experienced marketing
leadership, when you need It
Flexible access to a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, providing strategic direction, commercial insight and senior-level support.
a trusted partner for Your marketing manager
A fractional marketing director gives your business board-level strategic expertise without the full-time cost. For SMEs with an existing marketing manager, it bridges the gap between day-to-day delivery and long-term growth planning.
With 30 years’ experience in marketing, and as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, I bring proven insight from senior roles across B2B, B2C and D2C. That means your marketing manager gains a highly experienced partner to shape strategy, sharpen positioning and ensure every activity is aligned to clear commercial objectives.
helping the association of business mentors build an award-winning future
Fractional marketing leadership to bring clarity, strengthen the brand and support membership growth.
The Association of Business Mentors (ABM) had ambitious plans: raise awareness of professional business mentoring, grow its membership and create a brand that reflected its long-term vision.
Since March 2025, Think Smart Marketing has worked alongside the ABM team, leading marketing activity and helping turn those ambitions into coordinated action.
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The challenge
ABM needed strategic marketing leadership alongside practical delivery. A new brand had to be created and launched in just four months, supported by improvements to the website, clearer content and a stronger member experience.
Alongside these immediate priorities, the organisation needed to build a strategy for the next three years — ensuring that marketing supported its wider ambitions as a professional membership body.
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Our role as a fractional CMO
Working closely with the Chief Executive and wider team, Think Smart Marketing provided senior marketing direction and coordinated activity across the organisation.
The work focused on five connected priorities:
Raising awareness: helping more people understand the role and value of professional business mentoring in the UK.
Leading the brand rollout: working with rebrand partner Superconduct to launch a new identity within four months.
Improving the website: aligning content and the user experience with the new brand and the needs of members.
Supporting membership growth: connecting marketing activity with recruitment objectives and improvements to the member experience.
Planning for the future: contributing to ABM’s strategy for the next three years.
This brought strategic thinking and day-to-day delivery together, giving the team a clear direction while keeping important projects moving.
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The results
The collective work of the ABM team and its partners has helped deliver:
300% growth in paid membership
Reported since January 2025, with Think Smart Marketing joining the team in March 2025.
A 19-point increase in Net Promoter Score
An improvement in members’ willingness to recommend the organisation.
A new brand launched in four months
An identity that reflects ABM’s ambitions and gives members and the team something to be proud of.
Recognition at the Memcom Excellence Awards 2026
ABM was named Best Professional Membership Body, recognising the organisation’s progress and the work of the team behind it.
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The value of fractional leadership
For ABM, fractional CMO support meant having an experienced marketing leader embedded in the team: someone to connect the long-term vision with immediate priorities, coordinate specialist partners and help deliver change.
This was a shared achievement, built through close collaboration with ABM’s leadership, team and rebrand partner Superconduct.
Need senior marketing direction to support your next stage of growth?
Talk to Think Smart Marketing about fractional CMO support that combines a clear strategy with hands-on delivery.
Georgina Waite
CEO, ABM
“Listened, understood, creative, inspired, calm and composed. The ThinkSmart team absolutely nailed it…….
We couldn’t have experienced a better re-brand process. From the initial conversation to the focus groups with our members to hear their views to the different brand options. The whole process couldn’t have been more inclusive or smooth. The result, a modern, dynamic and professional brand which landed incredibly well with members and all our stakeholders.”
You benefit from an independent, senior perspective that challenges assumptions, clarifies priorities and focuses resources where they will make the biggest impact. I can help you define your value proposition, build integrated plans, set meaningful KPIs and create a roadmap that your internal team can confidently deliver.
Because the role is fractional, you get flexible access to senior expertise when you need it: for board meetings, planning cycles, major launches or course-correction. You avoid the salary, bonuses and overheads of a full-time director, while gaining the structure, discipline and strategic thinking of one.
The result is a more effective marketing function, a more confident marketing manager and a clearer pathway to sustainable growth.
