initiative, or combination. The first-quarter plan sets objectives, resources, metrics, and the execution roadmap.
Ongoing Engagement Cadence
The cadence typically combines weekly check-ins, monthly strategic reviews, and ongoing involvement in campaign direction, agency management, and team development. Scope is set honestly to the business's needs.
Quarterly Reviews and Forward Planning
Every three months, performance is reviewed against objectives, the competitive position is assessed, and strategic priorities and resource allocation are set for the following quarter.
Why Matthew Delmore
Matthew combines deep brand strategy expertise with direct operational experience inside growing businesses, a genuine understanding of purpose-driven brand building, and the perspective of someone who built his own brand from scratch.
He does not separate brand strategy from marketing leadership. The positioning, messaging, and audience definition make every downstream marketing decision more coherent and effective.
His current operational work inside wellness brands means he brings practical experience of what senior marketing leadership requires in real business conditions. His background as a professional athlete also brings the decision-making clarity and resilience that demanding moments require.
Common Questions About Fractional CMO Services
What does a fractional CMO actually do day to day?
The fractional CMO is the senior voice in significant marketing decisions: reviewing campaign briefs, redirecting agency work, setting content direction, evaluating partnerships against the brand strategy, and coaching the marketing team. The specific activities vary, but the consistent role is making decisions, directing execution, and holding accountability for outcomes.
How is the fractional CMO engagement structured commercially?
The engagement is structured as a monthly retainer with a defined scope, deliverables, and time commitment agreed at the start and reviewed quarterly. It reflects the business's actual needs rather than a standard format.
How quickly can the fractional CMO engagement begin to produce results?
Businesses with a capable team that needs strategic direction typically see impact within four to six weeks as campaign direction, agency briefs, and strategic alignment improve. Businesses requiring a brand strategy rebuild may need longer to establish the foundation, but that foundation produces more durable returns.
Can the fractional CMO engagement transition to a full-time hire?
Yes. After six to twelve months inside a business, a fractional CMO is often well positioned to transition into a full-time role or identify, recruit, and brief the right full-time CMO.
What industries does Matthew Delmore work in as fractional CMO?
Matthew's current practice focuses on wellness, health, wellbeing, and purpose-driven consumer and B2B brands. Businesses outside that space are welcome to make contact when there is strong values alignment and strategic fit.
How do we start the conversation?
Contact Matthew with a brief description of the business, its current marketing situation, and what you are looking for from a fractional CMO engagement.