The glossary.
Definitions of the 28 terms that come up most often in fractional CMO conversations, B2B marketing operations, and the Brazilian and Latin American mid-market context. Curated, not crowd-sourced.
A
Annual Contract Value (ACV)
Also known as: ACV, annual contract value
The total contracted revenue from a single customer over one year, normalized to an annual figure regardless of actual contract length. In Brazilian B2B mid-market, ACV ranges from R$30K (lower mid-market) to R$500K+ (upper mid-market) within the same target segment.
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
Also known as: ARR, annual recurring revenue
The annualized value of all subscription revenue currently contracted with active customers. Standard SaaS operating currency. Brazilian B2B SaaS at R$30M+ ARR is in the mid-market band where fractional CMO engagements typically fit.
C
Churn
Also known as: churn, customer churn, revenue churn
The rate at which existing customers stop doing business with a company over a defined period. Brazilian B2B churn shows 2-3x higher year-over-year variance than US peers due to macro cycles. Healthy SaaS GRR (gross revenue retention) is 85-95%; healthy NRR (net revenue retention) is 105-120%.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Also known as: CAC, customer acquisition cost
The fully loaded cost of acquiring a new customer, including marketing spend, sales spend, share of marketing/sales salaries, tools, and overhead. Healthy mid-market B2B CAC in Brazil ranges from R$5K (SMB) to R$120K (enterprise) depending on segment and ACV.
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
Also known as: LTV, lifetime value, customer lifetime value
The total revenue attributed to a single customer over the duration of their relationship with the company, adjusted for gross margin and churn rate. In Brazilian B2B, LTV should be computed conservatively due to higher cohort volatility from macro cycles.
D
Decision Rights Document
Also known as: decision rights
A 1-page operational document signed by CEO and Fractional CMO in week 1 of an engagement that explicitly allocates decision authority across categories (channel kill/scale, hire/fire, budget allocation, agency governance, tool selection). Most CMO engagement disputes trace back to missing or vague decision rights documents.
F
Fractional CMO
Also known as: fractional CMO, on-demand CMO, interim CMO, CMO sob demanda
A senior Chief Marketing Officer hired part-time, on a recurring basis, to lead the marketing function with the same strategic authority as a full-time CMO. Engagement structure: defined hours per week (typically 15-25 for Full engagements), defined scope, defined exit. The role lives at the C-suite, not below it. Differs from a marketing consultant (who delivers recommendations) by accountability for execution and revenue outcomes over time.
Full-time CMO
Also known as: full-time CMO, permanent CMO
A C-suite Chief Marketing Officer hired full-time with a permanent seat at the leadership table. In Brazilian B2B mid-market, the loaded annual cost (R$700K-R$1.2M including benefits, signing, equity, severance exposure) typically only justifies for companies above R$100M-R$150M revenue.
G
Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)
Also known as: GRR, gross revenue retention
The percentage of recurring revenue retained from existing customers in a given period, excluding any expansion. Calculated as (starting ARR - churn ARR - contraction ARR) / starting ARR. Healthy SaaS GRR is 85-95%; below 80% indicates structural churn problems.
I
Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Also known as: ICP, ideal customer profile
A 1-page document signed by Marketing and Sales leadership defining the target customer by industry, revenue band, buyer roles, trigger events, and explicit anti-ICP. The first locked-down definition in any Smarketing installation. In LatAm B2B, ICP often needs additional axes beyond firmographic — operational maturity scoring, decision-making centralization, procurement model.
Interim CMO
Also known as: interim CMO, CMO interino
A fractional CMO engagement structured as full-time absorption for a defined window of 6-12 months, typically used when a company has lost their CMO and is conducting a permanent search, or when a major project requires concentrated executive attention. Pricing in Brazilian mid-market: R$40K-R$70K/month.
K
Kickback Rate
Also known as: kickback rate, MQL kickback rate
The percentage of MQLs that sales rejects and sends back to marketing. Cultural barometer of marketing-sales alignment. Healthy: 10-20% (both teams using kickback as quality control). Below 10%: lead quality is high or sales is too lax. Above 35%: definition mismatch or systemic quality problem.
L
Light Engagement
Also known as: light engagement, fractional CMO light
A fractional CMO engagement structured at 10-20 hours per month, typically advisory and audit-focused rather than operational. Pricing in Brazilian mid-market: R$15K-R$25K/month. Best fit for companies with R$30M-R$50M revenue and an existing Marketing Manager in place.
M
Magic Number
Also known as: magic number, SaaS magic number
A SaaS efficiency metric calculated as net new ARR divided by sales+marketing spend in the prior quarter. Healthy SaaS shows 0.7-1.5; elite operations show >1.5. Below 0.5 indicates inefficient growth and triggers board scrutiny.
