Learn more about hiring a fractional CMO
Fractional CMO · Burbank, CA
Senior marketing leadership for Burbank businesses in the Greater Los Angeles area. The media capital of the world, home to disney, warner bros., and nbc universal studio operations. Get the executive leadership your business needs without the full-time cost.
A fractional CMO is a part-time Chief Marketing Officer who provides full executive-level marketing leadership -- go-to-market strategy, demand generation, team management, and pipeline accountability -- on a monthly retainer at $8,000 to $20,000 per month rather than a $280,000 to $450,000 full-time hire. For growth-stage B2B companies at $1M to $20M in revenue, the fractional CMO model delivers the same strategic output as a full-time CMO with no equity dilution, no benefits overhead, and a first-results timeline of 30 days.
Find out what your first 90 days would look like.
Start here, free →Free, no obligation. If it's a fit, you'll pick a time to talk with Mark directly.Burbank is billed as the "Media Capital of the World," and the label is earned: the Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. both run their global headquarters here, NBCUniversal operates within the city limits, and more than a thousand media-related firms cluster in and around the Media District. That density creates a specific kind of growth-stage company — the post-production house, the visual-effects boutique, the sound-design shop, or the media-tech vendor whose revenue depends on selling into studios. When one crosses into the $1M-$20M range, it usually has a strong reputation on the lot and almost no marketing function. A fractional CMO gives that founder senior marketing leadership without adding a full executive salary to a project-based cost structure.
Burbank buyers are also unusual. A visual-effects studio near Warner Bros. is not selling to a mass market; it is selling to a small, referral-driven set of studio procurement leads, showrunners, and agency producers who know most of their vendors by name. Add Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center and Hollywood Burbank Airport, and you have an economy where a handful of anchor institutions shape almost every B2B sales cycle.
For a Burbank company selling into the entertainment ecosystem, the work centers on making a specialized firm credible to a small, high-value buyer pool:
Burbank's economy runs on entertainment infrastructure. Warner Bros. occupies its Frank Gehry-designed headquarters at the south end of town, Disney's campus sits just northeast, and NBC anchors the nearby Media District — the three within roughly a mile of one another. Around them orbit Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Cartoon Network Studios, The Burbank Studios, game maker Insomniac Games, and finishing houses like Deluxe. More than 33,000 people work media-related jobs inside a mid-sized city.
That concentration is both opportunity and constraint. Your total addressable market may be a few hundred decision-makers who attend the same events and share the same vendors, so winning share means being known and easy to hire, not running the broad paid-funnel playbook that fits a diversified metro. Burbank is not only studios, though: Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center is the city's largest employer, and the aerospace footprint Lockheed left behind in the 1990s still shapes the industrial base. A fractional CMO reads which of these worlds your company sells into and plans accordingly.
Burbank sits inside the most agency-dense media market on earth. Los Angeles marketing and PR firms are a short drive away, and studios employ large internal creative teams, so a growth-stage vendor competes for attention against extremely polished messaging every day. The upside: buyers here are sophisticated. They recognize real craft and real proof quickly, and discount hype just as fast.
Buyer behavior rewards patience and precision. Studio and network procurement cycles are relationship-led and can stretch across production calendars, so the companies that win are already visible when budgets unlock. A fractional CMO compresses that timeline, turning a strong reputation on the lot into predictable pipeline rather than word of mouth.
Most Burbank firms in the $1M-$20M range do not. A post house, VFX boutique, or media-tech vendor needs senior marketing judgment — positioning, proof, account strategy — more than a large team or a full executive salary. A fractional CMO delivers that leadership month to month and scales as production pipelines dictate.
Selling into Disney, Warner Bros., NBCUniversal, or the streamers means marketing to a small, referral-driven pool of procurement leads, showrunners, and producers, not a broad market. The plan leans on case studies, reels, references, and account-based targeting of named studios rather than generic lead-generation campaigns.
