Switzerland and Germany
Fractional marketing,
explained plainly.
Senior marketing capacity bought by the day instead of by the headcount. Below: what it is, what a full-time alternative really costs under Swiss and German employment law, and the cases where hiring wins.
Price a role in forty secondsWhat people ask first.
What is fractional marketing?
Fractional marketing means hiring senior marketing capacity for part of a week instead of employing a full-time marketer. You buy a defined scope, strategy, positioning and campaign execution, on a monthly retainer. No employer social contributions, no recruitment fee, and no notice period governed by Swiss or German employment law.
What is a fractional CMO?
A fractional CMO is an experienced marketing leader who runs your marketing function for a set number of days per month rather than as a full-time employee. Same remit as a permanent CMO, strategy, budget allocation, channel decisions, steering agencies or in-house juniors, sized to what the company actually needs.
How much does a marketing hire really cost in Switzerland or Germany?
Gross salary is roughly three quarters of it. On top come statutory employer contributions, AHV/IV/EO, ALV, BVG and FAK in Switzerland; pension, unemployment, health and care insurance plus U1/U2 and insolvency levies in Germany; and a recruitment fee if you use a search firm. Enter your role in the calculator for the year-one number, with a source on every line.
Is a fractional marketer cheaper than a full-time hire?
Usually yes on year-one outlay, a retainer carries no employer contributions, no recruitment fee and no ramp-up gap. The caveat is capacity: fractional buys judgement and direction, not a full week of hands. If you need daily, unpredictable, in-the-room execution, an employee is the better buy.
How long does it take to fill a marketing role in the DACH region?
Plan in months, not weeks. Search and selection commonly run six to twelve weeks, and the offer is only halfway: notice periods under OR Art. 335c (CH) and BGB §622 (DE) mean an employed candidate usually leaves one to three months later. The calculator turns your own inputs into a real start date.
When should we hire instead of going fractional?
Hire when marketing is the product itself, when you need someone in the room every day for unpredictable work, when a regulated review environment demands an internal owner, or when the brief is already clear and you only need execution hands. Two or more of those true? Employ someone. The verdict block on this page says the same thing.
How an engagement actually runs.
What does a fractional marketing engagement include?
Discovery in weeks one to two, a marketing audit in weeks three to four, strategy plus a 90-day roadmap in month two, and hands-on execution from month two onwards, working alongside the team you already have.
How many days a month does a fractional marketer work?
Scoped in days per month rather than hours per week, commonly two to eight, depending on whether the mandate is advisory or includes execution. The scope is fixed in writing so both sides know what is and is not covered.
Fractional CMO vs agency vs freelancer, what is the difference?
A fractional CMO owns the decision, what to do, in what order, with what budget. An agency executes a brief someone else wrote. A freelancer delivers a craft output. Without the decision layer, agency and freelance spend has nothing to align to.
Does fractional marketing work for regulated industries?
With a caveat. Where every asset passes legal or compliance review, someone internal has to own the queue. Fractional works well as the strategy and build-out layer beside that person, and poorly as a replacement for them.
What happens to the work when the engagement ends?
Strategy, messaging framework, roadmap and assets stay with you. A well-run mandate is designed to hand over, often to the internal hire that finally makes sense once the function is big enough to justify a full-time salary and its employer costs.
Why does Von Peach publish a cost calculator instead of a price list?
Because the honest comparison is not retainer versus salary, it is retainer versus the full year-one cost of employment, contributions, recruitment fee and the empty months before someone starts. the calculator shows that from primary sources, and nothing is gated.
Start with the number, not the pitch.
The calculator returns the year-one cost of the role you are considering — salary, statutory employer contributions, recruitment fee and the real start date — with a source on every line.