You need a marketing director.
You don't need to hire one full-time.
A marketing director costs $85,000-140,000/year plus benefits, takes 3-6 months to hire and onboard, and may only be strong in one or two channels. A fractional consultant gives you senior strategy across every channel, starting this week, for a fraction of the cost.
The real comparison.
Fractional (By Callan)
Full-Time Hire
Annual cost
$18,000 - $48,000
$85,000 - $140,000 + benefits
Ramp-up time
Week 1 — already working
3-6 months to hire + onboard
Experience level
8+ years, 386 clients managed
Depends on who you can afford
Tool expertise
GA4, GTM, Ahrefs, n8n, HubSpot, Zapier — day one
May need training on your stack
Risk if it doesn't work
Cancel next month
Severance, rehiring, 6 months lost
Coverage
SEO + Ads + Automation + Web + Analytics
Usually strong in 1-2 areas
Outside perspective
Sees what works across 24 industries
Only knows your company
Scalability
Scale hours up or down monthly
Fixed salary regardless of workload
When fractional makes sense (and when it doesn't).
Fractional is right for you if:
- Revenue is $250K - $5M and marketing budget is $2K-5K/month
- You need strategy + execution, not just ideas
- You want senior expertise without a $120K salary
- You need results in weeks, not months of hiring
- Your marketing needs span multiple channels
- You've been burned by agencies and want direct accountability
Full-time makes more sense if:
- - You need 40+ hours/week of dedicated marketing work
- - You have a large team that needs daily management
- - Your marketing budget exceeds $20K/month in ad spend
- - You need someone in-office 5 days a week
- - You're a funded startup with aggressive growth targets
Not sure which path is right?
Let's talk through it. I'll give you an honest assessment — even if the answer is "you should hire someone full-time."
Book a Free Call