Fractionl CMO Services
Hire a Part-Time Chief Marketing Officer for Your Law Firm - Expertise You Need at a Fraction of the Cost
Our Services
Fractional CMO for Law Firms: Senior Marketing Leadership, On Demand
You don't need another vendor. You need someone running point on all of them. Dashing Digital's fractional CMOs step in as senior marketing leadership for your firm — setting strategy, owning the budget, and holding every agency and specialist accountable to one plan — for a fraction of what a full-time executive hire would cost.
Request a Discovery CallWhat you get when we become your fractional CMO
You get a senior marketing executive — not a vendor, not a single-channel specialist — running your entire marketing function. We set the strategy, control the budget, and direct every agency and freelancer working on your behalf across SEO, AEO, online reputation management, and paid advertising — and we report results straight back to your partners. Because we've worked exclusively with law firms since 2007, every recommendation we make accounts for attorney advertising rules and the realities of a regulated profession, not a generic e-commerce or B2B playbook.
On This Page
The Challenge
Stop Running Marketing By Committee
Right now, your marketing probably looks like this: an associate or office manager handling it on top of an already full job, a managing partner approving spend reactively, and three or four vendors — an SEO agency, a PPC freelancer, a web developer, a reputation tool — all operating without anyone connecting the dots. SEO and AEO aren't coordinated with paid ads, budget goes to whoever pitched hardest last, and nobody can tell you with confidence whether marketing spend is actually producing signed cases. That's not a strategy — that's just spend.
A full-time CMO would fix it, if the math worked. A median marketing manager salary alone runs $161,030 a year before benefits, bonus, or payroll tax — and that's a manager, not an executive setting firm-wide strategy. True CMO-level talent costs considerably more: the top 10% of marketing managers earn over $239,200 annually. For a firm that isn't an Am Law 100 practice, that's not a defensible line item next to associate salaries and case costs. That's exactly the gap we built this service to close.
Is it normal for a firm our size to not have a marketing budget at all?
Yes — and that's precisely the opportunity. Only 47% of law firms have a formal annual marketing budget, down from 57% the year before, and 80% of solo practitioners have no marketing budget whatsoever. Most of your competitors are operating without direction. The firms that bring in real marketing leadership — even part-time — are the ones pulling ahead.
Our Process
How We Work as Your Fractional CMO
We start with an audit, not a pitch. Before we recommend a single dollar of spend, we map your current marketing footprint — website, organic search performance, review profile, ad accounts, existing vendor contracts — against your firm's actual growth goals and practice-area mix. From there, we build your 90-day and 12-month roadmap, allocate budget to where you're genuinely underweight, and hand execution to specialists while we hold the entire program accountable to one strategy.
Engagements run on a fixed monthly retainer for a set number of strategic hours — enough for a recurring leadership cadence of planning sessions, vendor check-ins, and budget reviews, plus availability when a decision can't wait for the next scheduled call. We don't execute the SEO or run your ad account ourselves — we direct the specialists who do, and we're the ones accountable for how it all fits together.
What's Included
What You Get From Your Fractional CMO
Every engagement covers the same core responsibilities a full-time CMO would own — scaled to a part-time cadence and priced accordingly.
Strategy & Roadmap
We build a practice-area-specific plan that sequences SEO, AEO, and paid channels against your firm's actual growth timeline — instead of running every channel at once on a flat budget.
Budget & Channel Allocation
We decide how your marketing dollars split across organic, paid advertising, and reputation work, and reallocate as channels mature — instead of leaving spend on autopilot.
Vendor & Agency Management
We become the single point of accountability across every outside vendor — SEO agency, ad manager, web developer, review platform — so they're working toward the same plan instead of competing for budget and credit.
Market & Competitive Positioning
We tell you exactly where you sit against competitors in your market and practice area, and build positioning that actually differentiates your firm instead of repeating generic legal marketing copy.
Reporting & Accountability
You get regular reporting tied to leads and signed cases — not vanity metrics — so you can see exactly what your marketing spend is producing and make informed decisions about next quarter's budget.
MarTech & AI Search Advising
We tell you which marketing technology is worth paying for, and keep you ahead of how AI search and AEO are changing how prospective clients find a lawyer in the first place.
Not sure whether you need a fractional CMO or just better-coordinated vendors? We'll tell you honestly — on a free call.
Talk to a Fractional CMORight-Sized for You
Built for Your Firm's Stage
What we do for you shifts depending on your firm's size and how mature your marketing already is — and it looks a little different across criminal defense, personal injury, and family law firms, since each practice area has its own search behavior and intake timeline.
Solo & Small Firms (1–9 Attorneys)
If this is you, our first job is usually getting your firm a real, budgeted marketing plan for the first time — 80% of solo practitioners have no marketing budget whatsoever, and only 31% of firms with 2–9 lawyers have one. We pick the one or two channels (typically local SEO and Google Business Profile) that move the needle fastest, and set a budget tied to your actual revenue instead of guesswork.
Growing Multi-Attorney Firms (10–49 Attorneys)
If you're here, you likely already have two or three vendors running independently. Our first move is consolidating those relationships under one strategy, fixing budget leaks, and building out your AEO and content program ahead of competitors still treating SEO and paid ads as separate, uncoordinated efforts.
Multi-Office & Regional Firms (50+ Attorneys)
At this scale, we standardize marketing across your offices and practice groups, manage larger paid media budgets responsibly, and report to your full partnership rather than a single managing partner. We can also function as interim leadership while you evaluate whether the role eventually justifies a full-time, in-house hire.
