The first 90 days with a fractional CMO are focused on rapidly assessing, strategizing, and implementing key initiatives that drive immediate value and set a foundation for sustainable growth. For businesses, this period offers a clear look into how an experienced marketing leader can make a substantial impact in a short time. Here’s what to expect in those initial 90 days.

Days 1-30: Deep Discovery and Alignment

During the first month, a fractional CMO dives into understanding your business, market, and current marketing landscape. This stage is about building a foundation, aligning on goals, and pinpointing where marketing can deliver the most value.

  • Business and Market Research: The CMO conducts an in-depth analysis of your industry, competitors, and target audience to understand your positioning. This helps identify your unique strengths and what sets your brand apart.
  • Marketing Audit: By auditing existing marketing efforts—campaigns, content, and engagement metrics—the CMO uncovers immediate areas for optimization and potential gaps.
  • Stakeholder Meetings: The fractional CMO meets with key stakeholders across departments to understand broader business goals and how marketing can support them. These meetings also build cross-departmental alignment, ensuring everyone is on the same page.
  • Setting KPIs: With leadership, the CMO establishes measurable goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) to track success. This step is critical to ensuring that marketing efforts align with business objectives and that progress can be tracked.

What to Expect: You’ll gain an objective view of your current marketing performance and clear insights into what’s working and what needs adjustment. This phase creates a collaborative environment and establishes transparency around goals and expectations.

Days 31-60: Strategic Planning and Quick Wins

With foundational insights in place, the CMO moves into the strategic planning phase, outlining a roadmap and delivering quick wins to build momentum.

  • Creating a Marketing Strategy: The CMO develops a high-level marketing strategy that balances immediate priorities with long-term growth. This strategy is tailored to address your business’s specific needs and opportunities.
  • Executing Quick Wins: The fractional CMO focuses on high-impact, fast-turnaround initiatives early in the second month. These could include optimizing your website for conversions, refining ad targeting, or enhancing email engagement—tactics that yield results quickly.
  • Aligning Marketing and Sales: A fractional CMO ensures that sales and marketing are on the same page, collaborating on lead quality, messaging, and conversion strategies. This alignment creates a seamless experience for your customers and boosts efficiency in your lead-generation efforts.
  • Budget Review and Realignment: With initial insights, the CMO may adjust budget allocations to focus on the most effective channels and tactics, ensuring you’re investing where it counts.
  • Roadmap Development: The CMO creates a strategic roadmap with clear milestones, timelines, and resource needs so everyone understands the plan moving forward.

What to Expect: You’ll see early wins, tangible progress, and a well-defined marketing strategy and roadmap. This phase delivers quick value and keeps the momentum going, creating confidence in the process.

Days 61-90: Execution and Sustainable Growth

The final month focuses on executing key campaigns and setting up sustainable processes to deliver value over time.

  • Launching Priority Campaigns: The CMO initiates campaigns that align with your business objectives, such as brand awareness, lead generation, or customer retention. These campaigns are designed to create lasting impact and drive measurable results.
  • Optimizing Marketing Technology and Reporting: To support efficient execution, the CMO reviews your marketing technology stack, making sure it enables easy data tracking and campaign management. Reporting systems are set up to track KPIs, giving you clear insights into performance.
  • Analyzing Early Data: As campaigns launch, the CMO reviews initial data to assess what’s working and where adjustments are needed. This focus on data-driven decisions ensures continuous improvement and allows the team to pivot when necessary.
  • Mentoring and Team Development: The CMO may identify skill gaps within the marketing team and provide mentoring or recommend training, building up the team’s capabilities to support sustained success.

What to Expect: You’ll see campaigns go live that reflect a well-defined strategy supported by robust reporting that keeps everyone informed. This phase is where strategy meets execution, with results-driven actions that move the needle.

Building Momentum for Long-Term Success

The first 90 days with a fractional CMO are powerful for driving immediate value and setting up long-term success. A fractional CMO brings fresh energy and direction to your marketing efforts through structured discovery, early wins, and a strategic roadmap.

By the end of this period, you’ll have a clear, data-driven marketing strategy in place, stronger alignment across teams, and a foundation that supports ongoing growth—all with the flexibility and cost-efficiency of a fractional role.

Are you curious about what a fractional CMO can do for your business? Reach out to explore how these first 90 days can lead your company to strategic, sustainable growth.