Fractional CMO for small business
A fractional CMO gives a small business a senior marketer for part of the week, without a full-time salary.
Some owners search for a small business CMO, and the arrangement is the same. At Firefly the fractional CMO is Saad Afsar, and a standard engagement is about five hours a week.
Some small businesses are not yet ready for one. The table shows when a business is ready and when it is too early.
Ready for a fractional CMO, or not yet
| Question | Ready | Not yet |
|---|---|---|
| Locations | The business has two or more locations. | The business has a single location and a small marketing budget. |
| Spend | The business spends roughly $5,000 a month or more on marketing. | The business spends well below that amount on marketing. |
| Growth | Marketing is what limits the growth of the business. | Something other than marketing limits the growth of the business. |
| Basics | The Google Business Profile is complete, reviews are answered, and the business collects its customers’ email addresses. | These free basics are not yet in place, and they come before any hire. |
| Fee | The business can commit $2,000 a month for at least three months. | A commitment of $6,000 over three months is too large for now. |
What to do first when the answer is not yet
A business that is not yet ready can do five things first, and all five are free.
- The Google Business Profile and reviews
- Claim the listing and fill in every field. Answer every review, good or bad.
- A customer list the business owns
- Collect an email address with each reservation, order or sign-up. A list the business owns does not depend on the rules or the fees of a platform.
- Direct bookings and orders
- Give customers a working way to book or order on your own website, and point them to it on receipts and on social media. A marketplace charges a commission on each order it handles.
- A record of how customers found you
- Ask each new customer how they heard about the business and write the answer down. After a few months the record shows which channel brings customers.
- The free score, once a year
- Firefly’s free CMO audit scores a business on search, social media and AI visibility. Run it once a year to see whether the basics are working.
Our page Too early for a fractional CMO? describes each of the five in full.
What a small business needs in place
A fractional CMO engagement needs people who carry out the daily work. They can be your own staff, an agency or both.
The engagement also needs a marketing budget that the plan can direct.
You set the revenue targets and the size of the budget, and Saad plans within them.
The terms of the engagement
A small business engages Firefly on the same terms as every other client.
The fractional CMO at Firefly is Saad Afsar. He has 15 years of marketing experience, has led marketing for 40+ brands, and has enterprise experience at Unilever and Samsung.
Firefly works with owner-led businesses in Toronto and New York: hospitality groups, professional firms and independent brands.
Our page on what a fractional CMO costs compares these terms with published market rates.
- Rate
- $100 an hour
- Standard engagement
- $2,000 a month
- Time
- About five hours a week
- Minimum term
- Three months
Results from fractional CMO engagements
Each result is measured in the client’s own system, over the period shown.
- Two Boots New York pizza, since 1987 +12% same-store net salesyear over year · Toast POS
- YYZ Law Aviation and travel law, Toronto 4.3× organic search clicksover three years · Google Search Console
- Boqueria Spanish tapas, multi-city US +73% private-events revenueyear over year · Tripleseat
- Paperchase Accounting and CFO advisory, NYC and London +69% website visitsyear over year · Google Analytics
Questions and answers
Is a fractional CMO worth it for a small business?
It is worth it when the business has a marketing budget to act on a plan and people to carry out the work. Firefly puts the level at two or more locations and roughly $5,000 a month in marketing spend.
When is a small business too early for a fractional CMO?
A business with a single location and a small marketing budget is usually too early. A business whose growth is limited by something other than marketing is also too early.
What should a small business do first?
Five free steps come first. They are a complete Google Business Profile with answered reviews, an email list the business owns, direct bookings or orders, a record of how customers found the business, and a free yearly score.
Is a small business CMO the same as a fractional CMO?
Yes. Small business CMO is a name some owners use for a senior marketer who leads a small business’s marketing for part of the week. At Firefly that is the fractional CMO engagement.
What does a fractional CMO cost a small business?
Firefly’s standard engagement is about five hours a week for $2,000 a month, at $100 an hour. The minimum term is three months, which comes to $6,000.
Does the business need its own marketing staff?
The business needs people who carry out the daily work. They can be your own staff, an agency or both. Saad sets the plan, decides how the budget is divided and directs their work.
Book a call, or write first
You can book a discovery call on Saad Afsar’s calendar.
If you prefer to write first, send a few details in the form and Saad will reply within 24 hours.