Devstars
A fractional CMO is a senior marketing director who works with your business on a part-time, retained basis rather than full-time. You get strategic leadership, hands-on implementation support, and 35 years of pattern recognition for a fraction of the cost of a permanent hire.
That’s the textbook answer. But it doesn’t tell you much about what actually happens.
So instead of listing responsibilities and bullet-pointing deliverables, I’m going to walk you through what a real month looks like. The client details have been kept general, but the work is real. This is what 18 hours of fractional CMO time looks like when it’s spent properly.
I’ve been working with this particular client, a growing self-storage business, for about six months now. That matters because the focus shifts significantly depending on where you are in the relationship.
The early days were almost entirely strategic. We ran a full digital audit. Looked at their website, their analytics setup, their competitive landscape, where their customers were coming from and where they were dropping off. We mapped out a 12-month marketing roadmap and prioritised ruthlessly based on budget.
Six months on, we’ve already delivered a brand new website that’s fully optimised for both AI search and traditional SEO. The strategy phase has evolved into implementation. We’re now working with the client’s internal teams, their ad agency, and their data people to make things happen.
The thing is, the focus changes every month based on what the business needs. That’s the whole point. A fractional CMO isn’t running the same playbook on repeat. They’re reading the situation and deciding where your marketing budget will have the most impact right now.
This month started with something that doesn’t sound glamorous but is probably the most valuable work we’ve done all year: fixing the tracking.
We spent time going through the Google Analytics dashboards and Google Tag Manager setup to make sure every conversion point was being measured correctly across Google Ads. Sounds basic. It isn’t. Most businesses I work with are making decisions based on data that’s either incomplete or flat-out wrong.
Here’s why this matters. If you’re spending £3,000 a month on Google Ads and you can’t tell me which keywords are generating enquiries versus which ones are burning cash, you’re guessing. And guessing with someone else’s marketing budget is not something I’m comfortable with.
We went through every tag, every trigger, every conversion action. Made sure the data flowing into GA4 was clean and that the Google Ads account was optimising against actual business outcomes, not just clicks or form submissions that go nowhere.
The reality is, measurement has to come first. You can run brilliant campaigns, but if you can’t prove they’re working, you can’t make them better. And you can’t justify the spend to the board.
With the tracking sorted, we moved into commercial strategy. The client wanted to reach a specific audience, people who are planning to move house, and we needed offers that would resonate with that group at the exact moment they’re thinking about storage.
So we worked together on a set of new promotional offers. Nothing complicated. Practical packages with clear pricing that solve a real problem: “I’m moving house next month, I need somewhere to put my stuff for six weeks.”
This is where 35 years of marketing experience comes in. Back when I was at A&M Records working on campaigns for artists like Sheryl Crow, the fundamental question was exactly the same: where do you put your money to get the most impact? Back then it was a choice between TV ads, in-store displays, or radio. Today it’s whether the website needs work, whether you invest in PPC, whether you focus on content marketing, or whether there’s a completely different channel that everyone else has overlooked.
The medium changes. The thinking doesn’t. You have a budget. You need to spend it wisely. You need to understand your customer well enough to know where they’ll be looking and what they’ll respond to.
With the offers locked in, we started building the campaign around them. In this case, that meant a Facebook campaign targeting the right demographic in the right locations, scheduled to go live next month.
But we also looked beyond digital. We’re putting together printed postcards that will go directly to people who are planning to move house. Old school? Maybe. But when everyone else in your market is fighting over the same digital ad inventory, a well-timed postcard landing on someone’s doormat can cut through in a way that another Facebook ad simply can’t.
This is the kind of thinking a fractional CMO brings. It’s not about being loyal to one channel. It’s about being loyal to the result. If the data says direct mail will outperform digital for this specific audience at this specific moment, that’s where the money goes.
The last week was spent coordinating. Making sure the ad agency had the right creative briefs. Reviewing the campaign structure. Checking that the landing pages on the website were set up to convert the traffic we’re about to send.
A lot of fractional CMO work is like this. You’re not doing everything yourself. You’re making sure the right people are doing the right things, in the right order, to the right standard. You’re the person who spots that the landing page doesn’t match the ad copy, or that the tracking pixel isn’t firing on the thank-you page, or that the call-to-action is buried below the fold.
