Plug-in Services / Marketing Director

Fractional Marketing Director – with a full delivery team behind them.

Get the strategic marketing leadership your business needs without the cost and commitment of a full-time hire.

RESOLVE provides over a decade of international Marketing Director expertise – backed by a complete marketing team – giving you immediate access to both senior-level thinking and hands-on execution capability.

See fractional CMO case studies.

Article: Hire vs Agency: the marketing decision Engineering MDs get wrong.

The challenge you’re facing

You know marketing needs to work harder for your business, but you’re stuck:

Your MD or Commercial Director is handling marketing “on the side” – it’s not getting the attention it deserves
You can’t justify the £80-100k+ cost of a full-time Marketing Director
Previous marketing hires haven’t delivered, or you’ve struggled to find the right person
Your business is growing and you need marketing to scale, but don’t know where to start
You’re struggling to make your business look as good as it actually is
You need both strategic direction AND execution capability, not just “a consultant”

How it works

Strategic leadership

Your dedicated Marketing Director becomes part of your leadership team, working for a fixed amount of days per month to:

Develop your marketing strategy aligned to business goals and sales targets
Plan campaigns, budgets, and marketing activity across the year
Guide positioning, messaging, and go-to-market approach
Provide senior-level accountability for marketing performance
Brief and manage the delivery team to execute your plan

Why This Works

I’ve been a Marketing Director at engineering and manufacturing companies for over 10 years – Hayward Tyler Group PLC, Peter Brotherhood, i3 Group and its subsidiaries. I’ve sat in your seat. I know the board presentations, the budget constraints, the challenge of marketing complex technical products to sophisticated buyers.

That’s why the Plugin Marketing Director model works – you get someone who’s done the job, understands your pressures, and has the agency resources to actually execute. Example case studies below.

Flexible delivery team

Behind your Marketing Director sits RESOLVE’s full-service marketing capability as and when required. We scale our support to match your needs and budget:

Digital marketing – website development, SEO, paid advertising, email campaigns
Content creation – copywriting, video production, case studies, thought leadership
Design & branding – brand development, graphic design, marketing collateral
Marketing technology – CRM implementation, marketing automation, analytics
Campaign execution – product/event marketing, lead generation, account-based marketing

You get the team you need, when you need them – without hiring, training, or managing multiple specialists.

Who this works for

Plug-in Marketing Director model is ideal for:

Growing businesses (£2m-£50m turnover) that need marketing to professionalise and scale
Engineering and manufacturing firms where technical expertise has outpaced marketing capability
B2B companies with complex sales cycles requiring strategic marketing support
Businesses in transition – new ownership, market repositioning, or digital transformation
Companies between hires – interim support while recruiting or after a departure

What you get

Immediate impact: Senior marketing expertise from day one, no recruitment delays or onboarding period

Cost efficiency: Marketing Director leadership plus delivery capability for less than a single full-time marketing salary

Scalable resources: Ramp marketing activity up or down based on business priorities and budget

Reduced risk: No long-term employment commitment, no recruitment mistakes, no capability gaps

Complete accountability: One point of contact responsible for both strategy and execution delivery

Typical engagement model

Month 1-2: Foundation

Marketing audit and capability assessment
Strategy development and planning
Quick wins and priority actions
Team briefing and stakeholder alignment

Month 3-6: Momentum

Campaign execution and lead generation
Content development and digital presence
Marketing systems and process improvement
Performance tracking and optimisation

Month 6+: Scale

Sustained marketing execution
Continuous improvement and testing
Market expansion and growth initiatives
Building internal marketing capability if desired

Investment

Our Plugin Marketing Director service typically costs £3,500-£10,000 per month depending on the level of strategic input and delivery support required. This includes your Marketing Director’s time plus an agreed allocation of delivery resource.

Compare this to the cost of employing a full-time Marketing Director (£100k+ including salary, benefits, overhead, and support team or additional agency) – you get the same strategic leadership – with greater flexibility, fully joined up, broader capability, plus full marketing outputs – all at a fraction of the cost.

Is this right for you?

This works well if:

You’re committed to marketing but need expert guidance
You want results, not just advice or strategy documents
You value partnership and collaborative working
You’re ready to invest in marketing that drives business growth

This may not work if:

You need someone in the office full-time
You want to fully control day-to-day marketing execution
You’re looking for the cheapest possible option rather than value
Your expectations don’t match your budget or commitment level

Article: Hire vs Agency: the marketing decision Engineering MDs get wrong.

RESOLVE plugged in marketing capability for over 6 years across the entire group, internationally. They have been very flexible in terms of being able to adapt and move with us as we’ve grown as a business significantly, not just through the development of our Hayward Tyler business, but also through the acquisition of Peter Brotherhood.

I wholeheartedly recommend working with RESOLVE.

Dr. Ewen Lloyd-BakerCEO, Hayward Tyler Group

RESOLVE is not just another marketing agency! It has a proven end-to-end customer value creation with a dedicated rotating equipment background. Thus, Philip, associated with a pool of partners, will help any international industrial organisation to build a customer-centric approach while embarking on a cultural transformation journey. A path for growth to keep in mind!

Luc ChabasCCO, Pleuger Industries

RESOLVE have worked with us for over a decade. In that time RESOLVE helped us transform our business from a relatively modest residential building firm, to a highly regarded, high-end residential building firm.

If you want a real partner who really understands your business, can challenge and advise and show things from a different perspective, they consistently deliver excellent results and real business impact.

Tim MouldingManaging Director, Moulding

There’s been a couple of key strategies that we’ve been developing with RESOLVE. The most significant one was our 5D customer service support, which is innovative in terms of how it positions us in the marketplace and helps to differentiate us from our competition.

Matt DownCustomer Services Director EMEA, Peter Brotherhood

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More testimonials

Case Studies

From respected builder to The Country House Builder: a decade of brand-building with Moulding

Building RailSense from the ground up

How Hayward Tyler Group rediscovered its competitive edge

Next steps

Book a no-obligation discovery call to discuss your business and marketing challenges – and whether the Plugin Marketing Director model fits your needs. We’ll talk through what success looks like, how we’d work together, and what investment would be required. If it’s a good fit, we can typically start within 3-4 weeks.

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Commercial transformation partner for complex, technical B2B businesses and M&A.

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