Fractional leadership
For businesses entering a new market, preparing a launch or trying to make their marketing work harder, a fractional CMO or Head of Marketing can bring senior judgement without waiting for a permanent hire.
I work across brand, marketing and creative: setting direction, helping teams make decisions and staying close enough to the work to make it real.
Some businesses need a fractional CMO to shape the mandate, work with the founder or board and set the direction across the business. Others need a senior Head of Marketing to lead the team, make the plan work and raise the standard around it.
The right remit depends on the problem to solve, the authority needed to solve it and the maturity of the team already in place. Start there, not with the title.
02 / When fractional leadership helps
Fractional leadership is useful when the business has momentum but the marketing direction, team or operating rhythm has not caught up.
03 / What I can take on
A fractional role can be shaped around the point at which the business needs senior support. That can include:
Proposed 90-day leadership sprint
The first 90 days are for getting clear on the business, making the important choices and putting the right work in motion. The sequence is indicative. It may overlap or change where the evidence, the business or a decision requires it.
Phase 01 / Understand the groundDays 1–20
Agree the mandate, get close to the business and customer, and map the current marketing system. The aim is to understand what is happening before deciding what to change.
Visible output A shared view of the immediate job, the current system and the questions that need answering.
01 / Set the remit
Start with what the business needs marketing to do, who can make which decisions and where the role fits alongside the founder, board and leadership team. Make the brief specific enough to work from.
Output / decisionA written mandate, decision rights and a shared definition of the immediate job.
Phase 01 / Understand the ground Days 1–20
Agree the mandate, get close to the business and customer, and map the current marketing system. The aim is to understand what is happening before deciding what to change.
Visible output A shared view of the immediate job, the current system and the questions that need answering.
Phase 02 / Name the constraint Days 21–30
Identify the problem holding progress back and establish the measures that give the business an honest starting point.
Visible output One agreed constraint, the evidence behind it and a baseline scorecard.
Decision checkpoint 01 Day 30
Confirm the mandate, the main constraint and the measures that will show whether the work is moving in the right direction.
Phase 03 / Choose the priorities Days 31–60
Make the priority and trade-off decisions, then align the team and partners around the work that matters now.
Visible output A prioritised plan, named owners and a clearer way of working.
Decision checkpoint 02 Day 60
Agree the focus, resource trade-offs and the leadership decisions needed to support the plan.
Phase 04 / Put the plan to work Days 61–90
Turn the direction into an owned plan, lead the first priority moves and review the evidence as the work starts to land.
Visible output Priority actions underway and a decision-ready view of the next stage.
Decision checkpoint 03 Day 90
Review what has changed, what has been learned and what the business should carry forward, build next or decide differently.
For leaders who want the working detail
The four phases above are the main story. Open a chapter below for the working detail behind it, including the decisions and outputs it is designed to produce.
Start with what the business needs marketing to do, who can make which decisions and where the role fits alongside the founder, board and leadership team. Make the brief specific enough to work from.
Output / decisionA written mandate, decision rights and a shared definition of the immediate job.
Look at the commercial plan, customers, offer, market and the people closest to the work. Listen before changing the story or the plan.
Output / decisionA concise view of the business context, customer questions and assumptions that need testing.
Trace how strategy, brand, channels, content, sales support, agencies and measurement currently connect. The aim is to see what is working, what is duplicated and what has no clear owner.
Output / decisionA simple map of the marketing system, responsibilities and immediate gaps.
Separate the visible symptom from the problem holding progress back. It may be a proposition, a decision bottleneck, unclear ownership, a weak channel plan or missing capability.
Output / decisionOne agreed statement of the main constraint and the evidence behind it.
Choose the measures that give the business an honest starting point. They should connect to the commercial objective, while recognising that awareness, consideration and operating improvements may move before commercial results do.
Output / decisionA baseline scorecard, data gaps and a practical reporting rhythm.
Decide where to focus, what to pause and what not to do yet. This is where a long list of activity becomes a shorter set of choices the business can support.
Output / decisionA prioritised plan with explicit trade-offs, owners and decisions still needed.
Give internal teams, agencies and specialist partners a shared view of the direction, their role and the standard expected. Fix avoidable handoffs before adding more meetings or more suppliers.
Output / decisionA clear working model, named owners and agreed ways of working.
Translate the choices into a plan for propositions, audiences, channels, creative, budget, measurement and sales support where relevant. The plan should show what happens first, who owns it and how decisions will be reviewed.
Output / decisionAn owned marketing plan with sequencing, resource needs and review points.
Begin the few actions that unblock the wider plan, whether that means a proposition decision, agency brief, launch sequence, team change or measurement fix. Keep the work close to the agreed mandate.
Output / decisionFirst priority actions underway, with progress and decisions visible to the leadership team.
Review what has been learned, what has changed and what needs continued leadership. The point is a decision-ready view of the next stage, not a claim that commercial outcomes have already arrived.
Output / decisionAn evidence-led review and an agreed recommendation for what happens next.
The timing is indicative. Some steps may overlap or take longer where the business needs more evidence or a decision takes longer to make.
05 / Proof
At Geely Auto UK, I built the marketing function while the brand was entering the market: setting the budget, building the team, running the agency tender and working across research, proposition, launch activity, dealer materials and fleet support.
Read the Geely UK case study
06 / Start with the context
If the business needs senior marketing leadership through a period of change, start with the context and the decision that cannot wait.
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