The gap a lot of growing businesses fall into
There is a gap a lot of growing firms fall into. You have outgrown handling marketing between you, but you cannot justify a full-time marketing director's salary. So it lands with someone who is good at delivery but has not got the authority to set direction.
Nothing is wrong exactly. It is just that nobody senior is actually steering it.
Here are seven signs that gap exists in your business, and a Fractional Marketing Director could be the answer.
1. Nobody is steering
Your marketing team is busy but you could not say what it is building towards. There is activity, there is output, but there is no clear strategy connecting it to a commercial goal. A Fractional Marketing Director sets the direction and makes sure everything connects to it.
2. Decisions keep landing on you
Marketing decisions keep landing on the managing director's desk because there is nobody else senior enough to make them. Every campaign approval, every agency choice, every budget question comes to you. A Fractional Marketing Director takes that off your desk and owns it.
3. No one to develop your team
You have got a marketing executive doing good work with nobody to develop them. They are capable of more but there is nobody senior to mentor them, stretch them, or help them grow. A Fractional Marketing Director manages and develops your marketing people so they can take on more over time.
4. Big changes ahead
You are about to do something significant, a rebrand, a merger, a new service launch, a new office, and there is nobody in-house who has done it before. The cost of getting it wrong is high. A Fractional Marketing Director has done it before and can head up the big pieces of work.
5. Full-time is too much
You know you need senior marketing input but a full-time director is more than you need and more than you want to spend. A full-time Marketing Director costs 90,000 to 130,000 per year in total employer cost. A Fractional Marketing Director gives you the same strategic capability at 40 to 60 per cent of the cost.
6. Nobody is judging the work
Your marketing agency is producing work, but nobody inside the firm is deciding whether it is the right work. The agency is doing what agencies do, producing campaigns and content, but there is nobody senior enough to judge whether it is on strategy, whether it is working, and whether it is worth the money. A Fractional Marketing Director briefs, manages and holds accountable all marketing agencies.
7. Marketing and sales are not aligned
Marketing is producing leads but sales is not following up on them, or sales is complaining about lead quality but marketing does not know what sales actually needs. There is no shared definition of a qualified lead, no shared pipeline target, no agreed lead qualification criteria. A Fractional Marketing Director connects marketing and sales under shared targets.
What to do about it
If you recognise three or more of these signs, your business has probably outgrown its current marketing setup. The next step is a free 30-minute discovery call to talk through your situation honestly and figure out whether a Fractional Marketing Director is the right fit.
Book a free discovery call with Digital Womble to discuss your marketing leadership gap.