Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to questions I am most commonly asked, so we don’t spend the first 15 minutes on our first call answering them.
What are the ways of working together?
There are several ways to work with me, and during an initial call we’ll talk about which is the best option for your business. Here are some of the ways we can work together:
Fractional Marketing Director: I embed within your business typically 1 to 2 days per week, leading your marketing function, managing your team and agencies, and taking accountability for commercial outcomes.
Marketing Consultant: Advisory sessions bought by the hour, designed for when you need a senior marketing perspective on a specific challenge or decision.
Marketing Strategy: A one-off project where I step into your business, diagnose what’s holding marketing back, and build a clear, prioritised plan to hit your commercial objectives. Every engagement starts with a free discovery call, so there’s no commitment just to explore what would work best.
How much does working with you cost?
Fees are based on what you need, and are influenced by the scope, the size of your business, and how complex your market is. As a guide, a Fractional Marketing Director engagement typically costs around 25-50% of a full-time hire (which can run £80k to £125k+ annually before recruitment fees, national insurance, pension, and benefits). There are no open-ended arrangements: every engagement is scoped individually with a fixed-price proposal. Please get in touch for specific pricing, as an initial call is free and there’s no commitment.
Which industries and sectors have you worked in?
I work with businesses across decarbonisation, automotive, financial services, education, employee benefits, recruitment and charity, among others.
But remember, industries change, but the principles of marketing do not.
Do I need to be based in Coventry or Warwickshire to work with you?
Not at all. I’m based near Coventry and work regularly with businesses across Warwickshire and the West Midlands, but most of my clients are spread across the UK. The majority of my work is done remotely, and it works just as well. I do however, like to have face to face time with my clients, so I’m happy to travel to you on occasion.
How quickly can we start?
We can get an introduction call in within one working day in most cases. From there, work can begin in as little as 3 working days, depending on my availability. I only work with a small number of clients at any one time, so please get in touch early so you’re on my radar.
What are your views on AI in marketing?
AI is incredibly powerful, and I use it daily. However, it’s important to remember that AI is a tool, not a replacement. I use it to enhance my work and improve efficiencies, rather than do any thinking for me.
Marketing still needs human judgement: understanding your audience, making strategic decisions, and creating strategies that work for your business. AI helps me do that faster and better, but it doesn’t replace the 15+ years of expertise behind it.
Questions on my Fractional Marketing Director service
What does a Fractional Marketing Director do?
A Fractional Marketing Director does the same job as a full-time Marketing Director: setting strategy, leading your marketing team and agencies, owning the budget, and being accountable for commercial outcomes.
The difference is that I work with your business on a part-time basis, typically 1 to 2 days per week, rather than as a permanent employee. I sit within your leadership team, attend board meetings, align marketing to sales, and make sure every piece of marketing activity is driving you towards your business goals.
How does it work?
It follows my proven methodology. First, I embed within your business to understand your commercial goals, your market, your team, and what’s been tried before.
Then I direct: building or refining your marketing strategy, setting priorities, and steering your team and agencies on what to focus on (and what to stop doing).
Finally, I deliver: running and directing the plan, managing the people doing the work, and taking accountability for the results. It’s a rolling engagement, typically starting with a minimum 3-month commitment, with the scope agreed upfront.
When should I hire a Fractional Marketing Director rather than a full-time one?
Most businesses between roughly £1m and £5m turnover don’t need a full-time Marketing Director. They may have a junior team or agencies executing, but the marketing function isn’t yet mature enough to warrant a full-time senior hire.
A Fractional Marketing Director gives you the strategic leadership, accountability, and commercial focus of a full-time director, at around 25-50% of the annual cost. You avoid the £80k to £125k+ salary, recruitment fees, employer national insurance, pension contributions, and the commitment to employment. You get the expertise you need for the time you need it, and as the business grows, we can scale up.
How is this different from hiring an agency?
An agency executes tasks. A Fractional Marketing Director owns the outcome. With an agency, you typically get a team working from a brief you’ve given them, often delivered by junior staff.
With me, I’m the one setting the strategy, deciding the brief, and making sure everything ties back to your commercial goals. I work from inside your business and your boardroom, not at arm’s length. I also manage your agencies if you have them, drawing on over 12 years of agency experience to make sure they’re delivering real value for your budget.
How is it different from a marketing consultant?
The level of involvement and accountability. A marketing consultant advises: you get senior thinking on a specific question, and then you decide what to do and deliver it yourself. A Fractional Marketing Director leads your marketing function day to day, is embedded in your business, manages your team and agencies, and is accountable for the commercial outcome. Consultancy is the lighter touch; fractional is the full leadership role, just part-time.
Do you work with my existing marketing team, or bring your own?
Yes, and it’s often the most valuable part. Plenty of businesses have a capable marketing executive or coordinator who’s never had a senior marketer to learn from. Managing and mentoring them so they can take on more is usually part of the brief. I also manage your existing agencies, using over 12 years of agency experience to make sure they’re delivering value for your budget. Where there are gaps, I can make recommendations from my network.
