FAQs

A fractional CMO leads your marketing department and is responsible for all of its outcomes. You may have a dynamic marketing team, a fledgling operation, or no department at all. A fractional CMO can install marketing leadership no matter where your marketing stands.

The “fractional” aspect is twofold.

First, this isn’t a full-time employee. You’re acquiring a fraction of their availability but on a set weekly basis (for example, five to 10 hours of leadership).

Second, this type of CMO joins for a fraction of the costs of a traditional CMO. Costs are the time you invest in acquiring the talent, onboarding, and getting to the marketing leadership you desire, but it’s also the money in hiring and retaining the talent. Instead of a more prolonged executive search, you can hire a fractional CMO today and be fully operational in less than 30 days. Salary wise, a fractional CMO will save you $6,600 to $12,100 monthly, when compared against the current media in-house CMO salary of $247,241. generally speaking, no equity, bonuses, or benefits are owed to the fractional CMO. However, there are instances when performance is compensated beyond the monthly retainer. Source: https://www.comparably.com/salaries/salaries-for-cmo

Financially speaking, a fractional CMO through Ensō will cost between $8,500 to $14,000 monthly or $102,000 to $168,000 annually depending on your situation. You won’t need to provide benefits, bonuses, or equity to your new fractional CMO. Compare this to the alternative. The median in-house CMO salary is currently $247,241 annually. The middle 57% of CMOs make between $245,000 and $392,000 annually, with the top 86% earning $700,000 annually. The average CMO bonus is $48,290 annually which represents 20% of the salary. 71% of CMOs receive an annual bonus. Equity can be as low as 0.5 to 1% for a non-owner CMO. Source: https://www.comparably.com/salaries/salaries-for-cmo

Perhaps your program audit comes back healthy. If installing a fractional CMO would be overkill, then we can explore an advisor or unit director role — for example, maybe you need an SEO director because you have a targeted, specialized need on your marketing team. Sometimes, what you’re missing isn’t a CMO but more of an advisor or unit director. We only deploy what you need. It’s not a one-size-fits-all offering.

A fractional CMO is a great option when you either can’t afford a full-time CMO or don’t have the budget to run the marketing campaigns that a full-time CMO identifies. It might also be that you don’t need a full-time CMO due to the relative simplicity of marketing your business. A fractional CMO is a strategic upgrade when you lack the experience to elevate marketing and/or the company’s profile, renew or redefine brand, launch a new product, or meet growth goals.

Generally, your CEO or President hires a fractional CMO for the C-suite team. Human Resources may also engage as a alternative to running a traditional executive search.

First, share your interest today. Call (202) 494-4326 or email eric.s.townsend@gmail.com or use our scheduler to book a FREE initial consultation.

Second, once we’re clear on what you need, we’ll email an engagement contract with the terms and conditions of working with us.

Third, an executive at your organization, generally the CEO, will sign the contract to intiate the relationship.

The first step is always a full Asset Audit. This questionnaire should be completed and returned at your nearest convenience. It gets your f CMO up to speed, brings your marketing operation into the light, and allows us to hit the ground running in the first 30 days together. If you don’t yet have a marketing department, then the Asset Audit will be mostly blank and include only the interim marketing efforts you’ve completed.

We prefer and accept all debit and charge cards. We email invoices through Square.

We also accept Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, and other electronic means.

Payment is due and collected on the first of each month, prior to services being endered for the month. In select instances, we also accept quarterly payments.

Marketing functions with many moving parts, which means a high level of collaboration is needed to be successful. The costs are generally high. Because you can’t afford to have marketing operate in the fog, clear visualization helps. We provide a Systems Map to demonstrate and plot your workflow and channels. We create. Prioritization Grid for how these will work. We keep a KPI Scorecard of all the high-level, mission-critical metrics. From the highest possible vantage point, we can see all that needs to be working properly and get the gears moving sooner and more smoothly. We’re also high enough that we can avoid entanglements, politics, and snags.

First, your f CMO Eric S. Townsend brings nearly 30 years of marketing experience (1993-), which includes 18+ years at the executive level and two times being named partner at previous agencies.

Second, Townsend scores consistently high for strategy across assessments (MBTI. DISC, Kolbe A), including #1 among his five Clifton Strengths. Summaries are included at the f CMO page, with full reports available upon request. 

Third, your Program Audit, Systems Map, KPI Scorecard, and more from us will provide robust visualization, weekly tracking, and generally reinforce and protect the value of all strategy we produce and deploy on your behalf.

First, a traditional in-house executive is often the result of an exhaustive search. This requires months in review and interviews, which commits substantial people resources. With flexibility in his workload, your f CMO can join in a fraction of the time.

Second, you’re never quite sure what an in-house executive will bring to the table and how their previous success will translate to your organization until you start working together. There may be additional time in getting up to speed together, or worse, time needed to replace the wrong hire. Your f CMO comes with a plug-and-play framework that’s proven to work for f CMOs operating globally, thanks to graduating from the CMOx Accelerator program.

Third, in-house executives command a substantial six-figure salary to cover their exclusive, full-time commitment to only working for your organization. They’re afforded health care coverage, paid time off, and a host of other benefits in exchange or their service. It’s customary for executives to be in line for substantial bonuses on a quarterly, annual, or milestone basis. Many are also offered equity in the organization, which officially makes them a minority-stake owner. Your f CMO requires none of these. Our fees are our fees, and they come at a fraction of what’s required by an in-house executive.

Sometimes, performance and the underlying issues are being obfuscated to protect team members. No one wants to put a teammate on a performance evaluation or improvement program, and even fewer want to fire employees or eliminate functions. Because we’re an outsource hired to get a function firing on all cylinders, and we’re not employees joining an in-house team, we’e able to avoid the entanglements that can hinder or cripple production.

The growth framework we use, which are the 9 services outlined on the HOME and OVERVIEW pages, was created by Casey Stanton of CMOx Accelerator, an incubator that trains seasoned marketing executives to operate as fractional CMOs in the global marketplace. They provide a broad range of support to members, which then acts as a fail-safe or additional backbone of support to the organizations who hire their graduates.

Your fractional CMO Eric S. Townsend graduated from the CMOx Accelerator program in 2023. We’ve customized aspects of the growth framework to capitalize on Townsend’s personal strengths in marketing strategy, command, and artistry.

Your f CMO Eric S. Townsend offers a broad background that spans the following industries: software, financial services, architecture, construction, home improvement, property management, professional services, sports, music, education, and non-profits.

As of 2023, Ensō Strategic now seeks renewable energy clients. Our goal is to align with Earth stewardship partners, to do our part in helping organizations who help our planet.