Hire a Fractional CMO
- Define marketing priorities
- Identify target audiences
- Supervise marketing channels
- Developing go-to-market plans
Update for 2025
What does a Fractional CMO do?
Next page
Understanding the role of the Fractional CMO
High skills integration:
Your Fractional CMO must have the right marketing skills, an ability to integrate into your company’s culture and must be in tune with your company’s overall philosophy.A clear vision
Your Fractional CMO must have a clear vision of future products and know how to engage with your customers and prospects.An understanding of friction:
It’s also fundamental that he has a clear understanding of the various obstacles and opportunities that will arise as your startup expands in France.Effective decisions:
Finally, the Fractional CMO will need to be able to make decisions that maximize financial efficiency while balancing product, finances and customers.
Should you hire a Fractional CMO?
Startups in the start-up phase
Let’s face it, startups often have limited budgets and may not have the resources for a full-time marketing director position. However, marketing is crucial to any business and neglecting it in the early days can be devastating. So hiring a Fractional CMO can be a cost-effective solution for startups wishing to implement and deploy a marketing strategy… without emptying their purse.Companies in full development and in need of an interim solution
These may be companies in a growth phase that have gone beyond the startup stage and are looking to accelerate their development. They need the expertise of a CMO to guide their efforts, but they’re not yet ready to hire someone full-time. In this context, a Fractional CMO offers a transitional solution to bridge this gap until full-time hiring becomes necessary.Before hiring full-time to better define the scope
Hiring a fractional marketing director is a serious commitment. So it’s key to properly define the scope of the position. The trick of hiring a Fractional CMO can help determine responsibilities and expectations before making a long-term commitment. This way, when the time comes to hire a full-time CMO, the company has already structured and aligned its marketing efforts, creating the ideal conditions for successful recruitment.When the team is predominantly junior
Hiring a Fractional CMO can be very beneficial for growing companies that need marketing expertise, but only have junior staff. A junior team may lack the experience or knowledge needed to develop and implement a robust marketing strategy. A Fractional CMO provides the strategy and guidance needed to ensure marketing efforts are aligned and effective.When the old CMO is on the way out
The departure of a CMO can trigger a lengthy recruitment process for another Chief Marketing Officer. During this process, it’s important to maintain marketing leadership within the company. The Fractional Chief Marketing Officer (Fractional CMO) option helps contain the gap created by the CMO’s departure, and eliminates the hidden costs associated with a vacant position.When should you hire a Fractional CMO?
The advantages of recruiting a Fractional CMO in Europe
We have already explored why and when to hire a part-time CMO, but the list of advantages doesn’t end there. Many other benefits are available to startups across Europe that need expert marketing support. Let’s see:
Time savings: Running a startup is an enormous undertaking, whether you’re based in Barcelona, Madrid, London, or Berlin. Co-founders across European markets are extremely stretched thin. Designing a marketing strategy adapted to the local specificities of each region can be particularly time-consuming. By hiring a fractional CMO familiar with the nuances of European markets, you entrust your marketing strategy to an expert, freeing up time to focus on other strategic areas of your project.
Premium expertise: A fractional CMO in Europe brings a wealth of invaluable experiences that would be difficult to access otherwise. Mateerz, a major player in this field across Europe, offers professionals whose background in ecosystems as varied as Berlin startups, Madrid marketing agencies, or London corporations has enabled them to acquire innovative strategies and an approach perfectly adapted to different European markets.
Financial savings: Hiring a full-time CMO can be extremely costly, with significant variations depending on the social legislation in Barcelona, Madrid, London, or Berlin. By opting for a fractional CMO solution, you benefit from a professional’s expertise without the financial burden of a full-time position, the costs of which vary considerably between EU countries and the UK.
Optimization: A European fractional CMO is there to maximize your marketing efforts and make them as efficient as possible across all markets on the continent. With their extensive experience of the cultural particularities of each region, they are able to analyze the most significant data and trends to boost your marketing strategy and achieve better results, whether for campaigns in London, Berlin, Barcelona, or Madrid.
Moreover, hiring a fractional CMO in Europe allows you to quickly fill a need without wasting time. Notice periods vary considerably between countries: three months are common in Germany around Berlin, while Madrid and Barcelona generally require one to two months’ notice, and London maintains an average of 30 days. Employing a fractional CMO like those offered by Mateerz allows you to bypass these administrative constraints, enabling you to stay focused on your business objectives while immediately benefiting from expertise adapted to European economic realities.
The difference between Fractional CMO and Part-time CMO
How much does a fractional CMO cost in Europe?
If you’re evaluating whether a fractional CMO is the right choice for your business in Europe, one of your first questions will likely be: how much does a Fractional CMO cost? Getting a clear answer to this question can be challenging as there are various fractional CMO models offering different levels of engagement, expertise, and pricing structures across European cities.
However, a good starting point for understanding the cost of a Fractional CMO is the average hourly rate, which varies significantly between major European business hubs:
- In London, rates typically range from £200 to £400 (€240-€480) per hour, reflecting the city’s higher cost of living and competitive marketing landscape
- Berlin offers more moderate rates between €175 and €325 per hour, making it an attractive option for growing startups
- Barcelona and Madrid present similar pricing structures ranging from €150 to €300 per hour, with specialized sector expertise commanding premium rates
Mateerz, as a major player in the European fractional CMO market, has observed that some fractional CMO providers bill on an ad hoc hourly basis, while others work on a retainer for a dedicated number of hours per week/month.
Most Fractional CMO service providers highlight cost savings as their most significant value proposition. In many cases, this makes sense. A full-time Marketing Director is expensive; their average total annual compensation in permanent employment, including base salary and bonuses, ranges between:
- €170,000-€350,000 in London
- €140,000-€280,000 in Berlin
- €120,000-€260,000 in Barcelona and Madrid
The real cost is typically much higher once you account for recruitment costs, social benefits, and stock options or equity, which vary substantially between EU countries and the UK.
Bringing in this same level of expertise part-time should cost less. Companies across Europe typically save around 60% compared to a full-time hire for the same brain power, with businesses in Barcelona and Madrid often achieving the highest percentage savings compared to their counterparts in London and Berlin.
Working with a fractional CMO from providers like Mateerz allows businesses throughout the European market to access premium marketing leadership while maintaining flexibility and controlling costs according to the specific economic conditions of their city.
