Why Being “On Social Media” Isn’t Enough: The Importance of Strategy for SMEs
Over the last 6 months in my role as a marketing consultant, I’ve had countless conversations with small and medium-sized business owners who have been told “You need to be on social media.” So, they jump in, [often reluctantly]because it feels like the “done” thing. They hire an agency, start posting a few times a week, and... nothing happens.
No engagement. No real traction. Just mounting frustration and the sense that social media is a waste of time and money.
Here’s the hard truth: social media without a strategy is like driving without a map. You’ll burn fuel, but you’re unlikely to reach your destination.
Why Social Media Feels So Frustrating
Most SMEs enter the world of social media with the best intentions but with little clarity. They're told it's essential, so they jump in. But here’s where things go wrong:
No clear objectives: What are you trying to achieve? Brand awareness? Lead generation? Customer loyalty?
No understanding of the audience: Who are you speaking to? What platforms do they use? What content resonates with them?
No alignment with wider business goals: Social media doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It must support your wider marketing and sales funnel.
No metrics for success: If you don’t define success upfront, you won’t know what’s working or what’s not.
When these aren’t defined from the beginning, even the best agency can’t deliver real results. Because they’re posting for the sake of it, not with purpose.
How to Create a Social Media Strategy That Actually Works
Here are some practical tips to help SMEs take control and use social media intentionally:
1. Start with Your Business Goals
Everything should flow from your main objectives. Are you trying to:
Increase brand awareness?
Drive traffic to your website?
Generate qualified leads?
Improve customer service?
Define this early. Social media isn’t the goal it’s a tool to support your business goals.
2. Know Your Audience
Avoid posting into the void. Research and define:
Who your ideal customer is
Where they spend their time online
What content formats they prefer (video, carousels, infographics, etc.)
What challenges or pain points you can help solve
3. Choose the Right Platforms
Not every business needs to be on every platform. Focus on the ones where your audience is active and where your content can shine. For example:
LinkedIn for B2B services
Instagram for visual brands
TikTok for trend-driven or creative storytelling
Facebook for local community engagement
4. Create a Content Plan
Consistency matters but so does relevance. Plan your content around themes that align with your business goals. Some ideas:
Educational posts (to position you as an expert)
Testimonials and case studies
Behind-the-scenes glimpses
Industry insights or thought leadership
Pro tip: Don’t just post what you want to say—post what your audience wants to hear.
5. Measure What Matters
Track the metrics that align with your goals. For example:
If your goal is awareness: look at reach, impressions, and new followers.
If your goal is leads: focus on click-throughs, conversions, and DMs.
Regularly review what’s working and adjust accordingly.
Social media isn’t a magic bullet but when used strategically, it can be a powerful part of your marketing toolkit. Don’t let FOMO or peer pressure push you into a scattergun approach. Take the time to clarify your goals, understand your audience, and develop a content plan that serves both.
And if you’re not sure where to start or want a second opinion on what’s working (and what’s not), that’s where I come in. Let's have a conversation about aligning your social media presence with your business strategy so your efforts don’t go to waste.
Unlocking Growth: How a Comprehensive Marketing Audit Can Transform Your Business
In today’s fast-paced business environment, staying ahead requires more than just intuition and good ideas, it demands a deep, strategic understanding of your market, your customers, and your own operations. This is where a comprehensive marketing audit becomes a game-changer. Far from being a simple checklist, a marketing audit provides a 360-degree view of your company’s marketing health, illuminating opportunities and revealing hidden challenges that might be holding real business growth back.
Why a Marketing Audit?
Many businesses get caught in the day-to-day grind of campaigns, sales targets, and customer demands without ever stepping back to ask:
Are we truly aligned with our business goals?
Are our strategies driving sustainable growth?
A marketing audit is the essential pause button. It’s a detailed evaluation that helps you understand not only what’s working but also what’s missing, enabling you to refine your approach and maximise impact.
Starting with What Matters Most: Your Business Goals
At the heart of every marketing audit is a clear understanding of your business goals. Whether you’re focused on expanding your customer base, improving retention, launching new products, or entering new markets, your marketing efforts must be designed to support these objectives. We start by clarifying these goals and ensuring that every marketing initiative aligns seamlessly with them. Without this foundational step, even the most creative campaigns risk missing the mark.
