The number
Almost every page about fractional marketing pricing gives you a range and none of them give you their own number. Mine is simple: from $7,500 a month, whichever seat I'm in, whether that's head of growth strategy, head of creative, a Meta media buyer next to your existing growth lead, or building your marketing team and its systems.
Where it lands above $7,500 depends on three things: how many seats I'm covering at once, how much building is involved (a creative pipeline and a reporting system from scratch is more than running an account that already works), and whether specialist support is needed. Taking a whole new product to market is a bigger custom program and we'd scope that together.
The one seat with a different floor is interim head of marketing. That's the whole function, three to four days a week, for a fixed window while you hire the permanent leader, and it starts at $12,500 a month.
Ad spend and software are never part of the fee. They stay in your accounts, in your name.
What the money buys in a normal month
- A weekly leadership session where we look at the scorecard and decide what changes.
- Two to three days a week of hands-on work: in the ad accounts, on creative, on reporting, on whatever the seat calls for.
- Systems your team keeps: the creative testing loop, the "what to do" dashboard, the SOPs and the AI workflows I build into how they work.
- Straight answers, including the ones you don't want.
How it compares
Published market ranges in 2026 put a fractional head of growth at roughly $5,000 to $15,000 a month and a fractional CMO at $8,000 to $22,000, with "embedded" CMO work quoted at $20,000 to $40,000+. A full-time senior growth hire is $150,000 to $300,000+ fully loaded, plus three to five months to find them. Agencies usually charge 10% to 20% of ad spend.
I sit at the low end of the fractional-CMO range and do the execution most fractional CMOs hand off. That's on purpose. I'm a solo operator with low overhead, and I'd rather be affordable to the brands I'm best at helping than price like a firm.
Flat retainer or a percentage of spend?
This is the question that decides most agency-versus-fractional debates, so here's the math.
Flat retainer or a percentage of spend?
The general shape is that percentage pricing is cheap while you're small and gets expensive exactly as you succeed. That is the wrong direction for an incentive to point.
What's not included, said plainly
Ad spend. Software and tools. Paid creator or influencer fees. Photo and video production budgets (I'll use AI-assisted production where it's good enough, and tell you when it isn't). Specialist contractors, if a program needs one, get scoped and approved by you first.
How we start
A call to see if we're a fit. If we are, I'll send a short scope with the seat, the first 90 days as a list of bets, and the monthly number. No long onboarding. You'll have my read of the business inside the first two weeks.
Questions people ask
How much does a fractional head of growth cost?
The market runs roughly $5,000 to $15,000 a month for a fractional head of growth and $8,000 to $22,000 for a fractional CMO. The Growth Den starts at $7,500 a month for any seat, and goes up with how many seats I'm covering and how much building is involved.
What's included in the retainer?
Strategy and execution from the same person: the weekly leadership session, two to three days a week of hands-on work, and the systems your team keeps. Ad spend, software and production budgets are separate and stay in your accounts.
Is there a minimum term?
No fixed contract term. Engagements naturally run six to twelve months or more because that's how long building and teaching takes, but you're not locked in.
Is a fractional growth lead cheaper than an agency?
Often, once spend gets past about $50,000 to $75,000 a month, because agency fees scale with spend and a flat fee doesn't. The calculator above shows where the lines cross for your numbers.
Do you charge a percentage of ad spend or performance fees?
No. A flat monthly retainer. I don't want to be paid more when you spend more; I want to be paid to make the number better.
Can you fill just one seat, like a media buyer?
Yes. Head of growth strategy, head of creative, or media buyer next to your existing lead. The fee scales with the seats, not the title. The exception is the interim head of marketing seat, which covers the whole function and starts at $12,500.