Marketing Director
Also known as: marketing director, diretor de marketing
A senior marketing professional with 8-12 years of experience, full-time in a company, focused on executing a marketing strategy that's already largely settled. Cost in Brazilian mid-market: R$15K-R$28K/month base salary, R$280K-R$520K loaded annual. Different from a fractional CMO: the Marketing Director executes strategy; the fractional CMO drives strategy.
Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)
Also known as: MQL, marketing qualified lead
A prospect that has met explicit qualification criteria established jointly by Marketing and Sales (e.g., correct job title, company revenue, declared problem, timeline). Handed off from Marketing to Sales with documented data points. Typical SLA on Sales response: 24 business hours.
Mid-market
Also known as: mid-market, midmarket, mid market
In the Brazilian B2B context, companies with annual revenue between R$30M and R$100M (roughly US$6M-US$20M). The revenue band where the math for a full-time CMO rarely closes but the operational complexity exceeds what a Marketing Manager can handle — making fractional CMO the structural fit.
N
Net Revenue Retention (NRR)
Also known as: NRR, net revenue retention
The most predictive SaaS health metric. Calculated as (starting ARR + expansion ARR - churn ARR - contraction ARR) / starting ARR. Healthy Brazilian B2B SaaS in mid-market shows NRR of 105-120% annual. Below 95%: company is shrinking from existing customers. Above 125%: elite territory.
O
Operating Cadence
Also known as: operating cadence, marketing operating cadence
The recurring meeting and reporting structure that turns marketing strategy into execution. Standard fractional CMO operating cadence: weekly Smarketing war room (45 min, Wednesday 10am), monthly leadership review (90 min, last Tuesday), quarterly with finance (2 hours, before each quarter), monthly customer interview synthesis. Installed in weeks 5-8 of a 90-day engagement.
P
Payback Period
Also known as: payback period, CAC payback
The time required to recover the customer acquisition cost from a customer's contribution margin. Brazilian B2B mid-market floor: 18 months (compared to the US SaaS benchmark of 12 months) due to longer sales cycles and higher cohort volatility.
Pipeline-Influenced Revenue
Also known as: pipeline-influenced revenue, marketing-influenced revenue
Closed-won deals where marketing touched the pipeline at any stage, regardless of original source attribution. The shared metric Marketing and Sales jointly own in a healthy Smarketing operation. Replaces the parallel metric set where Marketing reports MQLs and Sales reports pipeline.
Product-Led Growth (PLG)
Also known as: PLG, product-led growth
A go-to-market motion where the product itself drives acquisition, conversion, and expansion through self-service signup, free trial, or freemium. In PLG companies, marketing optimizes for activation rate, time-to-value, and viral coefficient. Often hybridized with sales-led motion (SLG) for enterprise expansion in Brazilian B2B SaaS.
R
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
Also known as: ROAS, return on ad spend
The ratio of revenue attributable to a marketing channel divided by the spend on that channel. Most useful when reported segmented by funnel stage (top, mid, bottom) rather than blended. Healthy mid-market B2B bottom-funnel ROAS: 4-7x. Below 3x indicates pipeline quality or sales conversion problems.
S
Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)
Also known as: SQL, sales qualified lead
An MQL that Sales has accepted as worth pursuing based on initial qualification call. The handoff stage where marketing's responsibility ends and sales accountability begins. Healthy MQL→SQL conversion in Brazilian B2B mid-market: 18-30%.
Smarketing
Also known as: smarketing, marketing-sales alignment
The integration of Marketing and Sales as a single revenue function with shared definitions, shared rituals, shared KPIs, and shared accountability. Not a meeting — an operating system. Installed in 90 days through phased shared definitions (week 1), shared rituals (weeks 2-4), shared KPIs (weeks 5-8), shared accountability (weeks 9-13).
T
Total Addressable Market (TAM)
Also known as: TAM, total addressable market
The total revenue opportunity available if a product captures 100% of its target market. In Brazilian B2B mid-market, TAM analysis is typically done at the segment level (industry × revenue band × geography) and informs ICP definition.
W
War Room
Also known as: war room, smarketing war room, marketing-sales war room
The weekly 45-minute Marketing-Sales alignment meeting that anchors the Smarketing operating cadence. Format: 10 min metrics review, 15 min funnel diagnosis, 10 min pipeline by stage, 10 min next-week priorities. Chaired by the Fractional CMO for the first 8 weeks, then rotates to the Head of Sales by week 9 to test institutional ownership.
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