Choosing Between Fractional, Interim, and Agency Marketing Support

Fractional Futures is the essential podcast for CEOs, investors, and senior marketing executives looking to unlock the power of fractional marketing leadership.
 
Hosted by Paul Mills, Founder at VCMO, and with special guests, we'll share expert insights, provide actionable strategies and explore real-world success stories to help you leverage fractional marketing leadership for maximum impact.

In this episode

This episode explores how to choose the right marketing support—fractional, interim, or agency—based on organizational needs. Ruth Napier shares insights on aligning marketing models with business challenges, evaluating credibility, and ensuring strategic fit.

Special Guest

Ruth Napier, Fractional CMO

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Learn more in our article: Fractional CMO vs Agency: What’s the Right Fit?

Sound Bites

"Align support with the specific challenge"

"Misaligned agency support is a marketing fail"

"Alignment on outcomes drives success"

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Fractional Marketing Leadership | Marketing Transformed.

Transcript

Paul Mills (00:09)

Hello, and welcome back to Fractional Futures, the show for CEOs, founders, and investors who want clarity on modern marketing leadership. I'm Paul Mills, founder at VCMO, and today we're tackling a question that comes up time and again in boardrooms, founder conversations, and investor discussions. And that question is, what kind of marketing leadership do we actually need? So when growth stalls, complexity generally increases, or priorities shift,

Many organizations will instinctively reach for support, but choosing the wrong type of marketing support can be as damaging as doing nothing at all. So your options are quite obvious. It's interim marketing leadership. You might want to go to an agency and now you've got fractional as well. Each of these options sounds plausible and promises results, but each of these models serves a very different purpose. So why does this matter?

It matters because the decision isn't trivial. Choosing the wrong marketing model can lead to wasted time, misaligned expectations, duplicated efforts and missed commercial opportunities. What often goes wrong isn't capability, it's fit. Quite often leaders will jump straight into solutions without clearly defining the problem they're trying to solve.

So today's episode is about slowing that decision down just enough to make it smarter. We'll be exploring how to choose between fractional, interim and agency support, not based on fashion or familiarity, but on the nature of the challenge in front of you. And to help me unpack this properly, I'm delighted to be joined by someone who has seen all three models at work.

Ruth Napier is a chartered marketing leader with deep exposure to transformation programs, leadership transitions, and complex organizational change. She brings a very grounded experience led perspective on when each model works and just as importantly, when it doesn't. Hi Ruth, welcome to the show. Great to have you with us.

Ruth Napier (02:12)

Hello Paul, thanks very much for having me.

Paul Mills (02:14)

For the listeners who haven't come across you before, can you give a quick overview of your commercial background?

Ruth Napier (02:20)

Yes, of course. I'm a long career marketing and BD focused professional really. My initial career was in financial services, but I transitioned over into the legal sector and have spent the last 17 years really honing my work in professional services, working with property companies as well, and also in the creative sector.

Paul Mills (02:48)

So for businesses or maybe investors listening to this, if you've got a marketing challenge and you're thinking about what option do I need, We don't need to start with the supplier first, but with the problem.

So Ruth, when organizations start looking for marketing support, what's the biggest mistake they make before they even choose a model?

Ruth Napier (03:05)

I think the biggest mistake they tend to go is actually they jump into the easiest solution, the one they know best, before actually thinking about what the problem is that they're trying to solve. And I think it's really, important then to start out with the why. Why do I need some marketing resource and what shape therefore does it need to take? And to fit the marketing resource you're looking for to the problem you have.

Paul Mills (03:34)

So if a business says, we don't have a marketing leader or a clear strategy, what type of support does that usually point towards and why?

Ruth Napier (03:43)

Well, it typically happens when you have an early stage business or one that's it's grown over time and actually has never needed or never felt the need for it. But actually what they're really needing to tap into is strategic foundations and leadership. And really that leans in very nicely into a fractional CMO or marketing director rather than

going to an agency who's going to have a particular strength, you're only looking for that strategic overview to be able to put the right components in place.

Paul Mills (04:22)

And how does the answer change if, the challenge is very different, for example, launching a new product or entering a new market or preparing for an M&A, those are three very different challenges. How does the answer change if those scenarios are on your radar?

Ruth Napier (04:36)

And I think that's really important question because actually it does change. So a new market or launching a product, the problem there is actually you've got an internal capability gap and also you kind of need some integrated planning and you'll want to have resources in place that can do that, can execute it well for you. Now, depending on

whether you've got the strategy completely mapped out or not, that means if you haven't, it could be more fractional, but actually probably more interim will be better suited.

But if you're looking at a transformation or preparing for an M&A, that's organisational change. And that might require interim support for delivery because it's a time bound project. Sometimes and only sometimes a fractional CMO might be a better fit if that strategy piece is missing,

or you are heavily dependent on an immature marketing team. And that's when fractional might be a better option.

