What does a marketing agency do?

A marketing agency is responsible for execution — creating and delivering campaigns, ads, websites, social media content, emails, SEO, and more. They follow an established strategy but typically don’t set overall business positioning or own P&L results.

What does a brand strategist do?

A brand strategist defines a company’s identity — what it stands for, how it is perceived, and how it’s expressed visually and verbally. They create the foundation that makes all marketing more effective by ensuring messaging is consistent, clear, and emotionally resonant.

Which should I hire first: a Fractional CMO, a marketing agency, or a brand strategist?

It depends on your stage and needs. If your brand and messaging are unclear, start with a brand strategist. If you have a clear brand but lack leadership, hire a Fractional CMO. If you have both clarity and leadership, a marketing agency can handle execution. The best approach is often having all three working together from the start.

Why does Start Some Shift offer all three under one roof?

Start Some Shift combines brand strategy, Fractional CMO leadership, and agency execution in one team. This eliminates misalignment between vendors, reduces wasted budget, and ensures your brand, marketing, and results are fully integrated and strategically managed.

Fractional CMO vs Marketing Agency vs Brand Strategist: What You Need

Q: What does a Fractional CMO do?

A Fractional CMO is a strategic leader who sets the marketing direction, decides where the budget goes, manages priorities, and measures results. They don’t execute campaigns themselves but ensure all marketing activities work toward a single, measurable growth plan.

Most business owners hit a point where “more marketing” stops working.
The campaigns feel scattered. The brand isn’t clicking. Revenue growth plateaus.
And the real question becomes:

Do I need someone to lead?

Someone to execute?

Or someone to define who we are before we do either?

That’s where the decision on whether you need a Fractional CMO vs Marketing Agency vs a Brand Strategist. Each plays a different role. Each is valuable at a different stage. And picking the wrong one can stall your growth for years.

Here’s how to tell which you actually need, and why the smartest move might be having all three under one roof.

Expert Type

Description

Best For

Fractional CMO

They set the marketing direction, decide where the budget goes, manage the priorities, and measure the results. They don’t design your ads or post on social media. They do ensure the people doing those things are working toward a single, measurable growth plan.

Businesses with $2M–$50M in revenue who have marketing activity but lack senior leadership to pull it together. Companies ready to scale who can’t justify or don’t want the $250K+ salary of a full-time CMO.

Marketing Agency

A Marketing Agency is your execution machine. They create and deliver — ads, websites, social media content, email campaigns, video, SEO, PR… whatever you hire them for. They don’t decide your business’s positioning or own your P&L results. They do implement the strategy that’s been set (or, in many cases, the one they suggest if you don’t have one).

Businesses with a clear plan who need consistent, high-quality execution. Brands that want to outsource creative and technical marketing skills instead of hiring in-house.

Brand Strategist

A Brand Strategist is your identity architect. They define how your business is perceived, what it stands for, and how it’s expressed visually and verbally. They don’t manage ad campaigns or lead your sales funnel optimization. They do create the foundation that makes every marketing dollar work harder — because the message is consistent, clear, and emotionally resonant.

Businesses repositioning for a new market or audience. Companies where messaging feels “off” or visuals are inconsistent. Brands launching a new category or product line.

Which Do You Need – and When?

Think of your growth like building a house:

Brand Strategist = The architect. They design the blueprint so everything fits together and reflects your vision.
Fractional CMO = The general contractor. They manage the build, source the right specialists, and make sure the project runs on time and on budget.
Marketing Agency = The skilled trades. They do the hands-on work that turns the plan into reality.

If you start with the wrong role:

Hiring a marketing agency without brand clarity can lead to beautiful work that doesn’t convert.
Hiring a Fractional CMO without a defined brand can mean strategy without a story that moves people.
Hiring a Brand Strategist without someone to execute or lead the rollout can mean a brand book that sits in a drawer.

Find out how to avoid red flags and vet the right fit in our article: Do I Need a Marketing Agency or a Fractional CMO?

Why We Bring All Three Together

At Start Some Shift, we’ve removed the guesswork.
Instead of forcing you to choose one lane, we’ve built a model that gives you all three functions under one roof:

Brand Strategy to define who you are and why you matter.
Fractional CMO leadership to build the roadmap and ensure every move is strategic.
Full-service agency execution to bring it all to life at a world-class level.

This means:

No hand-offs between disconnected vendors.
No wasted budget on campaigns that don’t fit your positioning.
No “who’s in charge here?” moments.

You get one team, fully accountable for your brand, your marketing, and your results.

The Takeaway:
If you’re stuck, plateaued, or about to make a big move, the answer isn’t “Do I need a Fractional CMO, an agency, or a brand strategist?”
It’s How do I get all three working together from day one?

That’s how you stop being a company in your market and start being the company.

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Frequently asked questions

What does a Fractional CMO do?

A Fractional CMO provides senior-level marketing leadership without the full-time cost. They build the overall marketing strategy, oversee execution, align marketing with business goals, and make sure every dollar spent is moving the needle. Unlike a marketing agency or brand strategist, a Fractional CMO sits inside your business leadership, making big-picture decisions and managing the people and partners who execute. Find out more here: What Is a Fractional CMO? Also find out How Much a Fractional CMO Costs.

How is a marketing agency different from a Fractional CMO?

A marketing agency is an execution partner – they specialize in delivering specific marketing services like SEO, ads, social media, and creative design. They don’t typically set your overall marketing strategy. In contrast, a Fractional CMO directs what the agency should do and why, ensuring the agency’s work is integrated into a bigger business growth plan.

What does a brand strategist focus on?

A brand strategist helps define your company’s identity – your positioning, messaging, visual direction, and the perception you create in the market. While a marketing agency handles the “doing” and a CMO handles the “leading,” a brand strategist shapes the “who you are” so that all marketing feels cohesive, consistent, and aligned with your ideal audience.

When should I hire each one?

Hire a brand strategist when your business needs clarity on who you are, who you’re for, and how you want to be perceived.
Hire a marketing agency when you already have a strategy and need experts to execute campaigns.
Hire a Fractional CMO when you need strategic leadership to direct all your marketing efforts toward business growth — often in partnership with a strategist and agency.

Why does having all three under one roof matter?

When your brand strategy, marketing leadership, and execution are handled by separate people or companies, you risk gaps, misalignment, and wasted spend. At Start Some Shift, we bring all three together under one roof. This means your brand is built strategically, your marketing is executed with precision, and every effort is tied directly to measurable business growth.

Lara McCulloch President

Lara McCulloch is the founder of Start Some Shift, a Toronto-based B2B marketing agency and fractional CMO practice. She has 30+ years of brand strategy experience advising Fortune 500 and growth-stage companies.

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Fractional CMO vs Marketing Agency vs Brand Strategist – What Do You Need, and When?