Most fractional CMOs hand off at MQL. We don't. SSP runs the full revenue function — strategy, demand, conversion, retention — as one continuous job. Month-to-month, scope-flexible, built for graceful handoff when you're ready to hire full-time.
"Sales and marketing alignment" is a lie. It assumes they were ever supposed to be separate. The fractional CMO who can't carry the close is half a hire.
The same three-phase framework, scoped to marketing leadership. Diagnose what's actually broken in the revenue system. Architect the strategic and operational fix. Operate it as a continuous capability — because revenue motions compound when they're tended, not when they're launched.
Listen, audit, quantify. Where pipeline actually breaks, what positioning is muddled, where the team is stuck. Output: a written 90-day plan, prioritized.
Strategy gets shipped, not just written. Positioning, demand programs, pipeline reporting, sales and marketing alignment, the AI systems that execute the plan.
The marketing function runs as a system. The fractional CMO owns the number, mentors the team, and stays close to the close. Designed for graceful handoff when you're ready to hire full-time.
A fractional CMO engagement at SSP isn't a calendar of meetings. It's four operating responsibilities, each owned end to end. The depth comes from running them as one connected system.
The market story, the buyer, the offer. The work that makes everything downstream cheaper.
Demand programs that build a brand and fill a pipeline at the same time. No vanity metrics.
The cadence, the dashboards, the operating rhythm. The boring infrastructure that makes growth legible.
For founders ready to scale a marketing function — not just a freelancer queue.
SSP isn't right for every company, and we'll say so on the strategy call. Here's the rough shape of who we work with well — and who we don't.
If your question isn't here, the strategy call is the right place. We're usually direct about whether SSP is or isn't the right fit.
A fractional CMO sets and owns the marketing strategy, builds the operating rhythm, and is accountable for the pipeline number. At SSP, that also includes the close and the retention motion — not a handoff at MQL. Day to day: positioning, ICP and segmentation, demand generation, sales and marketing alignment, pipeline reporting, content strategy, and the AI systems and data infrastructure that execute against the plan.
Two differences. First, SSP doesn't stop at leads — we own the full revenue journey through close and retention, not just the top of the funnel. Second, the same person who designs the strategy builds the AI systems that execute it. Most fractional CMOs advise on AI; they don't implement. Most AI consultants implement; they don't understand revenue strategy. We do both, in the same engagement.
Engagements are month-to-month with no long-term contract. Most run between six and twenty-four months. The first 30 days is diagnosis and a 90-day plan. The next 60 to 90 days is architecting and shipping. After that, the engagement either continues as ongoing operation, transitions to a lighter advisory cadence, or hands off to a full-time hire we help you recruit. Graceful handoff is part of the design from day one.
Companies that need senior marketing leadership but aren't ready or sized for a full-time CMO hire. Typical fit: post-product-market-fit B2B companies, founder-led firms scaling past the founder's bandwidth, private-equity-backed companies between portfolio milestones, and businesses preparing for an inflection point. Less suited for very early-stage companies still searching for product-market fit, or for organizations looking purely for execution capacity rather than leadership.
If you have an in-house team, the fractional CMO is their leader during the engagement — direct manager, mentor, and strategic owner. If you don't yet have a team, SSP either operates as the marketing function directly or helps you build the right team structure for your stage. We work with marketing managers, demand gen specialists, content writers, and outside agencies routinely. The fractional CMO holds the plan; the team executes against it.
Engagements are scoped to the work and the cadence — typically a monthly retainer with a defined hours band, no long-term contract. Specific pricing is the right conversation for the strategy call, after we understand the actual scope and fit. The Marketing Pulse Check is free, and the AI Visibility Audit is productized at a published range; the fractional CMO engagement is custom-scoped because the right answer depends on what's actually broken.
The Pulse Check is the lightest way in — five minutes, free, no call required. The strategy call is for when you've already decided you want a working session. Either is fine. Both are useful.
