What does a fractional CMO actually cost in Ireland?
The honest answer is: a fraction of the €120,000 to €180,000 a full-time CMO costs in Ireland once you add employer costs, and a different shape of spend entirely.
The better question is what you are buying: days, or outcomes.
The three ways firms pay for marketing leadership
A full-time hire buys you presence: someone in the building, thinking about your firm all day, at full-time cost whether or not there is full-time work. An agency buys activity: campaigns, retainers, reporting. A fractional CMO buys judgment applied to your firm a few days a month, with the delivery increasingly done by systems rather than headcount. Each has its place. For owner-led firms between roughly one and twenty million in revenue, the fractional shape usually fits the gap best.
What changes the price
Scope moves the number more than seniority does: strategy-only engagements cost less than strategy plus a working engine build. Part-funding through Enterprise Ireland, Local Enterprise Offices or Skillnet can materially change the maths for eligible firms, and it is always worth checking before you assume.
The cost that matters more
The expensive option is not any of the three. It is another year of under-marketed expertise: the referrals that dried up, the deals that went to louder competitors, the senior hours spent on proposals at midnight. Price the gap, not just the fee.
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