How to Brief a Fractional Marketing Director
Set the scope before you compare proposals for senior marketing support. Use a briefing template to pin down ownership, working time and contract terms, then assess which type of engagement fits your business.
Brief a fractional marketing director by stating the commercial outcome, decisions they can own, delivery capacity and time commitment before you discuss fees. For an established UK business weighing a senior hire, the brief should also define how progress will be measured and what happens when the engagement ends.
What should a fractional marketing director actually own?
A part-time director provides senior marketing leadership for an agreed share of their working time, potentially alongside commitments to other businesses.
Their remit can include setting priorities, allocating budget, managing agency performance and connecting marketing decisions to the sales pipeline.
The title alone does not tell you whether they will manage your employees, write campaigns or build reporting, so each responsibility needs an explicit owner.
Separate leadership from production in the brief: deciding which customer segment to pursue is different work from building the landing page that supports it.
Your director may do both, but the time allocation and fee need to reflect that combination.
Before approaching candidates, review what to put in place before you hire a marketing director, particularly account ownership and enquiry tracking, so proposals address the work your business needs.
What information belongs in the brief?
Give candidates enough information to challenge your diagnosis without asking them to produce an unpaid marketing strategy.
A short brief supported by relevant reports is more useful than a long company history with no indication of what needs to change.
| Brief section | What to include |
|---|---|
| Commercial objective | The business outcome you want to improve and the evidence behind that choice |
| Current position | How enquiries arrive, how sales follow-up works and where performance becomes difficult to explain |
| Existing team | Who owns marketing activity, sales follow-up and reporting, including external suppliers |
| Decision rights | What the director can approve and what requires your agreement |
| Delivery capacity | Which employees or suppliers can carry out the agreed work |
| Budget boundaries | The leadership fee and the separate budget available for delivery, media or software |
| Measures | The baseline, data sources and agreed definition of progress |
| Engagement boundaries | Working time, exclusions, review arrangements and handover requirements |
You do not need perfect data before issuing the brief.
Describe gaps directly, such as enquiries without a recorded source or sales opportunities that cannot be connected to marketing activity.
That allows candidates to explain what they would establish before recommending additional spending.
How do you describe the outcome without prescribing the strategy?
State the business problem in terms someone can investigate, avoiding a predetermined channel plan unless that decision has already been justified.
“Run more campaigns” describes activity, while “establish which enquiries become sales opportunities and improve the handover to sales” gives a senior leader something to assess.
The following is an illustrative briefing section, not a client example:
The business receives enquiries through several routes, but reporting does not consistently connect enquiry source with sales progress. The appointment will establish a shared view of performance and agree which marketing work deserves continued investment.
The internal marketing lead will coordinate delivery. The director will own prioritisation and recommendations on budget allocation, with spending approval retained by the managing director.
Proposals must explain the information required, expected outputs and delivery support needed. Website development and campaign production must be priced separately if they fall outside the leadership fee.
This leaves room for professional judgement while making the buying decision more specific.
Ask candidates to distinguish between what they will investigate, what they will deliver and what depends on someone else taking action.
What do public UK price examples tell you?
Public UK price examples include advertised contract day rates and freelance rate benchmarks, but neither is a quotation for your particular leadership remit.
Two places to examine the published figures are:
| Public pricing reference | What it lets you compare |
|---|---|
| IT Jobs Watch’s UK marketing director contract rates | Advertised contract day rates where vacancy data are available |
| YunoJuno’s freelancer rates report | Freelance day-rate benchmarks across disciplines and experience levels |
When comparing a public example with a proposal, check whether the price buys reserved working days, access to advice or responsibility for specified outputs.
A monthly retainer may include preparation and meetings within its stated time allowance, while another provider may charge those against additional days.
Use the same costing structure for every proposal: leadership fee, delivery costs, applicable VAT and any approved expenses.
For a day-rate proposal, calculate the fee from the number of chargeable days in the contract, including the treatment of partial days and unused time.
For a retainer, ask what happens when the agreed capacity is exhausted and whether extra work requires written approval.
A permanent appointment needs a different calculation, covering salary, employer costs and recruitment alongside the delivery resources the person will need.
No arrangement is automatically cheaper once the scope and available capacity differ.
How much time should you ask them to commit?