Yes. Burbank's economy also includes Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, Hollywood Burbank Airport, and a legacy aerospace base. A fractional CMO adapts the same discipline — clear positioning, focused targeting, measurable pipeline — to healthcare, professional services, or industrial suppliers whose buyers are local institutions.
Burbank companies live on project cycles and short-term leases, so a long marketing contract rarely fits. Month to month lets a founder bring in CMO-level leadership when a launch or busy production season demands it, and dial it back when it does not.
Positioning and proof that get your finishing or effects shop shortlisted by procurement near the Warner Bros. and Disney lots.
See work →Account-based pipeline aimed at the studios, networks, and streamers your product is built to serve.
See work →Creative credibility turned into partnership and recruiting narratives for the studios clustered across Burbank.
See work →Referral and community-visibility marketing anchored to employers such as Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center.
See work →Clear B2B messaging and outbound for suppliers serving Burbank's legacy aerospace base.
See work →| Option | Monthly Cost | Strategic Leadership | Execution | Accountability | Time to Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fractional CMO (MarkCMO) | $8K -- $20K/mo | ✅ Full C-suite | ✅ Manages team & agencies | ✅ Revenue KPIs | ✅ 30-60 days |
| Full-Time CMO | $23K -- $42K/mo + equity | ✅ Full C-suite | ✅ Full ownership | ✅ Revenue KPIs | ❌ 6-12 month ramp |
| Marketing Agency | $8K -- $25K/mo | ❌ Tactical only | ✅ Campaign execution | ❌ Deliverable-based | 🟡 60-90 days |
| Marketing Consultant | $5K -- $20K/project | 🟡 Strategy only | ❌ No execution | ❌ Deliverable-based | ❌ You execute |
| VP of Marketing Hire | $15K -- $22K/mo + equity | 🟡 Director-level | ✅ Partial ownership | 🟡 Partial KPIs | ❌ 3-6 month ramp |
The single biggest mistake growth-stage companies make is hiring a marketing team before they have a marketing strategy. Execution without strategy is expensive noise.
MarkCMO serves businesses across every functional leadership discipline in Burbank, CA. Click any service to explore how it applies to your specific growth challenge.
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Mark Gabrielli is a Fractional CMO and COO with 19+ ventures across 12 industries and $50M+ in revenue built. He is not a consultant who delivers a slide deck and disappears. He is a working operator -- the kind of senior marketing leader who sits in your weekly leadership meeting, manages your team, runs your agency relationships, and stays until the results are real, repeatable, and yours to keep.
Mark serves growth-stage B2B companies across Burbank and nationwide, with deep experience in the industries that define Burbank's economy. He holds a track record that includes companies in healthcare, SaaS, aerospace, manufacturing, fintech, logistics, and professional services -- from pre-revenue startups to $50M+ businesses preparing for exit or Series B raises.
Learn more: About Mark | Results and Case Studies | Fractional CMO Services | How to Measure Fractional CMO ROI
From first call to compounding results -- here is exactly what the engagement looks like.
Book a 30-minute strategy call at no cost. We audit your current marketing, revenue gaps, team structure, and the single biggest lever holding back your growth. You leave with a clear diagnosis before spending a dollar.
We deliver your full GTM strategy, ICP definition, competitive positioning, messaging architecture, and a 90-day demand generation plan. Every deliverable is board-presentable and execution-ready from day one.
Campaigns go live. We manage your marketing team, agencies, and freelancers with clear KPIs at every level. Outbound sequences launch. Pipeline starts building. You get weekly check-ins and monthly board-ready reports.
Systems compound. Revenue attribution is wired to real numbers. The marketing engine runs without you managing every detail. You stay because the results justify it -- not because you are locked in.
Results measured in pipeline generated, CAC reduced, and revenue compounded -- not reports delivered or hours billed.
