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You Have the Ideas. Who’s Running the Strategy?

Updated: Jul 31

How fractional marketing services help fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands execute holiday strategy

Focused woman planning her next chess move, symbolizing the strategic thinking and leadership needed to execute high-performing Q4 marketing campaigns—perfect for a blog about how fractional CMOs turn ideas into action.
Photo from Pexel

You’ve mapped out the big ideas.You can see the pieces. You know the moves.


But here’s the difference between playing the game—and winning it: Someone needs to think three steps ahead.


If you’re still the one overseeing every post, every promo, every platform—you’re not leading a strategy. You’re patching one together.



When Great Ideas Go Nowhere


This time of year, founders often come to me with great holiday concepts—but their teams are too scattered to bring them to life. The creative team is in one direction, the paid agency is in another, and the internal team is overwhelmed trying to keep it all moving.

What’s missing? Strategic leadership. Someone who can turn ideas into performance.


Here’s what it looks like when it’s not working:

  • Your email agency is guessing at promos

  • Your paid partner is launching ads with recycled assets

  • Creative is lagging behind

  • And you’re the default CMO—with 37 other jobs to do


According to Statista, only 30% of marketing teams worldwide feel confident in their brand leadership capacity, and just 23% in performance marketing. That’s not a staffing problem. That’s a strategic gap.



This Is Why the Fractional CMO Is on the Rise


“We are seeing growth of the ‘fractional CMO’—executive-level gig workers hired into low-cost positions. This trend is reshaping the future of marketing leadership.” — Marketing Forecast 2023


Fractional leadership isn’t a workaround. It’s the new normal—especially in industries like fashion and beauty, where speed, agility, and seasonality drive everything.

Inside The Lavender Agency, I serve as the strategic anchor for Q4 campaigns, so your team can actually execute instead of spinning.


I help brands:

  • Build a marketing strategy that’s reverse-engineered to hit goals. 

  • Map the campaign ladder across every channel

  • Align your agencies, contractors, and internal roles

  • Build performance dashboards that track the right metrics

  • Prioritize resources where they’ll move the needle

  • Adapt quickly—without chaos



What Happens Without Strategic Oversight?


  • Your marketing tactics are scattered and miss the mark

  • Deadlines slip

  • Messaging goes off-brand

  • Budgets get wasted

  • No one knows who owns what

  • You spend more time managing than scaling


Marketing budgets are already under pressure. In 2024, they dropped to just 7.7% of total company revenue, according to Gartner—down from 11% in pre-pandemic years. That means every dollar must be part of a larger plan—or it’s wasted.



Strategy Is Not a Luxury. It’s a Multiplier.


When you're launching a major campaign without a strategic owner, you're gambling. And during Q4, that gamble gets expensive.


McKinsey reports that “full-brain marketing”—a combination of creative insight and data-driven leadership—will be the key to survival in an oversaturated market .


And while global ad spend is set to reach $1.87 trillion by 2025, only the brands with clear strategy will see real ROI.



Want to Stop Managing and Start Leading?


You don’t need to do it all. But you do need someone who can lead your strategy, align your team, and help you execute without chaos.


Let’s talk about how a Fractional CMO can help you lead your Q4 strategy—without burning out or missing the mark. Book a discovery call today



This article is part of our July Holiday Strategy Series.If you found this valuable, subscribe below to get future articles delivered straight to your inbox.


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