Paul Mills (05:40)

And I think you mentioned there capability. I think for some businesses, particularly if they've got a not very mature marketing function, they might have one or two junior marketers, maybe a social media person, maybe someone who's aspiring to be a marketing manager. When they are tasked typically with tactical delivery and then expected to get involved with putting a strategy together for an M&A,

or entering a new market, that's really where you're to fall down. You might think, I'll just go to an agency to do that. But again, has the agency got the capability at that strategic level to really provide the expertise and the advisory and the governance to make that happen? And quite often, as you mentioned, the agency will be specialised in one domain. It might be brand strategy or

SEO or something like that and picking the wrong agency can be quite detrimental to achieving your goals, can't

Ruth Napier (06:33)

Yes, indeed, because it's hard to find an agency that covers all aspects of marketing really well, unless you're going big megabucks and most people don't want to spend those big megabucks. And there are flaws when you get into the commercial models and the type of resources you get and you you might get oversold, which is really

common problem. Agencies can fall into the trap of overselling their capability and I think that is something that anyone who's looking at trying to fit and get the right resource in, that's something they need to be aware of.

Paul Mills (07:09)

is there a simple way leaders can frame their situation? Is it leadership? it delivery? Is it execution? What can they use to guide that decision?

Ruth Napier (07:18)

I really think that part of it is about making sure you're, one, start with the right kind of frameset around, am I really needing strategic input into this, in which case fractional is probably the way to go? Am I looking at something that's really a tactical delivery, which then, okay, that is, you're probably steering towards agency.

But again, it goes right the way back to what we started out at the beginning, which is making sure you know what the problem is at the outset.

Paul Mills (07:48)

that's probably a good segue into the next segment which is once you've defined the problem, the next challenge is navigating the market. And this is where things can become confusing. Now, agencies are easy to find. Interim marketing specialists, they will tend to sit behind recruiters. But now we've got the fractional model

and not all fractional CMOs are created equal. And I want to get into a little bit of that. So Ruth, let's talk about where leaders actually go to find each of these models or solutions and what they should be cautious about along the way. So agencies are easy to find, that's obvious, but what risks do leaders run if they assume a specialist agency can also provide strategic leadership?

Ruth Napier (08:30)

I think the risk is that actually you're getting a partial solution, not the real solution. And actually they can make you spend more money than you need to in particular areas. Or I have seen

a solution comes in or a campaign is coming in, which is very much driven from their expertise, but doesn't fit with the organisation that they're delivering to. It doesn't deliver to that business's own target client base.

And so there's that misalignment, which means, well, hold on, if you looked at it objectively, you'd think, that just looks really odd. Why did that happen? And it's a fail. It's a marketing fail. And that's what you really want to avoid, particularly when you're investing quite a bit of money in what you're doing for your marketing.

Paul Mills (09:29)

Yeah. And I think that alignment issue is an interesting one. I've worked with hundreds of agencies throughout my career. And I think quite often, certainly a company that doesn't have the marketing capability they will just go to any agency, assuming they have the domain expertise to solve the problem.

I think the other thing we have agencies to be mindful of is they're not embedded in the organization in the sense that a fractional CMO, for example, might be. So it's very much a hands off kind of relationship. So that accountability, that governance piece,

doesn't always sit with the agency. And I think that's something to be very mindful of. And I think also as well, and I'd like to touch on this a little bit later, is around the actual expertise of the agency. So the people you're engaging with, do they hold any marketing qualifications? Are they chartered as an individual?

And quite often, many agencies don't have that. What's your thoughts on that?

Ruth Napier (10:27)

I have to agree with you on that because I think it's rare that I've come across in my long career many agencies that do have I would say strategic level qualifications. So whether we're talking at Chartered & Marketer,

CIPR for a PR agency for example, it's not the norm, it's the exception, which is a bit weird from my mindset given that we if you work in-house then actually you are much more naturally encouraged and developed that way to actually seek professional qualifications, so it is an interesting

Paul Mills (11:04)

And I think an obvious qualification would be an MBA. You would expect a senior director in an agency perhaps to hold an MBA, which at least would give some reassurance of their strategic capability because that's what MBAs are all about. So if you don't know what marketing qualifications look for, maybe look for an MBA perhaps and really...

test them hard on their strategic capability and approach.

Ruth Napier (11:27)

Yeah, I think that's a good one. CIMA is also quite a good one, which was management association, which is more junior level, but actually if someone's had that in their background, again, it's a relatively good indicator that someone actually done some proper management training.