One of the most critical outcomes of a marketing audit is a renewed understanding of your customer, who they are, what truly matters to them, and how your brand fits into their lives. It uncovers where your strongest relationships lie and highlights new opportunities to connect with audiences you may not have considered before. This customer-centric perspective is essential because growing a business depends on both attracting fresh interest and nurturing lasting loyalty. It’s this delicate balance between acquisition and retention that the audit helps you master.
But customers don’t exist in isolation. An audit should explore the broader context of the competitive environment, emerging market trends, and even your internal capabilities plays an equally important role. A marketing audit provides a panoramic view of these factors, giving you a clearer sense of where you stand, where you have an edge, and where you may need to adapt. Every business needs to regularly evaluate the strategies and partnerships that drive its growth. Sometimes, what once worked well no longer delivers the impact it used to. At other times, promising collaborations are overlooked or underutilised.
Measuring progress toward your goals is fundamental to sustained success. The audit clarifies which performance indicators genuinely reflect your business’s health and growth, allowing you to shift from guesswork to data-driven confidence. It also uncovers whether your current technology stack supports your ambitions or if upgrades are needed to keep pace with changing demands.
Why Businesses Benefit More from an External Marketing Audit
While internal audits can provide useful insights, there’s a unique and powerful advantage to bringing in an external perspective when evaluating your marketing efforts. Businesses often find that an external marketing audit delivers deeper, more objective, and actionable insights. Here’s why:
1. Unbiased Objectivity
Internal teams are deeply involved in day-to-day operations, which can create blind spots or biases. It’s easy to become attached to existing strategies, campaigns, or assumptions. An external auditor approaches your marketing with fresh eyes and no preconceived notions, allowing for a more honest, impartial assessment. This objectivity is crucial for identifying issues that internal teams might overlook or be reluctant to challenge.
2. Broader Industry Expertise
External auditors often work across multiple industries and businesses, giving them a broader perspective on market trends, best practices, and emerging technologies. This wide-ranging experience enables them to benchmark your marketing efforts against industry standards and competitors more effectively, providing valuable insights that internal teams may lack.
3. Specialised Skill Set
Marketing audits require a blend of analytical skills, strategic thinking, and deep knowledge of the latest tools and metrics. External consultants are typically specialists trained specifically in conducting audits and interpreting complex data, which means they can uncover nuances and opportunities that might be missed internally.
4. Fresh Strategic Ideas
An external audit can inject new ideas and innovative approaches based on market-wide learnings and cross-industry experience. This infusion of fresh thinking often helps businesses break free from entrenched habits and opens the door to creative strategies that drive growth.
5. Enhanced Credibility
For stakeholders, investors, or partners, an external audit carries additional credibility. It shows a commitment to transparency and accountability, which can be reassuring when making strategic decisions or securing funding.
6. Resource Efficiency
Conducting a thorough audit requires time, focus, and expertise that internal teams might not be able to spare, especially if they’re managing ongoing campaigns and daily operations. Outsourcing the audit frees your team to keep running the business while ensuring the evaluation is done thoroughly and professionally.
In essence, a marketing audit is much more than a routine checkup, it is a strategic compass. It reveals the interconnected elements that influence your success and empowers you to make informed, deliberate choices. If your business is ready to move beyond fragmented tactics and toward a holistic, purpose-driven marketing approach, a comprehensive audit could be the catalyst that sparks lasting transformation. Get in touch.
Fractional Marketing vs. Full-Time Hire: Which Is Right for Your Business?
It all begins with an idea.
When your business hits a critical growth point or needs stronger strategic marketing direction, the next step is clear, you need experienced marketing leadership. But should you hire a full-time marketing director or bring on a fractional marketer?
This decision isn’t just about budget, it’s about aligning the right level of expertise, flexibility, and focus with your business goals. In this article, we’ll break down the costs, flexibility, and impact of each option to help you make the best choice.
What’s the Difference?
Full-Time Marketing Director: A permanent employee who leads your marketing function day-to-day, usually working 40 hours a week with full salary and benefits.
Fractional Marketing Director: A senior-level marketing consultant who works part-time or on a project basis. You gain strategic leadership and execution support, without the commitment of a full-time role.
Cost Comparison
Full-Time Hire:
Annual salary typically ranges from £80,000–£150,000 (or more, depending on location and industry)
Plus: employer pension contributions, bonuses, benefits, training, and other overheads
Total cost often exceeds £100k annually
Fractional Marketer:
Costs are based on a fixed monthly rate or day rate
Typically ranges from £1,500–£8,000/month depending on scope and time commitment
No long-term contracts, employer taxes, or added overheads
Winner on Cost Efficiency: Fractional Marketer
You get senior-level insight and leadership at a fraction of the price.
