Fractional vs Full-Time

The fractional model fits when a company needs executive judgment but not executive hours: strategy, channel oversight, agency management, and reporting discipline rarely require forty hours weekly below a certain scale.

Full-time wins when marketing is the company’s core motion — heavy product marketing, large teams to manage, daily cross-functional presence. The failure mode in both directions is mismatch: a full-time hire underutilized into expensive busywork, or a fractional leader stretched past the hours the role really needs.

A useful de-risking path: start fractional, define the role through real operating experience, then convert to full-time when the workload proves it — far cheaper than a mis-hire at executive salary.