What's the difference between a part-time CMO and a fractional CMO in India?
They're the same role — 'fractional CMO' is the modern term for a part-time CMO. In India both refer to a senior marketing leader engaged 1–3 days/week at ₹1.5–4 lakh/month. 'Fractional' implies a more structured, KPI-accountable engagement; 'part-time' is sometimes used for hourly or ad-hoc consulting.
Terminology in the Indian market is settling on 'fractional CMO' for structured retainer engagements (monthly fee, defined deliverables, KPI accountability, 6+ month commitment) and 'part-time CMO' or 'CMO consultant' for hourly/project-based work (₹15K–40K per session, no ongoing commitment, advisory only).
For most SMEs and SaaS companies, the fractional CMO model is what you actually want — execution and ownership, not just advice. A part-time advisor who shows up monthly for a 2-hour review can validate your strategy but won't fix broken funnels, hire your team or make the agency deliver.
Also called: CMO-as-a-service, virtual CMO, interim CMO (typically 3–6 months covering a hiring gap), growth advisor (more strategic, less operational). These all sit on a spectrum from advisor (₹50K–1L/month, 2–4 hours/week) to fractional CMO (₹1.5–4L/month, 8–24 hours/week) to interim CMO (₹6–10L/month, near-full-time for 3–6 months).
Decision rule: if you need someone to fix specific marketing problems and own outcomes, hire a fractional CMO. If you need a sounding board for a founder still doing marketing themselves, hire an advisor. If you have a senior team and just need leadership cover during a search, hire an interim CMO.