Why Modern Marketing Is More Complicated Than It Looks
I understand why marketing can look simpler from outside the function than it often feels from inside it. Most of what the rest of the business sees is the output: an advert, a website, an email, a landing page, a campaign, a brochure or a report. The finished item can look relatively straightforward, so when […]
The Marketing Metric Nobody Measures: Expectation
One of the most important areas of marketing to get right is expectation. That means setting it properly, aligning it across the business, managing it as circumstances change and, occasionally, challenging it when what is being asked bears little relationship to the budget, resource or timescale available. The longer I have worked in marketing, the […]
Fractional CMO vs Marketing Agency: Which Does Your Business Actually Need?
When a business decides that marketing needs to improve, appointing an agency is often one of the first options considered. It is an understandable response. There are agencies specialising in almost every area of modern marketing, from SEO and paid media to PR, content, websites, branding and social media. If the business needs additional expertise […]
Why Founders End Up Running Marketing Themselves, Even After Hiring a Team
One of the clearest signs that a marketing function has outgrown its structure is not necessarily a failed campaign, falling website traffic or a disappointing month of sales. It is a founder who has supposedly hired people to take marketing off their plate, but is still the person everyone turns to whenever a meaningful decision […]
What Does a CMO Really Cost a UK Business?
A practical comparison of full time and fractional senior marketing leadership A £120,000 Chief Marketing Officer does not cost a business £120,000. Once employer National Insurance and the minimum employer pension contribution are included, the direct annual employment cost is approximately £138,571. Add recruitment fees, and the first-year cost can exceed £160,000 before the business […]
Why Businesses Keep Hiring the Wrong Marketer
There is a problem in marketing recruitment that I keep seeing play out across businesses of all sizes. A business decides it needs marketing support. Leads may have slowed down. The website might not be converting. Sales might be questioning the quality of enquiries. The board might want more visibility. The brand may feel tired, […]
Align, Don’t Merge: Why Sales and Marketing Need Separate Leaders (and Strategic Unity)
Business leaders often see sales and marketing as two sides of the same coin, both aimed at driving revenue, and some attempt to simplify by combining them under one role. A recent job posting for a Head of Sales and Marketing exemplifies this trend. On paper, it covered everything from managing sales pipelines and forecasts […]
Is Your Marketing Department Performing as It Should?
A Fractional CMO’s Guide to Spotting the Warning Signs and Fixing Them Properly After more than 20 years leading marketing functions across regulated, complex and fast-moving businesses, I’ve learned one thing very clearly: Most companies do not have a marketing problem. They have a marketing leadership problem. On paper, everything looks fine. There’s a team. […]
Not a Silver Bullet: How a Tech-Savvy CMO Transforms Your CRM into a Growth Engine
Business owners often assume that simply installing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system will magically solve their marketing and data woes. It’s an enticing idea, buy the right software and voilà! leads multiply, customer insights flow, and compliance headaches vanish. As a Chartered Marketer and seasoned CMO, I can assure you this is a costly […]
The Real Cost of Headless Marketing: How Businesses Lose Money Without a CMO
Why “Headless Marketing” Hurts Your Bottom Line If you’re a UK business leader running a small or mid-sized company, you might think you’re saving money by not hiring a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). After all, CMOs aren’t cheap, and marketing can be handled by a mix of junior staff, agencies, or even yourself as the […]