A fractional CMO for Wollongong businesses
Fractional CMO and marketing strategy for Wollongong and Illawarra businesses that have outgrown "the owner does the marketing on Sunday night". You get a senior marketing lead a few days a month: someone who sets the plan, runs the team or agencies, reads the numbers in GA4 and HubSpot and makes the calls. Without a full-time senior salary and a recruitment drive.
Lots of marketing activity. Not much marketing strategy.
Most growing businesses don't lack effort. They post, they boost, they pay an agency, they redo the website every three years. What's missing is someone senior deciding what matters and saying no to the rest.
Without that, marketing becomes a list of tasks. The agency reports on clicks. The junior marketer chases whatever the owner saw on LinkedIn last week. Sales says the leads are rubbish. And nobody can say with a straight face which dollar of marketing spend brought in which dollar of revenue.
- No written plan, or a plan from two years ago nobody looks at.
- Agency reports full of impressions and clicks, light on enquiries and revenue.
- A junior marketer doing their best with no senior person to learn from.
- The owner still approving every post because nobody else knows the strategy.
- Marketing and sales running on different tools and different definitions of a lead.
- Budget decisions made on gut feel because the reporting can't be trusted.
Senior marketing leadership, part time
A fractional CMO does what a full-time marketing director would do, scaled to the hours your business actually needs.
Marketing strategy
Who you sell to, what you say, where you show up and what you stop doing. Written on a few pages, not a 60-slide deck.
90-day marketing plan
A fixed-price plan with priorities, channels, budget, owners and measures for the next quarter. Ready for your team or agency to run.
$6,500 fixed
Team and agency leadership
I brief, manage and hold agencies and freelancers to account, and coach your in-house marketers so they grow into the role.
Campaigns and paid media
Google Ads search campaigns, Meta Ads Manager and LinkedIn Campaign Manager, planned around a clear offer and audience, with landing pages and email working alongside instead of in silos.
Reporting that means something
GA4 and HubSpot reporting that tracks enquiries, pipeline and revenue by source, on conversion tracking you can trust. Fewer vanity metrics, more decisions. See tracking.
Marketing operations
HubSpot lifecycle stages, lead scoring, workflows and WordPress forms set up to support the plan, so leads are captured, nurtured and handed to sales properly. See marketing ops.
Positioning and messaging
What you're actually known for, what makes you different and the words your customers use. The base every ad, page and sales pitch builds on.
Local SEO and Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile, service and suburb pages and the technical basics, so people in the Illawarra searching for what you do actually find you, and the site turns visits into enquiries.
AI in marketing
Practical use of Claude and ChatGPT for content, research and reporting, with rules so quality and brand don't slip.
Fractional CMO pricing
All prices AUD. No GST is added. Ad spend, agencies and software are paid directly by you. Month-to-month after the first three months.
Systems & Marketing Audit
- Marketing, tools and data reviewed
- Wasted spend found and priced
- Ranked roadmap
- Good starting point if unsure
90-day marketing plan
- Positioning and audience
- Channel plan and budget
- Campaign calendar and owners
- Measures and reporting setup
Fractional CMO
- Strategy and quarterly planning
- Team and agency leadership
- Monthly reporting and review
- Leadership meetings as needed
Need more hours? Partner ($7,500/month, 20 hours) and Embedded ($13,500/month, 40 hours) retainers are on the pricing page.
The first 90 days as your fractional CMO
Listen and dig
Interviews with you, sales and a few customers. A hard look at your numbers, your tools and where the budget goes now.
Set the plan
Positioning, priorities and a 90-day plan with budget and owners. Plus the list of things we stop doing, which is usually the most useful part.
Run it
I lead the team and agencies, review the work, fix the systems and keep campaigns moving. Weekly check-ins, nothing drifts.
Measure and adjust
Monthly reporting against the plan. Keep what works, cut what doesn't, plan the next quarter with real data.
When a fractional CMO makes sense
Typical situations, not client stories. The maths is illustrative.
The talented junior with no senior
A business hires a smart marketing coordinator and hopes for the best. Two years later they're burnt out from guessing. A fractional CMO sets direction and coaches them, at a fraction of the cost of hiring a marketing manager above them.
The agency on autopilot
A business spends $5,000 a month on an agency and gets a monthly report about clicks. Nobody internal is qualified to push back. I check the Google Ads account structure and conversion tracking, rewrite the brief around enquiries and revenue, and hold the agency to it. Sometimes the answer is a better agency. Sometimes it's the same agency with a better brief.
