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Head of Growth DeliveryMarketing Consultancy · fractional, interim and permanent marketing leaders
Marketing Consultancy · fractional CMO or marketing director, briefed and shortlisted
marketing consultancy from Fractional Quest means a fractional CMO or marketing director working in your business on a fractional, interim or permanent basis. Fractional Quest is a recruitment agency, not a consulting firm: we do not employ consultants or sell a team. We find a fractional CMO or marketing director for your brief — fractional, interim or permanent — and they contract with you directly.
Reviewed by Fractional Quest · updated 23 October 2026 · 6 sources linked below
- 3–5our shortlist
Fractional seats our founder has held
Climatise
One Up Productions
CK Delta
In the press
- Financial TimesThe executives going ‘fractional’, not freelance
- International FinanceRenting the C-suite, and why the fractional executive era has arrived
The agency
What a marketing consultancy covers
This page sets out what a marketing consultancy engagement covers, how fractional, project and interim compare, how it runs and what the market publishes on rates. The board below shows current marketing leadership roles.
Marketing consultancy at leadership level is about ownership, not advice. The CMO owns growth from the market side: positioning, brand, demand generation and the marketing team and budget behind them.
Fractional Quest is a recruitment agency, not a consulting firm: we do not employ consultants or sell a team. We find a fractional CMO or marketing director for your brief — fractional, interim or permanent — and they contract with you directly.
Buyers also search for a fractional CMO consultant, a CMO consultant or a fractional marketing consultant: the same senior marketer, holding the strategy on a standing weekly commitment.
The seat in more depth: CMO services · marketing director services · CMO recruitment agency · marketing consultants.
On the board · last 90 days
Current marketing leadership roles on the board
From our jobs feed. Where a posting states no rate, “est” is our estimate from the seat’s published band; ◆ marks days a week the posting states.
10 of 10 roles
Function
Engagement
- LRO Financial ConsultancySyndicatedFractionalFractional Financial Controller
- Confidential clientOur mandate · available nowFractionalFractional SDR
- Unity AdvisorySyndicatedFractionalReward Lead (Fractional- 12 month FTC)
- Reg Advantage LtdSyndicatedFractionalProduction Lead and Fractional CTO
- Confidential clientOur mandate · available nowFractionalFractional Executive Assistant
- PHIXSyndicatedFractionalPart time / Fractional Finance Director
- CivSec GroupSyndicatedFractionalAcquisition CFO / Finance Director (Fractional)
- Algorithmiq OySyndicatedFractionalFractional Chief Operating Officer (COO)
- Twenty-Nine Palms EntertainmentSyndicatedFractionalBusiness Affairs Executive (Fractional / Per-Project)
Every fractional role in the UK is on the fractional jobs board.
Three seats
What does a fractional seat look like in practice?
Three fractional seats our founder has held. Real companies, named with their permission; we state only what the seat covered.
Fractional seats our founder has held
ClimatiseFractional · go-to-marketA carbon-reporting software company that needed go-to-market leadership before a full-time hire.
- Seat
- Fractional go-to-market lead
- Days
- Two days a week
- Scope
- Go-to-market
One Up ProductionsFractional · go-to-marketA production company that needed both the go-to-market strategy and its execution.
- Seat
- Fractional go-to-market: strategy and execution
- Days
- Two days a week
- Scope
- Go-to-market
CK DeltaFractional · technologyTechnology work: tech stack implementation.
- Seat
- Fractional technology lead
These are seats our founder has held, not placements.
The scope
What an engagement covers — and what it does not
In scope. Positioning, proposition and the marketing strategy behind them; the channel mix and a budget tied to pipeline; direction of the agencies you already pay; building, hiring and coaching the marketing team; reporting that connects marketing spend to revenue.
Not in scope. Campaign execution — the design, copy, ads and content — sits with your team or your agencies. A marketing consultant at leadership level directs that work; one asked to produce it has been mis-scoped.
The neighbouring seats. The CMO owns the market and the message; the marketing director runs the function day to day; the CRO joins marketing, sales and customer success into one revenue number.
When companies look for marketing consultancy: Growth that depends on founder networks, agencies with no strategy above them, a rebrand or launch with a date, or marketing spend nobody can tie to pipeline.
The process
How does a brief become a shortlist?
Six steps, one accountable person at each. We don’t promise a shortlist by a date; the weeks below are what a well-scoped brief usually takes.
