Fractional CMO Services
Strategic marketing leadership and implementation for professional services firms
For firms that have outgrown referral dependence and need a repeatable system for attracting the right clients.
You built your firm on reputation and referrals. It worked. But referrals are unpredictable, and every hour you spend figuring out marketing is an hour you’re not billing. You’ve probably tried various marketing tactics. Maybe you hired an agency and got a strategy deck that nobody implemented.
What you don’t have is a marketing engine. A system that consistently brings in the right prospects without depending on who happens to refer you this quarter. That’s what a fractional CMO engagement builds. Strategy and implementation. Not a playbook you’re left to execute alone. Real assets that produce results over time.
Starting at $1,500/mo.
6-month minimum
The Professional Services Dilemma
Your firm has a specific problem most marketing advice doesn’t address.
Every partner, advisor, or practitioner in your firm bills for their time. Marketing is overhead. It doesn’t generate revenue directly, so it gets deprioritized until the referral pipeline slows down. Then there’s a scramble, some activity for a few weeks, and it fades again.
The irony is that the firms who break out of referral dependence are the ones who treat marketing as infrastructure, not a side project. The 192-day average B2B buying cycle means the marketing you do today pays off six months from now. If you start and stop every time the pipeline fills, you reset the clock every single time.
You don’t need a full-time marketing director or an agency that bills $5K to $10K a month for work you can’t see. You need a strategic partner who builds the system, creates the assets, and does the implementation at a pace your firm can sustain.
Is a Fractional CMO right for your firm?
Professional services firms (accounting, financial advisory, consulting, engineering, architecture, IT services, healthcare practices) with 2 to 25 people
Revenue in the $250K to $5M range, growth built on referrals and founder reputation
Current marketing is patchwork: inconsistent newsletter, outdated website, sporadic social presence, no content strategy
You value trust-based, ethical marketing and are allergic to anything that feels manipulative or salesy
New Inquiries & Active Clients
Our fundraising consulting firm in St. Louis, which empowers nonprofits to achieve their missions and dreams, engaged Jen and her team. We wanted to generate more qualified leads, make our services crystal clear to potential nonprofit clients, make our website more easily searchable and aligned, and get higher visibility on searches. Jen guided us and made it easy, rewriting copy, getting our Google business profile updated and more effective, creating a “Contact Us” form which asked potential clients to describe their challenges and where they needed consulting help. We began to see an uptick in inquiries and activity, and have converted several inquiries to active clients.
Michael D. Rubin, Michael D. Rubin & Associates
What the engagement covers
Every engagement is custom scoped based on a discovery call. Not every firm needs all of these. The scope and price depend on your firm’s goals, current state, and capacity.
Strategic foundation
Onboarding deep-dive. Referral source mapping. Competitive positioning review. Brand and messaging audit. SEO baseline assessment. Content audit. Client path mapping. Deliverable: Strategic Assessment Report with prioritized recommendations.
Messaging and positioning
Brand positioning statement. Value propositions by service line. Key differentiators. Thought leadership strategy: what the founder or partners should be known for and how to build that reputation through content.
Content and visibility
90-day content calendar. Newsletter production (written, reviewed, sent). SEO content pieces. Website quick wins. Google Business Profile optimization. LinkedIn optimization for founder and key partners.
Measurement and refinement
Monthly progress reports. Performance reviews with data-driven adjustments. Quarterly strategy refresh with forward roadmap.
Systems and handoff
SOPs for newsletter production, content publishing, and SEO maintenance. Handoff plan with recommendations for ongoing execution: retained engagement, trained team member, vetted contractor, or DIY with documentation. You own everything we create.
Dramatic Increase in Organic Qualified Referrals
Jen has been the key to our online success. She took the time to understand our business, clients, services, and position in the market – and it made all the difference. Because of her work, our organic search referral numbers climbed. As we know, more is not better — that’s why we’re thrilled at the dramatic increase in the percentage of qualified referrals. Jen has always responded to our needs. We see her as a trusted advisor and adjunct member of our team. Beyond that, she is fun to work with!
Jeri Alcock, Rose City Philanthropy
Strategy + Implementation
How the engagement works
Discovery call (30 minutes, complimentary)
A mutual fit assessment. Your goals, your current state, and whether this engagement is the right move.
Proposal and scope confirmation
A customized letter of engagement. You’ll know exactly what’s included, what it costs, and what the timeline looks like before you commit.
Onboarding session (90 minutes)
Deep dive into the business, goals, and immediate priorities. This is where the strategic assessment begins.
