Fractional CMO in Dubai: what it is, when it works, when it doesn't

A fractional CMO only works if there's already a team for them to lead. Without one, you've bought a strategist with nobody to hand the strategy to, which is a consultant by another name.

What is a fractional CMO?

A fractional CMO is a senior marketing leader who works for your business part-time, on a retainer, doing what a full-time chief marketing officer would: setting direction, owning the key number, and managing the people and suppliers who do the work. 'Fractional' means you buy a fraction of the week, such as one or two days, instead of five. The leadership is the same and the hours are fewer.

Who is a fractional CMO for?

A fractional CMO suits a business that already spends on marketing and has nobody accountable for the outcome. Check all four of these before you start looking:

• At least two people or suppliers do marketing today, for example an executive, a freelancer and an agency.
• Revenue depends on marketing results such as leads, bookings or enquiries.
• Nobody owns a number like cost per qualified lead, so each supplier reports its own version of success.
• The founder or CEO is still the de facto marketing director and has become the bottleneck.

If the first line fails, you need someone to do the work, not lead it. An embedded operator, an agency or a freelancer fits better, and for UAE real estate a plug-in marketing department supplies the team from the other side.

When does a fractional CMO not work?

A fractional CMO fails in four predictable ways, and you can check for each before you sign.

• There is no team. The plan has no hands to carry it, and the fee buys a document.
• The budget is too small to lead. As a rule of thumb, if the CMO's monthly fee exceeds your monthly ad spend, hire an operator who runs the campaigns instead.
• You expect production. A fractional CMO directs the work and doesn't make the ads, the videos or the landing pages.
• Nobody grants authority. In an owner-run business the final say stays with the owner unless it's handed over, and a CMO who is overruled on every supplier decision is a spectator. Write down who can tell a supplier to stop, who approves spend up to what limit, and who the CMO reports to.

What should happen in the first 30 days?

The first month should leave you with a baseline, one target, named owners and a plan, in this order:

1. 01Days 1 to 5, access and numbers: admin access to every ad account, analytics property, CRM and website, and last quarter's spend, leads, qualified leads and customers written down. If nobody has those figures, that is the first finding.
2. 02Days 6 to 10, define the target: agree with sales what counts as a qualified lead, and pick the single number marketing is there to move, such as cost per qualified lead.
3. 03Days 11 to 18, audit every person and supplier: what each does, what it costs, what result it produced, and a verdict of keep, fix or stop.
4. 04Days 19 to 25, set the rhythm: one weekly meeting, a one-page report, and decision rights on paper.
5. 05Days 26 to 30, the 90-day plan: priorities in order, owners, budget, kill criteria, and what happens when the engagement ends so you aren't dependent on the CMO.

If a candidate can't describe their own version of this month, they haven't done the job before. The first 90 days with an agency covers what the suppliers should be doing while this happens.

How do you judge a fractional CMO at day 90?

Judge the function and not the person's charisma. At day 90, four things should be true.

• The target is measured the same way every week, from data you can check yourself.
• At least one supplier, channel or campaign has been stopped, with a reason on record.
• The weekly meeting runs without the CMO leading it.
• You can say in one sentence what the next quarter is for.

If the CMO is still the only person who understands the reports, you've built the dependency you hired them to remove.

How do you compare the cost without a market day rate?

We don't quote day rates because we can't source one, so work the sum out yourself. Ask each candidate for the monthly fee and the days it buys, and divide to get a day rate. Set beside it the fully loaded cost of a full-time head of marketing, which is salary plus visa, medical insurance and end-of-service gratuity, divided by the working days in a month.

A fractional day may well cost more than an employee's day, since you pay only for the days you use. What matters is the monthly total against the days you really need. Past three days a week of real need, run the comparison again, because the gap narrows and a full hire starts to make sense. Our piece on agency versus in-house covers the full-time side.

Which questions should you put to a fractional CMO?

Put these five to every candidate, and write down the answers rather than relying on how the conversation felt.

• Which team did you lead, and what happened to its main number after you left?
• How many other clients do you have, and how many days will I get, in writing?
• Do you run accounts yourself, or only direct other people?
• Do you take commission or referral fees from agencies or tools you recommend?
• What will you hand over so that I'm not dependent on you?

A good answer to the last question is a specific list, such as dashboards, a playbook and a trained owner. For a comparison with advice-only work, read consultant or agency. Before you take any calls, write down the one number you'd hold a CMO to, and if you can't name it, that's the first job.