“Fractional is cheaper” is true, but it undersells the actual math. When you fully load a full-time marketing executive’s cost — base salary, payroll taxes, benefits, paid time off, recruiting fees and the ramp-up period before they’re productive — the gap between fractional and full-time is usually far larger than people expect.
What “fully loaded” actually means
A $150,000 base salary rarely means $150,000 in total cost. Add roughly 20-30% for payroll taxes and benefits, amortize a $25,000-$35,000 recruiting fee over an average 2-3 year tenure, and factor in 15-20 paid days off plus average sick leave, and the fully loaded annual cost of that hire typically lands between $200,000 and $230,000 — before equipment, software seats or management overhead.
The fractional comparison
A fractional marketing leader billed at $200/hour for 20 hours a week runs roughly $208,000 a year — comparable on paper to a fully loaded full-time hire, but with a critical difference: those are the only hours you pay for, and they scale down the moment priorities shift. Most engagements start at 10-15 hours a week during ramp-up, meaningfully below full-time cost, and flex up only when the work demands it.
Where the real ROI shows up
- No fixed cost floor. A slow quarter doesn’t carry the same fixed payroll burden.
- Immediate seniority. You’re paying CMO-level rates for CMO-level judgment from day one, not junior-to-mid rates while someone grows into the role.
- Bench access. Specialist skills — paid social, lifecycle, PR — are available inside the same engagement without separate hires.
Use the interactive ROI calculator on this site to model your own numbers — input your specific salary, benefits rate and hiring assumptions, and compare directly against a fractional engagement at your chosen hourly rate and monthly hours.