Fractional CMO Cost: What D2C Brands Actually Pay
The Profitable Scale System takes D2C brands from $0 to $100k/month in 90 days — and a fractional CMO costs a fraction of what you're already wasting on marketing that doesn't work.
Before you compare fractional CMO costs, look at what the investment actually produces.
$0 in revenue. Zero customers. A founder dreading investor calls and wondering if this whole thing was a mistake.
The 90-Day Transformation
We deployed the Profitable Scale System.
$121k+ monthly revenue. Investors calling HIM. Biggest problem? Keeping up with orders.
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View AllYou're Already Paying the Cost — You're Just Not Getting the Results
You're researching fractional CMO cost because you need marketing leadership but can't justify a full-time salary. Here's the thing: the cost you should be worried about isn't the fractional CMO. It's what you're spending right now with nothing to show for it.
You're Already Spending $10-20k/Month on Marketing That Doesn't Connect
Add it up. Agency retainer: $5-8k/month. Freelance media buyer: $2-4k/month. Email specialist: $2-3k/month. Creative contractor: $1-3k/month. Tool subscriptions: $500-1k/month. That's $10-20k/month before a single dollar goes to ad spend. And what do you have to show for it? A Meta account nobody's optimized in 2 weeks. Email flows that were "set up" 4 months ago and haven't been touched since. Creative that gets recycled because nobody has time to test new angles. You're not saving money by avoiding a fractional CMO. You're spending the same money — or more — on a system with no pilot.
You keep telling yourself you can't afford a CMO. But you're already spending what one costs — you're just getting nothing back.
A Full-Time CMO Costs $250-400k/Year — And Takes 6 Months to Produce
You've thought about hiring in-house. A VP of Marketing or CMO with real ecommerce experience runs $200-400k/year in salary alone. Add benefits, equity, recruiting fees ($30-50k), and onboarding time. Then factor in the reality: most CMO hires take 3-6 months to ramp, build their team, and produce measurable results. If the hire doesn't work out — and 40% of executive hires don't last 18 months — you're looking at $100-200k in sunk cost and 6+ months of lost growth before you start over. At $10-50k/month in revenue, that math destroys your business.
You need the leadership a CMO provides. But you can't afford the salary, the ramp time, or the risk of a bad hire.
Every Month Without a Growth System Is Revenue You'll Never Recover
While you're comparing costs and evaluating options, your competitors are scaling. The D2C brand in your niche that hired a fractional CMO 3 months ago? They've already restructured their offers, built automated retention flows, and dropped their CPA by 30%. That revenue they captured this month? You can't get it back next month. The market doesn't wait for you to figure out your marketing org chart. Every month you delay senior marketing leadership is a month of compounding opportunity cost — revenue you didn't earn, customers you didn't acquire, and market position you didn't claim.
You're not losing money by not hiring. You're losing the revenue you could have earned with the right person in the seat.
The right fractional CMO doesn't cost you money. They stop you from hemorrhaging it — and then they make you more.
CMO-Level Output for Less Than Your Current Marketing Spend
A fractional CMO from Magnus replaces your agency, your freelancers, and your scattered vendor stack with one senior operator. The investment is typically less than what you're currently spending on the patchwork — and you get strategic leadership, hands-on execution, and full-channel management included. No recruiting fees. No benefits. No equity. No 6-month ramp. Campaigns launch in week one. The math works because one experienced operator replaces 3-5 separate invoices while producing better results than any of them did individually.
Senior marketing leadership and full-channel execution — for less than you're paying your current vendor stack.
A Self-Funding Investment That Pays for Itself in Month One
The first thing we do is audit where your marketing budget is bleeding. Imagine you're spending $15k/month on ads with a 1.8x ROAS — you're generating $27k in revenue on $15k in spend, leaving thin margins after COGS. In week one, we kill the underperforming campaigns burning $4-5k/month with zero return and redirect that budget into offers and audiences that actually convert. By week four, your ROAS is climbing toward 3x+. The fractional CMO investment didn't cost you money — it stopped you from wasting it and redirected it toward growth.
An investment that typically produces positive ROI within 30 days — not a cost center that takes 6 months to justify.
Performance-Backed Engagement: Hit the Targets or You Walk
A full-time CMO hire is a $250k+ annual commitment with no guarantee. An agency locks you into contracts with vague deliverables. We do the opposite: every engagement is structured around defined performance targets, and our revenue is tied to yours. If we don't hit the targets, the engagement structure protects you. That's the cost model that should exist everywhere in marketing: defined goals, clear accountability, and your operator's income on the line right alongside your ad spend.
A performance-backed engagement with defined targets — the lowest-risk way to test senior marketing leadership.
$0 to $100k/month in 90 days.
Not a projection. Not a “best case scenario.” One brand hit $121k in month 3. Another generated 5,587 orders and $222k in total revenue in 90 days. Same system. Same team.
If we can't help you, we'll tell you on the call — not after you've paid us.
This works for a specific type of brand.
This Is For You If:
- You're a D2C brand doing $0-$50k/month and spending $10k+ on marketing with no one owning the outcome
- You need CMO-level leadership but can't justify a $250-400k/year salary
- You want to understand the real math — what you invest vs. what you get back
- You're ready for a performance-backed engagement where results determine if you stay
This Is NOT For You If:
- You're looking for the cheapest fractional CMO — price over quality
- You want hourly consulting, not hands-on execution
- You don't have budget for paid media — organic only
- You're still pre-revenue and testing whether your product has demand
We take 3 new clients per month. Every client gets direct access to our team. No junior account managers. No offshore execution. If we can't help you, we'll tell you before you spend a dollar.
When spots fill, they fill.
Frequently Asked Questions
"I've seen everything from $1k to $20k/month. What's the real number?"
The wide range exists because "fractional CMO" means different things to different providers. Some charge $1-3k/month for a monthly strategy call. Others charge $15-20k/month for full-time-equivalent hours. Neither model is built for growing D2C brands.
At Magnus, fractional CMO pricing is based on scope and stage — not hours. You get strategy AND execution across every channel. Exact pricing is discussed on the strategy call once we understand your margins, your growth goals, and the current state of your marketing. We'll tell you honestly if the investment makes sense for your stage.
The same system. The same prescriptions. The same team.
One brand. Zero to 5,587 orders in 90 days.
3 spots available this month.
If we can't help you, we'll tell you on the call.