Fractional CMO
Expert strategic leadership without the full-time cost
Our fractional CMOs drive growth and bring decades of leadership experience to your business on an ongoing part time basis.
What can a fractional CMO do for you?
Finding a great fractional CMO gets you access to board-level strategic marketing experience without the cost of a full-time director-level position.
Whether you need guidance at a strategic level, or an experienced brain to pick regarding ongoing marketing strategy implementation and performance oversight, the right fractional CMO can help you hit your goals and expand the expertise of your team.
- Embed marketing growth plans and go-to-market strategies
- Translate business goals into effective marketing plans and activities
- Identify opportunities to implement, test and share new marketing approaches
- Monitor performance and optimise spend
- Assess how to fill skills and capabilities gaps
- Build, coach and mentor marketing teams
- Oversee day-to-day marketing activity
The OV difference
Knowing what to look for in a fractional CMO can be the difference between functional marketing support and transformational expertise.
Our fractional CMOs are comfortable with complexity, whether that stems from the market you operate in, your proposition or your target audience. With decades of marketing leadership experience, we bridge the gap between strategy and execution to provide end-to-end knowledge that drives growth.
Board-level experience
Our fractional CMOs have held director-level positions at a range of businesses, and you’ll benefit from in-depth strategic know-how alongside operational oversight.
An extended network
We use the collective knowledge of our team to offer even deeper expertise, plus continuity cover for fractional CMO holidays.
100% transparency
We’ll never subcontract work to team members you haven’t met – you’ll always be dealing directly with our senior fractional CMOs.
Our fractional CMOs
Bethan Vincent
Managing Partner
“The strength of any house lies in its foundation—marketing is no different. These foundations are rooted in understanding your customers, their behaviours, and what resonates with them. When you base your marketing on the actual way people interact with brands and buy, you greatly improve your chances of success.”
Sector expertise: SaaS, Technology Services, Digital Agencies, Ecommerce
Jon Paget
Senior Partner
“For thousands of years, knowing your customer better than your competitors has led to businesses knowing what to sell, at what price, where to sell it and how to promote it, profitably. Nothing has changed and yet everything has changed. Marketing strategy provides direction on these critical questions.”
Sector expertise: Technology Services, Health Tech, Social Tech, Travel
Lisa Wood
Senior Partner
“Customer attention is an increasingly rare commodity. To win attention you have to build trust and credibility, have resonance and stand-out from everyone else around you. Switch off your filters for just a minute and notice the number of irrelevant ads vying for your attention – wrong place, wrong time, wrong product.”
Sector expertise: Fintech, Banking, Travel, Legal Services
Our Success Stories
“Over the past 9 months Bethan has been an integral part of translating our growth ambitions into a tangible long term plan and has worked closely with our senior team to define and validate an exciting new direction for the business.”
“Open Velocity provided vital marketing support at a pivotal time in YorkTest’s ongoing journey to build on our UK market presence and expand into the US. Their support has contributed to a record year for our company in 2022 and helped us lay solid foundations for future growth”
“Working with Bethan has been a huge success for our business and I personally can't recommend her enough. She worked with our marketing function and in a short few months, completely reset our strategy and vision for the growth of the agency. We initially engaged her for a one-off project but the value she has been able to contribute has led us to extend our partnership for the foreseeable future.”
“Requirements were captured in a very short space of time, and the end result is always to a very high standard. We could not operate at the level we are without support from Open Velocity. We hope to continue this relationship for many years to come, thank you for all the support so far!”
“Working with Open Velocity has been extremely valuable for 34SP. They helped us understand what makes us special in a busy market and how to share that message with our customers. Their work has made a big difference for our business, giving us a solid foundation to continue to build upon.”
FAQs
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How do I find a reputable fractional CMO?
Look for a candidate who has relevant experience in your sector, ensure the expertise matches what you’d like them to work on and make sure you find someone with a good culture fit for your business. You could research specialist marketing consultancies to see what they offer, use your network to gather recommendations or post a job ad on LinkedIn and other recruitment platforms.
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How much time does a fractional CMO typically spend in the business?
A fractional CMO typically works in your business for a set number of days a month – 3 to 4 days a month is often enough, depending on the size of the business. You can achieve a lot in a short space of time if you’re clear on what your goals are, so make sure to discuss your aims extensively with your fractional CMO as part of the onboarding process.
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What type of organisations benefit most from a fractional CMO?
Fractional CMOs suit any business that needs marketing support to hit their business goals, but lacks the budget for a executive-level CMO or senior marketer. Businesses that are starting to scale often get particular value from a fractional CMO because experienced strategic marketing leadership adds value during high-growth phases.
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Can a fractional CMO work remotely?
Yes – if your business is used to remote or hybrid working, a fractional CMO can work well with this setup. In a hybrid working environment, meeting face-to-face can be useful in the earlier stages of the relationship to build connection between the fractional CMO and your team, and to create solid foundations for further remote collaboration.
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What are the challenges of working with a fractional CMO?
A fractional CMO works with your business for a set number of days or hours per month. This means it’s essential to optimise the use of that time – identify some key objectives you’d like your fractional CMO to achieve and make the most of their strategic expertise rather than pulling them into anything too operational.
Particularly when they first join, fractional CMOs won’t always know the inner workings of your business. To address this, look for a fractional CMO with a collaborative approach, who asks lots of questions and can adapt their broader experience to meeting your goals.
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How much does a fractional CMO cost?
A fractional CMO will generally charge a day rate and this will vary based on the level of experience you’re getting. The real benefit is you’ll pay a fraction of the cost compared to the salary of a full-time CMO, but get a significant amount of expertise injected into your business by paying for just a few days a month.
Current CMO salaries are around £100,000 at the low-end, up to £350,000 a year – research gives you a wide range, with salaries being highly dependent on experience. When calculating a day rate, you’d usually allow +30% uplift and then divide by 220 days to get a day rate.
Is your marketing strategy heading in the right direction?
If you’re not quite sure what you need from us. Drop us a line and let our team help you establish the best solution for your business needs.
