about us

Who We Help: Tailored Marketing Leadership for Every Stage

Whether you're building something new, scaling fast, consolidating gains, or navigating a major change, we align our marketing expertise to both your business stage and your role within it. At VCMO, we support founders, CEOs, investors, leadership teams through each phase of business evolution.

Marketing leadership from big brands...

Strategic Marketing Support for Every Stage of Growth

Our services are designed to flex across the full lifecycle of a business. From pre-launch to renewal, we help you tackle the marketing priorities that matter most at your stage of growth.

Startup / Pre-Launch

You’re validating your idea, testing your market, and building your foundations. Marketing must be lean, focused, and insight-led.

Launch

Your product or service is ready for market, and you need a clear brand, compelling positioning, and a launch plan that delivers traction.

Growth

You’re scaling operations and need to build demand, prove ROI, and develop repeatable, sustainable marketing systems.

Shake-Out

You’re scaling operations and need to build demand, prove ROI, and develop repeatable, sustainable marketing systems.

Maturity

You’ve established a strong market presence, and now the focus is on efficiency, succession, and long-term marketing value.

Decline

You’re seeing declining returns or brand relevance. Whether from internal misalignment or market shifts, a rethink is needed.

Renewal / Transformation

You’re relaunching, repositioning, or diversifying—and need a strategic partner to help lead the change.

size doesnt matter

Marketing Leadership That Scales With Your Business

Different businesses. Different challenges.

One constant: the need for clear, commercially grounded marketing leadership.

Whether you’re an early-stage founder building from scratch, a mid-size firm trying to scale, a large enterprise under pressure to modernise, or a PE-backed company chasing investor returns — our Fractional CMOs embed at the right level to deliver clarity, structure, and measurable growth.

Early Stage Ventures

You’re building the product and the business at the same time. We help you clarify your value proposition, design a lean GTM strategy, and establish credibility with customers and investors — without overcommitting resources.

Medium Sized Firms

Teams are in place, but misalignment, inconsistent leads, and brand fatigue slow you down. We help you build systems, align sales and marketing, and professionalise your function for the next level of growth.

Large Enterprises

You have market presence — but silos, outdated branding, and inefficient systems hold you back. We unify marketing strategy across divisions/regions, and make marketing a driver of enterprise performance.

PE-Backed Firms

Timeframes are short and expectations are high. We align marketing with the investment thesis, drive growth through scalable demand engines, and deliver the governance and reporting boards demand.

sectors

Supporting Businesses in Complex & Regulated Sectors

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.

helping business leaders

Role-Specific Support

Regardless of your business stage, your role shapes your challenges. We tailor our support to your decision-making authority, bandwidth, and strategic goals.

Key roles we support:

  • Founders or Co-Founders of Early-Stage Business
  • PE Investors managing Portfolio Companies
  • Non-Exec Directors Advising a Business
  • CEO or MD of Established Business
  • In-House Marketing Leaders
  • Post-Exit Entrepreneurs
we're not a marketing agency

Why Businesses Work With Us

Great businesses deserve more than scattered tactics and agency noise. They deserve clarity, confidence and marketing that’s aligned to commercial outcomes — not just activity.

Clients choose VCMO over traditional marketing agencies because we offer:

  • Embedded, senior-level marketing leadership without full-time cost
  • Chartered, SOSTAC® certified Fractional CMOs with cross-sector expertise
  • Commercially grounded frameworks that tie marketing to revenue and enterprise value
  • Flexible engagement models — retainer, project-based, or advisory

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  
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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
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Not sure where you fit? Let's discuss where you are now—and where you're heading.

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