Fractional CMO Take: The First 30 Days
When I step into a company as a fractional or interim marketing leader, I’m almost always asked some version of the same question:
“What would you actually do in the first 30 days?”
It’s a fair question. Companies don’t bring in a fractional CMO or CCO to simply talk high-level strategy and best practices—they’re usually looking for traction, clarity, and momentum during a moment of change.
Over time, I’ve found that the first 30 days tend to follow a fairly consistent pattern. Whether the engagement lasts a month or a year, this initial phase is about quickly identifying what matters most—and acting on it. In the early phase of a fractional CMO or CCO engagement, my focus typically spans three areas: strategy, messaging, and assets.
Strategic Focus
Strategy entails plans, roadmaps, competitive perspective, marketing mix and sequencing, and in interim and fractional work, strategy also has to be applied immediately. In those first thirty days— or even the first week— it’s about using senior judgment to decide what matters most, right now. Rapid diagnosis and prioritization helps identify where marketing needs to act to support business growth, what decisions will have the biggest near-term impact, and what can likely wait.
Clear Messaging
With that strategic framework in place, messaging is the critical next step— tightening and aligning the value proposition, developing a core narrative, and ensuring the company is consistently positioning itself to customers, partners, and employees. I’m able to combine expertise with a fresh outside perspective to stress-test existing messaging, and quickly identify both gaps and opportunities to make it more effective.
Effective Execution
Tactical execution begins early, informed by strategy and messaging as they take shape. I focus on the few outputs that will unlock the most momentum—assets that support sales conversations, launches, or visibility right away. That might be a rebuild of the core sales deck, a press release announcing a new partnership, a series of executive-level social media posts, or a customer-facing webinar.
What Is a Fractional CMO or CCO?
A fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) or Chief Communications Officer (CCO) is a senior marketing or communications leader who works with a company on a part-time or interim basis. Fractional leaders are typically brought in during periods of growth, transition, or change to provide experienced judgment, direction, and momentum—without the commitment of a full-time executive hire.
A Dynamic Starting Point
While I’ve outlined this work in three phases, in practice strategy, messaging, and execution typically move in parallel. Early weeks also include listening, learning the business, building trust with teams, and pressure-testing assumptions in real time. The reality isn’t a perfectly linear process — but the goal is to apply senior judgment quickly, make progress where it matters most, and create momentum in the middle of real-world complexity.
This first-30-day approach anchors my longer-term fractional CMO or CCO engagements, and is also available as a standalone, 30-day engagement for teams that want focused momentum without a longer commitment.
Lorraine Hamby serves as an interim Chief Communications Officer and fractional Chief Marketing Officer, guiding technology companies through growth and transformation.
