Fractional CMO engagement
Senior marketing leadership that stays until your team can run it.
Reveal's fractional CMO engagement puts a senior marketer inside your company part time. I set direction, hold your agency accountable to pipeline, develop your internal team, and report on what's producing revenue, not activity. It follows the Keystone Diagnostic and Blueprint, so the work starts from a written plan.
$7,500 to $12,000 per month. No minimum term. A formal review at six months.
Book a Free 30-Minute Call Take the Foundation CheckNo pitch. Just a straight read on whether Reveal is the right fit, even if the answer is no.
What does a fractional CMO actually do?
The job of a chief marketing officer, on a part-time schedule. Direction, accountability, and a clear line from marketing spend to revenue.
A fractional CMO is a senior marketing executive who works with your company part time instead of full time. I'm engaged every week and reachable between meetings when you need a quick consult. You get the judgment of someone who has run marketing at your stage, without a full-time executive salary.
At Reveal, that work has four parts. Direction: what marketing should be doing this quarter, and what it should stop doing. Accountability: your agency and vendors are held to results that connect to closed business. Development: your internal marketer gets senior guidance and a leader who backs them. Visibility: a performance dashboard with written commentary, so you can see what's working without decoding reports.
What does a typical month look like?
A steady weekly rhythm, with me reachable in between for quick consults, built to keep action items from slipping without adding meetings for their own sake.
Weekly check-in
What's been done, what's in motion, what's next, and early results. I meet with your sales and marketing leads, together or separately. Every action item has an owner and a date.
Monthly roll-up
A detailed performance review and a longer-range view of the pipeline, the channels, and what changes next month. This is where the CEO sees the full picture.
Agency and vendor oversight
Written direction to your agency built around business outcomes, reports reviewed against pipeline, and a clear read on which relationships are worth keeping.
Time with your leadership
Direct time with the CEO, and with operations or customer care leaders, when the work calls for it. In person as needed, in Indianapolis and Tampa Bay.
If a week has nothing that needs a decision, a short written update replaces the call. The cadence serves the work, not the other way around.
How is this different from hiring a full-time marketing leader?
A full-time hire inherits every unanswered strategic question. This starts by answering them.
A director-level marketing hire runs $120,000 to $180,000 a year plus benefits. Whatever their talent, they inherit the positioning, channel strategy, and definition of a good customer that the CEO hasn't yet settled. Those questions get deferred, and the hire waits for direction that never quite arrives.
Reveal's engagement begins with the Diagnostic, which answers those questions in writing. The ongoing work then runs against a plan, not against a guess.
Many companies do eventually need a full-time leader. When that moment comes, part of my job is to help define the profile, the skills, and the scope, then help vet candidates and bring the new person up to speed while I'm still in the room. The goal is to build something that doesn't disappear when I do.
How does the engagement end?
My goal is to work myself out of a job.
There's no fixed end date, because the engagement isn't a calendar. It ends when your company has a team that can run the system without me. What that team looks like depends on where you are.
You don't have a marketing leader yet. I help you define the role, vet candidates, and train the person you hire.
You already have one. I work alongside them, give them senior backing, and make them better at the job.
You'd rather stay lean. A junior team, an agency, and me as the senior lead can be a sound way to run marketing. In that case the engagement continues for as long as it's earning its place.
Whichever it is, three signals tell you the system is running:
Your team gives your agency clear written direction that needs no edits from me. That means what to make, for whom, and how success will be measured.
Your team produces the monthly dashboard, with its own written commentary, before the meeting. They own the numbers and the story behind them.
The core channels run on a documented cadence without anyone prompting the work. The system works because the process exists, not because I'm reminding people.
When those are true and there's a team to carry the work, the engagement has done its job. Some clients then keep me available in a lighter advisory role. That's a conversation for when the time comes.
Is there a minimum commitment?
No minimum term. You can end the engagement at any time.
Meaningful pipeline change usually takes two to three quarters, so I suggest starting with six months. At that point I sit down with you for a formal review: is this meeting your expectations, and is it moving the needle? That's the moment to course correct or, if it's the right call, part ways on good terms.
Along the way, I review campaigns and initiatives with your team as they happen. The six-month review is about the engagement as a whole.
What do I not do?
I'm the ringleader, not the implementer.
I don't write your content, run your ads, or build your website. Executive fees shouldn't pay for production work, and a fractional CMO who gets pulled into execution becomes the pinch point where work queues up. Your team and your agency do the work. I make sure they're pointed in the right direction and held to the right standard.
I don't do this work now, but I've done it. Earlier in my career I worked hands-on in PR, advertising development, content writing, video and audio production, creative direction, graphic and web design, and digital and social marketing. That's how I know what good work looks like, how to ask for it, and when it isn't good enough.
If you need production help, I can introduce you to people I trust and brief them properly, so you get the right work without paying executive rates for it.
What does it cost, and where does it start?
