Marketing leadership withoutthe full-time cost.

A fractional CMO gives your business executive-level marketing leadership on a part-time basis: your dedicated marketing leadership team. That covers marketing strategy, brand positioning, market research, budget and channel decisions, managing your team or vendors, and performance optimization: everything a full-time chief marketing officer does, at a fraction of the cost. At Canned Spinach, your fractional CMO is backed by a full in-house design and marketing team that can execute the plan, too.

An agency executes tactics: ads, social, content. A fractional CMO sets the strategy and makes sure every tactic serves it. Most growing businesses eventually need both, which is what makes Canned Spinach unusual: your fractional CMO and your execution team work under the same roof, in the same meetings, accountable to the same goals. No vendor finger-pointing; the strategist and the builders are one team.

Most fractional CMO engagements range from $3,000 to $15,000 per month, depending on hours and scope. Compare that to $300,000 or more in salary, bonus, and benefits for a full-time CMO, and the math is compelling: senior marketing leadership at a fraction of the cost. Canned Spinach engagements are scoped to your stage and goals, with a flat monthly rate and no long-term lock-in.

Most engagements begin with a 90-day sprint: a full marketing audit, strategy, budget, and 12-month roadmap. From there, your fractional CMO provides ongoing leadership: running marketing meetings, directing your team and vendors, and reporting on KPIs monthly. Engagements typically run 6 to 18 months at a set number of hours per month, then scale up or down as your needs evolve.

If you're spending money on marketing without a clear strategy, or juggling vendors with no one accountable for results, the answer is yes. A fractional CMO pays for themselves by cutting wasted spend, focusing budget on channels that actually convert, and connecting every tactic to a coherent strategy. The model works best for businesses roughly between $1M and $50M in revenue that need real marketing leadership but can't justify a full-time executive.

Watch for these signs: your marketing feels random and results have flattened; you're about to invest in growth and can't afford to waste it; you've outgrown "everyone does a little marketing"; or your marketing manager needs senior direction. And if you're earlier-stage than that, we'll say so. Often a strong brand and website come first, and we can help there, too.