Paul Mills (11:42)

I guess one of the other options is, you know, where do we find the marketing support we need? We've mentioned agencies there. The other option, would be finding an interim marketing specialist, They will generally sit behind a recruitment agency. If that is the option, what risks might you run into if you're starting to look at the agencies?

Ruth Napier (12:04)

Well, again, that's knowing you've got the right recruitment agencies. The recruitment sector model has changed markedly over the last 10 years. You used to get recruitment agents who would have a large roster of people on their books who they wouldn't know well and then could bring in or recommend. So you'd get a short list quite quickly.

That model has changed, it's now much more ad served than it ever used to be. I think that's just the way social media has driven the market, but therefore a lot of the agencies don't have that bank that they used to and therefore putting it out is putting out that risk and the time it takes to recruit an interim,

it'll be longer because they don't have that ready stack of people in their books. I do think it's hard to find good interims. Even when I've spoken to a number of specialist agencies, they still struggle because it's not a common career choice

Paul Mills (13:06)

I've worked with many agencies throughout my career. And I think one of the things to really look out for, is that if you're an organization, if you don't have the strategic marketing capability in-house, you may not know what support or leadership you need.

If you're speaking to a recruitment agency, they perhaps don't know the real ins and outs of the marketing challenge. So you might have a recruitment specialist who's very good at placing people and finding people and having conversations, but because they won't know the business forensically, like a senior marketing leader would, then you've kind of got the blind leading the blind to some extent. And it's very easy for the hiring company

to misbrief the recruiter for the expertise you need. And that's sometimes why ⁓ you might get a placement, a candidate who might be the wrong fit, because actually the wrong person has been found for the solution. Is that anything you've come across? is that something you see?

Ruth Napier (14:16)

I have seen it happen. It falls into the you don't know what you don't know problem, which is, I think I need an events executive to do this piece of work. I'm talking at a lower level, but actually that isn't what you need. You actually need something completely

a really easy one to do because particularly if you've built up your own business you you know all about it and therefore it's easy to think that you you know what the marketing

needs around that are and should be.

Unless you have a really strong long-standing relationship with a recruiter that knows your market and your sector inside out and understands marketing from the strategic high-level marketing right the way through, you're not going to get the right advice from a recruitment agency they are not going to even provide the right challenge around whether your interim role is scripted right.

And so there are real dangers with going with a generic agency. And there are real positives with trying to find a specialist agency who knows your market really well.

Specialist exec search firms tend to have more experienced people on board and will know the market better but again they will not know your business the same way.

Paul Mills (15:43)

I think that's good sage advice there. I think it sort of brings us nicely onto maybe the third option, which is, there's a lot of noise at the moment about fractional leadership, fractional CMOs. Fractional CMOs are a newer category and it's a bit of an unknown still as the market's emerging and morphing and scaling. What should leaders be looking for to separate credible

operators from people simply rebranding themselves as fractional?

Ruth Napier (16:15)

This is a real problem I think for the fractional world and the problem is there aren't many centralized resources for it. You see people with fractional popping up in their profiles on LinkedIn.

or on their email signatures. And quite frankly, I worry that the message about what the quality of the fractional is gets diluted because of that. And I think therefore we're going to be looking at those really strong sources which you can tap into. So the reputable fractional networks like VCMO,

or the Marketing Centre or the Fractionals Collective. If you're looking at an individual who's approached you or you've found them, then what kind of profile presence do they have on LinkedIn? What evidence do they have through their thought leadership? What has been on their CV? If they've only held manager-level roles,

are they really going to be providing the strategic level advice that you're looking for? Probably not. Equally, if they've only had exposure to one strand of the marketing mix, then be aware of that. And so do your due diligence is really important.

Paul Mills (17:40)

I've certainly seen an explosion of people just calling themselves fractional because that's the buzzword and everyone's jumping on the bandwagon. For me, when I talk about fractional leadership, we're really talking about that C-suite level. if you've got a marketer who's probably had a very strong background in, let's say, just brand,

I saw only just yesterday that there was several people rebranding themselves as fractional brand leaders, which is fine. But for me personally, that is really a consultancy model because those people are basically going in delivering brand projects and then going on to the next client. That's consultancy. When we're talking about fractional leadership, certainly fractional CMOs, it's all about embedded leadership. It's about

embedding yourself in the business and taking accountability for the marketing function. Not a small sliver of marketing like brand or SEO or campaigns. It's the entire piece. You mentioned there about governance structures, accountability. That for me is really what separates a fractional CMO from someone who might be calling themselves a fractional CMO or a fractional marketer.

Do credentials or qualifications, is that something that a hiring business need to look at? You mentioned doing some due diligence there. Is that really important?

