Building Your Dream Team
August 2024Integrating Contract and Fractional Marketing & Creative Team Members
By now you’ve inevitably heard “fractional marketing” and “contract marketing” used interchangeably in a lot of contexts. And it’s true, today’s marketing and creative teams are increasingly complex and it’s challenging for a single business to provide all the specialized skills full-time on staff.
The good news is, with the help of fractional or contract experts, you don’t have to.
To be successful today, you need to respond to opportunities in the market as quickly they present themselves. This means having wide variety of highly specialized marketing, creative, and digital professional skills at your disposal on an as needed basis
Experts such as:
- Brand Managers
- Social Media Marketers
- Art Directors
- Video Editors
- Digital Planners
- Social Strategists
Some of these skills you may already have on staff but perhaps not enough to handle an influx of projects. And some could be new areas you’re trying to offer a wider portfolio of services in but aren’t ready for full-time staff. This is exactly where your fractional or contract employees step in.
Fractional versus Contract
A fractional employee is someone who comes with a specialized skill set at a high level and works for you part-time providing specific services where you are experiencing a specialized marketing need.
For example: a Fractional Vice President (VP) of Marketing might work for several companies, dedicating a portion of their time to each one instead of being fully employed by a single company. As the employer, you would gain the benefit of their specialized skills and experience without taking on the cost of a full-time Marketing VP.
A contract employee means someone who is filling a specific role based on a contract that outlines the scope, duration, and terms of the work to be performed. Contract workers are often employed for a fixed period to complete a particular project.
For example, a contract graphic designer might be hired for a six-month contract after a merger to combine brands and materials into a consistent look.
Additionally, “consulting work” or “freelance work” are often used in similar contexts. The differences come down to the nature of the engagement, the commitment level, the scope of work, employment status, and payment structure.
Fractional and contract employees:
- Share your mission, vision, and values if applicable
- Share expectations for the project and any KPIs, timelines and milestones
- Share team members and resources that can be of help
- Provide regular feedback
Fractional and contract team members are cost-effective and flexible, giving you access to skills and top talent without a long-term commitment.
Learn more about the benefits of fractional marketing team members by reading
“Four Benefits of Hiring a Fractional Marketing or Creative Team“
Let’s look at the economics:
| Fulltime Hire: | Fractional Team: |
| Director of Marketing $110,000 – $160,000 salary | Director of Marketing: 8 hrs/week $80,000 Graphic Designer: 10 hrs/week $40,000 Content Writer: 5 hrs/week $20,000 |
| Budget: $140,000 | Budget: $140,000 |
As of 2024, in the United States, the average salary for a Director of Marketing typically ranges between $110,000 and $160,000 per year. This fulltime hire is a strategist with some general skills but not an expert in other areas you may be lacking expertise.
When you consider spreading your scarce budget resources across a fractional team, you can have three specialities for the price of just one, while still meeting your marketing needs and achieving your goals.
Building Your Dream Team
With the help of fractional and contract employees, you can flex your resources at any given time to take on work that may seem outside of your usual scope. You already know the strengths of your existing team, there’s no reason to limit what you can offer by what you’ve done in the past.
As you watch the changing face of market challenges, you know the skills in demand. Any role you need more expertise in is available as fractional or contract help, depending on the nature of the project and the structure of your existing team.
Typical specialized marketing needs for fractional or contract, marketing, digital, or creative team members include:
| Marketing | Creative | Digital |
| Account Director | Art Director | Digital Analyst |
| Account Manager | Asset Manager | Digital Marketing |
| Brand Manager | Content Editor | Digital Planner |
| CMO | Copy or Content Writer | Digital Project Manager |
| Marketing Analyst | Creative Director | Digital Strategist |
| Marketing Communications | Digital Production | E-commerce Marketer |
| Marketing Specialist | Illustrator | Search Manager |
| Marketing Technology | Graphic Designer | SEO Specialist |
| Project Manager | Print Production | Social Media Strategist |
| Social Media Marketer | Proofreader | |
| Strategist | Video Editor | |
| Vice President | Video Producer |
Managing a Fractional Marketing Team
One of the very best ways to start when taking on fractional or contract roles is with your project managers (PMs). PMs are one of the key positions in any diverse and efficient team. They are the hub from which communication flows and project progress is made.
PMs are responsible for:
- Managing day-to-day activities and deadlines
- Overseeing contracts and projects
- Ensuring smooth communication between team members
Project management can help you determine where exactly you need contract or fractional help and how to best manage them. Additionally, if you find yourself short on PMs, this is another role you can fill with contract or fractional help.
Watch Stacey Stratton talk about the trend of fractional on WCCO,
“What is fractional employment?”
How to Get Started
To start the process of taking on a fractional or contract worker, consider these three steps.
Step One: Establish clear goals and expectations.
What are the parameters for the project? How long will you need this person for? Will you need them every day or part of the week?
Step Two: Implement communication strategies and tools for collaboration.
Whether it be Teams, Slack, Asana, Trello, etc., you need solid tools everyone is committed to using to keep in constant contact with everyone involved whether they are onsite or off. Deadlines and expectations need to be clearly communicated and a single source of truth followed. Your project management team will be your go-to heroes here.
Step Three: Establish legal contracts.
You will need to ensure strict details such as compliance with labor laws and protecting all intellectual property – for yourself and your clients.
Make it Easy and Work a Recruitment Agency
Not just any agency — work with a recruitment partner to cut through timelines and fill your specialized marketing needs faster. A partner who has gotten to know you and understands your work, your team, and your clients. The right partner makes finding talented humans that fit in with your crew simple. Someone who takes pride in making your life easier.
At True Talent Group, we help marketing leaders define their marketing and creative team needs and select and place team members to ensure they have the skills they need to meet their marketing goals. Contact us today. It begins with a discussion.