Sets the direction
Commercial priorities, final authority and the boundaries of delegated decisions.
Business Fractional CMO
A marketing lead for the days you need one.
Senior marketing leadership for businesses that need decisions owned and suppliers directed, without hiring a full-time marketing director.
Who this suits
Suits
- Businesses with several suppliers and nobody accountable for how they fit together.
- Owners doing marketing by default and wanting to hand over the decisions, not just the tasks.
- Teams with a marketing manager who need senior oversight and a second opinion.
Not for
- Unlimited access or an on-call marketing director.
- Full channel delivery bundled in automatically. Channel work is separate and scoped on its own.
- An hourly arrangement, or a pledge of weekly hours.
Leadership / Accountability
Who owns the decisions?
It is not a grander title for another reporting meeting. The difference is a defined mandate and someone responsible for bringing separate marketing activities together.
Connects the work
Marketing priorities, budget choices, supplier direction and an accountable plan within the agreed remit.
Get the job done
Internal staff, agencies and specialists execute clearly briefed work and supply useful feedback.
Advisory is not embedded leadership.
Advice challenges decisions. Embedded leadership takes responsibility for making and coordinating agreed decisions. Both are scoped separately; neither means unlimited access.
What is a fractional CMO? ↗ The practical detail / Fractional CMO
The mandate. The boundaries.
The role is defined by decision rights, supplier coordination and accountability, not a job title or unlimited hours.
What a fractional CMO is for
A growing number of businesses reach a point where marketing is a collection of suppliers, tools and good intentions, and nobody owns the whole. A full-time chief marketing officer is expensive and often more than the business needs. A fractional CMO takes the senior decisions and accountability on a part-time basis.
What the role covers
- Strategy and priorities. What marketing is for this year, in terms the business can test.
- Budget decisions. Where money goes, what gets stopped and what evidence it takes to change the split.
- Supplier direction. Briefing, challenging and reviewing agencies and freelancers, so they report against outcomes that matter to you.
- Working with your team. Supporting an in-house marketer, or the owner who has been doing it alone.
- Reporting to the board or owner. A short, honest view of what is working and what is not, in business terms.
Two levels, scoped separately
Advisory
Shape: Light-touch, regular sessions — for example, twice a month.
Responsibility: Challenge, second opinions and direction. You retain the decisions.
Capacity and fee: Limited involvement, quoted for the agreed scope.
Embedded leadership
Shape: Regular involvement across the business’s marketing activity.
Responsibility: Defined decisions owned and suppliers directed within an agreed mandate.
Capacity and fee: Selective availability and bespoke pricing.
Neither level means unlimited access, and neither includes channel delivery unless that is separately agreed.
The mandate
Leadership only works if it is clear who decides what. Before starting we write down the decisions you are delegating, the ones that stay with you and how disagreements are handled. Where you decide differently from our advice, that is your right, and the record of what we recommended stays on file.
Working with SMB
This is selective, limited-capacity work. If you think it could fit, start with a short message and we will say honestly whether it does. See also how we work.
Experience in practice / Embedded marketing in practice
Leadership involves more than giving advice.
Priorities have to connect with people, creative execution, suppliers and what the business can actually deliver.
Explore selected experienceDiamonds Gallery · Embedded marketing
Integrated marketing involvement for a jewellery retailer spanning planning, campaign delivery and external creative coordination.
Manis Living · Related brand collaboration
Creative and marketing involvement across a related design-led business, requiring more than the management of a single channel.
FAQ
Questions people ask.
What is the difference between advice and leadership?
Advice is light-touch: for example regular sessions to review plans, challenge decisions and answer questions. Leadership is a mandate: you delegate defined decisions, and the work needs regular involvement, a bespoke fee and limited capacity. The two are scoped and priced differently.
How much does it cost?
There is no fixed price. Fees depend on the mandate, the level of involvement and what is being led. We agree the scope first and quote it properly. Our guide to fractional CMOs shows what other providers advertise.
Will you manage our agencies and freelancers?
Directing and checking suppliers is a core part of the role. You will know who is accountable for what, and what each supplier is expected to show you.
Do we also get SEO or paid media?
Not automatically. A fractional CMO decides what is needed and oversees it. Delivering SEO or paid media is channel work, scoped and agreed separately.
Before you decide
Related reading.
The evidence and reasoning behind this page, with sources.
Framework · Search and AI search
SEO or PPC for a small business? Choose by cash, time and margin
A framework for choosing between SEO and PPC for a small business: speed, cost behaviour, control and risk, with situations where each wins and where neither does.
Read Guide · Running marketingWhat is a fractional CMO? Roles, limits and what it costs in the UK
What a fractional CMO does, how it differs from an adviser, an agency and a full-time hire, what the mandate should say, and a dated sample of UK provider prices.
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