Stop Hiring High-Cost Hybrids: Why You Don't Need a Senior Marketing Exec Who Also Handles Tactical Work

A smarter, more scalable way to build your marketing function

In the rush to grow, many small and mid-sized B2B companies make a costly mistake: they look for one person to do everything. A high-level marketing strategist who can also write blog posts, manage ads and social, run email campaigns, create content calendars, and update the website. Oh, and also drive brand awareness, refine positioning, advise leaders on market strategy, and build and scale the go-to-market function from scratch.

In short, they want someone who can do it all. The fact is that’s not practical or cost effective.

Current State of SMB Marketing Structures

There are two scenarios for the marketing structure at early stage or smaller-size organizations.

Typically, the first set-up is that the CEO/president/founder or sales leaders hires a somewhat experienced marketing person to manage the tactical elements of marketing. Things like manage the website and social posts, build campaigns, create content, maybe support events.

Alternatively the company hires senior-level marketing leaders, then expect them to build the strategy and write the emails, run the ads, manage the CRM, and whip up slide decks.

Both situations come with challenges certainly. The marketing manager who is doing all the tactical execution likely doesn't have experience to also lead strategically.

On the flip side, hiring a senior level person to do it all? That’s not just overkill, it’s a poor use of resources.

Why This is a Problem

A CMO's value lies in strategic clarity. They're the ones who:

• Align marketing with business objectives

• Define positioning and audience segmentation

• Prioritize channels based on ROI and business stage

• Create messaging frameworks that make selling easier

• Identify which roles you actually need to execute your specific strategy

But if you're asking that person to write content, build campaigns, and manage social media, you’re using your most expensive resource to do your lowest-leverage work.

You're paying six figures for a strategic brain, and then using it to do $80/hour work (maybe even less).

The Smarter Alternative to a Senior Marketing Executive Doing It All

What most growth-stage businesses actually need is two roles initially:

1. A fractional or part-time senior advisor to set the strategy, stay involved weekly, and provide leadership and clarity.

2. A full-time, cost-effective marketing generalist who can execute against the plan.

This model:

• Keeps strategic thinking at the top of the funnel

• Ensures execution is aligned with the bigger picture

• Prevents over-investing in roles before the business is ready

• Scales more efficiently as you grow

Build Smart, Not Big

Hiring a senior-level marketing leader and expecting them to "do it all" is like hiring a CFO to do your bookkeeping. It's not just inefficient, it's expensive, and unsustainable.

Start with strategy. Then build the team to execute it.

Or if you have a great marketing generalist already and you know you need to scale, hiring a full-time CMO might not also be the most effective hire. There are several great options for helping focus and accelerate your growth that don't always require full-time hires.

Trying to do more with less? That’s my sweet spot. See what working together looks like.