Expense or Experience - deciding on your marketing hire

A founder, a COO, and a CFO walk into a meeting. There’s no punchline. Just a Monday.

This is how it starts: the discussion results in an agreement for a marketing person; the budget is set, but the question still to explore is what that position looks like: junior in-house hire, in-house marketing lead, or a fractional CMO for a set number of hours per week/month… but then what?

Typically, this type of decision is a discussion, three columns on a spreadsheet, and some back and forth about future goals and expectations.

The first number wins

Anchoring is one of the oldest findings in behavioral economics. The first number you see becomes the reference point for everything after it, even when it has nothing to do with the question you’re actually trying to answer.

In this case, once a junior salary is on the whiteboard, every other option gets measured against it. Leaving the fractional CMO looking very expensive as an hourly contractor or as a CMO on Sale when compared to an in-house CMO.

All of these references miss the bigger, or more important, discussion.

What buyers say they want

The Slice Network and Robert Half surveyed 113 fractional marketing leaders about why demand for their work is growing. The top answer, at 33.9%, was access to senior expertise without a long-term commitment. Saving money came in at 18.6%. ROI or accountability came in at only 3.8% (Marketing Week). (note: small sample and UK-based)

This lines up with what I have seen in my twelve-plus years of selling consulting work. Clients don’t call me because they are seeking a discount; they call seeking a solution, certainty, and an unbiased perspective. They call because they need someone who has been there—someone who has been to this rodeo.

Easy to compare beats worth comparing

So why does the spreadsheet win? Behavioral economists call it evaluability. When one option is easy to measure, and another is hard to measure, we lean on the easy one, even when it matters less.

Marketing has always been something you can’t explain—like why a punchline is good or why we root for the underdog; it's something we just feel.

The salary is easy. It fits in a cell. And every CFO loves a good number and can sell it. Judgment around good marketing effectiveness is hard. You know when it’s good, and when someone has it, but you cannot always pinpoint what makes it so.

Hiring a junior marketer will tick the box of having someone in the marketing role, and if you are lucky enough to get a good one, they are worth every cent.

They also still need guidance and direction on what to work on, where to focus, and often become the executor of ideas rather than the owner of the marketing department. In a company of under 40, this typically means taking direction from the Founder or CEO.

Reading the room is the job

With an experienced marketer, it all flows differently. When I sit down with a founder, I’m typically assessing which of the two most common scenarios we are in.

In the first, they’re unsure. Something feels like its missing, or there are two potential options, both appealing but only one can be executed. What they are searching for is clarity and perspective. In the second, they’re convinced. They’ve spotted the opportunity, and they’re right about it, and they want someone to make sure it doesn’t get fumbled on the way to market. With both cases, the experience is the priority, not the cost, because the wrong decision costs more.

I’ve seen both.

With professional services firms weighing an expansion or a new way to offer their services. Or with trades businesses chasing more sales or a bigger share of their market, and new businesses still figuring out where they fit.

While all different, the goal is the same, certainty and confidence in their direction. This is when you know you have hired a senior leader, not a junior.

The savings were a side effect

At JetHQ, a business aviation brokerage, I helped lead a digital transformation and get the company AI-ready. Along the way, we cut outside consultant and agency spend by 85 to 90%, while website leads, visibility, and thought leadership grew.

Saving money was never the goal. It happened because my experience could determine what to stop paying for and what would provide real ROI. The experience was hired, the byproduct ended up being huge savings and a streamlined process.

The problem with leading on price means you may think you are saving, but with a junior you often need additional help, often in the form of Agencies, which trickles the overall cost up. Hire for the savings and a number, your miss the value of experience. Hire for experience and judgment, and the savings have a funny way of showing up anyway.

Fractional doesn’t mean part-time

Technically it does, but it doesn’t feel part-time, it only looks that way on the calendar.

This is the framing I push back on most. Part-time, in Canada, feels like less commitment, a fractional is full commitment, in less hours.

Fractional leaders serve a market a full-time CMO doesn’t. A 40-person company rarely needs 40 hours a week of senior marketing leader. It needs the right amount at the right moments, from someone who has made these calls many times over.

Fractional means you’re getting what fits your stage of business.

So, which one do you hire?

Without the spreadsheet, these are the questions that you should be asking:

1. Do we know what to market, to whom, and why? Do we need someone who can take this for us, provide leadership and accountability?

2. If we hired a junior marketer tomorrow, who would set their priorities? Do we have the time, resources, and knowledge to ensure we are serving them and our marketing needs?

3. Would anyone on the leadership team notice if the plan was wrong?

These should be the discussion questions and give you clarity as to the level and commitment you need. Budget is still a consideration but the value for the results needed is more important.

That’s exactly what my In Focus Review is for. We look at where your marketing stands today, where it should be heading, and what kind of help gets you there. Then you make the hire with your eyes open, no matter which way it goes.