Fractional paid media director vs VP of Marketing.
Which hire moves paid revenue first.

A VP of Marketing fully loaded is $200,000 to $350,000 per year. A fractional paid media operator is $3,500 to $12,000 per month. At the $3,500 per month Rebuild tier with a 20 percent CPA reduction guarantee, the operator pays for itself in the first quarter if the account is structurally broken. Most B2B accounts that have been founder-managed are.

A VP of Marketing is accountable to pipeline goals and marketing OKRs. A paid media operator is accountable to a specific CPA number. GTMVP's 20 percent CPA reduction guarantee is action-gated: five structural fixes in 14 days, maintained spend, no outside changes. If the guarantee is not met, the work continues free until it is.

A VP of Marketing hire takes 3 to 6 months to recruit and another 3 months to ramp. A paid media operator from GTMVP starts with a $129 Diagnostic in 24 hours and moves into Rebuild within weeks. The first structural fixes typically ship in 14 days.

A VP of Marketing owns everything: brand, content, demand, events, product marketing. A paid media operator owns one thing: the performance of your paid acquisition accounts. If paid acquisition is the primary lever you need to fix, hiring a VP to own it is bringing a general where you need a specialist.

A VP of Marketing owns the full marketing function: positioning, channel mix decisions, team structure, demand generation, content, brand. They cost $200,000 to $350,000 per year fully loaded. They are the right hire when paid media is one of several channels and the company needs a senior leader to coordinate all of them.

A fractional paid media director owns the ad accounts directly: conversion tracking, campaign architecture, bidding strategy, attribution setup, creative testing cadence. GTMVP's Rebuild tier is $3,500 to $12,000 per month with a 20 percent CPA reduction guarantee. They run the accounts. They do not run the marketing team.

Below $75,000 per month in paid spend and no paid-specific hire yet: a fractional paid media operator is almost always the right first move. Above $75,000 per month across multiple channels with a paid media team already in place: a VP of Marketing to coordinate the function makes sense. The $129 Diagnostic tells you which structural gaps exist before you make either decision.