A fractional CMO who owns the number

Scaile is a fractional CMO practice run by me, Guy Miotke, in Appleton, WI. A fractional chief marketing officer does the job of a full-time CMO (strategy, budget, team and results) for one to two days a week instead of five, at a fraction of the cost of an executive hire. It fits companies that have outgrown "we'll figure out marketing" but don't yet need, or can't yet justify, a full-time senior marketer.

I've spent 20+ years in marketing, digital marketing and revenue operations, and I've managed over $100M in marketing budgets. I'm an industry veteran, and I still do the work myself. This page covers what a fractional CMO does, what it includes, what the market charges, how to hire one, and how I work.

What a fractional CMO is, in one paragraph

It's a senior marketing executive who works for you part-time and on contract. They sit in your leadership meetings, set the marketing plan, own the budget, manage the people and vendors doing the work, and report on pipeline and revenue. The word "fractional" describes the time, not the accountability. If you want the full explainer, including how it differs from a consultant, an agency and an interim hire, read what is a fractional CMO.

You'll also see it called an outsourced CMO or a virtual CMO. These labels are used loosely. What matters is the scope, so ask any provider what they own, how many hours you get, and who does the work.

Fractional CMO services: what's included

Every engagement is scoped to your company, but the core of fractional CMO services is the same everywhere. With Scaile, the Fractional CMO engagement covers:

• Strategy. Positioning, target customers, channel mix and a 90-day plan you sign off on, reviewed every quarter.
• Budget ownership. I decide where spend goes and cut what isn't working, and you see the reasoning.
• Team and vendor leadership. I manage your marketers, freelancers and agencies so the work ships against one plan.
• Weekly leadership check-ins. Thirty minutes on progress, blockers and priorities.
• AI systems rolled out across marketing. Workflows for content drafts, lead research and follow-up, and reporting, with a human check on anything that touches your brand voice or customer data.
• Monthly reporting. Pipeline, spend and results on one page, board-ready.

It works best for $2M to $50M companies that have no senior marketer. Founders are usually acting as the marketing department, and it shows in how long every campaign takes.

Part-time, not part-committed

A part time CMO sounds like a compromise. It isn't, if the engagement is built right. One to two days a week of a senior person who owns the plan beats five days of a junior hire with no direction. The part-time model works because a CMO's value is in decisions, not hours: which channel to cut, which offer to test, which hire to make first.

What keeps it from turning part-committed is structure. A fixed weekly rhythm, a written plan, one monthly numbers review and a quarterly reset. When something breaks between meetings, you reach me directly instead of waiting for a ticket to work its way through an account team.

What a fractional CMO costs

I don't publish Scaile prices, because scope drives the number. What I can do is give you a market frame before any call. These are the ranges fractional CMO firms and marketplaces publish (checked September 2026), grouped by how the work is bought. They vary a lot:

Three things explain why the fractional CMO cost range is so wide. First, scope: a light advisory role and a CMO who also manages an execution team are different jobs at different prices. Second, seniority and sector experience. Third, whether the price includes people who do the work, or only the person who directs it. Media spend and specialist hires usually sit on top of any CMO fee.

Rates, hourly rate and pricing figures are only useful next to a scope. A $10,000 monthly retainer that owns strategy and a team is not comparable to $10,000 for a bundle of deliverables.

Three ways to work with Scaile

Most companies start small and grow the engagement, or stay light. Here are the three models.

AI Growth Sprint

A fixed-price, 30-day engagement. You get a marketing and AI audit, a 90-day growth plan, and two AI workflows built and handed off. It suits teams that want a plan and a quick win before committing to anything ongoing.

Fractional CMO

The core engagement. It's monthly, at one to two days a week. I own strategy, budget and the team, run weekly check-ins, roll out AI across marketing and deliver monthly reporting. It's built for $2M to $50M companies without a senior marketer.

Advisor

A lighter, monthly engagement with two sessions a month: strategy sessions with you or your marketer, plan and campaign reviews, and guidance on AI tools and vendors. It suits teams that already have a marketer who needs a senior sounding board.

Most engagements start with a 30-day sprint or a 90-day commitment, then run month to month. If you'd rather see where you fit first, take the Scale Check, a two-minute quiz.

Proof: what this looks like in practice

I was the Head of Marketing, which also covered IT and marketing automation, at a FinTech SaaS company. The company started as a client of my own marketing firm. I joined in January 2023 with no brand, no website and no staff, and built the team from zero to 17 direct reports. Revenue passed $30M in the first year, starting from zero.

In 2024, the company booked more than 15,000 demos against about 4,000 in 2023, roughly four times as many. Return on ad spend rose 20% while budgets grew about 300%. I also cut ad turnaround from 10 to 14 days down to 24 to 48 hours using data and AI, and cut the testing budget 35%, moving that money into ads that were working. It was funded from revenue, with no outside capital.

That's one company, in one industry, with a dedicated team behind it. I'm not promising your numbers. I'm telling you what the same operating approach produced when I owned the whole function. There's more about my background on the About page.

How to hire a fractional CMO

If you're going to hire a fractional CMO, from me or anyone else, run this process.

1. Define the job first. Write down the outcome you need in 12 months: pipeline, revenue, a launch, a rebrand. A CMO without a target is an expensive advisor.
2. Decide what you need beyond direction. Do you have people who can execute the plan? If not, price the execution separately, or choose a provider who builds it in.
3. Ask for relevant results, not a logo wall. Ask what they owned, what changed and what they'd do differently. Anyone who has really run a function has an answer for the last one.
4. Check who you'll actually work with. Some firms sell a senior name and staff the account with juniors. Ask who joins the weekly meeting.
5. Get scope, hours and exit terms in writing. Know the hours per week, the reporting cadence, and how either side can end it.
6. Start with a defined first phase. A 30-day audit and plan tells you far more than a sales call.

When you're ready to hire a full-time leader, a good fractional CMO helps you write the role, run the search and hand off cleanly. That's part of how I work.

Local to the Fox Valley, working nationwide

If you searched for a fractional CMO near me, I'm at 100 W College Ave in Appleton, WI, so I can meet Fox Valley, Green Bay and Oshkosh companies in person. In-person time is useful at the start, for leadership workshops and team introductions.

Most of the engagement doesn't need a room. Weekly check-ins, plan reviews and reporting run fine over video, and most of my work happens remotely for companies across the US. So you can hire locally when it helps, and you aren't limited to whoever happens to live nearby.

Is a fractional CMO right for you?

It's usually a fit if:

• Marketing is a to-do list, not a plan, and no one can draw a line from spend to pipeline.
• The founder is still the marketing department.
• You tried an agency and got tasks instead of an owner for the outcome.
• You know AI matters but not where to start.
• You're about to hire in marketing and want the strategy set before you spend on headcount.

It's not a fit if you want only execution, like ads run or posts scheduled, with no one owning the strategy. An agency or freelancer is cheaper for that. It's also not enough on its own if you need a large in-house team built immediately. Then a full-time hire, with a fractional CMO leading the search, is the better path. If you want to compare the structure directly, see how a fractional CMO differs from a marketing consultant.