A fractional CMO is an experienced Chief Marketing Officer who works with your company on a part-time or contract basis — providing senior-level strategic leadership without the cost or commitment of a full-time executive hire. You get the thinking, decision-making, and leadership of a seasoned CMO, applied to your specific growth challenges.

An agency executes tactics — content, ads, design, campaigns. A fractional CMO owns the strategy that makes those tactics work. We sit at the leadership level, setting priorities, aligning your go-to-market motion, and ensuring marketing is connected to revenue—not just activity. Many companies need both, but they need the strategy first.

A consultant typically comes in, delivers a report or recommendation, and leaves. A fractional CMO operates as part of your leadership team — attending exec meetings, owning decisions, driving accountability, and staying engaged through execution. The difference is embedded leadership versus outside advice.

Fractional CMO engagements work best for B2B tech and tech-enabled services companies that are past early stage but not yet at the scale where a full-time CMO hire makes financial sense. It's also a strong fit during transitions: post-funding, pre-exit, leadership change, or rapid growth.

If you need senior-level marketing leadership but can't yet justify a $250K–$350K+ full-time hire, or if you need someone to stabilize and build the function before making a permanent hire, fractional is the right model. It's also the right call when you need an outside perspective without the overhead of a full executive search.

Most engagements run between 6 and 18 months, though the right duration depends on your goals. Some companies bring in a fractional CMO to lead through a specific growth phase or transition. Others build an ongoing advisory relationship. We structure each engagement around what your company actually needs.

It varies by engagement scope. A typical fractional CMO engagement involves 1–3 days per week — enough to be meaningfully embedded in your leadership team, attend key meetings, drive decisions, and stay close to execution without the overhead of a full-time seat.

Yes. One of the core responsibilities of a fractional CMO is providing leadership and direction to your existing team — setting priorities, closing gaps, removing bottlenecks, and providing a strategic north star. The goal is to make your team more effective, not to add another layer of complexity.

A go-to-market strategy is the plan that connects your product or service to the market — defining who you sell to, what problem you solve for them, how you reach them, and how your sales and marketing teams work together to convert interest into revenue. It includes ICP definition, messaging, channel strategy, funnel design, and the operational model that ties it all together.

The most common signals are: pipeline that's inconsistent or hard to predict, a sales cycle that feels longer than it should, messaging that generates interest but doesn't convert, marketing and sales teams that aren't aligned on who to target, and growth that relies too heavily on referrals or founder relationships rather than a repeatable system description goes here

A marketing plan is a subset of a GTM strategy. GTM strategy is broader — it encompasses how your entire revenue motion works, including sales, marketing, product positioning, and customer success. A marketing plan covers the specific programs and channels marketing will use. You need the GTM strategy first, or the marketing plan has no foundation.

A focused GTM strategy engagement typically runs 6–12 weeks, depending on the complexity of your market, the maturity of your current strategy, and how much diagnostic work is needed upfront. The goal is a clear, executable plan — not a lengthy document that sits on a shelf.

Typically: a validated ICP and market segmentation framework, a messaging architecture, a funnel/bowtie diagnostic with recommendations, a GTM roadmap with prioritized initiatives, and alignment on KPIs and accountability. The emphasis is on clarity and executability, not slide volume.

Sales and marketing misalignment is one of the most common growth killers in B2B tech. Our GTM work explicitly addresses the handoff points between functions — ICP agreement, lead definitions, pipeline stage clarity, and shared accountability for revenue outcomes. Alignment isn't a byproduct of the work; it's a core objective.

In crowded B2B markets, buyers evaluate multiple vendors who often look similar on the surface. Clear positioning helps buyers understand immediately what makes you different, why it matters to them, and why you win. Without it, sales cycles drag, marketing spend underperforms, and growth depends on relationships rather than a repeatable system.

A messaging framework is a structured document that defines your core narrative — your positioning statement, value propositions by audience, key proof points, and the language your entire team uses consistently. It ensures that what your CEO says in a board meeting, what sales says in a discovery call, and what your website says to a first-time visitor are all telling the same story.

Common signs: prospects say "we'll think about it" without a clear objection, your sales team can't consistently articulate your differentiation, website visitors don't convert, or you get a lot of interest but deals stall before close. Messaging problems often masquerade as sales problems.

Your website is often the first place a potential buyer validates whether you understand their problem. If the messaging is generic or unclear, even a well-targeted outbound motion falls apart at the moment of interest. GTM narrative alignment — making sure your website, sales deck, and outbound messaging all tell a coherent story — is foundational to conversion.

An ICP is a detailed, data-informed definition of the type of company most likely to buy from you, get value from your product or service, and become a long-term customer. It typically includes firmographic characteristics (company size, industry, revenue, growth stage), technographic signals, and behavioral indicators. A strong ICP also incorporates the specific pain points and buying triggers that make a prospect ready to act.

An ICP defines the ideal company to target (the account). A buyer persona describes the individual decision-maker or influencer within that company. Both matter, but ICP comes first — you need to know which companies to pursue before you can focus on who to reach inside them.

If your pipeline includes a lot of companies that never close, or customers who churn faster than expected, or if your sales team is consistently chasing deals that "feel right" but don't convert — your ICP likely needs tightening. A vague or too-broad ICP is one of the most common and costly GTM problems.

When your ICP is precise, your marketing reaches higher-fit prospects, your sales conversations start further along, your conversion rates improve, and your CAC drops. Pipeline quality is almost always a reflection of ICP clarity. You can't fix a pipeline problem by adding more top-of-funnel activity if the ICP is wrong.

Every engagement starts with a focused strategy conversation — no sales pitch, just an honest discussion about your growth priorities, where things stand today, and whether there's a genuine fit. From there, we define the scope, structure the engagement, and move quickly into the work.

Yes. While K2 Marketing Strategy is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, we work with B2B tech and tech-enabled services companies across the United States. Most client work is conducted remotely, with in-person engagement available for Bay Area clients or when travel makes sense.

Our work is best suited for companies that have achieved some initial traction and are focused on scaling — typically Series A and beyond, or bootstrapped companies with established revenue. Very early-stage companies often need a different kind of support before GTM strategy work is most valuable.

Success is defined at the start of each engagement based on your specific goals — which might include pipeline growth, improved conversion rates, messaging clarity, or building a GTM roadmap the team can execute with confidence. We're accountable to outcomes, not hours.

Pricing is scoped to the engagement — whether that's a defined GTM strategy project, ongoing fractional CMO leadership, or advisory support. We structure engagements to fit your stage and budget, and we're transparent about what's included. Reach out to start a conversation and we'll discuss what makes sense for your situation.

K2 was built on operating experience inside high-growth B2B technology companies — not an agency background. Founder Kimberley Kasper has held CMO and Chief Growth Officer roles at companies including Salesforce, WebEx, Taleo, Jobvite, and Strattam Capital. That means our work is grounded in what actually happens inside scaling organizations, not in frameworks developed from the outside looking in.