Senior marketing leadership, without the full-time hire.
An embedded senior strategist for local businesses that have outgrown vendor-style agency relationships and are not ready for a full-time CMO. Custom-scoped engagement built around your revenue goals, not a marketing package.
Strategic marketing leadership, embedded in your business.
A Fractional CMO is a senior marketing strategist who functions as your business’s marketing director without the full-time payroll commitment. Same level of seniority. Same depth of engagement. Dramatically lower commitment of time and cost.
For businesses generating $1M to $10M in annual revenue, hiring a full-time Chief Marketing Officer typically runs $150K to $300K in total compensation, plus recruiting costs and 6 to 12 months of ramp-up time. For most local businesses at this stage, that is not financially or organizationally feasible.
A Fractional CMO bridges the gap. You get strategic marketing leadership, scoped to what your business actually needs, at a fraction of the full-time cost.
Think in-house marketing leadership. Not vendor.
Most local businesses have hired a marketing agency before, and most have been disappointed. Not because the agencies were dishonest, but because the model is mismatched. An agency sells you a package and executes against it. A Fractional CMO partners with you on strategy and makes every decision serve your revenue goals.
Vendor-style relationship
- Pre-packaged service tiers
- Junior team executes against a predetermined scope
- Strategy designed at the start, then locked in
- Optimized for marketing KPIs (impressions, traffic, leads)
- Communication through an account manager
- Vendor mindset: you outsource to them
In-house partnership
- Custom-scoped engagement built around your business
- Senior strategist owns every decision
- Strategy evolves with your business
- Optimized for your revenue goals
- Direct access to Anna and her team
- In-house mindset: we work for you
This is why we call ourselves a consultancy, not an agency. The work, the team, and the pricing all reflect that distinction.
What we build together.
Every Fractional CMO engagement is custom-scoped to your business. What stays constant is the strategic framework. What varies is the depth and breadth of the work at each layer.
Strategic Foundation
- Revenue goals mapping
- Competitive positioning
- Customer journey definition
- Marketing budget allocation
AI Visibility Infrastructure
- Schema and structured data
- Entity authority building
- Citation strategy
- Content extractability
Cornerstone Content
- Pillar pages and guides
- Service and location pages
- FAQ libraries with schema
- Editorial calendar
Paid Media
- Campaign strategy and structure
- Audience and creative direction
- Conversion tracking
- Performance optimization
Local Search Authority
- Google Business Profile optimization
- Local citation management
- Reviews strategy
- Geographic relevance signals
Sales and Operations Alignment
- Lead routing and qualification
- CRM strategy
- Marketing-sourced revenue tracking
- Attribution clarity
How we work together.
Every Fractional CMO engagement starts with the same first move: getting clear on your business, your market, and your revenue goals. The strategic foundation. Without that, the tactics are guesswork.
Once the foundation is set, the work calibrates to what your business actually needs. Some engagements include a full-day in-person strategy and content capture each month. Others operate weekly via Slack and Zoom with quarterly in-person sessions. Some clients need heavy paid media management. Others need cornerstone content development. The shape of the engagement is the conversation we have during scoping, not a predefined template.
What stays the same: every decision rolls up to your revenue goals. Every quarter, we review whether the work is delivering against those goals. Every year, we revisit the scope to make sure the engagement still fits where your business is heading.
The work does not start with channels. It starts with the business.
The Top of Search MethodologyThis engagement is right for some businesses. Not all of them.
Fractional CMO is the deepest level of partnership we offer. The fit needs to be right on both sides.
This is right for you if
- ✓Your business generates $1M to $10M in annual revenue
- ✓You have grown beyond an owner-operator marketing setup
- ✓You have tried agency relationships and found them lacking
- ✓You want strategic marketing leadership but cannot justify a full-time CMO
- ✓You are committed to marketing as a long-term business function
- ✓You can commit to a 12-month engagement
This is not right for you if
- ✕You are under $1M in annual revenue
- ✕You want execution without strategic ownership
- ✕You are shopping for the lowest-priced marketing leadership
- ✕You need month-to-month flexibility or a 30-day trial
- ✕You do not have leadership buy-in for strategic marketing investment
Not ready for Fractional CMO yet? Start with the AI Visibility Audit or Launch and Learn. Both function as on-ramps when the timing is right.
