You lead the business.
We lead marketing.
Fractional CMO: One Accountable Marketing Leader
Get experienced marketing leadership without adding a full-time CMO to your executive team. Focused Marketing Systems leads your marketing function while you keep ownership of the system and final business decisions.
Want the details? See how Fractional CMO Leadership works ↓
Too many moving parts, and no one leading them.
A business needs a fractional CMO when marketing has more moving parts than the owner can coordinate.
An employee handles social media. An agency runs ads. A contractor updates the website. Every request, report, and invoice still ends up on the owner’s desk, and nobody is accountable for how the pieces work together.
Without a marketing leader
The owner coordinates marketing, or hopes everyone involved coordinates themselves.
With Fractional CMO Leadership
One accountable leader connects strategy, people, vendors, budget, and performance.
You own the system. We lead it.
A fractional CMO is a part-time chief marketing officer who leads a company’s marketing function without joining the executive team full time. Here’s how a fractional CMO compares with an agency or consultant.
With Fractional CMO Leadership, Focused Marketing Systems sets the strategy and priorities, leads the internal marketing team, manages agencies and outside specialists, oversees the marketing budget, measures performance, and reports directly to ownership or leadership.
You keep ownership of the marketing system and final business decisions. We take responsibility for leading it.
Every role stays. One leader connects them.
In a fractional CMO engagement, everyone keeps doing the work they’re best at, and one leader is accountable for connecting it.
Your agencies
Execute their specialties.
Your employees
Perform their roles.
You
Lead the business.
Focused Marketing Systems
Leads marketing.
Fractional CMO Leadership
Who It’s For
Companies that need an accountable leader for marketing, without adding a full-time CMO to the executive team. You can start here, or move in after a Marketing Blueprint. Either way, Blueprint Implementation is included.
You lead the business. We lead marketing.
How It Starts
Start here and the engagement begins with the Marketing Blueprint. Once the Blueprint is finalized, Blueprint Implementation begins automatically, and both are included in the monthly fee.
The first 30 days turn the diagnosis into a leadership plan: an assessment of the marketing function, dashboards, an accountability structure, vendor oversight, a budget review, and your first 90-day priorities.
Investment
$7,500
Per month from day one, month-to-month. No long-term contract and no separate onboarding fee.
Includes the Marketing Blueprint and Blueprint Implementation.
Advertising spend, software, agencies, contractors, and other outside resources are paid separately.
Limited to two Fractional CMO clients at a time.
See If We’re a FitLeadership across the whole marketing function.
Marketing Blueprint & Implementation
Start here and the Blueprint and Implementation are included, so one leader designs and builds the system.
Strategic Marketing Leadership
We set the marketing strategy and priorities, so every activity has a strategic job to do.
Team & Vendor Leadership
We lead your internal marketing team and coordinate outside agencies, contractors, and specialists.
Budget & Resource Oversight
We help decide what deserves investment, what needs to change, and what to stop paying for.
Measurement & Performance
Monthly performance reviews find the bottlenecks. Quarterly planning sets the next priorities.
Executive-Level Access
Weekly leadership meetings, regular team and vendor meetings, and direct access between them.
The tools that come with the engagement.
Marketing Health Metrics Dashboard
The metrics that matter in one view, so leadership sees what’s working and where attention is needed.
Marketing Project Management Dashboard
Priorities, projects, owners, and deadlines across your team and outside partners in one place.
Weekly Leadership Meeting Structure
A meeting framework for metrics, priorities, issues, and commitments that produces decisions, not more meetings.
90-Day Marketing Priorities Plan
A quarterly plan that turns strategy into priorities, outcomes, owners, and deadlines.
Marketing Team Accountability Map
Clear ownership of every marketing responsibility across employees, leadership, Focused, agencies, and contractors.
Vendor Performance Scorecard
A structured way to evaluate each agency and specialist on their role, performance, and contribution.
Marketing Budget Allocation Review
Where marketing dollars go, what each investment should accomplish, and where to shift resources.
These tools are the operating structure marketing needs to be led as a business function.
The 30-Day Leadership Guarantee
The first 30 days are guaranteed.