"We hired our fractional CMO without ever meeting in person. Within 60 days we had pipeline attribution, a demand generation system, and $1.2M in qualified opportunities. Geography is irrelevant when the work is strategy, data analysis, and pipeline architecture -- all of which happen on screens and in dashboards. The results are what show up in the CRM.",
"The best fractional CMOs are not local -- they are experienced. Restricting your search to your metro area eliminates most of the operators who have built demand generation systems at companies your size and stage. We found the right person through a national search and the engagement has been transformational. CAC dropped 41% in 90 days.",
"Every week: a 60-minute strategy call with real numbers. Every month: a board-ready pipeline report. Every quarter: a commercial review that reallocates budget toward what is working and away from what is not. That cadence produces CMO-quality commercial leadership at a fraction of full-time cost -- and it works completely remotely.",
Burbank, California is the Media Capital of the World, home to Disney, Warner Bros., and NBC Universal studio operations. Its economy leans on entertainment, media, aerospace. That mix shapes how companies here grow: Burbank businesses compete for talent and customers against far larger marketing budgets, and generic tactics rarely move the number. What Burbank growth companies need is senior marketing leadership that understands the Greater Los Angeles market, owns the strategy, and is accountable to revenue, without carrying a full-time executive salary.
| County | Los Angeles County |
|---|---|
| Metro area | Greater Los Angeles |
| Population | approximately 103,000 |
| Coordinates | 34.186, -118.301 |
| Revenue range served | 1 million to 100 million dollars |
| Engagement | 5,000 to 15,000 dollars per month, month to month |
MarkCMO gives Burbank businesses a fractional CMO who owns the marketing number: positioning built for Burbank buyers, a demand engine tuned to the Greater Los Angeles market, and the reporting investors expect, without a full-time CMO salary.
Burbank businesses need a fractional CMO once revenue depends on a repeatable marketing engine they do not have in house, usually between 1 million and 100 million dollars in revenue. In the Greater Los Angeles market, where Burbank companies compete against larger budgets, MarkCMO installs the positioning, demand generation, and board-level reporting to scale, for 5,000 to 15,000 dollars per month. Choose the one where the person on the call does the work and you can leave month to month.
Book a free 30-minute strategy call with Mark Gabrielli or call 321-917-5738. You will get a straight read on your Burbank marketing and the one or two things to fix first, whether or not we work together.
Reviewed by Mark Gabrielli, Fractional CMO and COO. Last verified July 2026.
Book a free 30-minute call with Mark. You will walk away with a clear, honest diagnosis and the one or two things to fix first, whether or not we work together.
Book a free strategy call →Every MarkCMO engagement is structured to protect you. You stay because the results are compounding -- not because you are locked in. Cancel any time. No fees, no questions.
No hidden scope. No surprise invoices. Every MarkCMO engagement includes the full fractional CMO capability stack from day one.
Full go-to-market strategy, ideal customer profile definition, competitive positioning, and messaging architecture tailored to your market.
Multi-channel pipeline engine -- SEO, content marketing, paid media, email nurture, and outbound -- built as compounding systems, not one-off campaigns.
C-suite management of your marketing team, agency partners, and freelancers with clear accountability and performance benchmarks at every level.
Weekly leadership check-ins, monthly board-ready pipeline reports, and revenue attribution dashboards that replace gut feeling with data.
CRM configuration, attribution modeling, marketing technology optimization, and performance dashboards wired directly to revenue KPIs.
No long-term contracts. No cancellation fees. Engage for as long as it drives results -- exit any time with zero friction.
Every MarkCMO engagement is structured to protect you. You stay because the results are compounding -- not because you are locked in.
Book a free 30-minute strategy call. No pitch deck. No sales pressure. An honest conversation about your Burbank market, your current marketing, and exactly what it would take to build pipeline this quarter.
Month-to-month. No contracts. First results in 30 days. Serving Burbank, California, and nationwide.
30 minutes with Mark Gabrielli. No pitch. A direct read on your biggest marketing gaps and what moves revenue fastest. Responds personally within 24 hours.
60 seconds. Mark responds personally within 24 hours.
Mark will personally follow up within 24 hours.
Or reach him directly: [email protected] · +1 (321) 917-5738