If nobody owns the marketing plan and you are between about $1 million and $50 million in revenue, a fractional CMO usually fits; if the plan is clear and you only need more hands, hire an agency; if one channel is the problem and budget is tight, hire a hands-on growth marketer. Hire a full-time CMO when you run a large team every day and can fund $280,000 to $450,000 a year.
Most companies asking this question are really asking two things: does anyone own the marketing plan, and is there enough work and budget to justify a full-time executive. Answer the six questions below. The check adds up points for four options and tells you which one fits, with the reason behind each answer. Nothing is sent anywhere; it runs in your browser.
| Option | What you get | Fits when | Cost guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hands-on growth marketer | A practitioner who runs one or two channels personally | One channel is the problem and the plan is sound | Hourly or part-time pay; the lowest monthly cost of the four |
| Marketing agency | A team of doers under one contract | The plan is clear and you lack execution capacity | A monthly retainer that varies widely by scope |
| Fractional CMO | Senior leadership for part of each month | Nobody owns the plan, budget or numbers; under about 10 marketers | MarkCMO: $2,500 to $50,000 a month, most $8,000 to $15,000 |
| Full-time CMO | An executive in the business every day | A large team, daily management, revenue above about $50 million | $280,000 to $450,000 a year all in |
Agency and growth marketer costs are not given as numbers because they vary too much by scope to state honestly. For published fractional CMO prices across 49 providers, see the Fractional CMO Price Index.
Two rules run first. If your budget is under $2,500 a month, paid senior leadership is ruled out and the answer is a growth marketer, or an agency if your problem is execution capacity. If you have more than 10 marketers and need daily management, the answer is a full-time CMO. Otherwise each answer adds the points below, the highest total wins, and a tie goes to the lighter commitment, in this order: growth marketer, agency, fractional CMO, full-time CMO.
| Question | Answer | Points |
|---|---|---|
| What is the main problem right now? | Nobody owns a marketing plan. We do things, but cannot say what is working. | Fractional CMO +3 |
| The plan is clear. We do not have enough hands to run the campaigns. | Growth marketer +1, Agency +3 | |
| One channel underperforms, such as ads, SEO or email. The rest is fine. | Growth marketer +3, Agency +1 | |
| Our marketing leader left, or a large team has no leader. | Fractional CMO +2, Full-time CMO +2 | |
| What is your annual revenue? | Under $1 million | Growth marketer +2, Agency +1 |
| $1 million to $10 million | Agency +1, Fractional CMO +2 | |
| $10 million to $50 million | Fractional CMO +2, Full-time CMO +1 | |
| Over $50 million | Full-time CMO +3 | |
| How many people work on marketing in house? | Nobody. The founder or owner does it. | Growth marketer +1, Agency +1, Fractional CMO +1 |
| 1 to 3 people | Fractional CMO +2 | |
| 4 to 10 people | Fractional CMO +1, Full-time CMO +1 | |
| More than 10 people | Full-time CMO +3 | |
| What can you spend each month on marketing leadership or outside help, not counting ad spend? | Under $2,500 | Growth marketer +3 |
| $2,500 to $8,000 | Growth marketer +1, Agency +1, Fractional CMO +1 | |
| $8,000 to $20,000 | Agency +1, Fractional CMO +2 | |
| More than $20,000 | Fractional CMO +1, Full-time CMO +2 | |
| How soon do you need someone working on this? | This month | Agency +1, Fractional CMO +1 |
| Within the next quarter | No points | |
| We can take 3 to 6 months to hire well | Full-time CMO +2 | |
| Does the role need someone in the business every day, managing people directly? | Yes, every day | Full-time CMO +3 |
| No, a few days a week of senior time is enough | Fractional CMO +2 | |
| Not sure | No points |
If the check says fractional CMO, compare providers on who will actually lead your account, what is published about price and how you can end the agreement; fractional CMO companies compared lays out what seven providers publish, and how much a fractional CMO costs explains what drives the price. If it says agency, write down the plan and the one number you will judge them on before you sign. If it says full-time CMO, start the search now, because it usually takes months, and decide what will cover the gap. If it says growth marketer, hire for the one channel that matters and set a cost per lead or sale target from the first month. Shorter answers to related questions are collected on fractional CMO questions, answered.
Hire an agency when you already know what the marketing should do and the gap is people to do it: campaigns, ads, content or design. An agency supplies a team of doers under one contract. Hire a fractional CMO when nobody owns the plan, the budget or the weekly numbers, because an agency without direction tends to spread money across channels. Many companies use both, with the fractional CMO setting the plan and judging the agency's work.
A full-time CMO is worth it when marketing is large enough to need a leader in the business every day: usually more than 10 people on the team, revenue above about $50 million, and a budget that can carry $280,000 to $450,000 a year in total cost. Below that, most of a full-time CMO's week would be spent on work that a fractional leader or a strong marketing manager could cover for less.
A hands-on growth marketer is a practitioner who runs channels personally, such as paid search, paid social, SEO or email, rather than leading a department. You need one when a single channel is underperforming, the overall plan is sound, and the budget is too small for senior leadership. A good one will set up tracking, run tests and report on cost per lead or sale. They need someone to set priorities, often the founder.
Yes, and it often does. The scoring is shown on this page, and three of the four outcomes are not a fractional CMO. If your budget is under $2,500 a month, your problem is one channel, your plan is clear and you need hands, or you run a large team every day, the check points you to a growth marketer, an agency or a full-time CMO. MarkCMO only appears in the fractional CMO result, as one option to compare.
Each answer adds points to one or more of the four options, as shown in the scoring table on this page. The option with the most points is the recommendation, and each answer you picked is listed with the reason it moved the result. Two rules apply first: a budget under $2,500 a month rules out paid senior leadership, and more than 10 people managed daily points to a full-time CMO. Ties go to the lighter commitment.
Sometimes the selector points at marketing when the real constraint is operations, software or security: work that cannot be delivered on time, a CRM and reporting nobody trusts, or buyers asking security questions you cannot answer. MarkCMO also offers fractional COO and fractional CEO leadership, marketing services for the execution work, custom software development, cybersecurity hardening and assessments and AI automation. See the services page for what each one covers, or read B2B fractional CMO if you sell to other businesses.
MarkCMO provides the strategy and the roadmap, and then delivers it across three tiers, so you get direction and execution from one team instead of handing a deck to someone else to build.
Fractional CMO and COO leadership: strategy, positioning, go-to-market, and the roadmap that sets the direction.
Running the function day to day: managing teams, vendors, budgets, and the operating cadence that keeps the plan on track.
Hands-on delivery: marketing execution, software development, tech-stack build and integration, plus finance and operations support, everything a business needs to scale.
From tech to marketing to finance, strategy through execution, MarkCMO can lead it, manage it, and build it.
Book a free 30-minute call with Mark Gabrielli. He will tell you which option fits your situation, including when it is not a fractional CMO, whether or not you work together.
Book a free strategy call →Related