FRACTIONAL CMO · ONBOARDING

Fractional CMO onboarding checklist.

The first 30 days set the trajectory of the engagement. A well-onboarded fractional CMO is producing deliverables by day 15; a poorly-onboarded one is still chasing access at day 30. Here's the checklist — what the CEO sets up before day 1, what gets done in week 1, the access and data the fractional CMO needs, and the cadence to establish in the first month.

Before day 1

What the CEO sets up in advance

Internal announcement drafted — who they are, what they're doing, who they report to, who reports dotted-line to them.
Engagement letter signed with scope, success criteria, cadence, and exit terms explicit.
Access list prepared: CRM, marketing automation, GA, ad accounts, GSC, Slack/Teams, Notion/Confluence, Google Drive, payroll (read-only), accounting (read-only), Calendly/calendar tool.
Stakeholder interview list: CEO, sales lead, customer success lead, finance lead, head of product, key existing marketing team members. CEO sends intro emails offering 30-60 min slots.
5-10 customer/prospect names with phone numbers, ready for outreach in week 1-2.
Existing strategy/plan docs gathered in one folder, even if stale.
Budget visibility: Marketing spend categories, current vendors, contract end-dates.

Week 1

Day 1-5

CEO 1:1 (60-90 min). Strategic context, the founder/CEO's mental model of the business, what they think marketing should be doing, what they've tried, what's worked, what's failed.
Access verification. Every tool in the access list confirmed working. Tag anything broken.
Stakeholder interviews started. CEO, sales lead by end of week 1. 3-4 more interviews scheduled for week 2.
Internal announcement distributed. Slack/email + team meeting if helpful.
Existing marketing team meet-and-greet. Individual 30-min sessions in week 1-2 with each team member. Listen, don't direct.
Data audit started. CRM hygiene, GA setup, ad accounts, attribution, GSC, content library, marketing automation flows.

Week 2

Day 6-10

Remaining stakeholder interviews completed.
First 3-5 customer/prospect calls completed. Highest-signal activity of onboarding.
Competitive landscape mapped. 6-12 competitors reviewed.
Data audit completed. Written summary of what's working, what's broken, what's missing.
First all-hands marketing team meeting at end of week 2: introduce themselves, share initial observations, set expectations for the next 2 weeks.
Initial weekly cadence established with CEO (recurring 1:1 calendar invite).

Week 3

Day 11-15

Remaining customer/prospect calls completed. Total 5-10 conversations.
Draft current-state assessment. 5-15 pages. What's working, what's broken, what's missing, cost of inaction, top hypotheses.
Quick-win identification. 2-3 things to start immediately that show momentum and build credibility.
Vendor/agency review begins. Audit existing relationships.
Mid-engagement check-in with CEO. Are we on track to deliver the day-30 milestones?

Week 4

Day 16-30

Current-state assessment delivered + walked through with CEO.
Draft 6-month strategy delivered. Top 3-5 priorities, sequenced. Opinionated, not a multiple-choice list.
Quick wins in execution. At least one shipped/operational by day 30.
Team development plan. Who to coach, who to transition out (delivered privately to CEO), who to hire.
KPI dashboard scoped. Metrics, sources, cadence, owner. Build starts day 31.
30-day retrospective with CEO. What's clear, what's still unknown, what changes for the next 30 days, any concerns either side wants to surface.

Cadence to establish

Standing meetings by end of day 30

CEO weekly 1:1 — 30-60 min, recurring
Sales + marketing weekly — 30 min cross-functional alignment
Marketing team weekly — 30-45 min team-wide cadence
Monthly executive readout — 30 min with CEO + leadership team
Quarterly business review — 60-90 min with CEO + board if applicable

CEO-side onboarding

What the CEO does to make it work

Visible endorsement of authority. Mention the fractional CMO's authority in internal forums. "Marketing decisions go through them; please loop them in."
Don't undermine in front of the team. If you disagree with their recommendation, raise it in 1:1, not in the team meeting.
Make customer + prospect introductions warm. The fractional CMO's customer call requests should be CEO-introduced, not cold.
Be available for the weekly 1:1. Skipping the cadence in the first 30 days signals deprioritization to the team.
Resist micromanaging. Hire for outcomes; review the outcomes. If you find yourself in their inbox daily, the model isn't working.

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Read the 90-day playbook →

Fractional CMO onboarding checklist.

What the CEO sets up in advance

Day 1-5

Day 6-10

Day 11-15

Day 16-30

Standing meetings by end of day 30

What the CEO does to make it work

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