Describe the workload before choosing the number of days.
A role covering strategic reviews and agency oversight has different demands from one that includes employee management and hands-on campaign delivery.
Ask each candidate to show how their proposed allocation accommodates preparation, meetings and follow-through, including the work that happens between scheduled sessions.
Specify when your team needs access to them and how urgent decisions will be handled when they are working elsewhere.
If an appointment is described as one day a week, confirm whether that means a fixed working day, hours spread across the week or a monthly allocation.
Your employees also need capacity to act on decisions, so the brief should identify who will implement changes and how competing priorities will be resolved.
A leadership appointment can set direction, but it cannot create unlimited production capacity inside the existing fee.
What contract limits should you agree before signing?
The contract should turn the brief into an agreement about responsibility, access and boundaries.
For a fractional marketing director, availability and authority deserve particular attention because the role combines senior judgement with limited working time.
Check the following points before committing:
- State the working-time allocation and what counts against it, including preparation, travel and internal meetings.
- Define spending authority and identify who approves changes to budget or scope.
- Record the initial term, any minimum commitment, notice period and renewal mechanism.
- Set requirements for confidentiality, conflicts of interest and access to customer information.
- Confirm ownership of work, account access and the records required at handover.
Require written agreement for additional work so a request from one team member does not become an unexpected charge.
Specify how absence or competing commitments will be handled, especially if the proposal relies on one named individual.
The business should retain control of its marketing accounts and receive working documents, reporting definitions and an explanation of outstanding decisions when the engagement ends.
Where employment status or data-processing obligations are uncertain, obtain UK legal or tax advice on the actual arrangement.
How should you assess the proposals you receive?
Compare candidates against the same brief, then examine where their recommendations differ.
A strong proposal will identify assumptions, explain delivery dependencies and show which decisions the candidate expects to own.
Ask how they would respond if the initial evidence challenged your preferred channel or showed that sales follow-up needed attention before additional campaign spending.
That tests commercial judgement without requiring a detailed strategy before appointment.
Request examples of relevant work and ask the candidate to explain their own contribution, including what the client’s employees and suppliers delivered.
If an agency is already involved, establish whether the gap concerns direction, specialist production or coordination between the two.
The comparison of a fractional CMO and a marketing agency can help you define those responsibilities before appointing another supplier.
Should you hire permanently or commission a time-boxed engagement?
Choose the arrangement that matches the continuing workload and the responsibility you need someone to carry.
A permanent director can fit a business with sustained leadership demands, substantial people management and decisions requiring regular involvement across departments.
A part-time appointment can fit a business that needs recurring senior direction and has enough delivery capacity to carry out the agreed work.
A time-boxed engagement can fit a bounded implementation need, especially when the business can specify what must be working at handover.
The Growth Install is for founders about to hire a marketing manager, head of marketing or fractional CMO. Over 90 days we install three agreed growth workflows on your own accounts, with tracking and a live dashboard, next to the people who'll own them. It's one flat fee for three months, then it stops. If you still hire, your new hire has something to take over and improve from day one.
It includes tracking and a dashboard, with work carried out alongside the people who will own those workflows.
That scope does not cover every marketing channel or replace a marketing department, and the client retains ownership of its accounts and systems.
If the business needs continuing executive leadership beyond those workflows, include that requirement in the hiring decision.
Compare what remains your team’s responsibility under each option, including the work still required after an engagement finishes.
What else should you ask before appointing someone?
Do I need someone who has worked in my sector?
Sector experience is useful when buying behaviour, regulation or distribution channels shape the work. Ask candidates to explain how that experience changes their proposed approach, then assess their ability to work with your team and available data.
Should I ask them to manage our existing agency?
Yes, if agency direction and accountability are part of the gap you need to fill. Define who approves briefs, assesses performance and authorises spending, then make sure the time allocation includes that responsibility.
What's the difference between a retainer and a fixed project?
A retainer pays for the agreed ongoing service or capacity, while a fixed project is bounded by specified deliverables and terms. Either can include exclusions, extra charges or a minimum commitment, so compare the contract alongside the headline fee.
Do I still need someone to deliver the work?
Yes, unless delivery is explicitly included in the appointment. Name the employees or suppliers responsible for implementation and confirm that they have enough time and budget to carry it out.