Fractional / Outsourced CMO
Senior marketing leadership for accounting and advisory firms that have outgrown “trying things”
At some point, every growing firm reaches the same moment.
Marketing is happening.
Money is being spent.
People are busy.
But no one can say, with confidence, where it’s all going.
That’s when firms start looking for more tactics. More vendors. More ideas.
What they actually need is leadership.
The Problem Most Firms Don’t Name
Most accounting and advisory firms don’t suffer from a lack of marketing effort.
They suffer from a lack of marketing ownership.
No single person is accountable for direction. Strategy gets debated but not decided. Vendors execute without context. Internal teams work hard but lack authority. Partners have opinions, but no one is responsible for making the trade-offs.
Marketing becomes reactive, political, and inconsistent.
That’s not a tactics problem.
It’s a leadership gap.
What a Fractional CMO Is Meant to Solve
A Fractional CMO exists to give your firm experienced marketing leadership without the cost, risk, or delay of a full-time executive hire.
Not someone to “help with marketing.”
Someone to own the thinking behind it.
A true Fractional CMO brings judgment, not just activity. They connect firm strategy to market reality. They decide what matters, what doesn’t, and what happens next. And they give your firm a single, credible point of view on growth.
Why Firms Hesitate to Hire a Full-Time CMO
Hiring an in-house CMO sounds like the logical next step. In practice, it often creates new problems.
A senior marketing leader is expensive before they ever deliver value. Salary is only the beginning. Benefits, bonuses, recruiting fees, ramp-up time, and opportunity cost add up quickly. It is not uncommon for the fully loaded cost to exceed what most firms are comfortable committing to.
Even more importantly, most firms aren’t actually ready to support a full-time CMO. Without clear strategy, internal alignment, or execution infrastructure, the role becomes frustrating for everyone involved. Good people leave. The firm is left with sunk cost and little to show for it.
The risk is not just financial.
It’s strategic.
Why Firms Choose a Fractional or Outsourced CMO Instead
A Fractional CMO gives firms access to senior leadership without the overhead, permanence, or hiring risk of a full-time role.
Instead of betting on a single hire, firms gain immediate access to experience, perspective, and judgment. The engagement is flexible by design. It can scale up, scale down, or evolve as the firm’s needs change.
Just as important, a Fractional CMO is not learning on your dime. They arrive with pattern recognition, industry context, and the ability to make decisions quickly.
For most accounting and advisory firms, this is the more disciplined move.
How Fixyr’s Fractional CMO Work Is Different
Many firms have tried “fractional” roles before and been disappointed.
That’s usually because what they received was an agency in disguise or a junior operator with a senior title.
Fixyr’s Fractional CMO work is different because it comes from decades spent inside professional services firms. Leading marketing functions. Managing real budgets. Working with partners, executive teams, and boards. Making decisions that carried real consequences.
This is not theoretical leadership.
It’s operator-level judgment.
What This Looks Like in Practice
As a Fractional CMO, Fixyr acts as your firm’s senior marketing leader.
That means setting direction, not just reacting to requests. Clarifying who the firm should be attracting, how it should be positioned, and where marketing effort should be focused. Aligning partners, internal staff, and external vendors around a single strategy.
It also means saying no.
No to distractions.
No to low-leverage initiatives.
No to activity that looks productive but doesn’t move the firm forward.
Marketing stops being a collection of projects and starts behaving like a system.
When Firms Typically Reach This Point
Most firms explore a Fractional CMO when something feels off, even if results aren’t terrible yet.
Growth has slowed, plateaued, or become unpredictable. Marketing spend is increasing, but confidence isn’t. Internal staff need direction they aren’t getting. Vendors are executing, but no one is steering.
Partners sense the firm should be doing better, but can’t agree on what “better” looks like.
This is often the moment where firms either regain control, or double down on the wrong things.
What Changes When Leadership Is Added
When firms engage Fixyr as a Fractional CMO, the shift is noticeable.
Conversations become clearer. Decisions get faster. Effort concentrates around fewer, higher-impact priorities. Marketing starts supporting firm strategy instead of competing with it.
Most importantly, someone is finally accountable for outcomes, not just activity.
This is not about doing more.
It’s about doing the right things, consistently.
How Engagements Are Structured
Fractional CMO engagements are shaped around your firm’s needs, maturity, and internal capability.
Some firms need close, ongoing involvement. Others need senior oversight and decision-making support while execution happens internally or through trusted partners. The structure reflects that reality.
Typical investment ranges from $1,000 to $5,000 per month, depending on scope and level of involvement.
This gives firms access to senior leadership without committing to a full-time executive hire and all that comes with it.
Is This the Right Step?
A Fractional CMO engagement is right for firms that recognize they need leadership, not more marketing noise.
If you are looking for shortcuts, this is not it. If you want someone to take responsibility for marketing direction and help your firm move forward with confidence, it often is.
The Next Step
The next step is not a sales pitch.
It’s a conversation to determine whether this role is what your firm actually needs right now.
We’ll look at where you are, what’s missing, and whether a Fractional CMO is the right solution for your situation.