The Missing Link in Marketing Leadership: Why You Might Need a Fractional Head of Growth (Marketing)
Marketing has never been more complex.
From campaign strategy and brand storytelling to SEO, paid media, data tracking, content operations and funnel experimentation, the modern marketing function is no longer just a creative department. It is a commercially driven, technology-enabled growth engine. Yet the path to senior marketing leadership is still largely shaped by generalist experience rather than operational expertise.
So what does that mean for growing businesses trying to make sense of it all?
Let us start with how most marketing careers take shape, and where the gaps begin to show.
The Traditional Climb: From Assistant to CMO
Most marketers begin their journey in roles such as Marketing Assistant, Marketing Coordinator or Marketing Executive. These are early-career generalists who support across social media, email, website updates, events and various other campaign activities, gaining exposure to the full marketing mix.
From there, they may progress into a Marketing Manager or Senior Marketing Manager position, overseeing campaigns and junior team members, developing budgets, and managing agencies or external partners.
Eventually, the path might lead to Head of Marketing or Marketing Director, where they begin to shape go-to-market strategy and take on leadership responsibilities within the business.
Alongside this generalist track, there are several common specialist paths:
Digital Marketing and Performance Roles: Including SEO, paid search, conversion rate optimisation, website performance and channel efficiency.
Content and Creative: Copywriting, brand voice, video production and strategic content campaigns.
Product Marketing: Messaging, propositions, competitor positioning and go-to-market materials.
Public Relations and Communications: Media relations, internal communications and analyst engagement.
Insights and Analysis: Market research, segmentation, campaign reporting and customer data analysis.
Agency Experience: Project-based work across a wide variety of industries and campaign types.
All of these roles play an important part in a functioning marketing organisation. However, there is one role that is often overlooked and yet is essential to making everything else work effectively.
The Overlooked Glue: Marketing Operations
The truth is simple. Without marketing operations, none of the above can scale.
From campaign reporting and lead scoring to CRM integration and automation, marketing operations is what enables teams to execute, measure and refine. It is often invisible to those outside the team, but it is the backbone of modern marketing.
As someone who has led marketing operations, I have often been responsible for:
Ensuring campaign data is tracked and attributed correctly
Managing budgets and aligning spend with commercial goals
Coordinating SEO and PPC reporting with CRM visibility
Overseeing the delivery of go-to-market plans across teams
Providing sales with the right lead information and pipeline insight
Giving the leadership team confidence in marketing's performance and impact
Marketing operations is not just about systems and platforms. It is about accountability, clarity and enabling growth through structure.
Where Growth Marketing Begins to Cross Over
In recent years, we have seen the rise of the Growth Marketing Manager. These individuals sit at the intersection of performance marketing, product and experimentation. Their focus is not just to deliver campaigns, but to test, learn and scale what works.
Yet even these roles depend heavily on marketing operations.
Who builds the testing framework? Who ensures campaign data is accurate and consistent? Who integrates tools and channels so that insights flow back into CRM and reporting?
Once again, it is marketing operations that ensures success.
Why a Fractional Head of Growth (Marketing) Might Be the Smartest Hire You Make
Growing businesses do not always need a full-time Chief Marketing Officer or Vice President of Marketing. But they do need someone who understands the commercial value of marketing and how to build the systems that deliver it.
A Fractional Head of Growth (Marketing) can provide just that. Someone who has operated across marketing functions, built technology stacks, run performance campaigns and worked directly with sales and product teams to deliver growth.
They bring a unique combination of skills:
Strategic performance planning and campaign analysis
Marketing technology selection and implementation
Lead flow design and lifecycle journey mapping
Reporting, attribution and insight for leadership
Budget management and return on investment tracking
Content and brand consistency across platforms
Collaboration across sales, customer success and product
In short, they make sure everything works together, not in silos.
Final Thought
If you are a founder, a marketing lead or a commercial director trying to bring consistency and clarity to your marketing efforts, ask yourself this question:
Do we have someone who understands how to connect the dots between all of our marketing channels, data and platforms?
If the answer is no, then a fractional growth marketing lead might be exactly what your business needs. Someone who has the experience to build a system that scales, and the perspective to make sure marketing is working as hard as it should be.
And perhaps it is time to take this one step further.
Those with experience across growth marketing, marketing operations and performance strategy have often worked closely with every part of the marketing function. They understand generalist campaign delivery, specialist digital and content roles, and the behind-the-scenes processes that make it all work. They have owned budgets, overseen tools, led reporting, and often been the point of contact between marketing, sales and the board.
In short, they have seen how all the pieces fit together.
So perhaps it is time we started seeing these individuals step into senior leadership roles more often. If you want someone who truly understands marketing as a whole, from budget ownership and process design to strategic delivery and performance measurement, then this is the skill set that should be at the heart of your leadership team.
If you would like to find out more about how a fractional growth marketing lead could support your business, click below, to get in touch.