Fractional vs advisory
A fractional executive occupies a seat inside your team and owns delivery; an advisor holds judgement on the decision and does not.
The distinction matters commercially. A fractional CMO is a part-time hire with a remit, a team and accountability for output. An advisor is bought for the decision itself: the diagnosis, the direction, the sequencing. It leaves execution to whoever is best placed to run it.
Confusing the two produces the common failure: paying advisory rates for delivery capacity, or expecting an advisor to operate a function they were never resourced to own.