Fractional vs Full-Time Senior Marketing Manager: The Real Cost Comparison

Your marketing needs senior expertise. But does it need a full-time salary to match?

Growing B2B businesses face a frustrating gap: you need strategic marketing leadership, but the cost of hiring a full-time Senior Marketing Manager feels out of reach. You’ve seen what great marketing can do. You’ve watched competitors pull ahead. But the numbers don’t add up.

Here’s the reality: fractional marketing leadership delivers senior-level strategy and execution without the six-figure commitment. Let’s break down what it actually costs.

The True Cost of Full-Time Senior Marketing Leadership

Salary: £50,000-£75,000 for a capable senior marketing manager with solid B2B experience.

Employer Costs: National Insurance (15%) and pension (3-5%) add £8,400-£12,600 annually.

Benefits: Health insurance, bonuses (10-20% typical), professional development add £8,000-£18,000.

Recruitment: Agency fees run 20-25% of first-year salary (£10,000-£18,750) plus 3-4 months ramp-up time.

Total First-Year Cost: £76,400-£124,350+

And you're getting one person's skillset, with all its strengths and gaps.

What Fractional Marketing Actually Costs

Monthly Investment: £1,750-£2,750 depending on time commitment (typically 2-3 days per week of senior expertise).

What's Included:
• Seasoned B2B marketer skill-matched to your needs
• Use of premium marketing tools and platforms (worth £15,000+ annually)
• 24-hour turnaround graphic design team
• B2B database with 210M+ verified contacts
• Content creation and social media support

What You Don't Pay: No recruitment fees. No benefits. No pension. No office costs. No long-term commitment.

Total First-Year Cost: £21,000-£33,000
That's half the cost with broader expertise and better tools included.

The Comparison That Changes Everything

Cost comparison: Full-Time Manager vs Fractional (Mixx)
Cost Element	Full-Time Manager	Fractional (Mixx)
Base Compensation	£50,000–£75,000	£36,000–£60,000/year
Employer NI & Pension	£8,400–£12,600	£0
Benefits Package	£8,000–£18,000	£0
Recruitment Fees	£10,000–£18,750	£0
Marketing Tools	£15,000+/year	Included
Design Resources	£25,000+/year	Included
Time to Deploy	3–4 months	24–48 hours
Total Year One	£116,400–£149,350+	£36,000–£60,000

The difference isn’t just substantial. It’s business-changing.

What You Actually Get

Full-Time Senior Manager: Deep organizational knowledge and full availability. But they spend 40% of their time in meetings and admin, not marketing. You get one person’s skillset with its strengths and gaps.

Fractional Marketing Leadership: Senior expertise focused exclusively on high-value work. No internal politics. Just strategy and execution. With Mixx, you’re not limited to one person’s capabilities—we match specialists to your needs and include the tools to get work done.

The Hidden Advantage: Risk Mitigation

Full-time hiring carries real risk: Wrong fit after six months? You’ve lost £60,000+ and half a year. Business priorities shift? You’re locked in. Need to reduce costs? Redundancy is expensive.

Fractional removes that risk: Not working? Change specialists or pause. No redundancy costs. Priorities evolved? Scale up or down instantly. Budget pressure? Reduce hours without employment complexity.

The Better Question

Instead of “Can we afford senior marketing help?” ask this: “What’s the smartest way to access the expertise we need?”

For most growing B2B businesses, the answer is fractional. Senior expertise, flexible capacity, comprehensive tools, and hands-on execution at a fraction of the cost and risk.

Marketing that moves at the speed of your business. Not the speed of recruitment.

Ready to see what fractional marketing could do for your business? Tell us your goals and we’ll match you with the right expertise to move your marketing forward—starting this week, not next quarter.

No contracts. No complexity. Just results.