When pipeline stalls, most B2B SaaS CEOs reach for one of three fixes: hire a full-time VP of Marketing, hire a marketing agency, or bring in a fractional head of growth. All three can work. Each one fails in a predictable way when it's used for the wrong problem.
I'm Andrew Fear. I led marketing or demand generation at three B2B SaaS companies through their acquisitions, and I now work as a fractional head of growth, so I've seen this decision both as the full-time hire and as the fractional one.
The short answer:
- Hire a full-time VP of Marketing when marketing is a team that needs a leader every day, the go-to-market motion is proven, and you can absorb an executive search and ramp.
- Hire a marketing agency when the strategy is clear and you need more hands to execute it.
- Bring in a fractional head of growth when pipeline isn't moving and nobody can say exactly why, or when you need senior judgment before you're ready for a full-time executive.
What problem are you actually hiring for?
The right hire depends on whether your constraint is strategy, capacity or leadership. Name the missing piece before choosing who to hire:
- Strategy. Nobody can say which segment, message and channel produce pipeline, or what number defines success. More activity won't help until this is answered.
- Capacity. The strategy is clear and working, but there aren't enough people to produce the content, campaigns and pages it calls for.
- Leadership. There's a team of marketers who need someone to set priorities, coach them and represent marketing at the exec table every day.
Strategy problems need senior judgment. Capacity problems need hands. Leadership problems need a full-time leader. Most expensive hiring mistakes come from buying one to fix another.
How do a full-time VP, an agency and a fractional head of growth compare?
They differ most on time to impact, who does the work and what the company keeps when the engagement ends.
| Full-time VP of Marketing | Agency | Fractional head of growth | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixes | A leadership gap | A capacity gap | A strategy and systems gap |
| Time to impact | A search, then a ramp before results | Fast to start, slow to learn your business | A diagnosis in weeks, then fixes in priority order |
| Who does the work | A leader who builds and runs a team | The account team assigned to you, often not the people who pitched | The senior operator you hired |
| What it costs | Salary, equity, benefits and a recruiting fee | A monthly retainer, plus production | A fixed monthly fee, no equity or search fee |
| What you keep | Whatever gets documented before they move on | Deliverables; the know-how leaves with the agency | The playbooks, workflows and systems, documented |
| Biggest risk | Hiring an executive to diagnose a problem you could have diagnosed first | Busy output that doesn't move pipeline | A plan with nobody to carry it out |
When should you hire a full-time VP of Marketing?
Hire a full-time VP of Marketing when the job is leading and scaling a proven motion, not finding one. The signs:
- Marketing is already a team, and that team needs someone setting priorities and coaching every day.
- The go-to-market motion is proven, so the job is scaling it, not finding it.
- The board wants a permanent executive owning the number and the narrative.
- You can wait out a search and a ramp without pipeline sliding further.
The common mistake with a full-time VP of Marketing is hiring one to find out what's wrong. A new executive spends their first months diagnosing, and if the diagnosis says the problem was positioning or sales handoffs, you've paid executive compensation for an audit. Diagnose first, then hire the leader the diagnosis calls for.
When should you hire a marketing agency?
Hire a marketing agency when you know what to do and need more capacity to do it. The signs:
- You know your best-fit customer, your message and which channels produce pipeline.
- You need more volume than your team can produce: campaigns, content, design, paid media management.
- Someone senior inside the company owns the number and can direct the agency's work.
The common mistake with a marketing agency is hiring it to set strategy. Agencies are built to execute, and their incentives favor activity they can bill for. Without a senior owner on your side, you get a steady stream of output and no one accountable for whether it creates pipeline. Ask who will actually run your account, and judge the agency on pipeline, not deliverables.
When should you hire a fractional head of growth?
Hire a fractional head of growth when the problem is strategy and systems, and you need senior judgment now rather than after an executive search. The signs:
- Spend is up and pipeline is flat, and the explanations from marketing and sales don't match.
- You're between marketing leaders, or you've never had a senior one.
- You're preparing for a raise or an exit and need a growth story with clean numbers behind it.
- Your team has AI tools, but the output is generic and gets rewritten by hand.
The common mistake with a fractional leader is hiring one who only advises. A strategy deck with nobody to carry it out changes nothing. Look for someone who builds working systems your team keeps and who stays accountable for pipeline, not just recommendations. That's how I work: I diagnose first, then build and run the system with your team.
Can you combine a fractional leader, an agency and a full-time hire?
Yes. Many B2B SaaS companies get the best result from a combination. Three that work well:
- Fractional leader plus agency. The fractional leader sets priorities and judges results; the agency supplies production capacity. The agency gets a clear brief and a senior owner, which is what most agencies need to do their best work.
- Fractional now, full-time later. A fractional leader diagnoses, fixes and documents the system. When you hire a full-time VP, they inherit something that already runs instead of a blank page.
- Full-time VP plus agency. Once the strategy is proven, a VP with agency support scales it without hiring a large in-house team.
The combination that rarely works is a marketing agency with no one senior owning the number. Everyone stays busy, the reports look healthy and pipeline doesn't move.
How do you decide which option fits your company?
Answer these five questions honestly before you choose:
- Can someone in the company say which segment, message and channel produce most of your pipeline?
- Do marketing and sales agree on what counts as a qualified opportunity? If not, start with a shared pipeline definition.
- Is there a team that needs a full-time leader today, or one person and a few contractors?
- How long can pipeline stay flat while you run an executive search?
- When this engagement ends, what should you own that you don't own now?
If the honest answers are "no," "no," "not yet," "not long" and "a working system," you have a strategy and systems problem, and a fractional head of growth is the fastest way to fix it. If you're not sure, the marketing audit checklist will show you where the gaps are in a day.
How much does each option cost?
A fractional head of growth costs a fixed monthly fee; a full-time VP costs total compensation plus hiring costs; an agency costs a retainer that scales with scope. Full-time executive pay varies too much by market and stage to quote responsibly here; the line items are salary, equity, benefits and a recruiting fee, plus months of ramp. Agency retainers depend heavily on scope and on how much production is bundled in.
For fractional leaders, published 2026 ranges run from about $3,000 to $25,000 a month, according to MarketerHire and Web Tonic, both companies that sell fractional services. I publish my own prices: a fixed-fee audit at $8,000–$10,000, then $10,000–$12,500 a month. The pricing page has the sources and what drives the range.
Frequently asked questions
Is a fractional CMO cheaper than a full-time VP of Marketing?
Usually, yes, for the same level of seniority, because you pay a monthly fee instead of salary, equity, benefits and a recruiting fee. The better question is whether you need a full-time leader yet. If the problem is strategy rather than leading a team, a fractional leader gets to the answer faster and for less.
Can an agency replace a head of marketing?
Not on its own. An agency can execute a strategy well, but it isn't accountable for your pipeline and doesn't sit in your leadership meetings. Pair it with someone senior who owns the number, either in-house or fractional.
What's the difference between a fractional CMO and a marketing agency?
A fractional CMO or head of growth is a senior leader who owns strategy and is accountable for pipeline; a marketing agency is a team that executes the work. The fractional leader decides what to do and judges whether it worked. The agency produces the campaigns, content and media.
Can a fractional head of growth work with my agency?
Yes, and it's often the best setup. The fractional leader sets priorities, writes the briefs and judges results on pipeline; the agency supplies the production capacity.