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Fractional CMO Services for Recruitment and Search Firms

A fractional CMO for your firm, with the team to deliver the strategy. Senior leadership owns the plan, and a lean specialist team ships the work across brand, content, LinkedIn, email, web and SEO.

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Daniel AntonowiczDavid EalesMike MeyrickRichard Harris

Trusted by Recruitment Agencies Across the UK

Marketing strategy and roadmap

Monthly board reporting

Campaign briefs and sign off

Budget and forecasting

A team shipping the work

A marketing leader working from a laptop on her lap

  • Recruitment and search only

    Every firm we lead hires people for a living

  • A CMO, not an account manager

    Senior leadership owns the plan and presents it to your board

  • The delivery team is included

    Strategy and the specialists who ship it sit inside one fee

  • Thirty day rolling terms

    From £3,600 a month, with nothing to renegotiate to leave

From founder bottleneck to complete function

Marketing should move through a system, not through you.

01 / The founder bottleneck

Everything routes through you.

Six channels. Six suppliers. Six sets of priorities. Every decision still lands back on the founder's desk.

02 / Senior direction

The work needs one direction.

One senior mind decides what matters, what waits and how every channel contributes to the commercial plan.

03 / A complete function

Leadership above. A team beneath.

Strategy becomes briefs. Briefs become delivery. Delivery becomes pipeline. Nothing falls between suppliers.

04 / The result

One direction. One team. One number.

A marketing function that moves at pace without everything routing through you.

Apply to work with us

From founder bottleneck to complete marketing function

Step 1 of 4: The founder bottleneck

Everything routes through you.

Six channels. Six suppliers. Six sets of priorities. Every decision still lands back on the founder's desk.

Step 2 of 4: Senior direction

The work needs one direction.

One senior mind decides what matters, what waits and how every channel contributes to the commercial plan.

Step 3 of 4: A complete function

Leadership above. A team beneath.

Strategy becomes briefs. Briefs become delivery. Delivery becomes pipeline. Nothing falls between suppliers.

Step 4 of 4: The result

One direction. One team. One number.

A marketing function that moves at pace without everything routing through you.

The Trade Off

Fractional CMO vs the Full Time Hire

Most firms know they need senior marketing leadership but cannot justify the cost of a six figure hire. Here is the honest comparison, with the numbers we see across the firms we work with.

Full Time CMO

Senior, expensive, slow to land

  • Monthly commitment£10k to £18k
  • Time to onboard3 to 6 months
  • Strategic and hands onStrategic only
  • Board level voiceYes
  • Works with your in-house teamHires and manages them
  • Notice or exit cost3 to 6 months

Fractional CMO

Senior, embedded fast, exit on your terms

  • Monthly commitmentFrom £3,600
  • Time to onboard2 weeks
  • Strategic and hands onBoth
  • Board level voiceYes
  • Works with your in-house teamWorks alongside them
  • Notice or exit cost30 days

Marketing Manager

Hands on, but no board voice

  • Monthly commitment£5k to £8k
  • Time to onboard1 to 3 months
  • Strategic and hands onHands on only
  • Board level voiceRarely
  • Works with your in-house teamIs one of them
  • Notice or exit cost1 to 3 months

New to the model? Start with our plain English guide to what a fractional CMO is and does.

Who This Is For

Built for Founder-Led Firms

We are very selective about who we work with. We will be open about whether we feel we can help your organisation, and whether there is likely to be a fit on personality and working style. Here is the shape of the firms our Fractional CMO service is built around.

Annual Fee Income

£2m

to £20m

Below this and your marketing problem is usually a sales problem. Above it and you should be hiring full-time marketing leadership.

Marketing Headcount

1

to 3 in house

Enough that the work is happening, but not enough to justify a senior hire above them. We work in collaboration with the people you already have.

Marketing Ownership

Founder

still in the room

The CEO is still making the calls on marketing. We take the function off your desk, and you keep the final say.

Not the right fit

  • Solo operators without a marketing function
  • Firms over £20m with a permanent CMO already in seat
  • Founders looking for a project agency to brief and forget

The Role, Honestly

Drawing the Lines Around the Job

Owns

What the Fractional CMO owns

The desk the marketing function actually sits on.

  • The written marketing strategy
  • The marketing roadmap and the quality bar for the work
  • The monthly board pack and read out
  • Campaign sign off, briefs and creative
  • Agency and vendor accountability
  • Marketing budget and forecasting

Does Not

What the Fractional CMO does not

The lines we will not cross, and the work we will not pretend to do.

  • Run your sales meetings or carry quota
  • Replace specialist agencies you already trust
  • Touch your product roadmap or pricing
  • Cold call or close prospects for you
  • Take over or replace your in-house team
  • Stay longer than the function needs us

Where We Sit

Leadership Plus the Team Around It

We sit in the middle of the marketing function, with a direct line to the board, your sales lead, your people and the partners you already trust. The CMO leads, and the Limivex team ships the work alongside them.

