Pricing
Fractional CMOs are priced as a monthly retainer, a day rate or a project fee. A retainer is the norm because the work is ongoing. A real number depends on the company stage, the scope, the cadence and the engagement length.
The standard model. Fixed monthly fee for an agreed cadence (typically 1–3 days per week). Predictable for both sides and aligned with how marketing leadership actually works.
Useful for short, defined sprints or board advisory. Higher per-day cost; lower commitment on either side.
Scope-bound work like a positioning reset, GTM relaunch or martech rebuild. Fixed price for a defined deliverable.
For context only. A senior European fractional CMO retainer typically lands somewhere between roughly €6,000 and €25,000 per month depending on the cadence, scope and company stage. Day rates typically sit between €1,500 and €3,500. A full-time CMO at the same seniority is normally €250k–€400k all-in. Fractional is roughly 30–60% of that for the leadership layer, not the execution layer.
The personal quote for this site is set on a call, because the right number depends on things only you can describe: the situation, the timeline and what success has to look like.
Questions & answers
What buyers type into Google and AI assistants before they book a call: retainer vs agency, project fees, what is included, travel.
Different job. An agency executes channels and charges for hours or media managed. A fractional CMO owns the marketing function, decides which agencies to hire and holds them accountable. Companies that keep buying agency execution without leadership tend to overspend by a factor of two.
Yes for bounded work like a positioning reset, a GTM relaunch or a martech rebuild. Ongoing marketing leadership is best served by a monthly retainer because the work compounds week over week; project fees suit finite deliverables.
An agreed weekly cadence (one to three days), all internal meetings, board reporting, team management, agency oversight, hiring interviews and the 90-day plan. Media budget, agency fees and paid tools are the company's spend and sit outside the retainer.
Retainers usually include an agreed number of on-site days per month. Additional travel across Europe is billed at cost with prior approval. The default is to keep on-site days concentrated where they add the most value.
Next step
Twenty minutes on a call. You describe the growth problem and the timeline. I tell you straight whether renting a fractional CMO is the right move, and what it would look like.
Book an intro call