Custom-scoped from this floor based on time commitment, scope of work, and complexity of your business. Most engagements include monthly or quarterly in-person time depending on what your business needs.
12-month initial term. 90-day notice for non-renewal at the end of term. Annual auto-renewal.
From first conversation to engagement start.
Start with context
The audit, a Launch and Learn, or a warm introduction. We start where you are.
Scoping conversation
Direct talk about your business, your goals, and what marketing leadership at this level needs to look like for you.
Custom proposal
A detailed engagement scope with time commitment, deliverables, and pricing. Built around your situation.
First 90 days
Strategic foundation. Revenue mapping. Channel and content roadmap. Setup of how we will work together going forward.
Ongoing partnership
Embedded marketing leadership. Strategy reviewed quarterly. Scope revisited annually.
Top of Search is a strategic marketing consultancy for local businesses that want to be cited.
Founded and led by Anna Curry from Wilmington, NC. Top of Search works with local businesses across home services, medical, real estate, and professional services. The Fractional CMO practice exists for businesses ready for senior marketing leadership embedded in their operations.
The work spans AI visibility, paid media, cornerstone content, and sales and operations alignment, with strategy as the foundation of every engagement.
Anna is also the publisher of Cited, a weekly newsletter on AI visibility for local businesses. Subscribe
What people ask before booking.
What is the difference between a Fractional CMO and a marketing agency?
An agency sells you a service package and executes against a predetermined scope. A Fractional CMO is a senior strategist who functions as your business’s marketing leader, with strategy and tactics calibrated to your specific revenue goals. Agencies optimize for marketing KPIs like impressions and traffic. A Fractional CMO optimizes for your business outcomes. We call ourselves a consultancy because that distinction matters.
How does the 12-month commitment work?
Engagements begin with a 12-month initial term so we have the runway to build a strategic foundation and see it produce results. After the initial term, the engagement auto-renews annually unless either party gives 90-day notice for non-renewal. The 12 months also protects us from spending senior strategist time on engagements that get cut short before the work has time to compound.
What if my business needs change mid-engagement?
They will. Every engagement scope is revisited annually at renewal, and significant scope changes can happen mid-term through a formal scope amendment. What we do not do mid-term is absorb scope creep without addressing it directly. New scope means a new conversation about time, pricing, and priorities.
What is actually included at the $8,000 starting price?
The starting price covers a baseline engagement that includes strategic foundation work, AI visibility infrastructure, cornerstone content development at a defined cadence, paid campaigns appropriate to scope, local search authority work, and direct access to Anna for ongoing decisions.
The $8,000 represents the floor of what makes a senior strategist engagement viable. Scope and time commitment determine where the actual engagement lands above that floor. Engagements that include monthly in-person days, multiple paid campaigns, or heavier content production scope at higher monthly investment.
Do you work with businesses outside Wilmington?
Yes. We work with local businesses across the United States. Our methodology was built and tested in the Wilmington market, but the AI visibility work and strategic marketing leadership transfer across geographies. In-person time is built into engagements that warrant it.
What if I am not sure I am ready for Fractional CMO?
Start with the AI Visibility Audit or Launch and Learn. The audit is a $1,000 diagnostic that tells you where you actually stand in AI search. Launch and Learn is a $2,000 plus ad spend 90-day paid advertising test. Both function as on-ramps to a Fractional CMO engagement when the timing is right. Most clients work with us at one of those levels before moving to Fractional CMO.
How quickly can we get started?
From first conversation to engagement start is usually 4 to 6 weeks. We use that time to scope the engagement thoroughly, finalize the proposal, and prepare the strategic foundation work. Engagement begins formally on a defined start date that gives both of us runway to plan.
Ready to talk about strategic marketing leadership for your business?
$8,000 starting per month. 12-month engagement.
Custom-scoped to what your business actually needs.
Talk About Fit For local businesses that want to be cited.