Fractional

CMO

Your Board

Monthly read out, written board pack, P&L defence in the room.

Sales Lead

Pipeline review weekly, joint forecasting, shared targets.

Your Marketers

In collaboration with your marketers, with our specialists delivering alongside them.

Agencies and Vendors

Brief, hold to scope, replace when standards slip.

Founder / CEO

Weekly leadership meeting, honest disagreement, one owner.

A Typical Month

Inside a Working Month

A working month runs on cadence. Here is what an average month looks like inside a Limivex engagement, with the work split between the weekly rhythm and the week specific moves that carry the function forward.

Every week

Recurring rhythm that never moves

Strategy stand up with the founder

30 minutes weekly, extended monthly meetings

Marketing team one to ones

Deep team integration

Async inbox, Slack, Loom check ins

Throughout the week

Week 1

Land and look forward

  • Last month read out finalised

    Numbers, narrative and the honest take

  • Board pack draft circulated

    Marketing slide and supporting commentary

Week 2

Briefs and vendors

  • Campaign briefs signed off

    Scope, success metric and budget locked

  • Agency and vendor reviews

    Held to scope, replaced when standards slip

Week 3

Pipeline and content

  • Pipeline review with sales

    Joint forecast, attribution, blockers surfaced

  • Content calendar locked

    Long form, social and editorial agreed

Week 4

Board and plan

  • Board meeting attended

    Marketing voice in the room, owning the number

  • Next month plan agreed

    Priorities, owners and trade offs written down

The First Year

Twelve Months of Fractional CMO

The work that compounds, plotted across the first year. Audit fundamentals in month one, the harder team and vendor conversations by three, measurable pipeline by six, and a marketing function running at full pace by twelve.

Month 01

Embedded

Marketing function audited, twelve month plan written, board pack template agreed, weekly cadence in place.

Month 03

Shipping

First campaigns live, in house team aligned to the plan, agency briefs running through the Fractional CMO, monthly read outs flowing.

Month 06

Compounding

Pipeline contribution measurable, content calendar pulling its weight, the awkward conversations with vendors handled cleanly.

Month 12

Hand Over

Full year board review delivered, succession plan written, role spec ready for the permanent CMO hire when the moment arrives.

Engagement Levels

Three Levels of Involvement

Every tier includes the Limivex team delivering the work. What changes between them is how much leadership attention you buy and how much ships at once. Pick by the size of the function we are stepping into, not by the budget, and we will tell you honestly if you are sitting at the wrong level.

Tier 01

Lead

0.5

days per week of leadership

One workstream in flight at a time

For firms that need the strategy owned and the essentials shipped, without buying more attention than the function can use yet.

Proof
“Daniel transformed my social media presence and messaging in a short space of time. I only wish I'd met him 10 years ago.”

Daniel Antonowicz, Head of Industry, codit

Includes

  • Fortnightly strategy call with the founder or marketing lead
  • The Limivex team delivering the agreed priority: one campaign or channel at a time, done properly
  • Quarterly board note on spend, output and next quarter
  • Vendor selection and brief sign off

Investment

From £3,600

per month

Bought separately: a strategy consultant plus a single-channel agency runs £4,500 to £6,000, with nobody accountable for the result.

Apply for Lead

Tier 02

Drive

1

day per week of leadership

Two to three workstreams in flight

For firms with a small in-house team, or none, and no senior layer above them.

Proof
“Limivex supported us with branding, web design, even a radio ad. Their knowledge of sales and marketing is second to none.”

Richard Harris, Managing Director, TrustedHR

Includes

  • Weekly strategy session, twelve month strategy and ninety day plan
  • The Limivex team shipping across brand, content, LinkedIn, email, web and SEO
  • Agency and vendor briefing, accountability and replacement
  • Monthly board read out written and presented

Investment

From £4,800

per month

Bought separately: content, LinkedIn and email retainers plus a strategy day runs £6,000 to £8,000 a month across suppliers who never meet.

Apply for Drive

Tier 03

Embedded

3

days per week of leadership

The full programme, every channel in flight

For larger firms ready to put a senior marketing voice inside the leadership team.

Proof
“Limivex now controls our entire sales and marketing activity across Europe and the US, and I'm having calls every week with my ideal clients.”

Mike Meyrick, Chief Executive Officer, Meyrick Consulting

Includes

  • Everything in Drive, plus full leadership team participation
  • Input on the hiring spec and onboarding for new marketing roles, you hire
  • A multi channel programme run by the Limivex team
  • Quarterly off site planning and board strategy session

Investment

From £10,000

per month

Bought separately: a marketing director hire plus the agency stack beneath them runs £15,000 to £20,000 a month, and takes half a year to assemble.

Apply for Embedded

All tiers run on a thirty day rolling notice, so you only ever stay while it is working.

Working the numbers out first? Read what a fractional CMO costs in the UK and how fractional compares with interim and full time.

