Fractional CMO services with AI search fluency built in
Plate Lunch Collective is an AI SEO agency that gets brands named when buyers ask, in search, on social, and in AI. When a brand is changing hands, moving into a new market or repositioning, our fractional CMO services give you a senior marketer who sizes up where things stand, decides where your marketing money and time should go, and hands your team a plan it can run.
Strategy, the tools worth your time, and direct access
- AI search visibility
AI search strategy for marketing teams
A fractional CMO from here builds AI search into the marketing plan from the first draft instead of bolting it on later.
- AI visibility tools guide
Which tools are worth your time
We follow the tools that track AI search as they launch, and publish what we find. Your team gets a shortcut to decisions that would otherwise take months of trials.
- The strategist
Senior counsel, direct access
The strategist is the one doing the work. No account managers, no junior execution layer. The goal is a team that is more capable and less reliant on outside help over time.
Marketing leadership that begins with the first call
The first conversation is diagnostic: where the brand is positioned today, in how AI systems describe the category and who they recommend; what the team has the capacity to run; which decisions have been deferred. From there the work is concrete, and AI search visibility gets built into the strategy from the start. The brands showing up in AI recommendations aren't always the biggest players. They're the ones with the clearest signals.
- 1
Diagnose
Direct questions and direct answers about where the brand stands, what the team can run, and what has been deferred. Add whatever business numbers you can already see, and that's the starting point everything else builds from.
- 2
Decide
Positioning, messaging, channel priorities, content architecture, with AI search in the first plan rather than a later add-on.
- 3
Fit the structure
Some engagements are defined by a transition: new ownership, new market, a repositioning that needs to land right. Others are ongoing, a senior voice to pressure-test decisions and evaluate tools. Some clients bring us in behind their own engagements when they need AI search credibility in the room. We'll tell you upfront what makes sense.
Six situations this fits
Your brand is in transition
New ownership, new market, repositioning after a pivot. You need senior marketing judgment for the duration, without the commitment of a permanent hire.
The team can execute. Direction is what's missing.
The capacity is there. The strategic direction isn't. Someone needs to set the framework and hand it back clearly enough that the team can run with it.
You've been carrying the marketing function yourself
Founder-led marketing has a ceiling. When it becomes the thing that keeps you from running your business, it's time for a different structure.
Your CMO or agency doesn't understand AI search
If your brand isn't showing up in AI recommendations and no one can explain why, the gap is in the strategy. Tactics won't close it.
You need a senior voice on a defined piece of work
Strategy, positioning, a framework your team can own. We build it with you, hand it over, and stay reachable while it lands.
You're an agency or consultant that needs AI search depth
Some engagements require a level of AI search expertise that isn't worth building in-house. We work behind other practitioners when that's what the situation calls for.
Where does the brand stand?
Tell us where things are, and the first conversation starts from how AI systems describe your category and who they recommend. We'll come back within one business day.
Questions buyers ask about fractional CMO work
What does a fractional CMO at Plate Lunch Collective do?
Runs the marketing function at the strategy level for part of the week: positioning, messaging, channel priorities, content architecture, and the AI search work that now sits inside all of it. The team executes. The fractional CMO decides what is worth executing and in what order, and answers for whether the call was right.
How is this different from hiring an agency?
An agency sells execution and reports on activity. A fractional CMO sits on your side of the table, sets direction, and is accountable for the direction. Plate Lunch Collective does both kinds of work, and on the first call we will say which one you need.
How does the engagement run?
As an ongoing partnership with a quarterly rhythm. Each quarter sets a small number of priorities, the team runs them, and the quarter wraps up with your business numbers next to where they stood when we began. That's where the next set of priorities comes from. Days per week and scope are agreed on the first call and revisited each quarter.
Who is the fractional CMO?
Hayden Bond, who has worked in search since 2004, in-house and agency-side, across the US, Canada, Costa Rica, and India, and founded Plate Lunch Collective in 2025.
About Hayden and BenDoes it include AI search work?
Yes. It is the reason to choose this fractional CMO over another. Where your brand stands in AI answers is part of the first conversation, and if you want that picture written up first, covering your Google searches and your AI answers, an AI Search Game Plan does that.
AI Search Game Plan
Find out whether a fractional CMO is the right shape
Tell us where things stand. We'll come back within one business day and say plainly what kind of engagement, if any, makes sense.