Hire Fractional Marketing Leaders
Fractional Marketing. Scalable Growth
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Marketing is the function founders hire into fastest and regret hiring into soonest. The usual mistake is buying execution when the problem is strategy, or buying a strategist when what the business actually needs is someone to run the ads properly. Fractional marketing lets you buy the specific level the problem sits at, and change it when the problem changes.
Which fractional marketing leader do you need?
- Fractional CMO - the whole marketing function: positioning, channel strategy, budget, and the team. Hire when marketing is being decided in fragments by people whose role is not marketing.
- Fractional CGO - growth across the full funnel, not just top of it. Hire when acquisition, activation, and retention are owned by nobody in particular.
- Fractional Head of Marketing - hands-on ownership of the plan and the team, one level below CMO scope. Hire when you need someone doing the work as well as directing it.
- Fractional Performance Marketing Manager - paid acquisition, budget efficiency, and channel testing. Hire when spend is growing faster than the return on it.
- Fractional SEO and Content Lead - organic visibility, content strategy, and the pages that compound. Hire when you want traffic that does not stop when the budget does.
- Fractional Loyalty and Retention Strategist - repeat rate, lifecycle, and the value of a customer after the first purchase. Hire when acquisition costs are rising and nothing is being done about retention.
- Fractional Email and SMS Specialist - owned-channel revenue: flows, campaigns, and segmentation. Hire when your list is large and underworked.
- Fractional CRO Specialist - conversion rate optimisation on the traffic you already have. Hire when the traffic is fine and the conversion is not.
The fractional marketing seniority ladder
Read the ladder by scope rather than title. A CMO owns the whole function and answers for the number: positioning, budget allocation, team, and the board conversation about marketing. A CGO sits alongside that with a bias toward the full funnel and compounding growth loops rather than brand. A Head of Marketing runs the plan hands-on, which is usually the right first senior marketing hire for a business under about thirty people. Below that sit the specialists, and specialists are where fractional works hardest: a performance marketer, an SEO and content lead, a retention strategist, and an email and SMS specialist each own one lever properly rather than four levers badly. Most businesses over-hire at the top and under-hire in the middle. If the strategy is settled and the execution is weak, buy the specialist. If everyone is executing and nobody agrees what the strategy is, buy the CMO.
What fractional marketing leaders cost
Fractional marketing is bought by the day, so cost tracks seniority and days per week rather than a salary band. A specialist one day a week costs a fraction of a CMO two days a week, which is exactly the point: you match the spend to the level the work needs, and you change the mix as the business changes. Outsourced, virtual, part time, and contract marketing arrangements are all variants of the same day-rate model. Current day rates by role are set out in our fractional executive rates guide.
Fractional vs interim vs full time marketing leadership
Fractional is part time and ongoing: one to three days a week, building the function over months. Interim is full time and temporary, covering an empty seat through a departure or a search, usually four to sixteen months and most often at CMO level, so see interim CMO if the seat is empty rather than undefined. Full time is for when the workload is genuinely daily and permanent, which for marketing usually arrives later than founders expect.
Not sure which level you need? Brief us once and we will tell you straight, including when the cheaper specialist is the right call rather than the CMO.
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Roles
Hire a Fractional CGO (Chief Growth Officer)
Senior growth leadership without the full-time overhead. Fractionus connects you with pre-vetted fractional Chief Growth Officers who plug in fast, own the whole funnel, and make growth repeatable.
Hire a Fractional Loyalty and Retention Strategist
A fractional Loyalty and Retention Strategist owns repeat purchase one to three days a week: why customers come back, what would make more of them do it, and whether a loyalty programme is worth running at all. Fractionus matches you with vetted retention strategists who start in the cohort data.
Hire a Fractional CRO Specialist
A fractional CRO Specialist runs conversion rate optimisation one to three days a week: research, hypotheses, tests, and honest reads on the results. Fractionus matches you with vetted CRO specialists who will tell you when a test did not work.
Hire a Fractional SEO and Content Lead
A fractional SEO and Content Lead owns organic visibility one to three days a week: what gets written, why it will be found, and the technical foundation under it. Fractionus matches you with vetted leads who build traffic that compounds.
Hire a Fractional Performance Marketing Manager
A fractional Performance Marketing Manager owns paid acquisition one to three days a week: channels, creative, budget, and the return on it. Fractionus matches you with vetted performance marketers who will tell you when the answer is to spend less.
