Pricing Model · No Rate Card, On Purpose
What a fractional CMO costs,
and how Break Away prices it.
Fixed fees for consults and projects. A monthly retainer for the whole function. No hourly billing, no setup fees, no surprises: the scope and the number are in writing before the first invoice. Here's what drives the figure, so you can walk into the strategy call knowing what to expect.
The three engagement types and how each is priced
| Engagement | What it is | How it's priced |
|---|---|---|
| Strategy consult | Audit, competitive research, a dated 90-day plan you can execute with anyone. | One fixed fee, paid at kickoff. Two to three weeks. |
| Project | A defined build: website, AI-search setup on your existing site, brand and messaging reset, launch. | Fixed-fee phases with milestone billing. Changes priced before they're made. |
| Concierge marketing | The whole function: strategy, search and AI citations, content, LinkedIn, video, email and SMS follow-up, reporting. | Monthly retainer sized to scope, reviewed quarterly. Month-to-month after the first 90 days. |
What moves the number
Scope of coverage. One location or three. One surgeon or nine. One process line or a full capability catalog. Each market, location or person we're building visibility for adds research, pages, profiles and tracking.
What has to be built first. If the website can't be quoted by an AI or found by Google, that's a project before the retainer makes sense. We'll tell you if the site you have is fine; most are.
Channels in play. Search and AI citations are the core. Short-form video, paid media, digital PR and recruiting marketing are added when the plan calls for them, not by default.
Content volume. How many pages, articles, LinkedIn posts, clips and emails the plan produces each month. The system makes this cheap relative to an agency, but it isn't free.
What doesn't move it: hours. We don't track them and you don't pay for them. You're paying for the judgment and the output of a marketing department, not for time.
What you'll always get, regardless of size
Scope in writing before any invoice. Marc as your strategist and point of contact, not an account coordinator. Every deliverable on the plan shipped on schedule. A plain-English monthly report. And ownership of everything we build: domain, site, code, content, accounts, data. How engagements run →
Straight answers
How does Break Away price a fractional CMO engagement?
Three ways. A strategy consult is a fixed fee for the audit, research and written 90-day plan. A project is fixed-fee phases with milestone billing. Concierge marketing, the whole function, is a monthly retainer sized to scope and reviewed quarterly. Nothing is billed hourly, and the number is in writing before the first invoice.
Why don't you publish prices?
Because a bariatric practice with three locations and a crane dealer with one don't need the same thing, and a published number would be wrong for both. The strategy call is where you get a real figure, usually on the call, and in writing within two days if you want it.
What drives the retainer up or down?
How many markets, locations, physicians or product lines we're covering; whether video, paid media or digital PR are in scope; how much content the plan calls for each month; and whether a website or AI-search install has to be built first. Fewer moving parts, lower retainer.
Is there a minimum term?
Consults and projects are one-and-done. Concierge retainers run month-to-month after an initial 90-day period, because the first 90 days are where the foundation gets built and judging it at day 30 helps nobody.
What does a fractional CMO typically cost in the market?
Across the industry, fractional CMO retainers commonly run from a few thousand dollars a month for a light advisory role to the low five figures for strategy plus execution. Break Away sits in the middle of that range because the execution runs on our own system rather than on billable juniors, which is the point of the model.
Want a real number? That's what the strategy call is for.
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