A Chief Marketing Officer who works for more than one client at any one time.

Typical examples include small and medium size businesses that wish to harness the range of skills and deep expertise of an experienced CMO but that cannot yet afford a full time salaried staff member in the CMO function.

Fractional CMO is by far the most common type of engagement.

A Chief Marketing Officer who is able to step into a CMO role quickly on a temporary basis and hold interim responsibility for all marketing functions until the role is filled from recruitment.

Typical examples include backfilling the CMO role when a board-level colleague leaves the business, or when the terms sheet of onboarding a new investor is conditional upon having an experienced CMO in place.

A Chief Marketing Officer who works remotely from head office for a large percentage of time.

Typical examples include working the majority of time at the site of one of your main customers, or being co-located with a trade partner, or when establishing an office in an international jurisdiction.

One of the common uses of a Virtual CMO is where the business itself is a fully virtual business with no fixed address (except a registered office, which tends to be a serviced mail address or company's accountants or lawyers).

Start-ups and Scale-ups in the software-as-service sector operate very successfully as fully virtual businesses. There is no stigma anymore for those colleagues who work from home, as it has become a proven and productive way of working.

A Chief Marketing Officer who is given responsibility within a defined project with a specific start and end date and a specific project budget.

Typical examples include the launch of a new product, the communications required during a merger or acquisition, or the activity of entering a whole new market.

The Project-based CMO arrives at Project initiation, works alongside the project team through all sprints and milestones, and continues until Project closedown.