{"id":46684,"date":"2025-02-20T11:51:55","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T11:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cartermurray.com\/?p=46684"},"modified":"2026-04-30T15:54:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:54:24","slug":"interview-with-melanie-nicholas-fractional-chief-marketing-officer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cartermurray.com\/de\/career-advice\/interview-with-melanie-nicholas-fractional-chief-marketing-officer\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Melanie Nicholas, fractional Chief Marketing Officer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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At Carter Murray, we connect leaders in the marketing world to exciting businesses<\/a> across all sectors \u2013 from start-ups and scale-ups to established brands1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In today\u2019s economic climate, many businesses are looking for strategic marketing expertise without the high costs and long-term commitment of a permanent CMO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our own Wendy Gray<\/a> sat down with Melanie Nicholas, fractional CMO, to learn more about her role and what advice she has for those in the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Melanie has worked for big corporations (such as NBCUniversal and ODEON Cinemas Group) who\u2019ve wanted to leverage their global reach. She\u2019s also worked at a small start-up\/founder business wanting to scale (Roasting Plant Coffee) and a private equity business (Terra Firma) looking to transform its companies to grow or sell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her career success has been in the entertainment, film, leisure, hotel and hospitality sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s now a fractional CMO offering both established and scale-up businesses her time and expertise on a project or contract basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you tell us about your role as fractional Chief Marketing Officer? How does this work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I get approached by companies looking to access my marketing leadership experience and expertise, without the cost or commitment of a full time CMO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes I\u2019m asked to inspire and train an existing marketing team to a new level or I\u2019m asked to look at capabilities of the current team, recruiting in additional roles where needed for growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve also been brought into companies for transformation projects that the existing marketing team simply hasn\u2019t got the bandwidth or skillset to focus on at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do you think the fractional CMO role has emerged?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fractional CMOs work on a contract basis, allowing businesses to scale their marketing efforts according to their needs. This flexibility enables companies to dial up their marketing investment as and when they have the funds to support it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With marketing channels now requiring different specialists to effectively plan and run them, the role of the CMO to bring this activity together has never been more important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brand marketing needs to be consistent across all channels (e.g. website, CRM, social media, paid advertising) and it\u2019s the CMO who takes that vital overview to ensure all content and channels are working in harmony with each other for maximum effect. All companies need this role and smaller companies can now afford it by going for a fractional CMO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fractional CMOs bring extensive business experience with them, having worked within multiple businesses ideally across several industry sectors. This breadth of knowledge means they implement best practice and proven strategies, without the trial-and-error phase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fractional CMO can help build and mentor a marketing team, ensuring the company has the right talent in place for long-term success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as fractional CMOs are not embedded in company politics, they can usually provide unbiased, data-driven insights to inform the exec team\u2019s decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What skills and experience do fractional CMOs need for success?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n