The salary maths
A full-time senior marketing manager in NSW typically costs well into six figures once super, leave, recruitment and tools are added. A fractional CMO from $4,500 a month gives you senior judgement for the hours you actually need, and you can scale it up or down each quarter.
The growth push
A business is expanding from the Illawarra into Sydney or a new service line. It needs positioning, a launch plan and systems to handle more leads, fast. A 90-day plan sets the direction. A few months of fractional leadership gets it running.
Strategy, systems and the tech to make it run
Plenty of marketing consultants can write a strategy. Fewer can also set up the CRM, build the automation and fix the reporting that makes the strategy work. I do both, so the plan doesn't stall at "we'll need IT to look at that". I work hands-on in Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, GA4, Tag Manager and HubSpot reporting, so I can check an agency's work rather than take its word for it.
I'm blunt about what's working and what isn't. If your best move is to cut half your channels and double down on one, I'll say so. If you don't need a fractional CMO and a 90-day plan would do, I'll say that too.
Based in Wollongong, on site across Wollongong · Shellharbour · Kiama · Nowra and the Shoalhaven · Southern Highlands. See more on the Illawarra page.
Good fit
- Businesses roughly $2m to $50m in revenue without a senior marketer
- Owners who want to step back from running marketing
- Teams with juniors or agencies who need direction
- Leaders who want marketing tied to revenue, not likes
Not a fit
- You want someone to post on social media for you
- You want guaranteed lead numbers from a consultant who doesn't control your sales process
- You won't share the real numbers
Fractional CMO FAQs
What is a fractional CMO?
A fractional CMO is a senior marketing leader who works part time for your business, usually a set number of days or hours a month. You get the strategy, leadership and judgement of a marketing director without hiring one full time.
How much does a fractional CMO cost in Wollongong?
My fractional CMO engagements start from $4,500 a month. A standalone 90-day marketing plan is $6,500 fixed. If you need more hands-on time, Partner retainers are $7,500 a month for 20 hours and Embedded retainers $13,500 a month for 40 hours.
Do you do the marketing work yourself?
I lead it. That means strategy, plans, briefs, reviews, reporting and a lot of the systems and setup work, including tracking and HubSpot. For ongoing execution like content, ads and social, I direct your team, your agency or freelancers. That keeps the cost of my time on the decisions that matter most.
Do you manage Google Ads, Meta and LinkedIn campaigns?
I set the strategy, account structure, targeting and conversion tracking for Google Ads, Meta and LinkedIn campaigns, and review performance against enquiries and pipeline in GA4 and HubSpot, rather than clicks. Day-to-day management can sit with your team, an agency or me on a retainer. If the tracking is broken, that gets fixed first through GA4 and conversion tracking setup.
Is there a minimum term?
Three months to start, because the first month is mostly listening and planning. After that it's month to month. Most businesses review the arrangement each quarter.
Can you work with our existing agency?
Yes, and often that's the best outcome. I'll rewrite the brief, set clearer measures and manage the relationship. If the agency isn't the right fit after that, I'll help you find and brief a better one.
Do you only work with Illawarra businesses?
No. I'm based in Wollongong and work in person across Shellharbour, Kiama, the Shoalhaven and the Southern Highlands, which makes planning sessions easy. I also work with businesses in Sydney and further afield, mostly remotely.
What's the difference between this and the board advisory service?
A fractional CMO is hands-on leadership inside the business. Board and advisory work is oversight: asking the hard questions at board or leadership level, monthly or quarterly. Some businesses start with one and move to the other.
Guides worth your time
How to win with systems
Why most marketing problems are actually systems problems, and how to fix them.
Read the guide GuideEfficiency with AI
Where AI genuinely saves your marketing team time, and where it wastes money.
Read the guide GuideHubSpot implementation
The setup decisions behind reporting you can trust.
Read the guideRelated: marketing operations, technical SEO and tracking, HubSpot consulting, web development, graphic design and catalogues.
Get a senior marketer on your side, this month
Tell me where your marketing is stuck and what you spend on it now. I'll reply within one business day with whether you need a fractional CMO, a 90-day plan or something smaller.
- Senior strategy without a full-time salary
- Plans your team or agency can run
- Reporting tied to enquiries and revenue
- In the room in Wollongong and the Illawarra
Where is your marketing stuck?
I read every enquiry myself and reply within one business day.
Got it. Thanks.
I'll be in touch within one business day.