Reading time: 6 minutes · For owners of small and medium-sized businesses in the March region, on the Obersee and around Lake Zurich
“What does it cost?” is the most common question in first conversations — and the honest answer starts with a comparison, not a number. Fractional marketing leadership isn’t “cheap”. It is a different instrument from a permanent hire: leadership in exactly the dose that fits your business and your pace.
In this post I lay out the ranges that are also public on the services page, and run the comparison with a permanent head of marketing honestly — including the cases where a mandate is not worth it.
The honest comparison: employment vs. mandate
Employment: an experienced head of marketing costs considerably more than the gross salary. Social contributions, bonus, recruitment and workplace come on top — on our services page we calculate with roughly CHF 14,000 to 19,000 per month, all-in. Add several months for search and onboarding, plus a long-term commitment you carry even when priorities change.
Mandate: senior-level leadership, but only in the scope your business actually needs — typically one to two days a week. No social contributions, no onboarding mountain, no severance risk. Over a year, a permanent head of marketing therefore costs a multiple of a Small mandate.
A mandate means flexible — not casual.
The ballpark at Marketing March
Three tiers, three orders of magnitude — the same indicative figures that are public on the website:
- Small (owner-led, 3–25 employees): from CHF 3,500 per month. A partner one to two days a week, sparring and steering, cancellable monthly — the most common entry point, more under Small Business.
- Medium (growing, 20–100 employees): CHF 8,000–12,000 per month. Active steering, support in building your own team, more tempo and scope — details under Medium Business.
- Large / interim (100+ employees or a transition phase): on quote. Interim marketing leadership with a tailored scope.
Important: these are indicative ranges, not a price list. The exact amount depends on scope — but it moves within these orders of magnitude, not below them and not hidden away.
What you actually pay for in a mandate
Not hours. What you pay for is the acceleration of decisions: which two channels really carry the business? What do we deliberately drop? Who do we hire next — and who not? A fractional leader brings judgment from many businesses and industries, and is productive from week one, because they don’t need onboarding — they bring structure with them.
A fractional executive is not a discount version of the real thing. Used correctly, it is the most cost-effective leadership position an SMB can fill — because you buy senior experience in exactly the dose your business can absorb. What such a mandate looks like day to day is covered in What does a fractional marketing lead do?.
How to budget properly — four steps
- Outcome first: define the decision or result you need to accelerate — more qualified enquiries, a new market, a sales channel that carries weight.
- Name the gap: are you missing hands — or leadership? For missing hands, a mandate is the wrong instrument.
- Reverse-engineer the budget: what is the result worth to you? The budget follows the goal, not an hourly rate.
- Scope it clearly: a few hours a month is consulting — strategic leadership needs a reliable cadence.
An example from the region: a manufacturer in Wangen SZ
Picture a manufacturing business in Wangen SZ with 45 employees. Sales ran for years on the owner’s relationships, the website is eight years old, and there has never been a head of marketing. There simply isn’t enough leadership work for a full-time position — and finding good people for a 40 percent leadership role is close to impossible.
In a mandate, the math changes: on the Medium tier, the business gets active marketing and sales steering, internal responsibilities built up, and measurable priorities — for a fraction of what a permanent leadership position would cost fully loaded. And when the structures stand after 18 months, the business reduces the scope instead of issuing a termination. I support exactly these situations as a marketing consultant in Wangen and across the March region.
When a mandate is not worth it
Honesty is part of the comparison: if what you lack is pure execution capacity — someone to publish posts, send newsletters, maintain the website — you don’t need fractional leadership, you need a good doer or an agency. And if nobody in the business has time to make decisions at all, even the best sparring fizzles out.
Where it fits, the effect shows quickly: clear priorities within weeks, visible results within months. The references give you an impression.
Frequently asked questions
Why “from” CHF 3,500 — what does the price depend on?
On scope and cadence: how many days per month, how much operational support alongside the steering, how much build-up work at the start. The starting point is the Small tier; the exact frame is defined in the intro call — there are no quotes into the blue.
How quickly can I end a mandate?
On the Small tier, the mandate is cancellable monthly. That is precisely the structural difference from employment: you don’t commit for years — you keep control over scope and duration, in both directions.
What does a permanent head of marketing cost in comparison?
Fully loaded — salary, social contributions, bonus, recruitment — a multiple of a mandate: on our services page we calculate with roughly CHF 14,000 to 19,000 per month. For many SMBs between Lake Zurich and the Obersee, that isn’t “too expensive” — it is simply the wrong instrument for the current phase.
I’ll run the exact comparison for you
Take the self-check or book a free 30-minute intro call — you’ll get an honest assessment of which tier fits, or whether a mandate is the wrong instrument for you right now.