What a fractional marketing director does, and when an SME needs one
The short answer
A fractional marketing director is an experienced, senior marketing leader who works for your business part-time, for a set number of days or hours a month. They set the marketing plan, make the decisions and hold the work to account, without the cost and commitment of a full-time executive.
Many South African SMEs reach a point where marketing has outgrown the owner. There is a website, some social media, maybe an agency or a junior marketer, and money is going out every month. What is missing is someone senior who decides what the business should be doing, in what order, and whether it is working.
That is the gap a fractional marketing director fills.
What does "fractional" mean?
Fractional simply means part of the time. Instead of hiring a marketing director for five days a week, you buy a fraction of one: for example, two days a month, one day a week, or a set number of hours.
The person works as part of your leadership team, not as an outside supplier waiting for a brief. They attend the meetings that matter, work with your people and suppliers, and take responsibility for results.
What does a fractional marketing director actually do?
The work changes with the business, but it usually covers:
- Strategy: Deciding who your best customers are, what you offer them and why they should choose you over a competitor.
- A marketing plan and budget: Turning that strategy into a plan for the next 6 to 12 months, with a clear budget and priorities.
- Choosing channels: Deciding where your time and money should go, such as Google Ads, your website, LinkedIn, email or trade events, and what to stop doing.
- Managing people and suppliers: Briefing and guiding your in-house team, freelancers or agency, and checking the quality of their work.
- Measurement: Setting up simple reporting so you can see enquiries, customers and revenue, not only clicks and likes.
- Linking marketing to sales: Making sure leads are followed up and that marketing and sales are working towards the same targets.
In short, they do the thinking and the managing. The day-to-day work, such as designing posts or running ads, is often done by your team or suppliers under their direction.
How is it different from an agency or a full-time hire?
An agency is usually hired to do specific work, such as ads, design or social media. A good agency will give advice, but it is not responsible for your overall marketing direction, and its advice tends to lean towards the services it sells.
A full-time marketing director gives you senior leadership every day. For a larger business, that is the right choice. For many SMEs, it is more than they need or can justify yet, once you add salary, benefits, recruitment time and the risk of a wrong hire.
A fractional marketing director sits between the two. You get senior judgement and accountability, for the amount of time your business actually needs. Because they are not selling you a particular channel, their advice can be more neutral.
Signs your SME is ready for one
A fractional marketing director is usually a good fit when several of these sound familiar:
- You are spending money on marketing every month but cannot say what it brings in.
- The owner or MD is still making every marketing decision, and it is taking time away from running the business.
- You have a junior marketer or an agency, but nobody senior is guiding them.
- You are planning to grow, enter a new market or launch a new product, and need a plan to support it.
- Sales and marketing are not working together, and good leads are being lost.
- You know you need senior marketing help but are not ready for a full-time executive.
When it is not the right fit
A fractional marketing director is not the answer to every problem. If you mainly need someone to post on social media or update the website, a freelancer or agency may be enough. If your business already has a strong marketing team and a clear strategy, you may only need occasional advice.
It also only works if the business is willing to act. A plan that sits in a drawer will not change anything, however good it is.
What to look for when choosing one
- Real business experience: Look for someone who has helped grow a business, not only run campaigns. They should understand margins, cash flow and sales.
- Relevant markets: Experience in B2B, your industry or the markets you want to enter will shorten the time it takes them to be useful.
- A clear way of working: Ask how many days they will give you, what they will deliver in the first 90 days and how you will measure progress.
- Plain reporting: You should get regular reports that show what was done and what it produced, in rands and customers.
- Flexibility: Avoid long lock-in contracts. The arrangement should be able to grow or shrink with your business.
What the first 90 days usually look like
- Month 1, understand: Review your customers, sales, current marketing, website and competitors. Find the quick wins and the biggest gaps.
- Month 2, plan: Agree a focused marketing plan, budget and simple measures of success with the leadership team.
- Month 3, act: Brief the team and suppliers, launch the first priorities and start regular reporting.
Senior thinking, sized to your business. Most growing SMEs do not need more marketing activity. They need someone experienced to decide which activity is worth doing, and to make sure it pays off.
I have spent more than 15 years building and growing brands and companies in South Africa and internationally, moving from marketing through VP Marketing to COO. Solas Creative offers that experience to SMEs on a fractional basis, through marketing strategy for SMEs and ongoing monthly support. If you are wondering whether your business is ready, book a free consultation and we can talk it through.
