The Marketing Leader You Haven't Hired Yet
Time to bring a marketing leader on at your company? There's a few ways to dice it. Let's get into it.
The Stack
And that's the good version. That's the version where they work out.
The Clock
That's the median time to fill a senior marketing role, according to LinkedIn.
Then 90 more before they've stopped asking where the files are.
Your Q3 starts whether they're ready or not.
The Risk
Somewhere between a quarter and a third of senior hires don't make it past year one.
So the fractional pitch writes itself, right? Cheaper. Faster. No benefits.
Nope. Wrong argument.
If cost were the only thing that mattered, you'd hire the cheapest person who'd say yes, and you already know how that ends.
The real question isn't what marketing leadership costs.
It's what kind of marketing leadership your business can actually use right now.
The Three Rooms
Option One
What you get
Someone in the building. In the culture. In the standup. Long-term ownership.
What it costs
$287,000 and a quarter of your year before they've done anything.
When it's right
You have a marketing team to lead, a budget for it, and a clear five-year build in mind.
When it's wrong
You're hiring a leader to figure out what marketing should even be. That's an expensive way to buy a strategy.
Option Two
What you get
A team, on paper. A logo on a slide. A monthly report.
What it costs
Less than the hire. More than you think, once you add the third vendor.
When it's right
You know exactly what to execute and need hands to execute it. Agencies are very good at that.
When it's wrong
You don't know what to ask for. Nobody's accountable for whether it worked. The person who sold you isn't the one doing the work.
Option Three
What you get
A senior leader who owns the strategy, plus the team to run it. One person accountable for the whole thing.
What it costs
A fraction of the hire. Roughly what you already spend across vendors nobody is coordinating.
When it's right
You're at the friction point. What got you here isn't getting you there. You need someone to decide what matters and make it happen.
When it's wrong
You want someone in the building every day, or you already have a strategy and just need arms and legs. Then hire, or use an agency. Seriously.
Which room are you in?
"We have a marketing team. We just don't have anyone leading it."
You probably need a hire. A good fractional leader will help you find them and hand it over. That's not a sales pitch. That's the job.
"We're doing a lot of marketing and none of it seems connected."
That's not a tactics problem. That's a leadership vacuum, and you can fill it without a $287,000 commitment.
"What worked for the last five years stopped working."
Welcome to the friction point. This is the exact moment fractional leadership was built for.
Not because it went badly. Because it went well.
Because you'll have a strategy that works, a team that runs it, and a clear enough picture of what you need that you can finally hire the right person full-time. And you'll know it's the right person, because you'll actually know what you're looking for.
That's not me losing a client. That's the whole job.
C'mon. Let's figure out where you are.
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