Why Fractional, Why Now
The Math Behind This Service
Here's why more firms are choosing a fractional CMO over a full-time hire — or no marketing leadership at all.
- $161,030median annual salary for a marketing manager in the U.S. as of May 2024 — before benefits, bonus, or the added cost of executive-level CMO seniority. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook
- $239,200+annual earnings of the top 10% of marketing managers — the band closest to true CMO-level compensation. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook
- 47%of law firms have a formal annual marketing budget at all, down from 57% the year before. American Bar Association, 2023 Websites & Marketing TechReport
- 80%of solo practitioners surveyed had no marketing budget whatsoever; only 31% of firms with 2–9 lawyers had one. American Bar Association, 2023 Websites & Marketing TechReport
- 5.2 yrsaverage tenure of a senior marketing leader before a firm faces another recruiting and onboarding cycle. American Marketing Association
Figures are reported national averages and benchmarks; individual compensation and budget figures vary by market, firm size, and firm structure.
The Smart Choice
Why Fractional Beats the Alternatives
There are really only three ways to direct your firm's marketing. Here's why fractional wins for most firms.
- No dedicated marketing leadership: Lowest direct cost, but your vendors operate independently, budget decisions are reactive, and nobody is accountable for whether spend produces signed cases — the position most of your competitors are actually in today.
- Full-time, in-house CMO: Full attention and institutional knowledge, but a six-figure-plus salary commitment, benefits, and the risk of a costly vacancy and re-hire every few years — often more capacity than a single-location or small firm needs.
- Fractional CMO with Dashing Digital: Senior-level strategy and accountability at a fraction of full-time cost, scalable up or down as your firm grows, with no severance or benefits exposure — and a team that's worked exclusively with law firms since 2007.
- What doesn't change with any option: The underlying work — SEO, AEO, reputation management, and paid ads — still has to be executed by specialists. As your fractional CMO, we direct that work; we don't replace it.
Our fractional CMO engagements run on the same Dashing Digital Authority Framework™ behind every campaign we manage. See how it's performed for real clients on our results page, get a no-cost read on where your firm stands with our free AEO audit tool, or browse more strategy breakdowns on our digital marketing blog for attorneys.
Ready for Marketing Leadership That Actually Reports to You?
Every quarter without a single point of accountability is another quarter of disconnected vendors, unclear ROI, and budget spent on whoever pitched hardest last. Let's talk about whether a fractional CMO is the right fit for your firm right now.
Schedule a Discovery CallCommon Questions
Frequently Asked Questions About Fractional CMOs for Law Firms
What is a fractional CMO for a law firm?
When you hire Dashing Digital as your fractional CMO, you get a senior marketing executive who works with your firm part-time and on contract rather than as a full-time employee. We set strategy, manage your budget across channels, direct the agencies and specialists doing the work — SEO, AEO, online reputation management, and paid advertising — and report results straight back to your partners, all within attorney advertising rules and the realities of a regulated profession.
How much does a fractional CMO cost compared to a full-time CMO?
A full-time marketing manager earns a median of $161,030 a year before benefits and bonus, and true CMO-level talent costs considerably more — the top 10% of marketing managers earn over $239,200 annually. Our fractional CMO retainers run at a fraction of that fully-loaded cost, scaled to the strategic hours your firm actually needs, with no benefits, severance, or recruiting risk attached.
What's the difference between a fractional CMO and a marketing agency?
A marketing agency typically executes one channel well — SEO, paid ads, or content. As your fractional CMO, we sit above that layer: we decide which channels deserve budget, hold the agencies executing them accountable to one strategy, and report results to your partnership. Many firms use both together — we direct the work, and specialist teams like ours execute it.
How many hours does a fractional CMO work for a law firm?
Most of our engagements run on a fixed monthly retainer covering a set number of strategic hours — enough for a recurring leadership cadence of planning sessions, vendor check-ins, and budget reviews, plus availability for decisions that can't wait for the next scheduled call. Hours scale up as your firm size, budget, and marketing complexity grow.
When should a law firm hire a fractional CMO instead of an in-house marketing director?
If your firm has multiple marketing vendors operating independently, no one who can explain whether your marketing spend is producing signed cases, or growth ambitions your current ad hoc marketing can't support, that's the signal. Firms large enough to need full-time, daily marketing attention across multiple offices are the exception where an in-house hire eventually makes more sense — and we can help you build the case and job description for that hire when the time comes.
Can a fractional CMO manage agencies and freelancers on the firm's behalf?
Yes — vendor and agency management is one of the core things we do. We become the single point of accountability across your SEO agency, ad manager, web developer, and review platform, so they're executing one coordinated plan instead of competing for budget and credit independently.
Do solo and small law firms need a fractional CMO?
Often, yes — 80% of solo practitioners have no marketing budget at all, and only 31% of firms with 2–9 lawyers have one. For firms at this stage, our first job is usually building your firm's first real, budgeted marketing plan and picking the one or two channels — typically local SEO and Google Business Profile — most likely to produce signed cases fastest.
How long does a fractional CMO engagement typically last?
Our engagements are usually ongoing on a month-to-month or quarterly retainer rather than a fixed project term, since marketing strategy and budget allocation need continuous oversight as channels mature and your firm grows. Many firms also bring us on for a defined stretch — for example, while building out a new practice area or AEO program — before scaling the engagement up or down.
Sources
April Atwater
President, Dashing Digital Marketing
April founded Dashing Digital Marketing in 2007 and has spent nearly two decades building search, AI-search, and marketing leadership programs exclusively for law firms. She and her team work as an extension of your firm — from SEO and AEO execution to full fractional CMO oversight.