Marketing Director as a Service

End-to-end strategic marketing support, from conceptualisation to execution

Where did the MDaaS approach come from?

While some clients approach Scriba clear on the support they need, others don’t know where to begin. Our priority — whatever the brief — is to focus on the organisation’s business objectives, and go from there. That’s how we ensure our words have real business impact.

But sometimes the client has such a clear need for more strategic support — and board-level input — that our words alone aren’t enough. Perhaps there isn’t a plan underpinning which services are required and why. Sometimes there isn’t enough internal resource with the skill-set or capacity to keep everything moving at the pace and quality required. Often there’s nobody to safeguard the marketing budget, KPIs, and ROI.

In truth, there are many reasons we’re compelled to look at everything through the eyes of a marketing director. And that’s why the MDaaS solution was born.

What does a ‘Marketing Director as a Service’ solution involve?

Don’t worry, this isn’t a formulaic approach to working with a client — quite the opposite. But in simple terms, being empowered to deliver an MDaaS solution sees us think beyond only our own toolkit. We’ll devise the ultimate plan and assemble a project team best equipped to deliver the objectives set — whether we execute the activity using only Scriba colleagues, involve our trusted partners, help you recruit and/or nurture your own in-house resource, or a combination of all three.

Sometimes an upfront strategic project is all we’re asked to do, but more often than not we’ll then be retained by the client for a monthly fee, as is so common in the agency world. The main difference, is that we typically report into the board on not just outputs, but outcomes. And the more data we can access, the greater the impact we’ll have.

This is when the MDaaS approach really comes alive. When we’re really able to influence a client’s business objectives, we’re invited into important conversations much sooner — from the exploration of new products and services, and their relevance in the market, to the evolution of target personas and how best to reach them.

Build a multi-skilled comms team at pace, while protecting internal overheads.

Tap into decades of combined experience, through one dedicated point of contact.

Bring together a number of third parties (if required), safe in the knowledge everyone is collaborating on aligned objectives.

Hold board-level conversations with a team not afraid to delve deeper into the data required for your comms activity to fly.

Rely on the unswerving support of an external partner, who remains focused on your objectives regardless of internal distractions.

“When we first started working with Scriba, our marketing activity was piecemeal — it lacked strategic thinking and it was completely disconnected from our sales focus. Now, Scriba is involved in the earliest boardroom conversations, thinking about our product roadmap, upsell and retention strategies, demand and lead generation, cost per acquisition, and more. They look after everything — including the management of our comms partners — and we’ve grown from a £4m to £16m business in three years. I think this speaks volumes.”
Marcus Brew, managing director, UNTHA UK

“I knew of Scriba’s reputation when it comes to words that drive real business impact. Then I learnt of their ability to deliver the service of a complete comms department — with ongoing counsel for the senior leadership team as our marketing evolves. They truly care about our marketing strategy, as they’re wholly responsible for delivering it. With no internal marketing resource this was extremely attractive — we quickly scaled up our strategic activity, with them devising and managing a rich communications plan that will raise our profile and, importantly, drive conversations that will lead to business growth.”
Jon Pickering, CEO, Mizaic

“We are passionate about helping technical organisations regardless of their size or budget, so our support has always been objectives-focused — that’s how we drive maximum ROI. But if we’re invited to have a seat at the boardroom table — typically, but not always, in SMEs when there isn’t already a senior marketing professional in-house — the conversation switches from the type of services we provide, to the results we are able to generate. Here, the level of ownership and accountability is much greater — and we love it!”
Katie Mallinson, managing director, Scriba PR

Examples of
MDaaS deliverables.

● The definition (or redefinition) of a complete comms strategy, including a month-by-month breakdown of activities, roles and responsibilities within the team.

● The end-to-end execution and/or supervision of such multichannel comms plans.

● The sourcing, selection and management of relevant third-party specialists, including brand, digital marketing, videography, photography, CRM, lead generation and translation specialists — and more!

● Marketing project management, from comprehensive product launches, to the roll-out of new events calendars, company rebrands, proposition overhauls, marketing automation strategies, CRM optimisations, and more.

● Marketing budget reviews and ongoing management to prevent overspend and maximise ROI.

● Ongoing reporting and presentations to varied stakeholders, from board members and investors, to company-wide colleagues and customers.

● Departmental interviews and ongoing liaison to ensure marketing has a voice — and is representative of — company-wide strategies, initiatives, and priorities.

● Recruitment and mentoring for clients’ internal marketing teams.

countries reached

team members

Clients

FAQs.

Absolutely not. We remain wholly focused on what has been our sweet spot, since day one — words. But as our experience has grown, so too has our ability to ensure our words have maximum impact within our clients’ businesses. We’ve built some incredible relationships with trusted partners along the way too, so if we’re entrusted to cultivate a complete comms strategy, we can. Our priority isn’t who is enlisted to execute the strategy, but the outcomes that strategy will achieve.

Cliches aside, we take care of our clients’ budgets as though they’re our own. So even if a client who isn’t working with Scriba in an MDaaS capacity, asks for our opinion on some external spend, we’ll be extremely considered in our response. It’s all part of us being that critical friend. But as clients become familiar with our approach — everything from our straight-talking nature to the lengths we go to to integrate into your team — we’re often trusted to oversee so much more.

Not at all. Some clients come to Scriba knowing exactly which elements of our toolkit they need, and we deliver only those, whether we report into a marketing manager or a CEO. Other businesses require more upfront help, but they’re completely happy that, thereafter, we’re an arms-length extension of their team — as are we. The Marketing Director as a Service solution is available only if organisations need it. It won’t suit every client.

SENSE — strategy, engagement, narrative, shape, evaluation — describes Scriba’s approach to working with clients, regardless of size, budget, objectives, or team make-up. Every client project we have the pleasure of delivering, will have been cultivated with SENSE in mind. With MDaaS clients however, we have greater — if not complete responsibility — for that end-to-end process.