Commercial priorities
Connect marketing to the customers, services and opportunities the business wants to grow.
Fractional CMO · Ottawa & Canada
Senior marketing judgment, close to the work.
Fractional marketing leadership for owner-led businesses. Work with Stephen Lau to set priorities, connect your team and turn marketing decisions into a practical delivery plan.
Start with your businessTalk through what you need↗For founders and owners who need an experienced marketing lead, with a mandate that fits the business rather than a full-time executive hire.
A fractional CMO gives marketing a clear direction.
A growing business can have plenty of activity and still lack a coherent plan. A fractional chief marketing officer works with leadership on the decisions behind that activity: who to pursue, what to offer, how to allocate effort and how to assess the result.
A practical roadmap
Sequence the work, clarify dependencies and identify what your team can realistically deliver.
Connected people and providers
Align internal staff, agencies and specialists around responsibilities and shared priorities.
Stephen’s perspective crosses strategy and implementation.
Stephen Lau is the founder and president of Salient AI and Chief AI Officer of miRoncol. His more than two decades in entrepreneurship, marketing and technology inform a practical view of how the parts of a business fit together. He works alongside the Salient team and recognizes where specialist expertise is needed.
Positioning and the customer journey
Examine whether your website, campaigns and sales conversations give customers a consistent reason to choose you.
Marketing and sales handoffs
Identify where response, follow-up or ownership prevents interest from becoming a useful conversation.
Technology choices
Assess where AI or conventional automation can support the work, and where a simpler process is enough.
Evidence for decisions
Separate visibility and engagement from qualified enquiries and sales. Agree on the information needed for better decisions.
Leadership and execution are separate responsibilities to agree.
A fractional CMO engagement defines Stephen’s role in direction, coordination and review. Your people may deliver the work, or Salient may provide agreed implementation support. Execution capacity, access, decision authority and meeting arrangements belong in the scope; they are not assumed from the title.
Begin with a clear mandate.
Bring the current plan, team structure and the decisions you need help making. We will identify the leadership gap, the responsibilities involved and whether a focused advisory assignment or ongoing engagement fits. You retain the business’s final decisions.
The experience behind the advice
A business builder’s perspective.
Stephen Lau is the founder and president of Salient AI and Chief AI Officer of miRoncol. More than two decades in business, marketing and technology inform his practical approach. He works with the Salient team to connect the pieces and bring in specialist expertise where it is needed.
Meet Stephen and learn about Salient AI →Before we start
Questions about Fractional CMO.
What does fractional CMO mean?
It means senior marketing leadership engaged for an agreed portion of time or scope rather than a full-time employee. The responsibilities, access and authority are defined for the engagement.
How is this different from outsourced marketing?
Fractional leadership focuses on direction, prioritization and coordination. Outsourced marketing includes agreed delivery capacity. You may need one or both; we define them separately so expectations are clear.
Will Stephen do all the work personally?
Stephen provides the agreed leadership and business perspective. Delivery can involve your team, the Salient team or specialist partners. The scope identifies who owns each part.
Can this help a founder without a marketing team?
Yes, but leadership alone cannot replace missing delivery capacity. We will discuss whether you need a scoped project or outsourced marketing support alongside strategic direction.
What determines the fee?
The mandate, complexity, required involvement and implementation responsibilities determine the scope. There is no assumed number of hours, executive appointment or fixed package before that discussion.
A useful conversation
Tell us where you want help.
Bring the business context, the task or the decision. We’ll help you choose a sensible way to move forward and agree on the work before it begins.
Your priorities firstTalk with Salient AI↗