Three phases. Each stands alone, which means no obligation to continue. Every engagement starts with the Diagnostic.
| Phase | What you get | Investment | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Keystone Diagnostic | 8 to 12 page Keystone Report and 90-day action plan. Yours to keep. | $7,500 to $12,000 | 3 to 4 weeks |
| 2. Keystone Blueprint | Positioning, messaging, channel strategy, campaign calendar, team structure. | $15,000 to $22,000 | 4 to 6 weeks |
| 3. Fractional CMO engagement | Ongoing embedded senior marketing leadership: weekly check-in, monthly roll-up, agency oversight, dashboard with written commentary, team mentorship. | $7,500 to $12,000 per month | No minimum term |
Scoped so you always know exactly what you're buying. If you already have a clear, current diagnosis from someone you trust, say so on the first call. That's a different conversation.
What experience sits behind this?
I'm Rob Higley. Twenty years in B2B marketing, based in Indianapolis, with regular time in Tampa Bay.
I've held the three seats a fractional CMO needs to understand: agency director, in-house marketing VP, and fractional CMO. I know what the CEO needs to hear, what the agency is optimizing for, and what it feels like to be the marketer who can see the problem and doesn't have the standing to say it out loud.
I've served more than 125 B2B clients over twenty years, from small projects to multi-year engagements.
Is this a fit for your company?
A good fit is a B2B company with roughly $10M to $50M in revenue where marketing is active but the pipeline doesn't reflect it, with a CEO who is personally frustrated with the results and ready to name the problem.
Probably not a fit if you want someone to run campaigns and produce content, if there's no one on the team to carry the work forward, or if you're looking for a quick, one-time strategy deck.
Looking for something specific to your industry? See construction and specialty trades or engineering, architecture, and professional services.
Questions about the fractional CMO engagement
What is a fractional CMO?
A fractional CMO is a senior marketing executive who works with a company part time, engaged every week and reachable between meetings for quick questions. The role is to set direction, hold vendors accountable, and develop the internal team, without the cost of a full-time hire. Reveal’s fractional CMO engagement is led by Rob Higley and follows the Keystone Diagnostic and Keystone Blueprint, so the work starts from a written diagnosis and plan.
What does a fractional CMO cost?
The Reveal fractional CMO engagement costs $7,500 to $12,000 per month, with no minimum term. For comparison, a director-level marketing hire runs $120,000 to $180,000 a year plus benefits, and the strategic questions that role inherits are usually still unanswered when they arrive.
Is there a minimum commitment?
No. You can end the engagement at any time. Meaningful pipeline change usually takes two to three quarters, so Rob suggests starting with six months, then sitting down with the CEO for a formal review: is the engagement meeting expectations and moving the needle? That review is the point to course correct or, if it is the right call, part ways on good terms.
What does a typical month look like?
A weekly check-in with your sales and marketing leads, together or separately, covering what was done, what is in motion, and what is next, with early results. A monthly roll-up with a detailed performance review and a longer-range view. Written commentary on your performance dashboard. Oversight of your agency and vendors, including the written direction they work from. Direct time with the CEO, and with operations or customer care leaders, as the work calls for it. In-person meetings happen as needed.
How does the engagement end?
It ends when your company has a team that can run the system without Rob, not on a fixed date. That team looks different from company to company. Sometimes Rob helps vet and train a marketing leader. Sometimes he works alongside a leader you already have. Sometimes a company chooses to stay lean, with a junior team, an agency, and Rob as the senior lead. The signs are specific: the team gives your agency clear written direction that needs no edits from Rob, produces the monthly dashboard with its own written commentary before the meeting, and runs the core channels on a documented cadence without being prompted. Some clients then keep Rob available in a lighter advisory role, and that is a conversation for when the time comes.
Do I have to start with the Diagnostic?
Every Reveal engagement starts with the Keystone Diagnostic, because the ongoing work needs a defined problem to solve. If you already have a clear, current diagnosis from someone you trust, say so on the first call. That is a different conversation.
Do you write our content or run our ads?
No. Rob’s role is ringleader, not implementer. He sets direction, rewrites the agency's written direction around business outcomes, holds vendors accountable to pipeline results, and mentors your internal team. Your team and your agency do the execution, and Rob makes sure they are pointed in the right direction and held to the right standard. He has done much of that work himself earlier in his career, in PR, advertising, content, video and audio, creative direction, design, and digital marketing, which is how he judges quality.
Can you help us hire a full-time marketing leader?
Yes. Part of the engagement is helping the company define what it needs from a full-time hire, including the profile, skills, and scope. Rob can help vet candidates and bring the new person up to speed while he is still in the room, so the transition happens before he steps back, not after.
If something here sounded familiar, it's worth a conversation.
The first call is free and takes 30 minutes. No pitch deck. I'll ask about your situation and give you a straight read on whether Reveal is the right fit.
Not sure you're ready for a call? Start with the Foundation Check. It's eleven questions about your marketing that take about five minutes. You see your score right away, and no email is required.
Book a Free 30-Minute Call Take the Foundation Check