The fractional CMO alternative
A fractional marketing lead
who also does the work.
From $2,500/moFull seat $8,500/moMonth-to-month
I set the strategy for ecommerce and service businesses, then run it myself: the ads, the tracking, the pages and the Monday report.
I write the audit myself. It's back within 24 hours of read-only access, with no call and no retainer attached.
- Burned by an agency before? The person on the call is the person doing the work, and no junior takes over after the sale.
- Month-to-month with no minimum term. You own every account, tag and file from day one.
- One operator, and you hold the keys: admin on every account, every change written up in the Monday report.
Conner Crowe · 10 years, $15M+ in ad spend managed
For law firms, medical and dental practices, online stores, home services and other local businesses.
5.0 average from 11 Google reviews
Read the transcript
Hiring senior marketing usually means advice from one person, and the work from someone else. A fractional CMO sets the plan, then hands the work to your team or an agency. I set the strategy, then I run it myself. The Google and Meta ads, the tracking, the landing pages, and a written summary every Monday. Tracking gets fixed first, so the numbers in the report are the numbers in the bank. One store went from $24K a month to $116K. For a law firm, spend was cut in half, and qualified signups doubled. One ad channel is $2,500 a month. The full seat is $8,500. Month to month, no minimum, and you keep everything I build. Start with a free ads audit. I write it myself, and it's back within 24 hours. I'm Conner Crowe.
“Conner is great! I was one of his early clients years ago and together, we’ve literally tripled my business, all while cutting my cost of client acquisition in half!”
01 Receipts
Work you can open and check.
Vanity store · Google Shopping
Store revenue from $24,595 to $116,129 a month.
A product feed rebuilt and Shopping restructured by priority. 22% of the monthly budget came back from wasted spend, and monthly store revenue went from $24,595 in August 2025 to $116,129 in March 2026.
Read the case (opens in a new tab)
Shopify retailer · Shopping and Performance Max
Blended ROAS up 1.9x. Non-brand revenue up 147%.
Brand pulled out of a do-everything campaign, the product feed rebuilt with custom labels, and server-side tracking repaired after a checkout migration. 90 days.
Read the case (opens in a new tab)
Greenacre Law · Google Ads
Spend cut in half. Qualified signups doubled.
Tracking that counted spam as leads. I made WhatConverts-qualified calls the conversion, rebuilt the account around case type and cut the junk. Cost per qualified lead fell more than 60% inside 90 days.
Read the case (opens in a new tab)
Furniture store · Built solo
A store I built. $5,387 to $56,182 a month.
One operator on Emma Grace Home: the Shopify storefront, 150+ product images rendered in-house and the tracking fix. After I built it, the store went from $5,387 in sales in April 2026 to $56,182 in September 2026.
Read the case (opens in a new tab)“Wonderful. Explains it thoroughly so I understand. More importantly, seeing great results in such a short time period.”
02 Two ways in
Priced by what you spend.
Same person either way. Both month-to-month, no minimum term, and ad spend is never marked up.
What do you spend a month on ads?
Spending under about $30K a month on ads
I run your channels
- One ad channel, end to end (tracking and the Monday report included) $2,500/mo
- Each add-on (second platform, pages, creative, lead quality or the strategy seat) +$1,500/mo
The channel built and run by me every week, with the conversion tracking kept healthy. Add only the pieces you need, one at a time.
Get a free ads auditSpending about $30K a month or more
Fractional Marketing Lead
- The full seat (every add-on, either vertical) $8,500/mo
Everything on the left with every add-on in, capped at $8,500: the strategy, the landing pages and storefront changes, and the weekly operating cadence across every channel. The seat this page is about.
Get a free ads auditIf I miss my first-month commitments, your first month is on me.
The clock starts the day I confirm working access to your ad accounts, analytics and site. Your written plan is in your inbox within 7 days. Within 30 days, a test conversion shows as recorded in each ad platform I run for you, and at least one change I made is live in your ad account or on your site. For medical practices, tracking counts when it records through the HIPAA-safe setup I use.
If any of those is late, I refund your first month in full within 7 days, and you don’t have to ask. If a step is waiting on something only you or a third party can do, like a developer publishing a tag, a platform review or your sign-off on a change, I email you that day and that step’s clock pauses until it clears. This covers my work, not your ad results, which nobody can honestly promise.
Not sure which, or not ready for a retainer? Start with the free ads audit. I write it myself, it's back within 24 hours of read-only access, and there's no retainer attached.
03 Who you’d be hiring
One person. Me.
I started in design, worked as a web designer and an in-house marketer, then moved into performance marketing. Ten years in all, and more than $15M in managed ad spend across Google, Meta, Shopping and Performance Max, and the tracking underneath all of it.