Flexibility
Full-Time Hire:
Fixed hours, fixed cost
Less adaptable during slow periods or transitions
Harder to scale up/down quickly
Fractional Marketer:
Flexible hours and project scope
Scalable depending on your growth or campaign cycles
Ideal for temporary leadership, growth phases, or restructuring
Winner on Agility: Fractional Marketer
You only pay for what you need, when you need it.
Impact & Strategic Value
Full-Time Hire:
Can be deeply embedded in the business
Strong internal relationships
Available for day-to-day management and long-term initiatives
Fractional Marketer:
Brings external perspective and cross-industry experience
Quick to identify gaps and recommend changes
Often more focused on strategic outcomes and efficiency
Great for businesses lacking internal marketing leadership or needing a reset
It Depends:
If you need deep operational management, a full-time hire might suit.
If you need strategic clarity, executional oversight, and faster results—a fractional marketer is often the smarter choice.
Final Thoughts
Hiring a fractional marketing director is an excellent option for businesses that want strategic leadership without the high cost and long-term commitment of a full-time executive. You gain fresh perspective, faster implementation, and results-driven insight that’s focused entirely on growth.
If you're considering fractional support and want to understand how it could work in your business, let's talk. I offer strategic marketing leadership tailored to your stage of growth, with a focus on ROI, efficiency, and long-term success.
What Is a Fractional Marketer? Everything You Need to Know.
It all begins with an idea.
In today’s fast-paced business landscape, not every company can afford [or even needs] a full-time senior marketing executive. Yet, they still require strategic direction, leadership, and results-driven campaigns to stay competitive. That’s where a fractional marketer comes in.
What Is a Fractional Marketer?
A fractional marketer, is a highly experienced marketing professional who works with a company on a part-time, contract, or project basis. They bring senior-level expertise to the table without the overhead of hiring a full-time executive.
Think of it as having a marketing director "on demand". Someone who can step in, assess your needs, set a clear strategy, manage teams, and drive execution, all while being cost-effective and flexible.
Why Choose a Fractional Marketer?
Whether you’re a growing business, going through a transitional phase, or simply need leadership for a specific project, a fractional marketer can offer the perfect solution. Here's how they typically add value:
1. Strategic Leadership Without Full-Time Commitment
As a fractional marketing director, I provide senior-level oversight across your marketing function. That includes refining your brand positioning, setting strategic direction, leading campaigns, and mentoring your internal team—without the long-term costs and commitments of a permanent hire.
2. Marketing Audits and Optimisation
Are your current marketing efforts underperforming? A fractional marketer can conduct a full audit of your strategies, channels, and messaging. I help businesses uncover inefficiencies, highlight what’s working, and realign their efforts for better results—leading to improved ROI and stronger brand visibility.
3. Revenue and Growth-Focused Strategy
One of the key roles of a fractional marketer is helping businesses unlock untapped revenue streams. That might include revisiting your business development strategy, improving sales proposals, or targeting new markets. I work with companies to uncover and activate growth opportunities that drive tangible, long-term value.
4. Flexible Support During Transition or Growth
Businesses often face periods of transition—whether it’s rapid growth, restructuring, or launching a new product. During these times, a fractional marketer can provide the leadership and consistency needed to keep things on track. From interim support to longer-term engagement, it’s a scalable model that grows with your needs.
5. Clear Brand Positioning and Market Expansion
Your brand is more than a logo—it’s the story you tell and how your audience connects with it. I help companies refine their brand messaging and expand their presence in the market with purpose and clarity. This means better positioning, stronger customer loyalty, and more impactful marketing.
Who Should Hire a Fractional Marketer?
Fractional marketers are ideal for:
Small to medium-sized businesses needing senior marketing expertise
Startups scaling quickly and needing strategy without full-time costs
Companies undergoing change, growth, or restructuring
Organisations that want an objective review of their marketing
Businesses that want measurable results, fast
Final Thoughts
A fractional marketer brings the best of both worlds: the strategic leadership of a seasoned marketing director and the flexibility and cost-efficiency of a consultant. Whether you're looking to refine your brand, generate leads, or scale your marketing efforts intelligently, a fractional marketer can help you get there faster—and smarter.