Master Services Agreement for Fractional CMOs: What to Include (Customizable Template)

Introduction

As a Fractional CMO, having a clear Master Services Agreement (MSA) is crucial for managing multi-phase projects, ensuring smooth approvals, and facilitating effective handoffs. You want to protect your creativity while being clear about expectations and deliverables. That's why we've put together this guide to help you customize your MSA easily. Customize your Master Services Agreement now.

Legal Terms: What Matters Most for Fractional CMOs

IP Ownership and Usage Rights

• Retain source files: Ensure that you retain ownership of source files and only transfer IP ownership upon full payment. This protects your creative input.
• Prohibition on AI submission: Make it clear that clients cannot feed your work into AI models. This maintains your original creations and avoids misuse.
• Attribution rights: Outline when attribution is appropriate. It's essential for your portfolio and ensuring you get credit for your work.

Revision Limits and Payment Milestones

• Set round caps: Consider including a specific number of revisions in your agreement. This helps manage your time and keeps the project on track.
• Acceptance criteria: Clearly define acceptance standards for deliverables. This ensures everyone agrees on what a completed task looks like.
• Milestone payments: Align payment with project milestones to ensure you are compensated fairly as each stage of the project progresses.

Scope Creep and Change Orders

• Define triggers for change orders: Clearly identify what constitutes a change in scope. This prevents misunderstandings and keeps the project manageable.
• Pricing guidance: Provide clear pricing for any additional work to avoid disputes later. Clients should know upfront how changes impact costs.
• Schedule impact language: Include language that explains how changes affect the project timeline. This helps everyone stay on the same page.

Other Helpful Clauses for Fractional CMOs

• Portfolio rights: Secure the right to showcase your work in your portfolio. This is important for marketing your services to future clients.
• Confidentiality: Protect sensitive information by including confidentiality clauses. This helps build trust with your clients.

How Counsel Club Helps

Counsel Club re-imagines legal for startups, freelancers, and creative entrepreneurs. Our platform allows you to search for lawyer-drafted forms for startups, freelancers, content creators, and other creative entrepreneurs. Our platform guides you through modifications, both to the contract and the scope of work. Counsel Club has the most sophisticated drafting tool on the market, and it was designed and developed by lawyers. If you want more help, reach out to a Counsel Club lawyer through our Concierge program. Our legal agent, Amicus, was trained on proprietary legal data to be your best legal assistant. Finally, legal for today, that is fast, protective, and cost effective.

Questions to Ask Amicus

• What rights do I have over my work if the client fails to pay?
• How should I handle revisions if the client requests more than agreed upon?
• What should I do if the project scope changes significantly?

Closing CTA

Ready to create your Master Services Agreement? Pair it with detailed SOWs for clarity and transparency in your engagements. Customize your Master Services Agreement now.