Phase 4 · Lead
Fractional CMO
Senior marketing leadership, without a full-time hire.
A fractional CMO engagement embeds senior marketing leadership into a company part-time — owning strategy, narrative, demand, and the AI-visibility motion — without the cost or commitment of a full-time executive hire.
Who it's for
- Funded technical companies not yet ready for a full-time CMO
- Founders who have nailed the narrative and now need someone to run it
- Teams that want AI visibility owned, not bolted on as an afterthought
What you get
- An owned marketing strategy and quarterly plan tied to revenue
- Hands-on leadership of narrative, demand, and content execution
- The AI-visibility motion run end to end, delivered through CitedLift
Outcomes
- Marketing has a senior owner accountable for outcomes
- The narrative gets executed consistently across every channel
- You become the default answer in AI search for your category
Lead the motion, don’t just advise it
The first three phases produce clarity: an unpacked strategy, a validated market, and a narrative the market can repeat. The fractional CMO phase is where that clarity becomes a running marketing function.
Instead of handing you a plan and walking away, I embed part-time as your marketing leader — owning strategy, keeping the narrative consistent, building demand, and running the AI-visibility motion that makes you the default answer when buyers ask an AI system about your category.
That last part matters more every quarter. Buyers increasingly start in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. The AI-visibility work is delivered through CitedLift, so it is owned inside the marketing function rather than outsourced and forgotten.
Questions about fractional cmo
How is the AI-visibility work delivered?
Through CitedLift, BearLeap's AI-visibility arm. As your fractional CMO I own the strategy and coordinate execution, so getting cited in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews is part of the marketing function — not a separate vendor you have to manage.
What is the minimum commitment?
Fractional CMO work is a monthly engagement and assumes the narrative foundation is in place. If it is not, we usually start with the earlier phases first.