- Day 001The 15-minute callThe seat, the engagement shape, the days or hours, the start date and the budget. No account needed; a call or a written brief.You and us
- Week 102Scope agreed in writingThe outcome the seat exists for, which days, and how the engagement will run for IR35. A brief that describes a person rather than a job, we rewrite with you.Us
- Weeks 1–203Search and approachWe approach people who aren’t looking and verify prior tenure in the seat at your scale and stage.Us
- Weeks 2–304References, taken by usFrom recent clients and boards: what they delivered, not what they titled it.Us
- Week 305Shortlist of three to fiveEach with day rate or salary, availability and IR35 position set out. You interview and decide.You
- Week 406Kick-offScope, first-month outcomes and the contract agreed before day one.You, them and us
What it costs
CMO rates what the published benchmarks say
Every figure is the named source’s own published band. Fractional Quest publishes no fees: each candidate on a shortlist states their own rate.
| Benchmark | Published figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Fractional CMO day rate | £750–£1,400 | Connectd 2026 |
| Interim CMO day rate | £700–£2,000 | Exec Capital 2026 |
| Permanent CMO salary (25th–75th percentile) | £110,250–£183,750 | Robert Half 2026 |
Your figures
What does part of a CMO’s week cost?
Rate × days × weeks, against a loaded full-time package. Move the sliders; the numbers redraw.
- CMO band £750–£1,400 (Connectd 2026)
Year-one cost, fractional
£101,200
Fractional costs less in year one by£67,100
Our arithmetic. £147,000 Robert Half 2026 median salary + employer NI at 15% above £5,000 (HMRC) = £168,300. Excludes pension, bonus and any search fee.
Against the alternatives
Four ways to buy marketing expertise fractional, project, interim or permanent
The same marketing problem can be bought four ways. The difference is who does the work, for how long, and who is accountable afterwards.
| Fractional marketing leader | Project consultancy firm | Interim executive | Permanent hire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you buy | A fractional CMO or marketing director, days a week | A defined deliverable | A leader full-time for a fixed term | A full-time leader for years |
| Who does the work | One named senior person | A team, often with a partner who sold it | One named senior person | Your employee |
| Accountable after | Yes — they stay | No — the project ends | Until the hand-over | Yes |
| Best when | You need senior judgement every week, not every day | The work is a one-off with a clear output | You need full-time cover or a change led now | The seat is full-time work for years |
| Usual contract | Contract for services, often via the leader’s company | Statement of work | Day-rate contract for the mandate | Employment contract |
The decision
When marketing consultancy is the right call
Three situations, and the shape that fits each.
- No senior ownerAgencies without a strategy above themYou pay agencies and run campaigns, but nobody senior owns the plan. A fractional CMO sets direction two or three days a week and holds the agencies to it.
- A dateA launch or rebrandA launch, market entry or rebrand needs full-time senior marketing leadership until it lands. An interim CMO runs it and hands over.
- SpendBudget nobody can tie to pipelineMarketing spend has grown and results have not. A fractional marketing leader audits the mix and resets it with authority to stop what is not working.
Vetting
How do we vet a marketing consultant?
Five stages before anyone reaches a shortlist of three to five.
- Pedigree screenTenureWe verify prior tenure in the seat, at the scale and stage you need. No consultant presenting as an executive.
- Mandate fitFitFit to your stage, sector and the problem the seat exists to solve, not a CV keyword.
- Reference deep-diveVerifyWe take references ourselves, from recent clients and boards: what they delivered, not what they titled it.
- ShortlistShortlistThree to five candidates, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
- Kick-offStartScope, first-month outcomes and the contract agreed before day one.
The full process is on how we vet.
how it runs
How our marketing consultancy works from brief to the first ninety days
Brief. A scoping call on the problem, the shape (fractional days, an interim mandate or a permanent seat), the start date and what success looks like in the first ninety days. A good brief names the decisions the marketing leader will own.
Shortlist. We search for your brief and come back with a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate or salary, availability and IR35 position set out, assessed through our five-stage vetting.
Contract. You choose; the consultant contracts with you directly, usually through their own company for fractional and interim work. Agree how the engagement will run in practice, because that decides its IR35 status — HMRC’s guidance for clients sets out who makes the determination.
Cadence. A fractional marketing leader works best on fixed days with a standing slot with the CEO. Review the days each quarter. An interim works to a written mandate with review points and a hand-over date.
fractional or firm
Fractional marketing consultant or a marketing consultancy firm? who stays accountable
Marketing consultancy firms are usually bought for a project: a brand refresh, a market-entry study, a campaign or a website. A creative or digital agency then delivers the work. Neither owns the plan once the project ends.
A fractional marketing consultant is a different purchase: one senior person who holds the brief week after week and answers for the outcome. A fractional CMO sets strategy, directs agencies and builds the team on a standing weekly commitment, which suits a business that needs senior marketing judgement before it needs a full-time executive.
