leadership solutions

Strategic Marketing Services for Growing UK Businesses

VCMO provides senior-level marketing leadership, diagnostics and advisory support to help businesses scale with clarity, confidence and commercial control.

This page helps you identify the right type of support for your situation — and route directly to the most appropriate service.

Marketing leaders from big brands...

why we exist

The Core Problem We Solve

Growing businesses typically face one (or more) of the following:

  • Growth has slowed or become unpredictable
  • Marketing investment is rising without confidence in return
  • Leadership lacks independent validation or direction
  • Sales and marketing feel misaligned
  • Investors are demanding clearer commercial rigour

Not all of these problems require the same solution.

That’s why VCMO offers a portfolio of distinct strategic services, each designed for a different stage of need.

what we offer

Our Core Marketing Services for Ambitious Businesses

Every business faces unique marketing challenges. That’s why our services span strategic leadership, targeted analysis, and mentoring — giving you the right level of support, when you need it.

Below is a simple guide to help you choose the right starting point.

Fractional CMO Leadership

For businesses needing ongoing senior marketing leadership

✅ Board-level marketing ownership, embedded part-time

✅ Growth strategy, team leadership, execution control

✅ Ideal for scaling, transformation, or investor-backed organisations

Marketing Advisory Workshops

For organisations needing fast strategic clarity — not a retainer

✅ On-demand strategy workshops to solve common problems

✅ Positioning, GTM, pricing, investor narrative, agency direction

✅ Ideal for launches, pivots, and commercial decision points

Internal Marketing Performance Audit

For organisations needing independent validation of marketing performance

✅ Strategy, channels, team, systems, ROI

✅ Board-ready, evidence-based diagnostic

✅ Ideal before major investment, restructure or leadership change

External Marketplace Analysis

For leadership teams needing independent market evidence before acting

✅ Competitor analysis

✅ Customer insight

✅ Market sizing & opportunity mapping

✅ Ideal for expansion, repositioning, and funding

Marketing Due Diligence (Private Equity Investors)

For validating growth credibility before capital is committed

✅ Pre-deal & pre-exit marketing risk assessment

✅ GTM integrity, leadership capability, scalability

✅ Ideal for PE, M&A and portfolio oversight

Marketing Mentoring for Top Talent

For founders and senior marketers needing leadership confidence

✅ One-to-one mentoring with Chartered leaders

✅ Decision confidence, leadership judgement, stakeholder pressure

✅ Ideal for heads of marketing, founders and CMOs

Free Online Marketing Capability Audit

For fast, no-obligation insight into where your marketing stands

✅ 5-minute strategic self-assessment

✅ Highlights strengths, gaps and risk

✅ Get personalised scorecard + complimentary review with our experts

✅ Ideal as a starting point

FindaFractional

Coming in January 2026!

your pathway to growth

How Our Services Work Together

VCMO's marketing solutions are designed to work as:

  • Entry Diagnostics → Free Audit → Paid Audit
  • Strategic Clarity → Advisory or Market Analysis
  • Ongoing Leadership → Fractional CMO
  • Investment Protection → Due Diligence
  • Personal Leadership Growth → Mentoring

Each service has:

A distinct purpose

A distinct buyer

A distinct trigger

They do not compete with each otherthey solve different marketing problems.

who we help

We Partner With Ambitious Businesses Looking to Scale

  • Scaling B2B SMEs (£2m+ turnover)
  • Founder-led growth businesses
  • PE-backed and investor-backed firms
  • Leadership teams navigating growth, complexity or transition
Already know the service you need?

Sectors We Specialise In

Our Fractional CMOs excel in 'VUCA' environments — bringing clarity and control to volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous situations. We specialise in helping regulated businesses hit growth milestones with confidence, compliance, and commercial focus.

Already know the service you need?

Explore Our Expertise Across the Marketing Mix

Our Chartered experts have deep marketing expertise across the mix — from shaping product strategy to driving promotion, optimising pricing, and building the channels and systems that help businesses scale.

Agility

How Our Process Works

We keep it simple, structured, and commercial.