It’s strategic oversight combined with practical attention to detail. Not one or the other. Both.
That’s one month. Next month will be different. We’ll be analysing the campaign performance, running A/B tests on the landing pages, and starting to look at the next quarter’s plan. The month after that might be focused on content strategy or local SEO or a completely different channel.
The scope of a fractional CMO engagement typically follows a pattern, though the specifics vary for every client.
In the first one to three months, the focus is almost entirely strategic. Auditing what exists, identifying gaps, building the roadmap, and getting the measurement infrastructure right. You’re answering the question: where are we now, and where should we be spending money?
Months three to six shift toward implementation. The strategy is being executed. You’re working with teams, briefing agencies, reviewing creative, launching campaigns, and starting to gather real performance data.
From six months onward, it becomes a cycle of optimisation. The foundations are in place. Now you’re iterating, testing, finding the things that work and doubling down on them whilst cutting the things that don’t.
A good full-time marketing director costs upwards of £80,000 to £120,000 a year in salary alone, before you add employer’s NI, pension, benefits, and recruitment fees. For a business turning over £2 million to £10 million, that’s a significant overhead for a single role.
A fractional CMO gives you the same senior-level thinking, typically 18 hours a month, at a fraction of that cost. You’re not paying for someone to sit in meetings all day or fill out timesheets. You’re paying for the decisions that actually move the dial.
There’s another advantage that doesn’t get talked about enough. A fractional CMO who works across multiple clients sees patterns that an in-house hire never would. I work with businesses across storage, property, professional services, e-commerce, and more. When something works brilliantly for one client, I can adapt that thinking for another. When a platform changes its algorithm or a new advertising channel emerges, I’m seeing the impact across multiple campaigns simultaneously, not just one.
That cross-pollination of experience is genuinely valuable. It’s the difference between someone who’s seen one market and someone who’s seen dozens.
Honestly, it depends. A fractional CMO works well when you’ve got a business that’s growing, a marketing budget that needs to work harder, and no one internally with the experience to make the strategic calls.
It doesn’t work well when you need someone full-time executing day-to-day tasks. A fractional CMO sets the direction and works with your team to execute. If you don’t have anyone to execute, you either need a full-time hire or you need to pair the fractional CMO with an agency or contractors who handle the doing.
The businesses where I see the biggest impact are typically turning over £2 million to £20 million. Big enough to have real marketing budgets and genuine growth ambitions. Small enough that a £100,000 marketing director salary feels like a stretch.
If that sounds like you, it’s worth having a conversation about whether fractional marketing direction could work.
Stuart Watkins is the founder of Devstars and has worked in marketing for over 35 years, from record labels and creative agencies to enterprise digital transformation. He currently operates as fractional CMO for growing businesses across the UK, providing senior marketing direction at 18 hours per month.
It varies, but a typical engagement is around 18 hours per month. That’s enough time for strategic direction, campaign oversight, team coordination, and performance review without the overhead of a full-time salary.
A consultant typically delivers a report or strategy document and leaves. A fractional CMO is embedded in your business on an ongoing basis. They attend meetings, work with your teams, and are accountable for the outcomes over months and years, not just the recommendations.
Costs vary depending on experience and scope, but for a senior fractional CMO with 20+ years of experience, expect a monthly retainer rather than hourly billing. It’s typically a fraction of what a full-time marketing director would cost in salary alone, with none of the employer overhead.
Absolutely. In fact, that’s the ideal setup. Your fractional CMO provides the strategic direction and senior decision-making. Your team handles day-to-day execution. It tends to make existing teams more effective because they’ve got clearer priorities and someone experienced to escalate decisions to.
Most of our engagements run for 12 months or longer. The first three months are typically the most intensive as the strategy takes shape. After that, it becomes an ongoing cycle of implementation, measurement, and optimisation. Some of our client relationships are measured in years, not months.
Tell me what you’re trying to fix. Half an hour, no pitch, no slide deck.
If we’re the right fit we’ll talk about what’s next. If we’re not, I’ll point you to someone who is.
