Marketing plays a key role in growing a business, especially an up-and-coming one. Still, the companies that depend on it the most often can’t get the support they need due to limited resources. They usually can’t afford to hire one full-time marketer, let alone an entire team.
All is not lost, though. Companies can opt for fractional marketing services and hire a marketing professional or agency for temporary, need-based engagement. This allows them to get deep subject matter expertise for specific projects without committing to a long-term contract or waiting to have enough resources to hire an in-house expert. It’s a cost-effective and flexible approach to hiring, which is why it’s an especially appealing option for startups.
In this article, we’ll define fractional marketing and explore the advantages and disadvantages of hiring fractional marketing services. You’ll also discover some helpful tips if you decide to recruit fractional marketers. As a bonus, we’ll present a platform that makes it simple to connect with pre-vetted, high-caliber fractional marketing talent.
What Are Fractional Marketing Services?
The fractional hiring approach in marketing implies hiring a marketer or agency for a portion of their time instead of committing to expensive and potentially redundant long-term contracts. Depending on the needs of your business, fractional marketers might engage with you:
- Weekly
- Monthly
- Quarterly
- Biannually
- For specific projects
Businesses can also hire ad hoc fractional marketing services and marketers specializing in particular verticals or channels. Such a model allows them to adapt to changes quickly, scale up or down, and meet their target audience where it’s at.
Like freelancers, fractional marketers may work for multiple companies at a time and usually enjoy flexible work hours. However, they engage with each employer on a deeper level and can also work for them full-time when needed. Because of the temporary and need-based nature of their engagement, fractional marketers often focus on specific projects or areas, such as strategy building.
How Is Fractional Work Different From Other Engagement Types?
Check out the table below to understand the key differences between full-time, part-time, freelance, and fractional engagement:
Marketing Roles That Are Compatible With the Fractional Model
Typically, fractional employment is best suited for and often associated with:
- High or mid-level roles that require extensive experience, including marketing managers and marketing executives such as a CMO, CGO, and marketing director
- Highly specialized and in-demand roles, such as SEO specialists or social media strategists
Still, the fractional model can work with most marketing positions—find out which ones and why below:
Fractional employment is also fitting for interim marketing roles. You can hire a fractional marketer to fill a skills gap while looking for the ideal full-time employee or when an in-house marketer is absent for a longer period. A fractional contract is also a great way to test the waters before committing to a full-time hire.
Key Benefits of Fractional Marketing Services
Having a stable workforce that performs the same tasks consistently well is preferred in some cases, but not always. For startups, it may not even be feasible. The cost of recruiting an in-house marketer for each task or finding an employee who does it all can end up being astronomical.
On the other hand, hiring a freelance marketer is often cheaper, but they may not be as invested in your goals as a full-time employee would be.
Fractional hiring gets you the best of both worlds, offering benefits such as:
- Cost-effectiveness: With fractional marketing services, you’re only paying for what you need. You can hire at a lower cost without compromising on talent expertise
- Flexibility and scalability: If you decide to change your strategy or expand your marketing efforts, you can recruit an experienced fractional expert to handle the shift without breaking the bank
- Faster hiring: By hiring a fractional specialist, you can resolve specific problems and meet emerging marketing needs quickly, whereas finding a long-term marketer who can do everything can take ages
- Increased efficiency: With the right hire at the right time, you can ensure uninterrupted growth and profitability for your business
Fractional arrangements are beneficial for both businesses and marketers. Instead of being bound to a company, the marketer can work flexibly and leverage their specific expertise on various projects, making the most of their time. At the same time, they maintain more financial stability than freelancers.