  1. Diagnose — We uncover the truth behind your current marketing performance and potential.
  2. Design — We co-create a strategic roadmap aligned with your business goals.
  3. Deliver — We embed senior leadership to make it happen — and measure the impact.

Our project was to create a top-level marketing strategy which, once built, we could drive forward ourselves. And I can honestly say the work has been transformational for Yellowtail. After each workshop with VCMO, both Dennis Hall and I would be amazed at how much we'd achieved. We worked hard! But the results are worth it.

Sarah Steele
Operations Director, Yellowtail Financial Planning
Read the Case Study

Shout out to Paul Mills who bravely took on running a positioning workshop with us yesterday. Is there anything harder than doing the thing your client does for others for them?! Great work. Really thought provoking, and so important to have facilitated by someone with an external perspective!

Bryony Thomas
CEO, watertight business thinking

Paul is a professional strategic marketeer who is able to apply his expertise with marketing budgets large and small. The commercial impact of Shaw & Co's rebrand, which was initiated, designed and implemented by Paul, has been to differentiate us positively in a sector where few have succeeded. He delivers what he promises, on time and on/under budget, to a high quality. Paul made a positive impact on our business that will last.

Rod Leefe
chair, shaw & co

VCMO's audit brought clarity to a complex set of challenges. They cut through the noise and delivered a clear, prioritised roadmap that we could act on immediately. Their ability to engage across teams and translate insight into action was exactly what we needed.

Dr. Ross Burn
Co-founder, Catsci limited  
Read the Case Study

Lydia possesses a deep understanding of marketing strategies and has consistently delivered exceptional results. Her ability to analyse market trends, create engaging campaigns, and drive customer acquisition is truly impressive. Her dedication, attention to detail, and strong communication skills make her an invaluable asset to any organisation. I cannot recommend Lydia enough for her expertise, professionalism, and exceptional work ethic.

Alan Leckey
Business Consultant, CCO - the Collaboration Company  

Paul Mills wasn't just an outsourced marketing leader — he was a mentor. His support helped me enhance my technical marketing skills and shape a more strategic mindset, as well as build my  confidence with senior leadership and deliver higher-impact work. He is dependable and skillful, and his guidance has made me feel more capable and prepared for future challenges.

Caitlin Daniels
marketing manager, catsci limited
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VCMO brings knowledge, insight and practical experience to the table, but also something else, which is quite rare, the unwavering commitment to finishing the job without compromising on the quality of the output. Their work for Yellowtail has been exemplary and we're seeing the results already.

Dennis Hall
founder, yellowtail financial planning

Ruth brought great experience and insight to my firm over many years. Her considered and thoughtful approach to problem solving are a real strength and her experience of marketing and business development in the legal sector was invaluable.

Gavin Tyler
Managing Partner, Cripps

VCMO helped us think beyond our capabilities and reframe how we communicate the true value of what we do. Paul's workshop unlocked fresh ideas resulting in a more strategic approach to our content plan and go-to-market materials. The quality of the output and power of the messaging is really impressive.

Peter Ridgway
Business Development Director, Reach Separations
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VCMO has been instrumental in reshaping how we approach marketing at Lucent. Their strategic clarity, attention to detail, and ability to deliver at pace have been exceptional. Paul's embedded himself seamlessly into the team and quickly earned trust — not just from me, but from our wider staff and partners. The website and content strategy he led have already started delivering results, and I now feel far more confident in how we grow the business over the coming years.

Steven Rowe
Founder - Lucent Financial Planning
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VCMO helped me find the words and structure to communicate what I do — and who I do it for — in a way that finally connects. I’ve had more inbound enquiries since the website relaunch than in the previous two years.

Lee Spencer
aka The rowing marine
Read the Case Study
What Happens Next?

Unsure Which Service Is Right for You?

If you are unsure which service you need, start with the Free Online Marketing Capability Audit. It takes 5-minutes and you get a personalised report.

Book a No-Obligation Consultation

If you'd prefer to speak to one of our Chartered marketing experts, get in touch and we can advise on which service is right for you.

No obligation. No sales pressure.

FAQ’s

VCMO exists to give growing businesses access to the right level of marketing leadership, at exactly the moment they need it.

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