Hiring or a team
Fractional CMO or marketing agency: which one does your business need?
A fractional CMO is a senior marketer who works part time and sets the plan. A marketing agency does the marketing work for a fee. They usually solve different problems: one gives direction, the other gives output. A third option is a team that runs the whole marketing department for you. Which fits depends on who will do the work.
Meant for owners of service businesses with $500,000 or more in yearly revenue.
Looking for fractional CMO work or an agency job? This page is for business owners choosing help, so it lists no jobs.
What a CMO does
What a fractional CMO does
CMO stands for chief marketing officer, the person who decides what marketing is for and where the effort goes.
A fractional CMO does that part time. They set the plan, pick the priorities and guide whoever does the work.
The hours vary by arrangement, and so does how much of the writing and posting they take on.
What an agency does
What a marketing agency does
A marketing agency produces marketing work in the areas it covers, for a fee.
Agencies vary. Some cover one area well, such as a website or social posts. Others cover several.
Direction or output
Direction or output: which are you short of?
Ask three questions. Do you have a marketing plan? Who writes and publishes the work? Who checks it before it goes out?
- No plan and nobody to write: you are short of both, and one arrangement may need to cover both.
- No plan but people who can write: direction is what is missing. A fractional CMO fits that gap.
- A plan but nobody to produce it: output is what is missing. An agency or a team fits that gap.
A third shape
A third shape: a team that runs the whole department
Susanoo is the third shape on this page.
One account manager and six specialists run your marketing, sales, operations, automation, AI and software.
Your marketing specialist plans what goes out and writes it, so the doing is included.
The selling stays with you.
Paid advertising is a separate service.
Your options
Six ways to get marketing done
- A hire: one marketer on your payroll, and you recruit and manage them.
- A freelancer: fast for one piece of work, and you brief it and connect it to the rest.
- An agency: usually one department, and you manage everything else.
- A fractional executive: senior direction part time, and the doing is often still yours.
- An AI tool: speeds up drafting and sorting, and a person reviews the result.
- Susanoo: runs marketing together with five other departments, and the selling stays yours.
This comparison is our own view, based on public information about each kind of option, last reviewed October 2026. It is not a survey of every provider, and your situation may differ.
When each fits
When a fractional CMO or an agency is the better choice
A fractional CMO fits when you want a senior marketer to set direction and your own people can carry it out.
An agency fits when marketing is the one department you need produced and you are glad to run the rest yourself.
A team fits when you want marketing planned and produced alongside the other departments.
If you want a senior marketer in your leadership meetings, a fractional CMO is built for that. A team does the work and does not take that seat.
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