You choose what happens next: a full refund of your first month’s fee, or a second month at no charge while we close the gap.
During the first 30 days, Focused Marketing Systems assesses your marketing function and establishes your primary marketing priorities and bottlenecks, clear responsibilities across employees, agencies, and vendors, how the budget is allocated, how performance will be measured, your immediate next actions, and strategic direction for the coming quarter.
If, at the end of those 30 days, you don’t believe you have greater clarity about your marketing priorities, performance, and what needs to happen next, the guarantee applies. No long-term lock-in. No guaranteed-revenue claims.
We earn the right to keep leading marketing by providing leadership worth keeping.
It ends with marketing in capable hands.
Fractional CMO Leadership isn’t designed to last forever.
Every quarter, as part of strategic planning, we ask one question together: is someone inside the company ready to take on more of the marketing leadership role?
When the answer is yes, we help you get there, whether that means developing a current team member or hiring a dedicated marketing leader. We help define the role, support the hire, and hand over the dashboards, meeting structure, 90-day plan, and vendor relationships. Then the engagement steps down to Strategic Support at $2,000 per month, or ends entirely. Your choice.
We’re not trying to become your permanent marketing leader. We’re making sure your company always has one.
Meet your marketing leader.
Nate Rosales is the founder of Focused Marketing Systems. Nate serves as the CMO of DadPool, an above-ground pool rental company in the Phoenix metropolitan area, where he builds, measures, and improves the marketing system inside a growing business.
After that system was in place, DadPool generated over 1,800 leads across the 2025 and 2026 seasons. Before marketing, Nate served in the U.S. Army and deployed to Afghanistan.
What you may be wondering.
“How is this different from Strategic Support?”
With Strategic Support, your team leads marketing and we advise. With Fractional CMO Leadership, Focused Marketing Systems leads it.
“Why not hire a full-time CMO?”
You may, when the time is right. Every quarter we ask whether someone inside is ready for more of the role, and we help you develop or hire that leader.
“Will you replace our agency?”
No. Your agencies keep executing their specialties. We make sure everyone works toward the same priorities.
“Do you guarantee revenue?”
No. We don’t make guaranteed-revenue claims. The 30-Day Leadership Guarantee covers clarity about your priorities, performance, and next steps.
“Why only two clients?”
The role requires direct involvement in leadership meetings, team and vendor management, planning, and reviews. Two clients protects that.
“Are we locked in?”
No. The engagement is month-to-month, with no long-term contract.
Give your marketing one accountable leader.
Fractional CMO Leadership is limited to two clients at a time. When a position is open, a qualified client can begin. Start with a call to see if we’re a fit.
Frequently asked questions.
What is Fractional CMO Leadership?
Focused Marketing Systems leads your marketing function as a part-time chief marketing officer, reporting directly to ownership or leadership.
How much does a fractional CMO cost?
Fractional CMO Leadership from Focused Marketing Systems is $7,500 per month from day one, month-to-month, with no long-term contract and no separate onboarding fee. The Marketing Blueprint and Blueprint Implementation are included.
What isn’t included in the monthly fee?
Advertising spend, software, agencies, contractors, designers, developers, media buyers, and other outside resources are paid separately by the client.
Can we start with Fractional CMO Leadership?
Yes. The engagement begins with the Marketing Blueprint and moves into Blueprint Implementation automatically once the Blueprint is finalized, all included in the $7,500 monthly fee.
We already have a Marketing Blueprint. Can we move into Fractional CMO Leadership?
Yes. Companies that have completed a Marketing Blueprint can move into Fractional CMO Leadership, and Blueprint Implementation is included in the $7,500 monthly fee.
What is the 30-Day Leadership Guarantee?
If you don’t have greater clarity about your marketing priorities, performance, and next steps after the first 30 days, you choose a full refund of your first month’s fee or a second month at no charge.
What happens when our company is ready to lead marketing itself?
Focused Marketing Systems helps develop or hire your marketing leader, hands over the dashboards, plans, and vendor relationships, then steps down to Strategic Support at $2,000 per month or ends the engagement.
How do we get started?
Start with a call to see if we’re a fit and whether one of the two Fractional CMO positions is open.