Strategy phase (months 1 to 2)
Audit, assessment, messaging framework, content calendar, channel strategy, measurement framework. Quick wins get implemented during this phase. Check-ins and async communication throughout.
Implementation phase (months 3 to 6)
Content production, SEO improvements, newsletter launches, LinkedIn optimization, website fixes. Real assets getting built and producing results.
Choose your path forward
At the end of the engagement, you have a functioning marketing system, documented SOPs, and a clear handoff plan. Some clients continue with an ongoing retainer. Others hand off to a trained team member or contractor. Either way, you own everything.
What’s Not Included
- Paid advertising management (Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads)
- Graphic design
- Social media management (daily posting, community management)
- Video production
- PR and media outreach
- CRM implementation
For any of these, I can recommend and oversee a specialist. The engagement itself focuses on strategy, content, SEO, operations, and the marketing infrastructure that produces ongoing results.
How This Compares
vs. hiring a full-time marketing director ($80K to $120K+ salary)
A marketing director is a full-time employee with benefits, management overhead, and a learning curve. A fractional CMO gives you the same strategic leadership at a fraction of the cost, with 25+ years of cross-industry experience.
vs. an agency retainer ($3K to $10K+/mo)
Agencies do the work but you don’t own the strategy, and when you stop paying, the marketing stops. This engagement builds assets you keep and systems you can run independently.
vs. coaching ($397 to $647/mo)
Coaching gives you strategic guidance. You do the implementation. A fractional CMO engagement gives you strategy and implementation. If your firm can execute internally, coaching is a better fit at a lower price point.
Meet Your Fractional CMO
Jen McFarland, MPA
25+ years of marketing experience across corporate, nonprofit, and public sectors. Before starting Women Conquer Business, I spent nearly nine years at the City of Portland as a Business Systems Analyst and Senior Management Analyst, where I redesigned the Revenue Bureau’s website (250% traffic increase), modernized processing systems (98% reduction in data entry time), and led the city’s largest Innovation Fund project.
That background is why this engagement works differently than most fractional CMO arrangements. I don’t hand off a strategy deck. I audit your systems, build your messaging, create your content, optimize your visibility, and document everything so your firm can maintain it independently.
Founding marketing consultant for Prosper Portland’s Digital Marketing Program (7 years). Expert business advisor for Xcelerate Women (4 years). Training provider for Small Business Development Centers throughout Oregon.
When organizations need someone they can trust, this is who they call.
Build a marketing engine for your firm
Strategy and implementation, custom-scoped to your firm’s goals, current state, and capacity.
Starting at $1,500/mo.
6-month minimum
Frequently Asked Questions
The minimum commitment is six months. That’s enough time to build the strategic foundation (months 1 to 2) and implement the system with real assets producing results (months 3 to 6). Some clients continue with an ongoing retainer. Others transition to independent execution using the SOPs and documentation we built together.
Starting at $1,500 per month. The exact scope and price depend on your firm’s goals, current marketing state, and what needs to be built. The discovery call determines this, and you’ll receive a detailed proposal before committing.
Less than you’d think. A 90-minute onboarding session, 30 to 45-minute check-ins (on a schedule of your choosing), and timely feedback on drafts. The designated point of contact is typically the managing partner or founder. I handle the strategic work and implementation.
The Operations Makeover (starting at $2,500, one-time) audits your tech stack and gives you a prioritized action plan. The Fractional CMO engagement (starting at $1,500/month, 6-month minimum) includes strategy, implementation, content production, and ongoing execution. The Makeover tells you what to fix. The Fractional CMO fixes it and builds what’s missing.
Yes. A Marketing Strategy engagement ($1,500, one-time) gives you the roadmap. If your firm has internal capacity to execute it, that may be enough. If you need someone to build the engine, the Fractional CMO engagement is the next step.
We review KPIs monthly. If something isn’t producing results, we adjust. The B2B buying cycle averages 192 days. Marketing that works for professional services firms takes time, and the 6-month minimum reflects that reality.
Yes. All strategic documents, content, SOPs, and assets produced during the engagement belong to your firm. Upon conclusion, you receive a complete handoff package with all assets, logins, and vendor contacts.
Your firm’s growth shouldn’t depend on who refers you this quarter
30 minutes. I’ll ask about your firm, your goals, and your current marketing. If a fractional CMO engagement fits, you’ll receive a custom proposal. If it doesn’t, I’ll point you to what does.