Hire a Fractional Email and SMS Specialist
A fractional Email and SMS Specialist owns the channels you already own one to three days a week: lifecycle flows, campaigns, segmentation, and the deliverability underneath them. Fractionus matches you with vetted specialists who treat the list as an asset rather than as a broadcast.
Hire a Fractional Head of Marketing
A fractional Head of Marketing runs the plan hands-on one to three days a week: channels, campaigns, the team, and the number. Fractionus matches you with vetted marketing leaders who do the work as well as direct it.
Hire a Fractional CMO
Senior marketing leadership without the full-time overhead. Fractionus connects you with pre-vetted fractional CMOs who plug in fast, own the plan, and drive revenue.
Hire an Interim CMO
Full-time marketing leadership for exactly as long as you need it. Fractionus places proven interim CMOs who take control of the seat within days, hold campaigns and pipeline steady through the transition, and hand over cleanly to whoever comes next.
How it works — from intro to impact.
1. Tell us who you need and what success looks like. We define the scope, identify the right fractional leaders, and handle introductions.
2. Meet your matches, A short list of proven operators. Review them on a call for fit, experience, and approach - then select who aligns best.
3. Get started with a clear scope. We handle agreements, contracts, and ongoing support so execution stays focused and on track.
Hire Fractional Marketing Leaders
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Fractional leaders from top brands
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I hire fractional marketing talent?
You can hire fractional marketing talent through referrals, industry-specific networks, executive search firms, or dedicated fractional platforms. The right source depends on how urgent the need is, how senior the role is, and whether you want help evaluating candidates yourself.
Fractionus is built specifically for this: a pre-vetted shortlist of fractional marketing professionals, matched to your stage and budget, without the overhead of a traditional search process.
What is the best platform for hiring fractional marketing talent?
The best platform vets for genuine marketing experience rather than adjacent skills, and can match you with the right seniority quickly instead of leaving you to sort through a long list of generic profiles.
Fractionus pre-vets every fractional marketing professional on the platform and builds your shortlist around the specific problem you are solving, not a generic listing.
Which fractional marketing role do I need?
It depends on whether marketing is missing strategy, execution, or both.
- Fractional CMO or CGO - ownership of the whole function or, for a CGO, growth across the full funnel.
- Fractional Head of Marketing - hands-on ownership of the plan and the team, one level below CMO scope.
- Fractional Performance Marketing Manager or SEO and Content Lead - a single channel run properly rather than the whole function.
- Fractional Loyalty and Retention Strategist or Email and SMS Specialist - the retention and lifecycle side specifically.
How much does a fractional marketing leader cost?
Most fractional marketing engagements run one to three days a week, priced as a day rate or a monthly retainer, with cost scaling with seniority and scope rather than a fixed salary band.
Current rate ranges by role are set out in our fractional executive rates guide. As a rule of thumb, a fractional marketing hire costs materially less than a full-time equivalent, because you are buying the days you need rather than a permanent salary and package.
What is the difference between a fractional and a full-time marketing leader?
A fractional marketing leader works part time and on an ongoing basis, typically one to three days a week, brought in to build or run the function without the cost of a full-time hire. An interim CMO is different again: full time and temporary, usually covering an empty seat for four to sixteen months.
Choose fractional when you need senior marketing expertise on a continuing basis but cannot yet justify a full-time hire. Choose interim when continuity matters most and there is a specific seat to cover. Choose full time once the workload and budget genuinely support a dedicated hire.
How do I start hiring for marketing?
Start by defining the problem the business actually needs solved, not just the seniority of the title. Is it strategy that is missing, or execution? Is the gap temporary or ongoing? The answers point to which of the marketing roles above is the right fit.
Once you know the outcome you need and roughly how many days a week the work requires, Fractionus can put together a shortlist built around that brief rather than a generic listing.
What should I look for when hiring fractional marketing talent?
Look for direct, hands-on experience at a comparable business stage, not just adjacent seniority. The strongest fractional marketing professionals have built or run the function themselves, not just advised on it, and can point to concrete outcomes rather than general experience.
You also want someone comfortable working part time and handing off cleanly: clear documentation, a realistic view of what fits in the days available, and the judgement to flag what should be hired full time instead.
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