Say you run a company of about 20 people. Revenue is growing and marketing is a patchwork: an agency on paid search, a contractor doing social a few hours a week, and you writing the newsletter at 10 p.m. You know you need someone. The question is who.
There are two common mistakes at this point, and they mirror each other.
Mistake one: hiring a marketing manager and expecting them to invent the strategy. A good manager can run a plan very well. Asking them to also settle the positioning, split the budget and decide which channels to drop is a different job. They'll usually be doing it at a manager's salary, without the authority to push back on you.
Mistake two: hiring a fractional CMO when what you're short of is hands. You get a sharp plan, a clear budget and a monthly review. Then nobody has time to write the emails, brief the designer or fix the website. The plan is right and nothing moves.
What each one actually does
| Fractional CMO | Marketing manager (full-time) | |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Decide what to do, in what order, with what budget | Get it done, week after week |
| Time | Part of the week, often a day or less | Full-time, on your team |
| Typical output | Plan, budget allocation, positioning, agency oversight, hiring help, leadership reporting | Campaigns shipped, content produced, tools run, vendors managed day to day |
| Strongest when | Direction is unclear, or keeps changing | Direction is set and the backlog is long |
| Weakest when | Nobody inside can execute | Nobody above them owns the strategy |
| How it's paid | Monthly retainer | Salary, payroll costs, benefits |
| How it ends | Usually 30 days' notice | Resignation or termination, with employment-law obligations |
Comparing the cost honestly
Fractional CMOs. Published Canadian guides put fractional CMO retainers at roughly CAD $6,000 to $13,700 a month. My own Fractional CMO tier is $5,600 a month for up to 32 hours, set just under that entry point on purpose, for companies that need someone to own the plan but can't justify $8,000 or more.
A full-time manager. Don't estimate this from a couple of job ads. Look up the occupation that matches the role (for a senior hire, "advertising, marketing and public relations managers") on the Government of Canada's Job Bank, which shows wage data by region. Then add what the salary line leaves out:
- CPP and EI employer contributions
- vacation pay, and benefits if you offer them
- software, equipment and training
- recruiting time, and the months before a new hire is fully productive
That total is your real comparison figure. It's almost always higher than the number people start with.
One caution: the two aren't priced for the same work. A day a week of senior judgement and five days a week of execution are different purchases. Comparing monthly totals only takes you so far.
A quick way to decide
Hire a marketing manager first if:
- you already have a written plan you believe in, and what's left is mostly doing it
- you, or someone senior, can spend a few hours a week steering them
- the backlog is concrete: campaigns to run, content to produce, tools to look after
Start with a fractional CMO if:
- you can't say with confidence which channels deserve the budget
- you're paying two or more vendors and nobody holds them to account
- you're about to hire and can't describe the role yet
- marketing direction changes every time leadership meets
Ticked boxes on both lists? That's common. Read on.
The order that often works
For a lot of growing companies the answer is both, one after the other. A fractional lead comes in for the first three to six months: writes the plan, sorts out the vendors, and defines the role. Then you hire a manager into a job that's already been designed, with a plan waiting on day one. The fractional lead can stay on at a lighter level to coach and review, or step away.
This order also makes the hire better. It's hard to interview for a role you can't describe. A job description written from a live plan attracts different people than "Marketing Manager, responsible for all marketing."
Six questions for any fractional CMO
- How many hours a month does this price include, and what happens if we go over?
- What will I have in hand at the end of month one, and in what format?
- Will you manage our agencies directly, or advise me on managing them?
- What's the minimum term, and how much notice ends it?
- Do all accounts, files and data stay in our name?
- Who does the work: you, or a team behind you?
Vague answers here tend to become a vague engagement.
When the answer is neither
Sometimes the honest answer is "not yet." If you're still working out who buys from you, or revenue can't carry a senior salary, a full-time manager is expensive and a fractional CMO is more than you need. A few hours of senior advice a month, or a one-off plan, will usually do more for less.
That's the job my Sounding Board tier does: $1,650 a month for up to 8 hours, two calls, month-to-month from the start. You can move up a tier from the next billing cycle if the work grows.