I’ve worked out something about myself over the years. I’m a starter.
Give me a challenge, a blank page, a thing to build, and I’m all in. Get the brand off the ground, the website up, the target hit. That’s my happy place.
But I know what I’m not, too. I’m not the one who wants to sit and grind out the same delivery, week after week. And after 20+ years in the marketing sphere, I’ve stopped pretending otherwise.
So I don’t do it all myself. I lead the strategy, and I bring in the right people to deliver the rest.
Which is exactly what I say to the business owners I work with. You don’t have to wear every hat (especially that marketing hat you've landed with!). You just have to know which one is actually yours.
I was asked the other day, “do I need a Fractional CMO, or a marketing agency?” Honestly? I'd probably go with both. An agency is brilliant at delivering the work, when they know what needs to be done. A Fractional CMO, that's your person who will lead the function, set the strategy, and make sure that work is actually driving growth that you and your Senior Leadership Team (SLT) are after. The two aren’t rivals. They’re different jobs.
Why business owners get stuck
Here’s what I see all the time. A business owner who’s still wearing the marketing hat knows marketing through one lens only: what they’ve tried, what they’ve spent, what’s worked and what hasn’t in their own business. That’s real, hard-won knowledge. But it isn’t twenty years of dedicated, strategic, marketing experience.
So when said owner goes looking for help, often they're not even sure what to ask for. Not a criticism by any means. It’s just not their field, and it was never meant to be.
What a marketing agency does brilliantly
A good agency is worth its weight. Give a strong one, with a sharp account manager and commercial nous, a clear brief, and they’ll guide you, challenge you, and deliver excellent work.
But here’s the catch. If you walk in and ask for “some social media”, a lot of agencies will take your money and deliver you some social media. Exactly what you asked for. No strategy underneath it, because that wasn’t the brief.
The genuinely good ones, like Point B in the Waikato, work differently. They want to see the whole picture: what your left hand is doing, what your right hand is doing, where the business is actually heading. They know the marketing only works when it’s joined up.
But even then, there’s a gap. As the owner, you tend to hold your cards close. You don’t always show the agency your whole hand. Plus, working with the agency also takes time, energy and resource (your resource) that can probably be better spent on $10,000+ problem solving in your business.
Where a Fractional CMO fits
I come in and lift the marketing hat off you. I lead the strategy, I connect you with the right agency and the right suppliers, and I make sure what they deliver is actually driving the results you need, not just producing activity for the sake of it.
And because I’m across your whole business, not held at arm’s length the way an agency often is, I’m working with your full hand. I have the visibility across your strategic plan, goals and priorities, and I work to drive them.
For most owner-led businesses, that’s a $32,000-$65,000 investment across a year. That's a senior-level individual, ready to engage at SLT level (correct, you're not paying for someone to do some social posting). You’re paying for an experienced senior to own the function, and for the growth that comes when marketing has a dedicated leader.
Do you still need a full-time marketer?
A few years ago, the answer might have been to hire in-house: a marketing manager on a full salary, maybe a junior behind them. Forty hours a week, bum on the seat, in the building.
I don’t think that’s the answer for most businesses any more.
So much of the delivery can be streamlined now, with AI, with specialist suppliers, with a good agency. What you can’t automate is the thinking: the strategy, the analysis, the judgement about where to point it all. That still needs a person, and a senior one.
You don’t need forty hours of marketing sitting in your business. You need the right few hours of leadership at the front of it.
So, do I need an agency or a Fractional CMO?
I'd say both. An agency to deliver. A Fractional CMO to lead.
And underneath that, the same thing I said at the start: know which hat is yours as the business owner, and where your time is best spent to drive your business.
Yes, your job is to run your business. It’s the thing you’re brilliant at, the thing only you can do. Trying to also wear the marketing leadership hat, isn't what's going to grow you into the future.
So, hand it over. Not to disappear, but to someone who leads it while you get on with what you do best.
You don’t have to wear every hat. You just have to know which one is actually yours.
Questions CEO's may have
Is a Fractional CMO the same as a marketing agency?
No. An agency delivers the work: channels, campaigns, execution. A Fractional CMO leads the function: the strategy, the direction, and the accountability for growth. Most businesses do best with both, a Fractional CMO leading an agency’s delivery.
Can’t I just hire an agency and skip the Fractional CMO?
You can, and sometimes that’s the right call. But an agency works to your brief, so if you’re not sure what to ask for, you can end up with activity but no strategy. A Fractional CMO makes sure the strategy, and the brief, are right in the first place.
Do I still need a full-time marketing manager?
Usually not. With AI and the right suppliers handling delivery, most owner-led New Zealand businesses don’t need forty hours of in-house marketing. They need senior strategy and leadership at the front, which is exactly what a Fractional CMO provides.
How much does a Fractional CMO cost?
For most owner-led businesses it’s around $32,000-$65,000 dollars a year, depending on scope. You’re paying for senior leadership of the marketing function, not for hands-on delivery.
Jacqui Gage-Brown
Jacqui Gage-Brown is a Fractional CMO for New Zealand business owners still wearing the marketing hat. She sets the strategy, leads the work, and makes sure it gets done.
20+ years in marketing and business leadership, an award-winning agency co-founded and exited before LifeWOD. Working On Dreams, from Tairua and wherever else the year takes her.
Connect on LinkedIn · Work with Jacqui
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📷 Assault bike or desk? Either way, they both require a strategy and knowing how to pace it.
