CMO Syndicate

Name: CMO Syndicate
Address: 2001 L Street N. W. , Suite 500, Washington D.C., DC, 20036, US
Telephone: +12029981744

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The CMO Syndicate - Accelerating Business Transformation Globally with Marketing Authority.

10/15/2026

𝟱𝟲% 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗠𝗢𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆, according to Gartner’s 2026 CMO Spend Survey.

When resources are limited, the choice between hiring a full-time CMO and bringing in fractional or interim leadership deserves more scrutiny than a comparison of salaries or monthly fees. The CEO and CFO need to know what commercial decisions the executive will own, how progress will be measured, and what the deliverables and expected outcomes are.

We evaluate fractional or interim CMO engagements through four areas, including ROI, leadership fit, decision rights, and accountability for ex*****on. We have written about the questions we encourage companies to ask any provider, including us, before making that commitment. The article is linked in the comments.

If you had to explain the return on your marketing leadership investment to your Board, which measures would you use?

10/14/2026

𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗜. It has had vendor surveys, conference anecdotes, and a lot of confident guessing. That ends on November 5.

As founding U.S. partner of Global Centre for AI in Marketing (GCAM), The CMO Syndicate has been bringing U.S. marketing leaders into the Global AI in Marketing Benchmark since it opened: the first scored view of where American marketing organizations sit across six maturity levels and seven drivers, from leadership and culture to governance and ROI.

Two days left. The survey closes Friday, October 16. If you are the senior-most marketing leader for a U.S. organization, this is the cohort every future U.S. comparison will be measured against. DM us to request your invitation!

We’ll unveil the findings with GCAM at Georgetown University on November 5.

Follow to see them first.

Lisa Bratkovich · Ani Matson · Jennifer Welch

10/08/2026

𝟯𝟭% 𝗼𝗳 𝗦&𝗣 𝟱𝟬𝟬 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗿, 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁'𝘀 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗖𝗠𝗢 𝗧𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆.

At a growth-stage company, leaving the senior marketing role open can start affecting everyday commercial decisions long before the problem is obvious in the numbers. Sales may need messaging that has not been developed, positioning may no longer reflect what buyers care about, AI maturity is lagging, and the marketing team may keep producing work without one person accountable for deciding what should change.

Our fractional and interim CMOs work with leadership teams when that senior ownership is missing, taking on the parts of the CMO role the business needs at that stage and working with the marketers and partners already in place. See our piece about where underperformance tends to show up first and what leadership can do before it becomes more expensive to correct (link in the comments).

How recently has your leadership team reviewed whether your positioning and marketing priorities still match what customers are responding to?

10/07/2026

𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 “𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹” 𝗖𝗠𝗢𝘀? 𝗪𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲?

A Fractional Chief Marketing Officer is an accomplished CMO who provides services to companies on an interim, part-time or project basis.

At The CMO Syndicate, we are not a staffing agency, and we are not traditional consultants. 𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀-𝗼𝗻 𝗖-𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘀 𝗖𝗠𝗢𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱’𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀. We are rapid growth experts who roll-up our sleeves and tackle complex problems. When you don't have the resources or bandwidth to accelerate growth, as a Fractional CMO, we’ll do the work both for you and with you on an interim, part-time or project basis.

𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀? 𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸!

10/06/2026

𝗔𝘀 𝗔𝗜 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝘇𝗲, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?

We’ve seen the benefits of standardization firsthand. It creates efficiency and makes businesses easier to scale. AI will accelerate that.

But at some point, efficiency can start to erase the very things that make a company worth choosing.

That tension is what our partner, Ani Matson, explores in this article. (Link in comments)

Her conclusion:
𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲.

Because as efficiency becomes more abundant, differentiation may become one of marketing’s scarcest resources.

We’d be interested to hear how other marketing leaders think about where standardization should stop.

09/30/2026

Are you an experienced CMO? Are you feeling alone…?

We’ve been in your shoes.

The Chief Marketing Officer role is one of the most important (yet often the loneliest) C-level roles.

We started The CMO Syndicate with the vision of creating a diverse, hands-on, global team of fractional and interim CMOs with the critical skills to quickly identify and fix gaps in our client’s performance and accelerate the growth of their revenue and profitability.

We also wanted a company which personified our values--a positive, united culture and a brain trust of expertise.

If you are an actual CMO with years of executive level marketing leadership, who has reported to the President or CEO, and who wants a fresh opportunity to work with a passionate team of true CMO peers, this might be the right fit.

Find out how the benefits of working with The CMO Syndicate are different from other organizations including the highest initial compensation rate in the industry, no service exclusivity, international brand and clients, complete flexibility to manage your workload and life, collaborative projects, full back-office support, continued learning, and more.

Ready for a better experience? Don’t CMO alone…contact us now and join us!

09/29/2026

Marketing and sales collaborate on just 3 of 15 core commercial activities, according to Gartner's research on commercial strategy. That gap is why so many forecast goals are often missed.

The instinct is to call it a communication problem. Soon, a standup meeting is added, and a new Slack channel is opened. This rarely holds, because the two functions are still measured on different numbers.

Marketing owns leads. Sales owns closed revenue. Nobody owns the handoff between them. Nobody truly owns the final number.

What actually fixes it is not surprising, but it’s also not typical...

One growth plan and budget both teams understand and build together, one definition of a qualified lead, one scorecard both sides report against vs. separate plans, metrics, meetings, and goals

In fact, Gartner found that sales teams that align cross-functional KPIs are nearly 3x more likely to exceed new customer acquisition targets.

We wrote up a full overview; see link in the comments.

What's the one number your sales and marketing teams would define differently if you asked them separately today?

09/28/2026

The 2026 Global AI in Marketing Benchmark, U.S. Edition, closes this Wednesday, September 30.

In the Australian edition, 83% of Australian marketing organizations sit in early-stage maturity, half are at Level 3, none reached Levels 5 or 6. The U.S. picture will be the first of its kind, built from the confidential responses of marketing leaders across numerous sectors so far.

If you received a private invitation, it takes 5–7 minutes. If you lead marketing for a U.S. company and haven’t received one, message Lisa Bratkovich, Ani Matson or Jennifer Layne Welch before Wednesday.

09/23/2026

Do you have a 2026 growth acceleration plan? Will it work…?

Most companies are simply not using the best practices necessary to increase revenue, improve profit and exceed their growth goals.

At The CMO Syndicate, we are not a staffing agency, and we are not traditional consultants. We are hands-on C-level marketing practitioners who have served as CMOs at some of the world’s top companies. We are rapid growth experts who roll-up our sleeves and tackle complex growth problems.

If your growth has plateaued and you don't have the strategy, resources or bandwidth to increase it, as a Fractional CMO, we’ll do the work both for you and with you on an interim, part-time or project basis.

Have growth needs? Get a FREE 45 min. Growth Strategy Call now!
https://hubs.la/Q04x-X-V0

Address

2001 L Street N. W. , Suite 500
Washington D.C., DC
20036

Telephone

+12029981744

Website

http://www.cmosyndicate.com/

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