Marketing consulting and fractional CMO: direction, not another vendor

No. Every consulting engagement from CICOR Marketing is fixed in scope and has an end date: an assessment, a plan, a set of sessions, or a specific initiative. Deliverables are advisory, and you own the decisions. The exception is Fractional CMO, which is ongoing by design because leadership does not work in four-week pieces.

Start with the problem you have. If the founder still runs marketing, Fractional CMO puts a senior leader in the role. If you do not know what is working, a marketing audit scores six areas and ends with a 90-day plan. If you are unsure where AI fits, AI consulting starts with a readiness assessment. If you have too many tools and sales says the leads are junk, Marketing Technology, Operations and Sales Alignment fixes the process.

You need a consultant when the question is what to do, and an agency when you already know and need it done. A consultant gives you an outside opinion, a plan, and priorities with no long commitment. An agency does the work month after month. CICOR Marketing offers both. A consulting engagement often decides which one you actually need.

A marketing audit is a structured review of your channels, website, content, brand, tracking, and budget. It tells you what is working, what is wasted, and what to do next. A marketing audit from CICOR Marketing averages $3,500 for a small business, credited toward a program. Larger companies are scoped by size and complexity. It takes three to four weeks and ends with a scored report and a 90-day plan.

A fractional CMO from CICOR Marketing is quoted as a monthly retainer, sized by the hour allocation (typically 20 to 50 hours a month), the scope of the marketing function, and the authority level. Published tiers run $2,500, $5,000 or $10,000 a month, on its own agreement or bundled into Full Service. You get the fee in writing after a short call.

A fractional CMO leads a company’s marketing function part time, doing the job a full-time chief marketing officer would do for a fraction of the cost. That covers strategy and budget, leading the internal team and outside vendors, reporting to leadership, and planning launches. At CICOR Marketing, a senior leader holds the role and works under a monthly hour allocation with an authority level the client sets.