When To Adopt Fractional Marketing Services
The beauty of fractional marketing services is that you can get them on demand when you need to. Here are some situations that may call for a fractional expert:
- Critical points: A fractional marketer or CMO can guide and oversee your marketing efforts during important stages of business development, such as when launching a new product line or rebranding
- Lack of results: If you can’t figure out why your existing marketing efforts aren’t working anymore and why you’re not hitting your KPIs, calling in an unbiased third party can help you get out of the rut
- Lack of order: Sometimes, your marketing efforts may be appropriate but inefficient, causing you and your team to waste time or become overworked. In such cases, you can find a fractional CMO to bring order to chaos and reorganize your workflow
- Lack of innovation: In a competitive market, you must constantly innovate to stay ahead of the curve. A fractional expert can help bring in a fresh perspective to make your business stand out
- Specialized services: If you decide to expand your marketing efforts to a new channel, you can recruit a fractional expert who specializes in it. The same goes for brand, SEO, content, and any other marketing initiative
Making the Best of Fractional Recruiting
Follow these best practices to ensure the collaboration with your fractional marketing agency or marketer is mutually beneficial:
- Set clear expectations: Before work starts, you and the marketer should agree on the working terms. Define the role and responsibilities your marketer will take on. Have straightforward and measurable objectives for both the short and the long term. Discuss the marketer’s availability and make sure to respect it, preventing them from getting overworked and burnt out
- Have trust in their expertise: Once you set your expectations, it’s best to take a step back. Since you’ve hired the marketer for their experience and skills, you should let them do their job and avoid micromanaging
- Prevent conflicts of interest: Your fractional marketer may work for other companies similar to yours. You should include a non-disclosure agreement in the employment contract to protect confidential and proprietary information from competitors
- Communicate regularly: The fractional marketer may work for you sporadically and even remotely. You need to check in with them to ensure alignment and successful collaboration. Provide regular feedback and send them company updates to keep them in the loop
- Nurture the relationship: You should treat your fractional marketer the same way as everyone else, even though they’re not as involved as full-time employees. Include them in relevant meetings and other activities, provide benefits and opportunities for advancement, and make them feel valued. That way, they’ll be more engaged in the company and motivated to do their best work
Challenges of Employing Fractional Marketing Services
If you specify the terms, communicate openly, and treat your fractional marketer with respect, the rest should fall into place. The biggest obstacle you’ll need to overcome is finding a suitable individual to fill the role. Besides being skilled and experienced, your fractional marketer needs to showcase:
- Independence: If you hire someone who relies on your support and requires constant oversight, you won’t be able to trust them with high-impact tasks, and you’ll waste too much of your time on them
- Reliability: If the marketer doesn’t follow through on your agreement and complete the work they were hired for, you’ll have to find a replacement, which can be costly and disruptive, especially for a startup
- Dedication: If the marketer isn’t devoted to your mission, they likely won’t do their best work, build a relationship with your business, or strive to improve
Unlike technical skills, these traits are difficult to assess objectively without working with the professional first.
How To Get Fractional Marketing Services
To find fractional talent, you have two options:
- Source, screen, and select candidates or agencies yourself
- Partner with a recruitment agency or platform
The first option may seem more budget-friendly as platforms such as Upwork and Freelancer are mostly free, but it’s often the opposite. Sourcing and evaluating marketers takes a lot of time and effort, especially when you’re not a marketing expert yourself.
You also risk hiring the wrong candidate. Replacing them can be expensive, and they may also harm your business before you figure out you’re not the right fit.
While a dedicated recruitment service may cost more upfront, it gives you peace of mind and frees up your time for core business activities. This is true only if you choose a reliable provider, though.
What To Look For in Fractional Recruiting Services
Here are some qualities to look for when selecting a fractional marketing hiring platform:
Why Is MarketerHire the Best Choice for Hiring Fractional Marketing Services?
When you need to find top-notch fractional marketers, who better to call than seasoned marketing experts?
MarketerHire is a matchmaking platform that specializes in hiring for various marketing positions, offering to connect you with vetted expert marketers for any role within 48 hours. With over 25,000 successful matches since 2018, MarketerHire has a stellar track record, which is why it’s trusted by household names such as:
- Netflix
- HelloFresh
- Lyft
- Allbirds
MarketerHire’s network consists of expert-vetted individuals, many of whom have worked for Fortune 500 companies. Only the top 3% of candidates pass its rigorous screening process, which includes:
- In-depth skill assessments
- Video interviews
- Test projects
The platform applies the same elaborate approach to matching. Using a proprietary MarketerMatch system that combines AI and handmatching, MarketerHire can zero in on an individual that will fit your team like a glove. You can assess your compatibility during the trial period. If you’re not satisfied, MarketerHire will find another match for free, eliminating the risk of making a bad hire.
Fractional hiring can be tricky, but you don’t have to go through it alone. Besides doing all the heavy lifting, MarketerHire will appoint a dedicated marketing manager to understand your needs and guide and support you throughout the recruitment process.
How MarketerHire Works
MarketerHire’s fractional recruitment process consists of only three steps:
- Describing the project: Your assigned marketing manager meets with you to learn about your company, project, and the role you’re looking to fill
- Meeting your fractional marketer: MarketerHire’s team singles out and recommends an expert marketer within two days
- Initiating the project: Your fractional marketer can start working with you within as little as three days
The contract is short-term and flexible, so you can scale up, scale down, or cancel the collaboration whenever you need to.
With MarketerHire, you can also recruit full-time Expert Assistants if your marketing, design, or sales team gets stuck with any rote tasks. Like the marketers, the assistants are all pre-vetted, experienced, and ready to start working with you within days.
Whether you need a fractional CMO, SEO specialist, or marketing analyst, reach out to MarketerHire and connect with today’s top marketing experts.
Other Fractional Hiring Resources To Check Out
We’ve written many more articles about fractional hiring—check them out below: