Somewhere between the launch that fizzled and the agency invoice nobody can quite explain, most growing companies arrive at the same question: who is actually running marketing around here? The reflex answer is to post a job for a CMO, and sometimes that’s exactly right. More often, the better move is to figure out how much senior thinking you need, how often you need it, and who will do the work once the thinking is done.
Here’s the short answer. If you have a specific question, or something you want reviewed, book time with an hourly marketing consultant. That’s what Pick My Brain is for. If you have a gap, bring in a fractional CMO for ongoing leadership or scope a project for one defined piece of work. If marketing needs daily leadership for years to come, it’s time to hire a full-time CMO. And if you can’t tell which one you’re dealing with, start with an hour. It’s the least expensive way to find out.
It comes down to one thing. Is this a question, a gap, or time to hire?
Fractional CMO vs. full-time CMO vs. hourly advice at a glance
| Compare | Pick My Brain | Fractional CMO or project | Full-time CMO |
|---|---|---|---|
| It’s | A question | A gap | Time to hire |
| Best for | A specific problem or an expert second opinion | Part-time leadership, or one defined piece of work | Daily leadership of a larger team |
| Commitment | None. Book the time you need. | Monthly, often starting with a 90-day plan, or a set project scope | A long-term hire, plus the search |
| Typical cost | $150 an hour with me | $5,000 to $25,000 a month for a fractional CMO. Projects vary by scope. | $300,000 to $500,000 a year, all in |
| Who does the work | You or your team | Your team or agency, with direction | The CMO’s team |
Fractional CMO and full-time CMO figures come from Web Tonic’s 2026 cost guide.
If you have a question: Pick My Brain
Maybe your launch plan feels a little wobbly, your homepage isn’t converting, or there’s a positioning question you’ve been chewing on for weeks. The problem has edges. Someone who has seen it before could tell you what to do next, and you, or your team, could go do it.
That’s what Pick My Brain, my hourly marketing consulting session, is for. An hour is $150, with no retainer and no long-term contract. We meet on Zoom, and you get a written recap with next steps within 24 hours. If you want an expert on call through a launch or a full quarter, 3-hour and 5-hour bundles are $425 and $675.
You can bring almost anything, and four sessions have their own pages: a pitch deck review, a go-to-market consultation, a messaging and positioning review, and a website messaging review. It also works well for teams with strong marketers in-house who just want an outside read. For the full case, here’s when an hour can beat a retainer.
The catch: advice gives you direction, not a person to carry it out. If nobody has time to act on what you hear, the best hour in the world turns into one more good idea sitting in a doc.
If you have a gap: a fractional CMO or a project
A gap feels different from a question. Marketing is happening, it just isn’t adding up to anything. You might have a small team, a freelancer, or an agency doing perfectly decent work with nobody deciding what it’s all for. An agency is built for production, which is a gift when your strategy is clear. When it isn’t, you get polished guesses. Or you’re launching, repositioning, or heading into a new market, and the stakes just got higher than your current setup can carry.
A fractional CMO is a senior marketing leader who works with you part-time. They set the strategy, own the messaging and positioning, and point your team or agency in one direction. Retainers commonly run $5,000 to $25,000 a month, depending on scope, according to Web Tonic.
If the gap has clear edges, a scoped project may be all you need. Think messaging and positioning, a website redesign, or a go-to-market plan, built once and handed to your team.
The catch: neither one is a marketing department. Someone still has to build the campaigns and write the emails, and that work needs a place in your budget too.
If it’s bigger than that: hire a full-time CMO
Some companies truly need a CMO every single day. The team is large enough to need hands-on leadership, marketing is woven into the decisions being made all week, and the work will still be there a year or two from now. That’s a full-time job, and it deserves a full-time leader.
It’s also the biggest commitment on this list. Web Tonic puts average US CMO total compensation at $293,575, citing Built In, and the all-in cost at $300,000 to $500,000 a year, citing Treetop. That’s before you count the search itself and the time it takes a new leader to ramp up.
The catch: if you haven’t decided who you’re for or what you want to say, you’re paying an executive salary for someone to figure that out. A full-time hire scales a direction. It’s an expensive way to find one.
Not sure which one you need? Start with an hour.
None of this has to be permanent, and you don’t have to diagnose it alone. Bring the messy version of the problem to a Pick My Brain session, and by the end you’ll know whether you have a question you can now answer yourself, a gap that needs a leader or a project, or a role you should hire for.
If it’s bigger than an hour, I’ll tell you, and your session fee is credited toward any GMC engagement booked within 30 days. If the right answer is a full-time CMO, I’ll tell you that too. Either way, you’ve spent $150 to find out, which is a lot less than a wrong hire. Request a session.
A quick gut check
Answer these honestly, ideally with whoever signs the checks.
- Can you name the specific problem you need solved right now?
- If an expert told you exactly what to do, could someone on your team go do it?
- Is marketing happening without anyone deciding what it should add up to?
- Would you have enough senior-level work to fill a full-time leader’s week, every week, a year from now?
- Have you already decided who you’re for and what you want to say?
If you said yes to one and two, start with an hour. If three is your yes, you likely have a gap worth filling. And if four and five are both a confident yes, it may be time to hire.
Fractional CMO vs. hourly advice FAQ
What is the difference between a fractional CMO and a full-time CMO?
A fractional CMO is a senior marketing leader who works with your company part-time, usually on a monthly retainer. A full-time CMO is an executive employee who leads marketing every day.
What is the difference between a fractional CMO and an hourly marketing consultant?
An hourly marketing consultant gives you expert advice on a specific problem, and you pay only for that time. A fractional CMO takes ongoing ownership of your marketing strategy and leadership.
How much does each option cost?
Hourly sessions with me are $150 an hour. Web Tonic reports that fractional CMO retainers commonly run $5,000 to $25,000 a month, and that a full-time CMO costs $300,000 to $500,000 a year, all in.
Can I start with hourly advice before hiring a fractional CMO?
Yes. An hourly session is a low-commitment way to find out what you actually need. At Greenwood Marketing Collective, your session fee is credited toward any engagement booked within 30 days.
The expensive mistake isn’t choosing the smaller option. It’s hiring for a title before you’ve named the problem. Name it first, and the right kind of help gets a lot easier to see.
Courtney Greenwood is the founder of Greenwood Marketing Collective. She has spent 20 years in marketing, product marketing, and strategy, 13 of them leading product marketing and go-to-market strategy for health tech companies.