What’s The Difference Between Fractional Work, Freelancing, Consulting, and Agencies?

Fractional Execs

• What they are: Embedded, part-time senior operators (e.g., CMO, CFO, CTO, COO, Heads of Function) with 10–20+ years of experience, operating like full-time leaders, just part-time.
• Example responsibilities:
  • A Fractional Head of Sales might step in to lead your sales motion. Set up your sales stack (cold email campaigns, inbound prospect workflows, CRM, etc.), coach your junior sales staff, write playbooks about objection handling, and set up measurement and reporting.
  • A Fractional CFO might own your budget, forecasting, and create scenario models so the business can better see into the future. They can handle board prep, fundraising diligence, or even M&A activity as well.
• Cost structure: Monthly retainer (e.g., $Xk/month for Y hours/week)
• Contract structure: Independent contractor agreements, commonly month-to-month or short fixed terms (3–6 months), designed for ongoing work.

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Consultants

• What they are: External senior advisors or consulting firms that analyze problems and recommend solutions but typically do not own execution or embed themselves within your organization.
• Example responsibilities:
  • Conduct a go-to-market audit and deliver a strategic recommendation deck
  • Perform financial or operational diligence ahead of a fundraise or acquisition
• Cost structure: Project-based fees or hourly rates; high cost per hour, limited to defined scopes. Typically much more expensive than fractional talent, but useful for highly scoped deliverables.
• Contract structure: Fixed-duration engagements tied to specific deliverables (reports, models, playbooks).

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Agencies

• What they are: Execution partners staffed primarily by junior to mid-level specialists, overseen by senior account managers.
• Example responsibilities:
  • Design and launch a new marketing website in Framer
  • Run and optimize paid search or paid social campaigns against a defined brief
• Cost structure: Monthly retainers with built-in overhead and margins; typically more expensive than hiring execution talent directly
• Contract structure: Retainers with SLAs and predefined deliverables; longer minimum commitments are common.

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Freelancers

• What they are: Independent individual contributors, typically junior to mid-level specialists, working on discrete tasks or short-term needs.
• Example responsibilities:
  • Write a set of landing page copy based on provided messaging
  • Build a one-off dashboard or script to automate a reporting task
• Cost structure: Hourly or per-project pricing; lowest overhead option.
• Contract structure: Short-term or project-based agreements with clearly defined outputs.

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