192. Why I don't position myself as a fractional CMO

How to Sell Advice

Content provided by Kevin C. Whelan. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Kevin C. Whelan or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.

3+ y ago 14:20

MP3•Episode home

Fetch error

Hmmm there seems to be a problem fetching this series right now. Last successful fetch was on March 19, 2025 15:55 (8M ago)

What now? This series will be checked again in the next day. If you believe it should be working, please verify the publisher's feed link below is valid and includes actual episode links. You can contact support to request the feed be immediately fetched.

I don't position myself as a fractional CMO.

I might have a fractional CMO service. Or in a sales conversation, I may say that I'm like having a part-time CMO on your team. But I don't call myself a fractional CMO as my top-level positioning.

I'm a consultant. I'm an advisor. I help companies with their marketing strategy.

But I'm not a part-time employee. I don't want to be seen as one. Nor do I want their actual marketing team to be threatened by what may seem like a new boss breathing down their neck.

In this episode, I go into:

Why I believe it's best to position yourself as a consultant—not an employee-like person
When to use terms like "fractional CMO" in your sales conversations and marketing copy
How to avoid threatening the in-house marketing managers when you're hired to help their organization.

The topic is nuanced, but I think it's important if you are selling strategic advisory services.

202 episodes

#Business #Marketing #Kevin C. Whelan #Fractional Cmo #Advisory #Consulting #Advisors #Advisory Work