What a fractional CMO does
A fractional CMO is a senior marketing leader who works with your business part-time. You get the experience and accountability of a board-level marketing director, without the cost of a full-time hire.
I act as your Marketing Director for one or two days a week. I own the marketing strategy, lead and coach your team, manage your agencies, and report to the CEO or board on sales, margin and return on spend.
What I take on
- Marketing strategy and annual plan, built around your customer and your trading calendar.
- Trade and promotional planning: campaigns, offers and seasonal events aligned to what customers want at each point in the year.
- Brand and proposition: what you stand for and why a customer should choose you over the shop next door.
- Pricing and promotions architecture, to grow cash margin as well as sales.
- Customer insight and experience: CSAT and NPS tracking, pain points and a customer plan to fix them.
- Ecommerce and CRM: traffic, conversion and basket, online and in store.
- Team and agencies: structure, coaching, briefs, pitches and performance.
- Board reporting, in the language of the CFO.
When it's the right fit
- You have no senior marketing leader, or a gap between two.
- You have a capable junior team that needs direction.
- Marketing spend keeps rising but sales aren't following.
- You're planning a rebrand, new store format, new channel or big launch.
Results from similar roles
- +£30mlike-for-like sales at McColl's from a coupon-at-till programme
- £1mmarketing cost saved at SPAR UK, with ROAS up from £4 to £6
- +8%sales at SPAR UK from a new campaign planning process
- +£3mmargin at McColl's from new pricing and promotions
How it works
- A free 30-minute call. We talk about where the business is and where you want it to be.
- A short diagnostic. In the first few weeks I look at your customers, trade plan, spend and team, and agree a 90-day plan with you.
- Ongoing leadership. One or two days a week running marketing with your team, with a monthly report to the board.
- A quarterly review. We check results against the plan and decide what comes next.
What it costs
Fractional CMO support starts at £3,500 a month for around one day a week, with a three-month minimum. That compares with £250k or more a year for a full-time CMO once salary, bonus and on-costs are included.
If you only need a short piece of work first, a marketing audit is a good way to start.
Tim made an immediate impact through the creation of a new blueprint for our Marketing Plan. His passion and customer centric approach led to the developing of more effective and engaging campaigns.