A fractional CMO,
at your leadership table.
A senior marketer from Pollard Media in your leadership meetings, part time, owning the plan, the budget and the number marketing is held to.
Most leadership teams have someone answerable for sales, finance and operations. Marketing is often the empty seat: the budget is spent, but nobody at the table can say what it returned. A fractional CMO takes that seat for the days each month the business needs, rather than the five days a week of a full-time hire.
A fractional CMO is the most senior form of Marketing Consultancy in Growth: one person, at board level, setting the direction for the people who do the work. The role is held by a senior member of our team, working from the Norwich office and joining you in person or on a call.
A standing item on the agenda.
Marketing gets the same slot as finance and operations: a short written paper before the meeting, progress against the plan, and the decisions that need the board. Your fractional CMO presents it, answers for it and takes the actions away.
Between meetings, they set the priorities for whoever does the work, whether that is your own team, outside suppliers or ours, and hold each of them to the same numbers.
What the role covers.
The role is scoped in days each month and written down before it begins. Not every business needs all of it at once.
Leadership and board meetings
A seat at the table each month, with a marketing paper circulated beforehand and the decisions recorded after.
The marketing plan
Written or rewritten with your business goal on page one, then owned from that day: priorities, budget and timeline.
The budget
Every line of marketing spend set against what it is expected to return, and moved when it does not.
Your marketing team
Clear priorities, regular one-to-ones and someone senior to answer to, for the marketers you already employ.
Supplier oversight
Outside suppliers briefed, held to the plan and judged on the same results as everyone else.
Strategy days
A day on site with the leadership team when a decision needs more than a meeting: a new market, a new service or a change of direction.
Board reporting
One clear marketing report for the board, in the enquiries, sales or bookings the business runs on.
Hiring
Help writing the role, interviewing and settling in new people when you build your own marketing team.
The first three months.
How a fractional CMO takes the seat, and how the role is kept to the right size.
Tell us where you’re goingListen.
Month one.
Your CMO meets the leadership team, the people doing the marketing and some of your clients, and reads the numbers behind the last year.
You receive a written view of what is working, what is not and what should stop.
Plan.
Month two.
The plan is written or rewritten with the business goal on page one, and the budget is set against it.
The board approves the plan before anything changes.
Lead.
Month three onwards.
Marketing becomes a standing item at the leadership meeting, with a paper beforehand and the actions owned afterwards.
Each month the board sees progress against the plan.
Review.
Each quarter.
The arrangement itself is reviewed: how many days the role needs, and whether the business is ready for a full-time hire.
If it is, your CMO helps you recruit one.
Fractional CMO, in practice.
All Projects
Questions about fractional CMOs.
What does a fractional CMO do?
Owns marketing at leadership level, part time. They set the plan and the budget, sit in your leadership meetings, lead the people doing the work and answer to the board for the results.
How many days a month does it take?
As many as the business needs, and no more. The role is scoped in days each month, agreed in writing, and reviewed every quarter so it can grow or shrink with the work.
Is a fractional marketing director any different?
Only in the title. Both describe a senior marketing lead working part time at board level, and the role is the same whichever name your board prefers.
Is it the same as an interim marketing director?
Not quite. An interim usually fills a vacant role full time for a fixed period. A fractional CMO works part time and stays for as long as it is useful. If you are recruiting, a fractional arrangement can cover the gap and help you make the hire.
How does this compare with outsourced marketing?
A fractional CMO is one senior person setting direction at board level. Outsourced marketing is the whole department, with the work itself managed by us. You can have the first without the second.
Will they manage our marketing team?
If you want them to. They set priorities, hold regular one-to-ones and give your marketers someone senior to answer to, with the details agreed in writing at the start.
Do they come to our meetings in person?
Yes, where it helps. Leadership meetings and strategy days are usually in person, and the work between them is done on calls and in writing.
How is it priced?
Every engagement has a defined scope and a stated fee, agreed in writing before any work begins. Tell us where you’re going and we’ll tell you what it would involve.
Ready to talk about your next stage of growth?
Tell us where you’re going. We’ll tell you, candidly, whether we’re the right agency to take you there.
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