Stop Guessing With Your Marketing Budget.
Fractional marketing leadership for business owners who need clarity on what's working, what's wasting money, and where to invest next.
How did marketing get this complicated?
- Newspapers
- Radio
- TV
- Direct Mail
- Billboards
And you're supposed to keep up with all of this while running a company?
You shouldn't have to.
You're running the company. You're also expected to understand all of this?
- What you actually need
- Which vendor to trust
- Whether your vendors are performing
- Whether their reports are meaningful
- What you should be paying
- Where to increase or cut spending
- Which new technology matters — and which is hype
- How all of it connects to revenue
Where is your marketing budget bleeding?
Companies frequently accumulate marketing expenses over time without anyone independently examining the entire system. Each vendor can legitimately say they're doing their job. Nobody is asking whether the whole picture still makes sense.
Should you still be spending this? Could you get the same result differently, for less? Is any of this actually producing revenue? Ashley reviews the entire marketing investment — not just one channel.
Who's grading your marketing homework?
Your agency tells you its campaign is working. Your SEO company tells you rankings improved. Your social media company tells you engagement increased. Your website company tells you traffic increased. But who's independently looking at all of them and deciding whether they're actually helping your business grow?
I sit on your side of the table.
"I don't get paid to defend your marketing vendors. I get paid to protect your marketing investment."
Your marketing department has plenty of people doing things. My job is making sure they're the right things.
Review Marketing Spending
Analyze where money is currently going, across every vendor and channel.
Evaluate Existing Vendors
Determine what's working, what's questionable, and what needs attention.
Review Monthly Reports
Translate impressions, clicks, rankings, and leads into what they mean for the business.
Manage Vendor Relationships
Communicate with agencies and providers directly, on leadership's behalf.
Hold Vendors Accountable
Establish expectations, deadlines, KPIs, and regular review periods.
Recommend Budget Allocation
Decide where spend should increase, and where it should decrease.
Build Annual Marketing Strategy
Develop the company's strategic marketing roadmap and budget.
Source Specialists
Evaluate existing providers, source new ones, or introduce vetted network providers as needed.
Monitor Performance
If something isn't performing, I'm willing to challenge it — and say so.
Executive-level marketing oversight, without executive-level payroll.
| Approach | What You Get | Typical Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Full-Time Marketing Executive | Dedicated leadership, but salary + benefits + payroll + recruiting + overhead | ~$150k – $200k / yr* |
| Multiple Agencies | Specialized execution — but someone still has to manage and reconcile all of them | Varies, adds up fast |
| Fractional CMO with Ashley | Strategic marketing leadership without adding a full-time executive | From ~$2,000/mo |
*Conceptual industry benchmark for senior marketing leadership; not a guaranteed figure.
ASHLEY TATE — FOUNDER & FRACTIONAL CMOI'm a business owner too.
I understand what it means when the money being spent is your money. My background is in process improvement — I approach marketing like an operating system, not a collection of disconnected tactics.
The Marketing Spend Assessment
How confident are you in every dollar you're spending on marketing? I review your current agencies, software, advertising, SEO, social, content, website expenses, lead sources, reporting, tracking, and marketing payroll — then tell you what's working, what's unclear, where money may be leaking, and what I'd prioritize next.
Growth Without Guesswork with Ashley Tate
Conversations on marketing, leadership, AI, vendors, and business growth — for owners who want clarity, not more jargon.
Where your marketing dollars actually go
How AI is changing what "SEO" even means
Hiring a CMO vs. going fractional
You don't need another marketing vendor.
You need someone making sure your marketing vendors are actually working for you. Let's look at where your money is going.
ASHLEY TATE — FOUNDER & FRACTIONAL CMOI'm a business owner too.
I understand what it means when the money being spent is your money. Marketing has become too complicated for most owners to manage effectively — and I don't believe you should have to become a marketer just to run your business.
My background is in process improvement, and I still think that way: process, measurement, accountability, improvement. That's the operating system I bring to marketing — not another list of tactics.
"I approach marketing like an operating system."
Business owners were guessing. I wanted to build clarity instead.
Outside of work, this is still a business I run like a business owner — the same way I'd want someone treating my own marketing budget. That's the standard this is held to.
Ashley Tate & Tate Consultants.
You get direct access to me — I'm still the one you talk to, still the one accountable for your strategy. Behind that, this is co-founded leadership: I run client strategy, and my co-founder Courtland Tate leads executive direction for the company. Together with Tate Consultants — a team trained on the same process: process, measurement, accountability, improvement — that's what lets this scale past what one person alone could carry, without diluting who's responsible for your results.
Your direct point of contact for strategy, accountability, and the relationship.
Leads executive direction for the company. (Not pictured)
Ashley
Strategy, accountability, and the relationship — always led by me directly.
Tate Consultants
Additional fractional consultants supporting reporting, vendor coordination, and account work under my direction.
Specialist Network
Vetted execution partners brought in only when a project calls for hands-on implementation.
Let's look at where your marketing money is going.
Vendor Agnostic. Outcome Focused.
I'm not here to force you to replace an agency you love. If they're producing results, I want them on the team. If something isn't working, we'll address it. If you need a specialist, I'll help identify the right one — and when appropriate, I can also provide access to my vetted network of marketing specialists.
Marketing Strategy
- Annual marketing plan
- Monthly executive meeting
- Budget recommendations
- Marketing performance review
- Quarterly priorities
Fractional CMO
- Strategy & vendor management
- Report analysis & budget oversight
- Monthly / biweekly leadership meetings
- Annual plan & accountability
- Campaign planning
- Growth opportunity identification
Fractional CMO + Execution
- Everything in Fractional CMO
- Coordination with vetted specialists
- SEO / AEO, paid advertising, web, CRM
- Automation, reputation, content
- Specialist costs kept separate from strategy fee
Pricing is scoped to your business — packages above outline structure, not a fixed rate card.
Growth Without Guesswork with Ashley Tate
Business owners are guessing. This is where I try to fix that — conversations on marketing, AI, leadership, vendors, and growth, aimed at owners who want clarity instead of more jargon.
Where your marketing dollars actually go
How AI is changing what "SEO" even means
Hiring a CMO vs. going fractional
The real cost of a fragmented marketing stack
What I look for in a vendor's monthly report
Marketing certainty, not marketing tactics
New episodes and breakdowns, regularly.
How confident are you in every dollar you're spending on marketing?
A focused, executive-level session — not a sales pitch, not a predetermined package. You'll leave with clarity on what I'd prioritize first, whether or not we ever work together.
Opens Calendly — pick a time that works for you.