I worked inside agencies long enough to see where the model breaks. The senior who sells the work is rarely the one doing it. So I do it myself, for a small handful of companies at a time, from Spokane, WA.
04 What I own
The plan and the keyboard.
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The plan
A written strategy inside one week of the first call. Channel mix, what tracking has to be true first, a ninety-day plan and the numbers I’m judged on. No deck.
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Paid acquisition
Google Ads, Meta and Microsoft Advertising, built and run by me every week: search terms, bids, creative tests, budget moves.
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Conversion tracking
Rebuilt before anything gets scaled, so the numbers in the report are the numbers in the bank.
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The pages that convert
Landing pages, storefront changes and forms. When the page is the leak, I fix the page.
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Reporting and cadence
A written summary in your inbox every Monday and one working call a week on the same slot.
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No markup on spend
Ad spend goes from you straight to Google and Meta. I never take a percentage of it.
05 What you’d get
The work, before you hire me.
The exact templates I send clients, filled in for a made-up sample store, in the order an engagement runs. Pick a step, or let it play.
(opens a larger view) Week 1
The plan, in writing
- Phases ordered by dependency, not by calendar. Nothing in phase two gets judged until the measurement in phase one is real.
- Written down, so you can push back before a single setting changes.
Example page on the real audit template. The store and every number are made up.
06 Three ways to buy senior marketing
Advice, a team, or an operator.
All three can work. They differ on who is in the accounts on a Tuesday afternoon when the numbers move.
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Who builds the campaigns
- Strategy-only fractional executive
- Your team, or an agency they direct
- Agency
- Whoever is staffed on the account
- This seat
- Me
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Typical monthly cost
- Strategy-only fractional executive
- About $7,500 to $12,000 a month at 15 hours a week, plus whoever executes
- Agency
- A retainer, often plus a share of spend
- This seat
- $2,500 to $8,500, the work included
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Term
- Strategy-only fractional executive
- A minimum term is common
- Agency
- A minimum term is common
- This seat
- Month-to-month, no minimum
Compare all five
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Who sets the strategy
- Strategy-only fractional executive
- The fractional executive
- Agency
- An account lead, then a team
- This seat
- Me
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Who you talk to every week
- Strategy-only fractional executive
- The executive, about the plan
- Agency
- An account manager
- This seat
- The person who made the change
| Question | Strategy-only fractional executive | Agency | Me |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who builds the campaigns | Your team, or an agency they direct | Whoever is staffed on the account | Me |
| Typical monthly cost | About $7,500 to $12,000 a month at 15 hours a week, plus whoever executes | A retainer, often plus a share of spend | $2,500 to $8,500, the work included |
| Term | A minimum term is common | A minimum term is common | Month-to-month, no minimum |
| Who sets the strategy | The fractional executive | An account lead, then a team | Me |
| Who you talk to every week | The executive, about the plan | An account manager | The person who made the change |
Fractional executive rate: GoFractional, October 2026.
07 Fit
Who this seat is for.
A good fit
- You run an ecommerce brand or a service business, and paid media is already part of how you grow.
- You spend roughly $10,000 a month or more on ads, or you’re about to.
- You want one senior person accountable for the number, working inside the accounts.
Not the right fit
- You want board-level advice and already have a team to carry it out. A strategy-only fractional executive suits that better.
- You sell software. My work is ecommerce and service businesses, and a SaaS specialist will serve you better.
- Ads are under a few thousand a month. Start with a free ads audit, then a one-time tracking fix (typically $2,500) or one channel at $2,500 a month.
08 Straight answers
Before you ask.
How is this different from hiring a fractional CMO?
What does it cost, and what am I locked into?
Who owns the accounts and the work if you leave?
Do you work alongside my team or my current agency?
What if my ad budget is under $10,000 a month?
How many companies do you take on?
Next step
Thirty minutes.
An honest read.
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Before. I look at your site first, so the call starts on your business, not an intro.
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The call. Thirty minutes on what’s working, what’s leaking and whether this seat fits.
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After. If it isn’t the right fit, you leave with two or three fixes you can ship without me.
5.0 average from 11 Google reviews. Three more of them:
“Wonderful. Explains it thoroughly so I understand. More importantly, seeing great results in such a short time period.”
“Conner has taken a high volume stale google ad account and transformed it overnight, clearly taking this to the next level as an AI ready website. Highly recommend!!”
“…He is incredibly responsive, works quickly and diligently, and holds himself to the highest standards. What really stands out is how well he listens so he can make thoughtful, strategic recommendations tailored to our needs.”