Who You Are Hiring

The People Behind The Service

Daniel Hill, Founder and CEO of Limivex

Daniel Hill

Founder and CEO, Limivex

Daniel leads every Fractional CMO engagement personally, and a lean Limivex team ships the work behind him. You are not handed to an account manager. The person in the discovery call is the person in your board meeting.

15

Years in B2B marketing leadership

10+

Marketing teams built and led

2

Advisory board seats held today

Track record

  • 01

    Fifteen years leading B2B marketing functions

    Built and run in house marketing teams from a single hire up to teams of ten plus, across recruitment, technology and professional services.

  • 02

    Senior marketing roles inside firms, before founding Limivex

    Held marketing leadership posts as an employee before founding Limivex. Knows the difference between a slide and a shipped programme.

  • 03

    Board level reporting and budget ownership

    Has presented marketing into the boardroom for over a decade. Carries the P&L for marketing wherever the engagement asks for it.

  • 04

    Sits on advisory boards for two growing businesses

    Outside Limivex, advises early stage founders on positioning, GTM and the first three marketing hires.

A Note from the Founder

Manchester, May 2026

Why I built the Fractional CMO service

When we started Limivex, the same pattern kept showing up across founder-led recruitment firms. The founder knew what marketing should be doing. The team often did not, and there was nobody senior enough in the room to bridge the gap.

We built the Fractional CMO service to be that bridge. You get a marketing leader who has done the work, sitting inside your weekly leadership meeting, taking the function off your desk, and reporting to your board as one of your own.

On cost, the maths is straightforward. We run at a fraction of a full time CMO, and you get the execution team on top of the leadership, which a single senior hire never includes. The arrangement is thirty day rolling, so you are never locked in.

I would rather spend thirty minutes working out whether this is the right fit, than send you a template proposal. There is a slot in my diary at the bottom of this page.

Daniel Hill, Founder of Limivex

Daniel Hill

Founder and CEO, Limivex

What Clients Say

Trusted by Recruitment Founders

  • 26+

    Finalised Projects

  • 98%

    Client satisfaction rate

  • 18

    Brand Transformations

Mike Meyrick, Chief Executive Officer, Meyrick Consulting

01 / 04

“Limivex now controls our entire sales and marketing activity across Europe and the US, and I'm having calls every week with my ideal clients.”
Mike Meyrick

Mike Meyrick

Chief Executive Officer, Meyrick Consulting

“Daniel transformed my social media presence and messaging in a short space of time. I only wish I'd met him 10 years ago.”
Daniel Antonowicz

Daniel Antonowicz

Head of Industry, codit

“Limivex was instrumental in the successful launch of 83DATA. Their creative design capabilities are beyond anything we've used before.”
David Eales

David Eales

Managing Partner, 83DATA

“Limivex supported us with branding, web design, even a radio ad. Their knowledge of sales and marketing is second to none.”
Richard Harris

Richard Harris

Managing Director, TrustedHR

Fractional CMO FAQ

The Questions Founders Ask Us

Daniel Hill, Founder of Limivex

Have more questions? Apply to work with us

Apply to work with us

Or, email us at Email us

Yes. Virtual CMO, part-time CMO, outsourced CMO and fractional marketing director are all names for the same arrangement: senior marketing leadership for part of the week, without the full time salary. Recruitment firms tend to find us under all of them. Whichever name you use, the shape underneath is what matters: a CMO who owns your marketing strategy, backed here by a delivery team that ships the work.

An interim CMO is full time for a short period, usually covering a gap or steadying a crisis, and priced like a full time hire. A fractional CMO is part time for the long run: the leadership stays in place, the cost fits a recruitment firm of 11 to 50 people, and the hours flex with the work in flight. If you are weighing the two, our guide comparing fractional, full time and interim walks through the costs and trade-offs.

Most engagements run between half a day weekly and two days monthly, calibrated to the size of your marketing function and the work in flight. We agree the time commitment in the first conversation, and we are honest when a workload needs more hours or, equally, fewer.

Both, in one unit. We are a fractional CMO with the team to deliver. Senior leadership owns the strategy, and a lean specialist team ships the work across brand, content, LinkedIn, email, web and SEO. We chair the marketing meeting, sign off the briefs and present to the board. Advice without delivery has never moved a P&L.

Where you have in-house marketers, we work in collaboration with them, taking the strategy and senior direction off your plate and increasing what they can deliver. Where you have nobody in post, our specialist team is the function.

Good. The Fractional CMO briefs them, holds them to scope and deadlines, and tells you honestly when an agency is not earning its retainer. We bring no preferred suppliers to the table, and we are happy to be the bridge between you and the partners you already trust.

When marketing has grown enough to justify a full time CMO at six figures or more. We tell you when that point arrives, help write the role spec, sit on the interview panel and hand over cleanly. The end of the engagement is part of the engagement.

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