Question 1

What is a fractional commercial director?

Accepted Answer

A fractional commercial director is a senior commercial leader — CMO-level marketing plus sales and growth strategy — who works with your business part-time, typically one to two days a week. You get executive leadership across marketing, sales, technology and AI without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire. At Raw Digital that seat is led by Libby Bawden and backed by a wider bench of fractional CFOs, COOs, CTOs and specialists.

Question 2

How is this different from hiring a Fractional CMO?

Accepted Answer

A CMO owns marketing. Raw Digital owns the whole commercial picture — brand, marketing, sales, technology and AI, plus the remote talent to execute it — so nothing falls in the gap between departments.

Question 3

What does Raw Digital cover?

Accepted Answer

Three connected capabilities: fractional leadership (commercial, marketing, sales, tech and AI), hands-on digital marketing (SEO, paid, social, content, web and brand), and remote staffing (vetted onshore and offshore talent). Take one, or bring all three together as one accountable team.

Question 4

Is Raw Digital an agency?

Accepted Answer

No. An agency executes campaigns; Raw Digital provides the senior commercial leadership that sits above execution and owns the result. We can direct your existing agency or bring our own delivery team — but either way one director stays accountable for the commercial outcome, not just the activity. That said, if a leaner, agency-style engagement is all you need — straightforward channel execution without the full leadership layer — we can do that too, with the option to step up to a director owning the outcome whenever you're ready.

Question 5

Do you offer AI consulting?

Accepted Answer

Yes — either built in or standalone. AI strategy, automation and opportunity-mapping are part of how we work, tested and put to work early rather than bolted on. You can also engage us for standalone AI consulting on its own — an AI opportunity audit, automation builds, or team training on AI tools and prompting — with no broader retainer required. Either way, we help you use AI where it moves revenue, margin or efficiency, and skip the hype where it doesn't.

Question 6

What is a fractional executive?

Accepted Answer

A fractional executive is a senior leader — in marketing, finance, operations or technology — who works in your business part-time and ongoing, rather than as a full-time employee. Fractional simply means you get a fraction of their week: they sit inside the business, join leadership meetings, make the decisions and own the results, while sharing their time across a handful of companies. It is how a growing business gets genuine executive experience without a full-time salary.

Question 7

What does “fractional C-suite” mean?

Accepted Answer

The C-suite is the group of chief roles that run a company — CEO, CFO, CMO, COO, CTO and the rest — where the C stands for Chief. A fractional C-suite simply means filling one or more of those top seats on a part-time basis instead of with a full-time hire. That is exactly our model: one senior seat embedded in your business, backed by a wider bench of fractional specialists you can tap the moment you need them.

Question 8

What is a fractional CMO?

Accepted Answer

A fractional CMO is a Chief Marketing Officer working part-time. They own your marketing strategy — brand, positioning, campaigns, lead generation and the marketing team — without the cost of a full-time marketing director. It is the right fit when you have marketing activity happening but no senior person setting the direction and holding it to a number.

Question 9

What is a fractional CFO?

Accepted Answer

A fractional CFO is a part-time Chief Financial Officer. They handle the high-level money side — cash flow forecasting, budgets, pricing, financial reporting and getting you ready for funding or growth. It is more strategic than a bookkeeper or accountant, who mainly record what has already happened; a CFO uses those numbers to steer the decisions ahead.

Question 10

What is a fractional COO?

Accepted Answer

A fractional COO is a part-time Chief Operating Officer. They make the business run smoothly day to day — systems, processes, team structure and delivery — so the founder can step out of the weeds. It is a common first hire when a business is growing faster than its operations can keep up.

Question 11

What is a fractional CTO?

Accepted Answer

A fractional CTO is a part-time Chief Technology Officer. They own technology and product decisions — what to build, which tools and platforms to use, and how to manage developers — without the six-figure salary of a full-time tech leader. Useful when you are building software or leaning heavily on tech but do not yet need a full-time expert.

Question 12

What is a fractional CEO?

Accepted Answer

A fractional CEO is an experienced chief executive who steps in part-time to lead or steady a business — setting direction, holding the team accountable and driving growth. It is often used during a transition, a turnaround, or while a founder is stepping back or bringing on a permanent CEO.

Question 13

What should I be spending?

Accepted Answer

It depends on your stage: established businesses typically invest 5–10% of revenue on marketing and leadership, growth-focused brands 10–14%, and start-ups in high-growth mode 12–30% — Australian benchmarks, not global averages. See the full breakdown, sourced, and which of our tiers usually fits, on our Marketing Benchmarks page — or use our Marketing & Leadership Budget Calculator to work out your own number.

