Senior marketing leadership, without the full-time hire.
Ongoing marketing judgement from someone who has led it inside the world's biggest tech brands. Two ways to work together, depending on whether you need direction or you need someone to own it. Neither is advice you are left to run alone.
Marketing is happening. But who is actually steering it?
Most growing organisations reach a point where there is marketing activity, some ads, some content, an agency or a junior handling the day to day, but no senior person owning the decisions above it. Money goes out. Campaigns run. Nobody can say with confidence whether any of it is the right thing, or what to do next.
That gap, senior direction, is where budgets quietly leak and growth stalls. It is also the most expensive gap to fill with a full-time hire.
Three different problems. Only two of them are mine.
Before you look at what anything costs, it is worth being clear about which gap you actually have. They look similar from the inside and they need completely different answers.
The capacity gap
You know what needs doing and you have a plan you believe in. You just do not have enough hands to do it.
What you need: an agency, a freelancer or a hire. Not me. If this is you, I am happy to point you at someone good.
The direction gap
You have people who can execute, in-house or an agency, but nobody senior is deciding what they should be working on or whether it is working.
What you need: Marketing Advisory.
The leadership gap
Nobody owns marketing. You are the founder still making the calls yourself, and you would rather be doing almost anything else.
What you need: a Fractional CMO.
Direction, or ownership
The difference is not how much of me you get. It is what I am accountable for.
Marketing Advisory
from £2,000 a month
Best if you have people who can execute but nobody senior directing them
I set the direction and hold you to it. Your team or agency does the work.
- Your time:
- roughly 3 hours a month
- Term:
- 6 months, then a proper conversation about whether to continue
- A monthly working session to set and review direction
- A written priority note after every session, so nothing depends on memory
- Review of campaigns, messaging and spend against the plan
- Direction and briefing for your team, freelancers or agencies
- Ongoing judgement on the decisions that come up between sessions
- Honest accountability for whether it is working and what to change
Fractional CMO
from £4,000 a month
Best if nobody owns marketing and you want to stop making the calls yourself
I own marketing. The strategy, the spend, the team and the outcome.
- Your time:
- around 2 hours a month
- Commitment:
- 1 to 2 days a week
- Term:
- 6 months minimum, then a proper conversation
- Everything in Marketing Advisory
- I own the marketing plan and the budget
- Agency and freelancer selection, briefing and management
- Direct leadership or mentoring of your marketing people
- A named target I am accountable for, agreed before we start
- Marketing represented properly to your board or investors
- Inside your business: your planning, your tools, your meetings
If you have had a Growth Review with me in the last 60 days, that fee comes off your first month.
I work with a small number of businesses at a time, so availability varies.
The first 90 days
A short call
Twenty minutes to work out which gap you actually have. If it is the capacity gap, I will tell you and point you elsewhere.
Weeks 1 to 2, get oriented
I go through what you have, talk to the people who matter and form a view. You get that view in writing, including the parts you will not enjoy.
Weeks 3 to 4, agree the plan
Priorities, sequence, budget and the one thing we are trying to move. Written down and agreed by both of us, so success is defined before the work starts rather than argued about afterwards.
Month 2 onward, run it
The monthly rhythm begins. Direction set, work reviewed, course corrected. At month 6 we sit down and decide honestly whether it is worth continuing.
Who this suits, and who it doesn't.
A strong fit if:
- You are a founder or B2B organisation with marketing happening but no senior person owning it
- You have a team, freelancer or agency who can execute, but need someone to direct them
- You want senior judgement without the cost and commitment of a full-time CMO
- You are willing to be told something you do not want to hear
Probably not right if:
- You need a team to execute campaigns hands-on, which is an agency
- You want a strategy document handed over and nothing more
- You are pre-launch with nothing yet to steer, in which case start with a Growth Review
- You want someone to run everything themselves, day to day
- You want agreement rather than direction
“I’ve seen first-hand how effectively Chris combines strategic marketing expertise with genuine commercial judgement to deliver results. He cuts through the noise, challenges assumptions constructively and turns complex marketing decisions into clear, practical action.”
Sandrijn Stead
CEO and Founder, CapametriX
The judgement of a CMO, on the inside, at a fraction of the cost.
A marketing director in the South of England is typically advertised between £65,000 and £110,000, depending on how senior the role really is and what the sector pays. B2B technology sits at the upper end of that.
Then add employer national insurance at 15%, pension contributions, and a recruitment fee that is usually 20% or more of the first year's salary. A £90,000 hire costs closer to £125,000 in year one, and takes 3 to 6 months to find.
Both of these options give you senior marketing judgement for a fraction of that, with none of the commitment and none of the risk if it turns out not to be the right fit.
Salary data: Reed Salary Guide 2026 and Morgan McKinley 2026.
The things people ask before they commit
What is the actual difference between the two?
Accountability. With Advisory I am accountable for the thinking and you are accountable for what happens next. With Fractional CMO I am accountable for the outcome, which means I need the authority to direct the budget, the agencies and the people. If you are not ready to hand that over, Advisory is the right choice and there is no shame in it.
Why six months?
Because anything shorter is not long enough to tell whether it worked, and open-ended retainers make people feel trapped. Six months, then a real conversation with a real option to stop. Most of these relationships either earn their place by month 4 or they do not.
What if I already have an agency?
Good. Most agency relationships underperform because the brief was thin, not because the agency is bad. Part of what you are buying is someone who briefs them properly and holds them to it, which usually makes them better rather than replacing them.
How much of my time does this take?
Advisory is roughly 3 hours a month. Fractional CMO takes less of your time, not more, because the whole point is that the decisions stop coming to you.
What happens if it is not working?
You will know, because I will tell you before you have to ask me. If it is not working and I cannot fix it, I will say so and we will stop. I would rather end an engagement honestly than keep invoicing one that has stalled.
Do I have to start with an audit?
No. Some people want the full diagnosis first and some want to get moving. If you have had a Growth Review in the last 60 days, that fee comes off your first month.
What happens when the engagement ends?
You should end up more capable, not more dependent. Everything I build is yours to keep: the plan, the messaging, the agency relationships and the way of working. If your team is stronger for it and your next marketing hire walks into something coherent rather than a mess, that is the job done properly. An adviser who makes himself indispensable has misunderstood the assignment.
Work out which gap you actually have.
A short, no-pitch conversation. If what you need is an agency rather than me, I will tell you that and point you at someone good.
NO LOCK-IN. NO OPEN-ENDED RETAINER. NO SURPRISE INVOICES.
Not ready for this yet? I hold a small number of free Marketing Surgery appointments each month.