What Does a Fractional CMO Do in the First 90 Days?
By Jonathan Molina, Fractional CMO ·
Short answer
The first 90 days follow three phases. Days 1–30 are for understanding: auditing spend, agencies, team, technology and analytics. Days 30–60 are for organizing: budget, priorities, reporting standards and partner expectations. Days 60–90 are for implementing: an execution plan with owners, timelines and a review rhythm leadership can rely on.
A Fractional CMO engagement that starts with campaign ideas is a bad sign. The first quarter should be about establishing facts, then structure, then execution — in that order. Here's the framework I use and what leadership should expect to see at each stage.
Days 1–30: Understand
The objective is a complete, unsentimental picture of the marketing function as it exists today.
- Spend audit — every dollar leaving the business under marketing, including tools, retainers, media and production.
- Agencies and vendors — scopes, contracts, term dates, deliverables and what each is actually producing.
- Team — who does what, what they're good at, and where they're blocked.
- Technology — website, CRM, analytics, automation, and whether the data can be trusted.
- Analytics — how leads are tracked, where they come from, and what happens to them after they arrive.
- Leadership interviews — what ownership and sales believe marketing should accomplish.
Days 30–60: Organize
With facts established, the function gets structure. This is where most of the durable value is created.
- 1.Set the marketing budget and what each portion is expected to return.
- 2.Agree the priorities — and just as importantly, what stops.
- 3.Define one reporting format, one set of numbers, one monthly cadence.
- 4.Reset agency and vendor expectations: objectives, scope, KPIs and meeting rhythm.
- 5.Clarify internal roles and remove overlap between staff and partners.
- 6.Fix the measurement basics — tracking, attribution, lead handoff to sales.
Days 60–90: Implement
Now execution begins against a plan rather than against instinct. The output is a 90-day marketing plan with named owners and dates, active campaigns aligned to priorities, a working reporting dashboard, and a standing leadership review. By day 90 the owner should be able to step back from day-to-day marketing decisions without anything falling over.
| Phase | Focus | Leadership sees |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1–30 | Understand | Marketing audit and key decisions |
| Days 30–60 | Organize | Budget, priorities, reporting standard, partner reset |
| Days 60–90 | Implement | 90-day plan, active execution, monthly review rhythm |
What can go wrong
- Skipping the audit because everyone already "knows" what the problem is.
- Trying to fix every issue at once instead of the three that move the business.
- Leaving agency expectations unchanged, then blaming performance later.
- Building reporting nobody in leadership actually reads.
My perspective
The first 30 days are the ones people want to rush and shouldn't. Almost every significant recommendation I've made in an engagement came out of something found in the audit — a duplicated tool, a channel quietly carrying the business, a lead source nobody was following up on. You can't shortcut your way to that.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do we need to pause marketing during the audit?
No. Active work continues. Only obviously wasteful spend is stopped early.
How much of our team's time does this take?
Expect a few hours from key people in the first month — access to accounts, contracts and a conversation each. It drops sharply after that.
What if the audit says our agency isn't performing?
You get an honest picture and a recommendation. Often the fix is a clearer scope and better reporting rather than a change of partner.
Written by
Jonathan Molina, Fractional CMO
Jonathan Molina is a Fractional CMO and marketing advisor with more than two decades of senior marketing experience. Through twenty two., his fractional CMO practice, he provides marketing leadership to owner-operated and growing companies across Canada and the United States — from professional services and trades to sports, technology and consumer brands.
His work covers marketing strategy and planning, brand positioning and messaging, demand generation, website and content strategy, marketing team and agency leadership, and the marketing systems, AI workflows and reporting that keep it all accountable. He works with owners who need clear direction and better marketing decisions — not more activity.