Do you work with businesses that have no marketing team at all?
Yes. Sometimes the first job is working out what marketing resource you actually need, then building it. That might mean recruiting your first marketing hire, or it might mean deciding you don’t need one yet and instead bringing in the right specialist support. Either way, you’ll have someone senior making that decision based on what the business needs.
Can you work on an interim basis?
Yes. Sometimes businesses need a Fractional Marketing Director to plug a short-term gap, cover a period of change, or deliver a specific project. If that’s the case, we can structure an engagement around it. The approach is the same: senior marketing leadership, clear accountability, just for a defined period.
How much time does a Fractional Marketing Director spend in my business?
This varies by engagement, typically one to two days per week, agreed upfront based on what the business needs.
What’s the minimum commitment?
Typically 3 months. This gives enough time to embed properly, build or refine a strategy, and start delivering measurable results against it.
Questions on my Marketing Consultancy service
What does a Marketing Consultant do?
A Marketing Consultant provides senior marketing advice, bought by the hour, often in blocks. You bring a specific challenge, question, or decision, and I bring 15 years of marketing experience to help you work through it.
This isn’t writing a plan or delivering a campaign, but rather giving you access to senior-level marketing thinking when you need it, so you can make better decisions with confidence.
How does it work?
You buy hours, either one at a time or in a block, and use them however suits you. A single session over video call works well for a sense check, a second opinion on a campaign, or working through a specific question. A longer session (half day or full day) works better if there’s something more substantial to work through with your team. Sessions are paid for upfront, and blocks must be used within three months of purchase.
How quickly can I get a session booked?
Usually within 3 working days. But if you need something more urgent, let me know when you get in touch and I’ll do what I can.
What’s the difference between a Marketing Consultant and a Fractional Marketing Director?
The level of involvement. In consultancy sessions, I advise, and you decide and deliver. A Fractional Marketing Director runs your marketing function day to day, manages your team and agencies, and is accountable for the outcome. Consultancy is deliberately the lighter of the two: it’s for when you need a senior marketing brain to think alongside you, not someone to own the whole function.
My clients often start with consultancy or strategy and move to fractional once they know what they need.
Will I get anything in writing?
Not as standard. The sessions are for thinking things through, and people generally take their own notes. You are welcome to use an AI notetaker on the call. If you need a documented strategy or plan, the Marketing Strategy service is the better fit.
Can my team join the session?
Yes, and it’s often the most useful way to do it. A session with your marketing team working through a live campaign or challenge tends to achieve more than an hour with just one person. The more context in the room, the better the outcome.
Explore Marketing Consultancy >
Questions on Marketing Strategy
What is a marketing strategy and why do I need one?
A marketing strategy is what connects your marketing activity to your business objectives. Without one, marketing tends to happen in a scattergun way: posting, running ads, emails sent out, but nothing compounds and nothing clearly ties back to revenue or growth.
A strategy gives you clarity on who you’re targeting, what your message is, which channels to focus on, and in what order. It means every piece of marketing activity is deliberately moving you closer to your commercial goals.
How long does a marketing strategy take to develop?
Roughly 4 to 6 weeks, depending on the complexity of your business and the availability of key people. The scope and timeline are agreed before we start, so there are no surprises.
How much of our time is needed?
Very little. I hold a workshop with you to extract the information I need, then conduct short interviews with key people in your business. My aim is to take up as little of your time as possible while still seeing everything that matters. You’ll know what’s needed upfront.
Do you use AI when developing a marketing strategy?
Yes, but I’m very considerate as to how. AI is incredibly powerful, but it is only a tool. I never recommend allowing AI to set your marketing strategy, because its outputs lack genuine research, a deep understanding of your specific business and audience, and more often than not the results are generic and miss the context and experience that only an expert marketer can bring.
I use AI to speed up parts of the process, for example summarising meeting notes, finding consistencies across customer interviews, and processing research. The thinking, the insight, and the strategic decisions are all mine.
How do I implement the strategy?
You have options. You can take the strategy plan and implement it with your own team, hand it to your agencies, or I can lead the implementation alongside your team as a Fractional Marketing Director.
A lot of clients choose the latter, so they know the strategy is being delivered most effectively, by the person who developed it. There’s no obligation either way, and it’s a conversation we have at the end of the engagement.
What do I actually receive at the end?
You receive a comprehensive, documented strategy and action plan. It covers your target audience, positioning, messaging, channel priorities, a phased plan of what to do and when, KPIs, and reporting recommendations. It’s designed to be practical and actionable, not a document that sits on a shelf.
Some clients ask for accountability sessions, where we check in once a month to ensure progress is being made.
Have a question thats not answered?
Simply email me at victoria@bearhatmarketing.com and I’ll respond with the answer.