Out of scope either way. Campaign execution — the design, copy, ads and content — sits with your team or your agencies. A marketing consultant at leadership level directs that work; one asked to produce it has been mis-scoped.
Standing. Check professional standing before you sign: the Chartered Institute of Marketing — the professional body for marketers, with recognised qualifications and chartered status.
The right route
Agency, recruiter, interim or permanent?
Three taps. Say how much senior work there is, for how long, and whether it is one leader or a run of hires; the tool names the route.
The route · Fractional recruiter
An embedded fractional recruiter.
A hiring plan to work through below the leadership team is a talent-acquisition job: a recruiter inside your business for part of the week, paid for their time. We don’t supply them; the page below explains the role.
The route · Non-executive director
A non-executive director.
Independent oversight and constructive challenge, not executive direction. We recruit NEDs through the same brief process.
The route · Advisor
An advisor, not yet a seat.
Less than a day a week of senior input is advisory. Buy it as a scoped engagement; when it grows into a day or more, brief us for a fractional executive.
The route · Interim
An interim executive.
Four or five days for a fixed period is interim: cover for a departure, a turnaround or a transaction. The IIM puts the UK average at £907 a day and ten months.
The route · Permanent
A permanent search.
Four or five days of work, ongoing, is a full-time seat. We recruit permanent executives through the same brief process.
The route · Fractional executive
Brief a fractional recruitment agency.
Senior judgement for part of the week: a fractional CFO, CTO, CMO or COO on one to three days. We come back with a shortlist of three to five, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
We recruit executives. We don’t supply embedded fractional recruiters; where that is the right route, the tool says so.
Clients
What do companies say about our fractional work?
From a company where our founder has held a fractional seat. Name and logo given with the client’s permission.
“Excellent fractional support for building both our go-to-market strategy and our execution.”
Charlie AndersonDirector, One Up ProductionsWhere we are
Where is Fractional Quest?
Where we are
71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ
Fractional Quest Ltd, registered in England and Wales, no. 17322105. This is our registered office; meetings are by appointment, and most briefs start on a 15-minute call.
Questions
Marketing Consultancy questions, answered
Marketing consultancy puts senior marketing expertise into a business. Through Fractional Quest that means a fractional CMO or marketing director on a fractional, interim or permanent basis, owning: positioning, proposition and the marketing strategy behind them; the channel mix and a budget tied to pipeline; direction of the agencies you already pay.
Fractional Quest is a recruitment agency, not a consulting firm: we do not employ consultants or sell a team. We find a fractional CMO or marketing director for your brief — fractional, interim or permanent — and they contract with you directly. You get one named senior person rather than a team sold by a partner, and they stay accountable for as long as you need them.
Fractional when you need senior marketing judgement every week but not every day; a project consultancy when the work is a one-off with a clear deliverable; interim when you need full-time cover or a change led now; permanent when the seat is full-time work for years.
It depends on the shape and the days. Published bands for the seat: Fractional CMO day rate £750–£1,400 (Connectd 2026); Interim CMO day rate £700–£2,000 (Exec Capital 2026); Permanent CMO salary (25th–75th percentile) £110,250–£183,750 (Robert Half 2026). Fractional Quest publishes no fees; each candidate on a shortlist states their own rate, so the cost of marketing consultancy is the rate times the days you agree.
It depends on how the engagement runs in practice — control, substitution and whether the marketing consultant is part and parcel of your organisation, not on the label "consultant". For medium and large private-sector clients the client makes the status determination. Every candidate on our shortlist states their IR35 position.
No. An agency produces the work: campaigns, creative, media, content. A marketing consultancy sets the strategy the work serves. Through Fractional Quest, that strategy is owned by a named senior marketer who stays — a fractional CMO or marketing director — rather than a report that leaves with the consultant.
A project ends with a deliverable. A fractional CMO stays accountable: they attend the leadership meeting, own the budget and the agency relationships, and answer for pipeline quarter after quarter.
Sources
Where does every figure on this page come from?
The primary publisher for each number, linked. Where a figure is our own arithmetic, the page says so where it appears.
- Connectd
- Exec Capital
- HMRC
- legislation.gov.uk
- 1
- 2Salary guides UK 2026 Exec Capital
- 3Understanding off-payroll working (IR35) HMRCStatus depends on how the engagement runs; medium and large clients make the determination.
- 4Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 HMRCEmployer National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 a year.
- 5
- 6Employment Agencies Act 1973 legislation.gov.ukThe law a recruitment agency works under; no fee to a work-seeker.
