Marketing
Fractional marketing director: what one does, what it costs, and when you need one
Michele Caddeo ·
A fractional marketing director runs your marketing part-time, from outside: the plan, the budget, the suppliers and the monthly review. It suits a business whose marketing needs steady direction but not a full-time salary; the National Careers Service puts a UK marketing manager at £30,000 to £65,000 a year before employer costs. Ask who does the work once the plan is written.
A fractional marketing director is the marketing head you share with other companies. You get the decisions and the direction for a few days a month, without a full-time salary.
What does a fractional marketing director do?
Decides what to say, to whom and where, then makes sure it happens.
The job
Plan, budget, suppliers and the numbers
Who your customers are
ResearchWhat they look for when they ask for a quote, and what competitors offer them.
What to say, and where
PlanThe message for each kind of buyer, and the channels in order: site, Google, ads, trade fairs, email.
How much to spend
BudgetChannel by channel, with a monthly limit.
Which numbers to watch
ReviewQuote requests, calls and enquiries from the site, checked on a fixed day each month.
The plan often stops there in practice. Someone still has to make the new page, the campaign or the video. In BrightLocal’s 2025 survey, 54% of small business owners manage their marketing on their own (BrightLocal).
When do you need one, and when not?
You need one when sales have a problem and you don’t know where to take hold of it.
- The product is good, but quote requests are falling and you can’t see where they’re lost.
- Competitors who work worse than you show up first, on Google or on social media.
- Almost all customers come from one channel: agents, trade fairs or word of mouth.
- You spend on ads and can’t say what they brought in.
If you already know what’s missing, a new site or a trade fair campaign, you don’t need a director. You need someone who makes that thing, as long as they first ask who it’s for and how you’ll measure it.
Fractional director, consultant, agency or hire?
Choose whoever covers the part you’re missing: deciding, doing, or both.
Who decides, who does
A plan on paper, or a plan that gets made
Consultant
The plan
Paid by the day or the project.
- Sì: Research and a written plan
- Sì: Monthly review of the numbers
- No: The pages, ads and videos made
- No: One person for the whole job
Fractional, with delivery
Plan and work
One monthly fee.
- Sì: Research and a written plan
- Sì: Monthly review of the numbers
- Sì: The pages, ads and videos made
- Sì: One person for the whole job
An employee makes sense when there’s enough work for a full-time person. The National Careers Service puts a UK marketing manager at £30,000 starting and £65,000 experienced (National Careers Service), and the company also pays National Insurance and pension on top.
How much does a fractional marketing director cost?
There’s no official rate card: each one sets a day rate or a monthly retainer. Compare offers on what you get at the end of each month, the plan only or the plan and the work done. Two offers only compare if they include the same things.
This is how I work. With the subscription I’m your company’s outside marketing head, and I do the work too: you send requests, a new page or the graphics for a campaign, and I carry them through. It costs €4,500 a month, €4,000 from the fourth month, no VAT added, and you can cancel whenever you like. Every month we look at what worked and decide the next.
How do you choose one?
By the questions they ask before proposing anything, and by how they answer yours.
First meeting
Six questions to ask
What do you need to know about my business?
Someone with a ready-made package and no questions about customers, prices and competitors is selling what they already have.
How will you measure whether it works?
Quote requests, calls and new customers. Visits and likes alone say little.
Can I see work for a business like mine?
Similar in size or in type of customer, even from another sector.
Who does the work after the plan?
If the answer is “you find someone”, put that in the cost.
Whose name are the accounts in?
Yours. Keep the Admin access to Google Ads and the website, and give the director a login of their own.
How long is the contract, and how do I end it?
Minimum term, notice and what stays with you if you stop.
And be wary of anyone promising first place on Google. Google’s own advice: if they guarantee it, find someone else (Google Search Central).
When do you see the first results?
Ads give numbers as soon as they run. For the rest, search on Google included, ask in writing which results to expect and when. Before starting, agree which numbers you’ll watch, what they are today and the day you’ll check them first.
The simplest check is yours: ask every new customer how they found you, and write it down. After a few months you know which channel to keep.
