Most companies that hire an agency without a senior marketing leader end up with the agency setting its own priorities. That isn’t bad faith. Without an owner on your side, someone has to decide, and the agency is the one in the room.
Who does what?
| Activity | Fractional CMO | Agency |
|---|---|---|
| Business goals and KPIs | Sets them with leadership | Works toward them |
| Strategy, positioning, and ICP | Owns | Gives input |
| Budget and channel mix | Decides and reallocates | Recommends within its channels |
| Briefs | Writes and approves | Responds to |
| Campaigns, content, and creative | Reviews against the plan | Produces |
| Channel optimization | Sets targets | Runs day to day |
| Reporting | Reports to leadership on all channels | Reports to the fCMO on its channels |
| Vendor decisions | Hires, scopes, and replaces | — |
How do you set it up?
Start with the plan, not the agency
The fCMO audits your current marketing and builds the roadmap first, so the agency scope follows the strategy.
Rewrite the agency scope
Remove strategy work you'll now get from the fCMO, and focus the agency on the execution it's strongest at.
Agree on shared KPIs
The agency's metrics should roll up to business KPIs such as qualified pipeline and cost per qualified opportunity, not just clicks.
Set the cadence
A standing working session between the fCMO and the agency lead, plus one monthly report covering every channel.
Review quarterly
Reallocate budget to what's working, and adjust or replace vendors that aren't.
How do you avoid paying twice for strategy?
Check the agency contract for strategy, planning, and account-management fees. Once an fCMO owns the plan, those hours should shrink or move to execution. Many agencies welcome this; a clear brief from a senior marketer makes their work easier and their results better. What’s included in a retainer lists what should now sit on the fCMO’s side of the line.
When don’t you need both?
Do you actually need an fCMO and an agency?
- You have an internal marketing leader who owns the plan
- Add an agency for capacity
- You have an in-house team that can execute
- Add an fCMO for leadership, no agency needed
- Your budget can't fund both
- Start with the fCMO and a few specialist freelancers
How does Deep Quiver work with agencies?
Two ways. We can lead your existing agency, freelancers, and in-house marketers under one plan, which is common on Growth Track and Embedded Executive engagements. Or, when you want strategy and execution from one accountable partner, we add Full-Service Execution on top of your tier, from $5,000 per month: campaigns, content, HubSpot, and sequences, run by a bench of specialists we manage against the same plan and KPIs.
For an equipment financing company, that means ABM, paid media, and vendor acquisition run under one plan on HubSpot and Salesforce. New vendor accounts went from two to ten a quarter.
Bottom line
Use both when you need leadership and capacity. Put the fCMO in charge of the plan and the budget, give the agency a clear execution scope, and judge both on the same business KPIs. If you’re still choosing between the models, start with the full comparison.
