fractional chief marketing officer

Marketing strategy & leadership accountable to
business outcomes.

I’m Darren Porter, I work with CEOs, CFOs and business owners to decide where growth should come from, what it will take to achieve it, and how marketing investment should contribute to profit.

As your fractional Chief Marketing Officer, I lead marketing strategy, investment priorities and delivery, connecting customer and market understanding with the commercial decisions of the business.

Darren Porter / Fractional CMO

Selected organisations and engagements

the commercial purpose

A clear direction
for growth.

A revenue target is the starting point. The work is deciding how to reach it profitably.

Which customers should the business pursue?
What makes them choose you?
Where can you compete effectively?
How much can you afford to invest in acquiring and retaining them?
Can the business deliver the growth it is pursuing?

I bring these questions into the leadership conversation, then translate the answers into a focused marketing plan with an agreed budget, clear responsibilities and measures of progress.

The decisions I help your business make.

01

Where to compete.

Identify the markets, customers and offers with the strongest commercial potential. Assess demand, competition and your ability to win, then focus resources where they can deliver the greatest value.

02

Why customers should choose you.

Align positioning, offers and pricing with what customers value. Give them a clear reason to choose your business that builds preference and supports margins.

03

How much to invest and where.

Work with finance to set investment against acquisition costs, retention, margins, payback and cash capacity. Establish when to increase, redirect or stop spending.

04

How to build demand over time.

Balance immediate sales with future demand. Build recognition among potential buyers and make your business easy to find and buy from when they are ready.

05

How the strategy gets delivered.

Align marketing, sales and operations around clear priorities and ownership. Lead teams and specialists to deliver a plan matched to your budget and capacity.

Clear accountability. Honest measurement.

I take responsibility for marketing strategy, budgets, delivery and reporting, with commercial outcomes shared across the leadership team.

Performance measures reflect your business model, accounting for margins, retention, acquisition costs and incremental revenue. I make data gaps clear and prioritise what’s needed for better decisions.

A working partnership with finance.

A CFO should be able to see what marketing is asking the business to fund, why it matters and what would justify continued investment.

Our process

01

Marketing Audit

Assess your marketing performance, capability and investment to identify the gaps limiting growth and the opportunities worth pursuing.

02

Strategy

Define your market positioning, commercial priorities and investment roadmap to align marketing with the direction and ambitions of your business.

03

Infrastructure

Establish the systems, processes and reporting that turn strategic priorities into coordinated execution and measurable commercial outcomes.

04

Leadership

Lead your internal team and external partners, bringing executive oversight, clear accountability and disciplined decision-making to marketing.

Experienced leadership, close to the work.

My experience spans marketing leadership, business ownership, brand, customer acquisition and digital delivery. That breadth helps me connect strategic decisions with the practical work required to implement them.

You work directly with me. I stay involved in the priorities, the people and the decisions that determine whether the strategy moves forward.

A fractional engagement gives your business senior marketing leadership on an agreed part-time basis, with a defined remit and a level of involvement suited to the work.

case study

Inside a fractional CMO engagement: Compass Institute.

Latest insight.

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