Decide what is missing
Start with the gap in the business. Do you lack a senior person to choose priorities and challenge suppliers, or people to deliver a known programme? Is the problem occasional specialist input, sustained execution or decisions crossing several functions?
A business can have plenty of agency activity and still lack direction. It can also have a capable director with nobody available to implement the plan. Buying leadership will not automatically create a production team.
Compare responsibilities
| Option | Usually most useful for | Check carefully |
|---|---|---|
| Fractional director | Senior prioritisation, coordination and management support for part of the month | Time, authority, availability and implementation boundaries |
| Agency | Delivery capacity across agreed specialist services | Who sets priorities, named delivery team and ownership of accounts |
| Full-time hire | Ongoing internal leadership and day-to-day accountability | Role breadth, supporting team, management load and recruitment fit |
Real engagements vary. An agency may provide strategic leadership, and a fractional director may implement suitable work. The written responsibilities matter more than the label.
Use a realistic monthly workload
List the decisions, meetings and outputs expected over a normal month. Include supplier coordination, performance review, specification, management communication and implementation. Identify work that must happen immediately and work that can be scheduled.
If the role needs continuous daily availability, a few fractional days may not fit. If senior decisions occur periodically and a capable delivery team exists, a full-time appointment may be more capacity than needed. Be honest about both situations.
A combined model can make sense
One possible arrangement is a fractional director working with your owner or leadership team, an agency delivering a defined marketing programme and internal developers maintaining the product. That model needs clear decision ownership and one shared plan.
For example, the director can prioritise a booking-journey improvement, the agency can refine relevant content and the developer can fix the application. Each contribution still needs scope, acceptance criteria and an agreed way to assess the outcome.
Compare total commitments
My published fractional options are £750 per month for up to one day, £1,400 for up to two days and £2,600 for up to four days. These are my service options, not a salary comparison or a universal saving. Larger implementation projects and third-party costs are separate.
When assessing alternatives, include management time, recruitment, onboarding, delivery resources and continuity. Agree a review point: what decisions should become clearer, what work should be completed and how will you judge whether the arrangement is useful?
Common questions
Can fractional support replace our agency?
Sometimes, but it often works alongside an agency. Direction and production capacity are different needs.
Should the person be hands-on?
That depends on the role. Establish which changes they can implement, which require others and who validates the result.
What if we do not know how much time is needed?
Map the recurring decisions and workload first. Start with an agreed scope and review it against actual requirements.