Overcome Random
Acts of Marketing®

Flexible, fractional marketing leadership.
Complete marketing operating system.
A proven formula for healthy growth.

Fractional CMO leadership you can trust.

Authentic® is a national Fractional CMO firm, serving clients across the United States and beyond. We were early pioneers in our industry, and continue to set the standard for Fractional CMO excellence.

We are Authentic Fractional CMOs™
Tested. Trusted. True Executives.

Learn more about our fractional CMO services.

Proven methodology that fuels results: a complete marketing operating system.

Random acts of marketing happen because growing businesses often lack marketing operational rigor.

Our Authentic Growth™ Methodology is a full-scope marketing operating system, proven effective across business models and industries.

Implemented by our Fractional CMO experts, Authentic Growth™ provides a simple – but powerful – system that will equip your team to drive value for years to come.

Learn more about Authentic Growth™ Methodology

Businesses across the U.S. (and beyond) trust Authentic® with a seat at their leadership table.

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Comply
Ninety
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Edney
Empyrean
Rhino
HearX
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Humentum
Comply
Ninety
Pillar
Griffin
Powerblock
Edney
Empyrean
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Experience the Authentic® difference.

Our unique approach combines Marketers + Methodology + Mindshare to help growing businesses Overcome Random Acts of Marketing® and increase maturity, growth, and transferrable value.

Our Marketers are true executives who know how to build from the ground up.

Our Methodology is a proven marketing operating system that delivers results.

Our Mindshare provides every client with access to our collective CMO wisdom

When you engage an Authentic Fractional CMO™, you get more than an individual marketing leader.

Hiring a marketing leader is riskier than ever before. No individual marketer has all of the experience or all of the answers, no matter how tenured or talented they may be. So why put all of your eggs in one brain-basket?

De-risk your hiring decision: Engage Authentic, and tap into the exponential Mindshare power of our CMO community.

1,000+

Diverse organizations served by our CMOs

87

Mergers & acquisitions led through by our CMOs

75%

Of our CMOs have scaled businesses backed by PE & VC investment

100%

Of our CMOs have grown small & mid-sized businesses

92%

Of our CMOs have global enterprise leadership experience

We have a strong track record for matching clients to right-fit CMOs. Learn about our CMO match process

Ready to find your right-fit Fractional CMO and get growing?

Our CMO match process can get you up and running with a marketing leader in days – not months.

Here’s how it works:

01

Initial Meeting
& Intake

Initial Meeting
& Intake

Our first priority is to understand your business model, goals, and culture - and assess your marketing needs.

A simple intake survey and a meeting with our team helps to create alignment for the right-fit CMO match.

Ready to meet? Contact us.

03

CMO Quick Start
& Discovery

CMO Quick Start
& Discovery

Your right-fit CMO was matched based on real-time availability, so in most cases, we are able to begin work within days of a signed contract.

We leverage our proven process to efficiently onboard and quickly deliver value.

Time: 3-10 business days from receipt of contract

There is a lot to consider when choosing your ideal Fractional CMO partner.

To help you further explore the fit, we’ve pulled together some of the questions we receive most often – about Fractional CMOs in general, and about Authentic’s unique model specifically.

If you have additional questions, we’d love to connect with you and make sure you have all the information you need.

A fractional CMO is a part-time Chief Marketing Officer hired on a contract basis to offer executive marketing leadership for a growing company.

A fractional CMO is an excellent option for companies that require seasoned, strategic marketing direction but are not prepared to invest in a full-time CMO.

Learn more about what a Fractional CMO is, and how Authentic’s Fractional CMO role is unique.

Authentic Fractional CMOs sit on the leadership team as the head of marketing, and are fully accountable for leading marketing strategy through to results. The CMO works part-time, over a longer-term engagement, with a focus on building a strong marketing foundation, a high performing team, and measurable growth results.

A fractional CMO ensures that the go-to-market strategy aligns with the overall business plan, and that marketing execution is effective. As the head of marketing, the CMO leads the overarching marketing plan, program, and team.

Read about 15 specific things that an Authentic fractional CMO does.

Authentic has set a high bar for fractional CMO talent – and we set the standard for fractional CMO excellence. All of our CMOs go through a rigorous screening and qualification process, which begins by meeting many upfront criteria:

  • Passionate about helping small and mid-sized businesses thrive and succeed
  • Over 15 years of marketing leadership experience, with at least 5 years in senior roles such as Sr. Director, VP, or CMO
  • Modern marketer skilled in digital strategies and creating omnichannel marketing programs
  • Extensive in-house marketing leadership experience (beyond agency or consulting roles)
  • Strong track record of success in marketing leadership, supported by references
  • Lifelong learner who embraces new experiences, opportunities, and challenges
  • And more.

