Before hiring a fractional CMO, you need to establish a marketing baseline — otherwise the first month of the engagement gets spent on research rather than strategy. This checklist lives on the company side: the work to do before the fractional CMO''s first day so their time is spent on marketing decisions, not information gathering. The baseline includes: current monthly marketing spend and channel breakdown, lead volume and conversion rates to opportunity, CRM data and attribution setup, and customer acquisition cost if it exists. A fractional CMO who has to build this baseline in their first month is not working on your marketing — they are doing research for free. Have this data ready on day one. This checklist also covers the stakeholder alignment work needed before the engagement starts: who does the CMO report to, which meetings are they expected to attend, and what does the board expect to see from the marketing function in the next 90 days? Without this alignment, the CMO''s priorities will be contested from day one. The companies that get the most from their fractional CMO are the ones that arrive with clear success criteria, a written problem statement, and stakeholder alignment on what "better marketing" looks like.
Before hiring a fractional CMO, you need to establish a marketing baseline — otherwise the first month of the engagement gets spent on research rather than strategy. This checklist lives on the company's side: the work to do before the fractional CMO's first day so their time is spent on marketing decisions, not information gathering. The baseline includes current monthly marketing spend and channel breakdown, lead volume and conversion rates to opportunity, CRM data and attribution setup, and customer acquisition cost if it exists. A fractional CMO who has to build this baseline in their first month is not working on your marketing — they are doing research for free. Have this data ready on day one. This checklist also covers the stakeholder alignment work needed before the engagement starts: who does the CMO report to, which meetings are they expected to attend, and what does the board expect to see from the marketing function in the next 90 days?
Access & Assets
- Brand asset folder (logos, fonts, color palette, guidelines)
- CRM access (HubSpot, Salesforce, or equivalent)
- Google Analytics and Search Console access
- Paid ads accounts (Google Ads, LinkedIn, Meta)
- Social media management tool access
30-Day Priorities
- Audit current marketing funnel and conversion rates
- Review ICP (ideal customer profile) definition
- Map content inventory (blog, case studies, landing pages)
- Interview 3–5 current customers (win/loss review)
- Identify top 3 marketing attribution gaps
60-Day Milestones
- Deliver go-to-market strategy document
- Establish marketing OKRs tied to revenue targets
- Launch or optimize top-of-funnel lead gen program
- Implement UTM tracking and attribution model
- Define content calendar for next quarter
90-Day Deliverables
- Marketing dashboard with leading and lagging indicators
- Brand messaging framework and positioning statement
- Demand gen playbook for top two channels
- Competitive positioning map
- Board-ready marketing update template
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