Fractional CMO or Marketing Consultant?

Fractional Marketer vs. Marketing Consultant: What’s the Real Difference?

If you’ve ever Googled “help with marketing” you’ve probably landed in a sea of titles: strategist, consultant, agency, coach, and a newer one gaining traction, fractional CMO or fractional marketer.

At first glance, they all sound kind of similar. They promise growth, strategy, clarity, campaigns, and ROI.
But there is a critical difference between a traditional marketing consultant and a fractional marketer, and understanding it can save you time, money, and a whole lot of trial-and-error.

Let’s break it down Summit CMO Solutions style.

What Is a Marketing Consultant?

Think of a consultant as a specialist advisor.
They’re usually hired for:

Audits
Insights
Recommendations
One-time strategies or projects

A consultant analyzes where you are, tells you what you should do, and maybe helps you implement a piece of it.

They’re fantastic when you need:

A market research report
A messaging framework
A one-time funnel plan
A brand audit
Guidance for an internal team to execute

Their superpower? Diagnosing and recommending.

What Is a Fractional Marketer?

A fractional marketer (or fractional CMO) acts more like a part-time member of your leadership team.
You get a slice of someone who has built, led, and scaled marketing operations before, without the full-time salary commitment.

Where consultants advise, fractional marketers roll up their sleeves and execute.

A fractional marketer typically:

Owns strategy AND implementation
Manages teams, agencies, or freelancers
Sets budgets, KPIs, and goals
Steers campaigns, not just designs them
Is accountable for outcomes, not just ideas

This role is ideal if you don’t have in-house leadership but need someone to run marketing like a business unit, not a task list.

One Sentence Summary:

A consultant tells you what to do.
A fractional marketer does it with you.

Why Fractional Support Is Growing So Fast

Businesses, especially small and mid-size ones, are realizing:

They don’t need a $200K full-time CMO
Agencies often only focus on deliverables.
Consultants offer direction but not ownership.

That’s where fractional comes in.

You get executive-level strategy, execution, accountability, and leadership, for a fraction of the cost.

At Summit CMO Solutions, our clients like to say:

“You’re not just telling us what should work, you’re running it with us and proving it.”

That’s the magic.