What Does A Fractional CMO Actually Cost?
Average $20,000/month. Here's what that buys, and how it stacks up against a full-time hire or an agency retainer.
The Three-Way Math
$300,000-$500,000/year salary, plus benefits and equity, plus months of recruiting risk. Most have never built a 7-figure business from scratch.
Average $20,000/month ($240,000/year). Direct access to Ken. No recruiting risk, no severance, no ramp-up guesswork.
Often a comparable monthly retainer for serious attention — but agencies execute campaigns. They don't set the strategy behind them.
What $20,000 A Month Actually Gets You
Direct access to Ken. Regular strategy sessions. Creative direction on what your team is producing. Marketing leadership across the whole operation, not just one campaign. Measurable accountability for results — not a monthly report nobody reads.
Typical term: 12 to 24 months. Capacity: maximum 10 clients.
Request Strategic Review →More on this: Fractional CMO articles, or see Fractional CMO vs. agency vs. full-time hire for the full comparison.
Frequently Asked Questions
The average Ad Zombies Fractional CMO engagement runs $20,000 per month. Specific scope varies by engagement, but that's the number to plan around, not a low-ball "starting at" figure that turns into something else once you're in the room.
A full-time Chief Marketing Officer at a comparable level costs $300,000 to $500,000 a year in salary alone — before benefits, before equity, before the months it takes to recruit and onboard one. $20,000/month is $240,000/year, with none of the recruiting risk and no severance if it's not the right fit.
Agency retainers vary widely, but a serious agency relationship at a comparable level of attention is often in a similar monthly range — the difference isn't price, it's what you get. An agency executes campaigns. A Fractional CMO sets the strategy those campaigns should be executing in the first place.
Direct access to Ken, regular strategy sessions, creative direction, marketing leadership across your team, and measurable accountability for results. It's not a set menu — the exact scope gets defined during the strategic review before anything is committed.
12 to 24 months is the typical term, because marketing strategy takes consistency to actually produce results — a 90-day engagement rarely gets far enough to prove anything. If your business isn't ready for that kind of commitment yet, a Brand Reanimation or Web Reanimation project might be the better starting point.