fractional CMO services for A/E/C

Your A/E/C firm has likely invested significant effort into strengthening operations, finance, and delivery—bringing clarity, accountability, and discipline to how the business runs. Marketing, however, often hasn’t evolved at the same pace.

A Marketing Assessment provides an unbiased, executive-level evaluation of your current marketing function—how it’s structured, how it operates, and how well it supports your firm’s growth goals. The outcome is not more activity, but clarity, prioritization, and a practical roadmap to evolve marketing into a proactive partner in growth.

This engagement is designed for firms preparing for their next phase—whether that’s growth, market expansion, leadership transition, or a more disciplined planning cycle.

•  Marketing feels reactive: The team is heavily focused on proposals and requests, with limited capacity for proactive strategy or insight.
• A gap between strategy and execution: Firm goals are clear, but marketing priorities, roles, and investments don’t consistently align.
• Misalignment with business development: Sales, BD, and marketing are all active, yet the process feels fragmented across the client journey.
• Inconsistent brand experience: Messaging, proposals, and collateral vary by market, office, or team, diluting differentiation.
• Unclear ROI: Marketing spend is increasing, but leadership lacks confidence in what’s working and what’s not.
• Preparing for what’s next: You’re heading into a new planning cycle, growth phase, or organizational shift and need objective insight before making decisions.

WHAT YOU'LL GET AND HOW IT WORKS:
Phase 1: Discovery

 The assessment begins with a structured discovery process grounded in listening, context, and data. This phase is designed to understand how marketing truly functions today—not how it looks on paper.

Discovery typically includes:

• Executive alignment conversations to clarify firm vision, business goals, growth priorities, and expectations of marketing
• Interviews with key leaders and seller-doers to understand how marketing supports (or hinders) pursuits, relationships, and delivery
• Client journey mapping to document how clients experience your firm from awareness through repeat work
• Marketing & business development structure review, including roles, workflows, internal handoffs, and vendor support
• Market and sector support review, including prioritization of services, target clients, and growth opportunities
• Collateral, messaging, and brand audit across proposals, presentations, website, and other key touchpoints
• Technology and data review, including CRM usage, asset management, and reporting capabilities
• Budget and benchmarking review to understand investment levels, allocation, and scalability relative to peers

Phase 2: Analysis & Recommendations

 Following discovery, insights are synthesized into a clear, actionable set of findings and recommendations—grounded in your firm’s culture, strengths, and goals. You’ll receive:

• A comprehensive findings report that identifies strengths, gaps, and patterns impacting marketing effectiveness
• Clear recommendations across: 
  • Marketing strategy and alignment with firm goals 
  • Client journey and market positioning 
  • Seller-doer and business development support 
  • Brand clarity, messaging, and storytelling 
  • Team structure, scalability, and leadership needs 
  • Tools, technology, and data to support better decision-making 
• A prioritized roadmap designed to inform near-term decisions and longer-term planning cycles
  

Leadership Alignment Session 

The findings and recommendations are presented in a focused session with firm leadership. This working discussion ensures alignment, pressure-tests assumptions, and creates shared clarity around priorities, expectations, and next steps. 

Implementation Support (optional): Many firms choose to extend the engagement to include hands-on support, interim leadership, or coaching to help activate recommendations, align teams, and maintain momentum as marketing evolves into a proactive partner in growth.

PRICING: Varies based on the scope depending on the depth of the audit, team structure, and the number of agencies/vendors involved.