Explore our CMO role here to fully understand the criteria by which we screen and hire fractional CMOs.

Various fractional CMO models offer different levels of engagement, expertise, and pricing structures – so it can be hard to make an “apples to apples” comparison.

Based on our experience with numerous executive-level marketers, we’ve determined that the typical hourly rate for a fractional CMO ranges from $200 to $375. Some fractional CMO providers charge on an hourly basis, while others (like Authentic) work on a retainer for a set number of hours per week or month.

Most fractional CMO service providers highlight cost savings as their main value proposition. This is understandable, as a full-time chief marketing officer is expensive.

Hiring the same level of expertise on a part-time basis is certainly more affordable. However, the value of a fractional CMO goes far beyond the cost savings.

Learn more about what a fractional CMO costs, as well as what value they provide.

Authentic Fractional CMOs are retained based on the client’s business size, current marketing program, growth goals, budget, and appetite for change / momentum.

Our fractional CMOs are engaged on retainers that span from 4 to 20+ hours per week. Our retainers are flexible, and can scale up or down as the client’s team evolves, the business grows, or there are new dynamics driving growth.

Read about our flexible fractional CMO retainer model and approach for supporting your organization’s unique needs.

Authentic’s fractional CMOs may serve anywhere from 1-4 clients at any given time, depending on the retainer level of each (from 4-20+ hours per week per client).

In other fractional CMO models, consultants may carry up to 10-15 clients at a time, providing hourly / project / retained support as an outside advisor.

At Authentic, our CMOs are proactively retained and deeply embedded as leaders within our client teams. As such, they serve a smaller book of client accounts, for longer-term, immersive engagements.

Dedicated marketing leadership makes a difference. Explore our client success stories for real-world examples of Authentic Fractional CMO impact.

The good news: Businesses have so many options for accessing marketing talent and expertise. The bad news: Businesses have so many options… and they are not easy to compare on an “apples to apples” basis. 

Searching for the right marketing expertise for your growing business can be really challenging. “Marketing” is a very broad term, and there are hundreds of micro-disciplines that require specific expertise: from holistic leadership, to very niche agency or specialist capabilities.

It’s important to understand the unique role of a fractional CMO, the criteria that makes a CMO a true executive leader, and the difference between a fractional CMO and other marketing models.

This article helps to delineate some of the important difference between a fractional CMO, a marketing consultant, and a marketing agency, so that you can make the right choice for your business.

While these terms sound similar, they are actually very distinct. 

An interim CMO is an executive marketing leader that is filling a key leadership gap – usually during periods of transition. An Interim CMO is a great solution for mid-market and larger businesses who already have an established marketing team, but are in transition with their marketing leadership role.

For instance, their marketing leader has quit, been let go, or is out on personal or medical leave for a period of time.  The Interim role fills the leadership gap: usually on a full -time, short-term basis. The goal is stability and retention of the team, and continuity of existing programs until a new full-time CMO is onboarded.

A fractional CMO is an executive marketing leader that is building foundation and scaling teams, programs, and execution for SMBs and lower middle-market companies. A fractional CMO is a great solution for businesses who have begun building a marketing capability, and need the wisdom and experience of an executive marketing leader – but don’t yet need that role on a full-time basis.

A fractional CMO becomes a member of the executive team on a part-time basis, with a focus on strategic growth and development of the marketing team and program. The fractional CMO initiates strategic marketing leadership for the organization: usually on a part-time, long-term basis. The goal is foundation building and strategic scale, hiring functional roles within the team until the business can justify a full-time executive marketing leader.

We’ve created this guide to further demonstrate the differences between an interim CMO, fractional CMO, and independent marketing consultant. 

If you reached our website because you are exploring fractional CMO services, that is a good first indication that you’ve recognized “random acts of marketing” in your organization – and that you likely have a gap in experienced marketing leadership.

There are a lot of potential solutions for filling your strategic marketing gap, so it’s important that you take time learning about the differences in marketing leadership options, the wide variety of fractional CMO models, and the criteria that makes a true executive marketing leader.

Still wondering about the right solution for your marketing leadership needs? This article spells out 9 sure signs that your business is ready for a fractional CMO.

Authentic’s CMO match process is unique, because our model is unique. Instead of asking clients what they want in a marketing leader and then starting a search (or handing them several bios to screen themselves), we pre-hire thoroughly vetted, experienced executives from various industries and business models. We then match the most suitable CMO to the client, which means our process takes days instead of months.

We are so confident in creating ideal fractional CMO-client matches that we provide every client with a Right-Fit CMO Guarantee.

Learn more about our CMO match process and guarantee, and discover how we simplify and strengthen the marketing leadership fit for your business.

Ready to Overcome Random Acts of Marketing®?

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