Be The Good Marketing

Fractional CMO cost

What senior marketing leadership costs, three ways.

Fractional leadership is billed at a published hourly rate, so the monthly cost is a function of hours. Set the hours you need and compare it against an agency retainer and a fully loaded executive hire.

Standing advisory runs near 20. Full ownership of plan, team, and budget runs 40 to 60.

A comparable monthly retainer you are quoted or already paying.

Base salary for the marketing leader you would otherwise hire.

Payroll tax, benefits, equipment, and recruiting fees as a share of salary.

The fractional figure uses the published rate of $175 per hour for fractional marketing leadership, the same rate shown on the pricing page and in the Estimator.

Monthly cost

Fractional CMO
$5,250

30 hours at $175 per hour. Annualized: $63,000.

Agency retainer
$12,000

$6,750 per month more than the fractional option.

Full-time hire
$19,271

Salary plus 25% load, spread monthly. Annualized: $231,250.

Difference vs the hire
$14,021 lower

At high hour counts a full-time hire becomes the better structure. That is the point to make the hire, and I say so.

Reading the comparison

Cost is only half the question

Hours, not headcount

Fractional cost scales with the hours the work truly needs. Most growth-stage companies need senior judgment two or three days a month, not twenty.

Seniority per dollar

An agency retainer buys a team, usually with the senior name on the pitch and the day-to-day handled by someone more junior. Fractional buys the senior person directly.

The load nobody quotes

A full-time hire carries payroll tax, benefits, equipment, recruiting fees, and ramp time. Twenty to thirty percent on top of base is a conservative estimate.

When to make the hire

Past roughly 60 hours a month, or once the marketing team is large enough to need daily management, a full-time leader is the right answer and fractional becomes the bridge to it.

For what the engagement includes, see fractional CMO services. For the structural tradeoffs, see fractional CMO vs agency. For every published rate, see pricing, and for acquisition economics, the CAC calculator.

Next step

Bring the number, and the decision behind it.

The right hour count depends on what is actually unowned inside your marketing. That takes twenty minutes to establish, and the consult is free.

Book a Free ConsultSee published rates