Ruth Napier (19:03)

I'd say it's absolutely essential. Otherwise you're going to not get the quality or the caliber of individual that you're looking for. And so I would certainly say chartered marketer really important. If they don't have it, then the question is, well, why? Because actually that's an internationally recognized hallmark. Equally, SOSTAC

certified planner. Again, there are credentials that you can use for different capabilities in different scenarios as well. But those two are really good indicators as far as I can tell.

Paul Mills (19:40)

You're right. That's probably a nice segue into the final part of today's episode. Once you've found a potential partner or a potential marketing candidate, the real decision really starts with choosing the right one. Now,

It isn't just about experience or reputation or even qualifications. It's more around cultural fit and commercial fit, but more importantly, it's alignment on outcomes rather than activity. So Ruth, let's explore a little bit about that. Once you've shortlisted a candidate, what really separates a good choice from a risky one?

Ruth Napier (20:16)

We've talked about

the experience that they've already got. I think that's a really important one. So credentials is one, experience. You're kind of looking at that broad strategic leadership. So you need to be looking for signals about what does that mean? How they experience and connect across those different disciplines. You're looking for people who

spend time with organisations and embed themselves. So if they haven't, then that can be a bit of a warning sign. So, you know, someone's like two months here, three months there. That doesn't give you a, well, are they there for the long term? Because actually to provide the right level strategic advice that businesses need to grow, I think from a strategic perspective, it's essential to be in there for the long term.

Paul Mills (21:10)

We mentioned earlier, we talking about marketing agencies. They offer depth in one area. Fractionals on the other hand, they offer breadth across the whole marketing function, the entire marketing mix. So when considering

fit, how should leaders think about that trade-off?

Ruth Napier (21:28)

I think the trade off is really what's the problem you're trying to solve? I keep going back to the problem because if you're putting an agency in to do your marketing strategy and your plans for the next year, then it's probably going to be the wrong fit because what you're looking is for that strategic, holistic.

probing across all those different components that an agency will try and do and deliver it if you ask it to. Good agencies will probably turn up and say, sorry, no, that's not really for us. But if what you're really wanting to do, because you have a very specific need, then I need a new website. OK, there might be a bit of strategy around that. But actually, if

We've got very clear strategy already in place. Do you know what? You're better off with just going to a web development agency that does new websites.

Paul Mills (22:19)

that's good advice. And you mentioned there, picking the right agency or the right person. And you mentioned something there around continuity. if this is a long-term project or transformation, you want someone who's going to be embedded for the duration. And I think if you're doing something quite major, cultural fit comes into play.

So what sort of things would you be looking out for in terms of cultural fit?

Ruth Napier (22:46)

So, you're looking at trying to get the right match for your current situation. So if you want to be challenged more, you're looking for someone who will come and bring you more challenging ideas. If you want somebody who wants to bring together disparate teams across the organisation, who might be swinging off in different directions.

Paul Mills (22:45)

Sorry, you

Ruth Napier (23:09)

then you'll probably want someone who will bring them together rather than challenge them. So depending on the nature of why you're bringing in the fractional will change the type of culture or cultural fit you have. I think from my perspective, there are pros and cons with people coming out of sector. So you have someone who comes, who doesn't have sector experience.

That can play well if you want the challenge, but actually if you want people to row together, you probably want someone who's got sector experience. And I think there are differences about thinking about how and what will fit well with your business.

Paul Mills (23:50)

And that probably really brings today's episode together. we've talked about defining the problem, navigating the market and choosing the right partner, all of which points to one underlying truth. There's no bad option here, only the wrong fit for the situation. I think you touched on that nicely just there, Ruth. So let's wrap this up by helping listeners reflect on what this means for their own organization.

If there's one takeaway from today, it's this, choosing the right marketing support always starts with clarity on the challenge you're trying to solve. Agencies are excellent for defined projects and campaigns. Interims are well suited to time-bound transformations and delivery of heavy change. Fractional CMOs, they provide embedded strategic leadership and continuity when direction, alignment and capability are the real gaps.

Each of these routes has value, but alignment is everything. And the best outcomes will typically happen when leadership, capability, and commercial goals are properly connected. Ruth, it's been a pleasure to have you as our guest today. And thank you so much for sharing your insights. It's been really interesting hearing your spin on this. And I very much look forward to you to having back on a future show.

Ruth Napier (25:04)

Thank you very much, Paul. I've really enjoyed it.

Paul Mills (25:06)

And as a final word from me, if this episode has helped you think differently about the type of marketing support your business actually needs, you can take our free marketing capability diagnostic to understand where your gaps are. The link is in the show notes. And if you'd like to talk in more detail, you're welcome to book a no obligation conversation with myself, one of our experts. Again, the link to our diaries is in the notes.

Thank you for listening today and in our next episode, we'll be discussing how fractional leaders fit into an organization and what it takes to embed them successfully into the leadership cadence. Thank you for listening.