Flex Your Team with Fractional Marketing and Creative Talent

June 2024

Four Benefits of Hiring a Fractional Marketing or Creative Team

Hands up if headcount has ever kept you up at night. (As a team of recruitment professionals, we assure you we’ve all got our hands up.)

You’re not alone.

In 2024, approximately 38 percent of employers are experiencing hard-to-fill vacancies, indicating significant headcount challenges. Additionally, 21 percent of employers anticipate facing substantial problems filling roles over the next six months. These statistics highlight the ongoing struggles businesses face in recruiting and retaining talent in the current labor market.

We understand—and we work with leaders every day who have that very same problem.

“No business can afford a bad hire.”
Stacey Stratton, CEO

Recruiting and then onboarding new employees are considerable upfront investments—both emotionally and financially. And it’s easy to understand why; the average employee turnover is three times salary, not to mention the stress it causes hiring managers. It can feel like you’re rolling the dice that a new hire will be a good, long-term fit.

But there is a way to remove a lot of the headache from scaling up your team: fractional talent. Leaders who are open and adaptable with fractional marketing support, are creating flexibility for their businesses that gives them an edge.

Fractional Marketing and Creative Talent

Fractional team members allow you to obtain specialized talent on an as-needed basis. Contractors or contract-to-hire professionals for high-demand projects or seasons are a viable way for you to staff your team with expertise, when you need it, for as long as you need it.

Fractional marketing has grown from its initial concept of the fractional CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) which is still a broadly popular position. When a business cannot fiscally afford a full time CMO, they can still benefit from a strategic partner committed to their long-term success by outsourcing this service to a trusted partner who gives them the benefit of their knowledge part time.

And now, in addition to fractional CMO roles, there is a growing emergence of entire fractional marketing teams that work in much the same way.

Four Benefits of Hiring a Fractional Marketing Team

1. Access to Specialized Marketing Skills

What do you need? Name it and your fractional team can have it. SEO, digital experts, creative writers and designers – whatever it is for you to meet your deadline, staff up, fill a niche or fill whatever temporary critical competitive strategy void you’re dealing with.

2. Cost Effectiveness

Fractional talent means achieving your marketing team construction goal within your budget by paying for extra broad, and specific specialized marketing skills only when you need them. And the bonus is, it doesn’t cost more!

For example, the cost of hiring a full-time Vice President (VP) of Marketing involves several components, including base salary, benefits, and additional expenses. In 2024, the average base salary for a VP of Marketing is around $153,919. This figure can vary significantly, however, based on location, industry, and the candidate’s experience, with salaries ranging from $121,000 to $228,000. Additionally, there are recruitment costs, onboarding expenses, and potential bonuses that can add to the overall financial commitment. Not to mention the time it takes them to get up to speed.

A fractional VP of Marketing, however, can be a literal fraction of this depending on your need and the time they spend on your business, as well as location and the precise experience-level you’re looking for. This is a conversation that can start with your budget and grow from there.

3. Flexibility and Scalability

Scale your marketing efforts up without overcommitting. Augment your existing experts to add that finishing touch to what your clients are expecting. Get exactly who will meet your needs and do it fast to respond to the changing requirements of your team.

4. Low Risk/High Impact

Add experts to your existing team without the long-term commitment and overhead costs of traditional employment. Your existing talent is supported, and all overflow work can be managed appropriately keeping your business running smoothly and your clients happy.

Managing a Fractional Team

Managing a fractional team is like any other creative talent management. These are diverse groups of professionals with a wide range of skills and experiences, who will integrate into your existing team or teams.

What can make this challenging is that often the timelines are rapid and the work agile with several people onboarding and pivoting at once. To make these transitions run smoothly, clear communication is vital. When possible, the best solution for fractional creative talent management is a well-seasoned project manager (PM).

If your organization doesn’t operate with PMs, or is short on PMs, this too is a fractional marketing role you can hire. In fact, this is an incredibly high value and comparatively low-cost role to fill. A good PM will efficiently coordinate and lead teams of, or including, your fractional members not only through project goals but through your company culture as well. Their role is to ensure things run on time, on budget and with as little chaos as possible.

Work with a Recruitment Firm to Source Your Staff

Partner with a recruitment firm skilled in vetting and selecting the right talent to fit the job and your company’s culture. One that takes the time to get to know you, what you do, who you work with and what sorts of candidates are the right fit in terms of skills, experiences and personalities.

You don’t have time to waste and need experts that will hit the ground running. This requires a recruiter who knows you well. Who cares enough to understand your business and your team.

Discover Fractional Marketing Jobs

Working in a fractional marketing role can be incredibly rewarding. You enter a client’s world when they need you the most, partner with them at the height of excitement and show off your specialized marketing skills when your expertise is most in demand. There’s hardly ever a dull moment in a fractional marketing role – and as a fractional contractor, you’re really the main character of your career story. You decide when and where you’ll work and as your experience grows, you’ll be more and more in demand.

To find these opportunities, look for a recruitment agency that specializes in fractional marketing positions, such as True Talent Group.