Choosing the right marketing interim or fractional lead, or freelance marketer for you
The questions worth asking before you choose a marketing partner, fractional lead or interim
What problem are you actually trying to solve?
Before you brief anyone, it is worth being specific. Are you trying to generate more leads? Reach a different type of client? Build a stronger brand? Recover from a period where marketing has drifted? The answer shapes which type of support will serve you best. Execution problems need execution resource. Strategic problems need strategic resource. Confusing the two is the most common and most expensive mistake.
Do you have a strategy, or do you need one?
If you already have a clear market position, a defined audience, and a messaging framework that is working, a good agency or specialist can execute against it effectively. If you do not, giving an agency a brief before the strategy is in place tends to produce polished activity without commercial direction.
What does success look like in twelve months?
Any marketing partner worth working with should be able to connect their work to a commercial outcome: more of the right enquiries, a stronger pipeline, a clearer market position, better talent attraction. If they can only describe success in terms of likes, impressions, or posts published, that is a signal worth paying attention to.
How do they charge, and why?
Day rates, monthly retainers, project fees, and performance-based models all have different implications. Day rates incentivise time spent. Retainers incentivise relationship maintenance. Project fees align better with defined outcomes. Ask not just what they charge, but how the charging model shapes their behaviour.
Where Authentic Comms fits in
Authentic Comms is a strategic marketing consultancy, not a full-service agency. We can run campaigns, manage social media accounts, or build websites, IF that is needed. We work at the level of strategy, positioning, and commercial direction.
We are the right choice if your business is at a stage where the strategic question needs answering before the execution begins. If you are growing and your current marketing is not keeping pace with your ambition. If you have tried agencies and found the results disappointing. If you need someone to work at director level without the cost of a full-time hire.
We are probably not the right choice if you have a clear strategy, a working playbook, and just need reliable execution delivered at scale. In that case, we will tell you so and point you toward the right kind of partner.
The promise is simple: we will be honest with you about whether we are the right fit.
If we are not, we will tell you what is.
Do you have any questions or are interested in a chat with Adam? Feel free to get in touch or book an intro call.
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