Hire a consultant when you have a defined problem and want an answer you can act on: €120–320 an hour. Hire a fractional CMO when nobody senior owns marketing and someone has to be accountable for the number: €3,000–9,000 a month. Work with a mentor when you already have the right person in the seat and they need someone to think with: a few hundred a month.
Most companies under €10M revenue with a marketing lead in place need the third. Most companies with budget and no owner need the second.
What each one actually does
The three roles get used interchangeably in pitches, which is how companies end up paying retainer money for advice they needed once. The difference is not seniority or price. It is who holds the decision afterwards.
A consultant answers a question
You bring a problem, they bring judgement and a recommendation. They leave when it is answered. You keep the decision and your team runs it.
A fractional CMO owns the function
One or two days a week, on your leadership team, managing people and budget and carrying the pipeline target. Closer to a part-time hire than to advice.
A mentor builds the person
Standing sessions with whoever runs marketing, working through their real decisions as they come up. Slowest to show on a dashboard, cheapest by a wide margin, and the only one that leaves capability behind.
Side by side
Ranges are typical European rates for B2B tech in 2026. Scroll the table sideways on mobile.
How to choose in three questions
If no, you need a fractional CMO or a hire. Advice with nobody to receive it turns into a document nobody opens.
One decision is a consultant, and often a single hour. The whole function repeated every month is a mentor or a fractional CMO.
Mentorship is the only option where the knowledge stays in your team after the invoices stop. Everything else leaves with the person.
Three expensive mistakes
The most common one. Ask for a single paid session first and see what comes out of it.
Agencies are good at running channels and bad at deciding which channels deserve to exist. Sequence matters.
If nobody is managing people or owning a target, you are not buying a CMO. You are buying conversations at ten times the price.
Common questions
Can one person be all three?+
Consultant and mentor overlap heavily and often are the same person on different terms. Fractional CMO is a different job, because it comes with authority over people and budget.
How long should an engagement last?+
A strategy loop takes four to six weeks. Mentorship is useful for as long as the decisions keep coming, and should be stoppable monthly. A fractional CMO needs at least two quarters to be judged fairly.
What does it cost to just get started?+
One hour, at €200 in my case, is enough to find out whether the problem is strategy, execution or ownership. Full rates are on the pricing page.