Checklist cmo

Fractional CMO Expert Onboarding Checklist

For the fractional CMO: what to gather in week one, questions that establish marketing credibility, and the first deliverable to produce.

Walking into a new marketing org as a fractional CMO means diagnosing fast and winning trust faster. This checklist covers what to gather, what to ask, and what to deliver first.

Week 1 — Access & Discovery

  • Access CRM and pull MQL → SQL → closed-won funnel data
  • Download last 6 months of campaign performance from ad platforms
  • Review website analytics (top pages, traffic sources, conversion rates)
  • Read last 5 sales calls or customer interviews (recordings or notes)
  • Inventory all active campaigns, content, and brand assets

Week 1 — Key Questions

  • What is the company's biggest marketing challenge right now?
  • What channels have worked and which have been abandoned and why?
  • How does marketing currently hand off leads to sales?
  • What does the CEO consider a successful marketing outcome in 90 days?
  • What is the current cost of customer acquisition by channel?

Week 2 — First Deliverable

  • Produce a marketing funnel audit with conversion benchmarks
  • Identify 3 highest-leverage opportunities (quick wins)
  • Propose 2 channels to double down on and 1 to pause
  • Deliver proposed OKRs for the next quarter
  • Map the content gaps vs. buyer journey stages
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