Question 14

How much does it cost?

Accepted Answer

The entry point is a $695 Business Needs Analysis — a lean report and a high-level roadmap. For the full picture, the $3,500 three-hour Strategy Intensive adds a high-level audit across brand, marketing, sales, tech and AI. Both are credited against your first retainer month. Retainers start at $4,500 a month, and from there pricing is scoped to what your business needs and what your budget allows. That's senior commercial leadership for roughly a third of the fully loaded cost of hiring in-house.

Question 15

How much should I invest in marketing and sales?

Accepted Answer

Treat them as two separate investments — marketing generates demand, sales converts it, and each needs its own budget. As a rough guide marketing runs about 5–10% of revenue (more if you're growing fast); sales is a separate line for the people, tools and process that close it. What matters more than the percentage is the return: every dollar of digital marketing should be tied to a target, commonly $3–$5+ back for every $1 spent. Everything we do is data-driven and the ROI is tracked, so the spend stays measurable and we move budget to whatever's working.

Question 16

Can I get a loan to fund digital marketing?

Accepted Answer

Yes — plenty of Australian businesses fund marketing through finance rather than cash flow. The common options are an unsecured business loan (fast, no property security), a business line of credit (draw what you need and pay interest only on what you use), or revenue-based financing (repayments that flex with your sales). It stacks up when the expected return on the campaign comfortably beats the cost of the finance — which is exactly why we tie every dollar to a tracked ROI first. We're happy to help you build the numbers to take to a lender.

Question 17

Is digital marketing tax deductible?

Accepted Answer

Generally, yes. In Australia, marketing and advertising are ordinary business expenses, so ad spend, SEO, content, and agency or retainer fees are typically deductible in the year you incur them (a larger website build may be treated as an asset and depreciated instead). It's one more reason the number that matters is your after-tax return, not headline spend. We're not accountants, so confirm the specifics with yours — but we give them clean, itemised reporting to make it easy.

Question 18

Are there government grants for marketing or digital?

Accepted Answer

Often, yes. Australian businesses can tap federal and state programs — digital-adoption and technology grants, small-business support and industry-specific schemes — that can offset marketing, website or AI investment. What's on offer changes constantly and eligibility is specific, so it's worth checking what's open when you're ready to invest. We can help shape the project so it lines up with what a grant will actually fund.

Question 19

Can you help us raise capital?

Accepted Answer

Indirectly, yes — and it's often a by-product of the work. Investors and lenders back a clear, credible growth plan with real numbers behind it, and the documented commercial strategy, ROI tracking and reporting we build give you exactly that: evidence of traction, a costed roadmap and the metrics funders want to see. We're not a broker or financial adviser, but we'll get your growth story and numbers into shape to take to them.

Question 20

Can I start with just one service, or try you first?

Accepted Answer

Yes — within reason. You can start with a single service rather than a full retainer, and see how we work before committing to more. The one condition is a minimum engagement of $2,500 a month across whatever combination of ongoing services you choose, on a three-month minimum. That isn't a sales tactic: below that level we can't give a client the senior attention, reporting and accountability we promise, and we'd rather decline than under-serve you. One-off Business Needs Analyses, strategy sessions and training sit outside the minimum and are priced separately, so you can genuinely test us for a few hundred dollars first. Many businesses start with one priority — a channel, an audit or a Business Needs Analysis — then widen the engagement once it's paying off.

Question 21

What return can I expect from digital marketing?

Accepted Answer

Published industry benchmarks put blended digital marketing at roughly $5 returned for every $1 spent, but the average hides big differences by channel: email and automation typically return $36–$42 per $1 (Litmus State of Email), SEO around $8–$12 per $1 as it compounds over 18 months or more, Google Ads $2–$8 depending almost entirely on account quality, and paid social $2–$5. These are third-party averages, not a promise — your result depends on your margin, your offer, your market and your sales follow-up. What we do commit to is measuring it: we baseline where you are, set targets against the benchmark for your channel mix, and report against them monthly. You can see the full benchmark table and model your own numbers on our Marketing Calculators page.

Question 22

What's the minimum retainer engagement?

Accepted Answer

For a full growth retainer across marketing, sales and leadership, we ask for three months to start — long enough to get real results moving — then it's rolling monthly with 30 days' notice, short enough that we have to keep earning the seat. Single services can run month to month from the outset. And we back the start with a trajectory guarantee: if you're not satisfied with the direction of the work at 30 days, you can end the engagement then, with no further billing.

Question 23

How am I charged?

Accepted Answer

Retainers are billed monthly in advance. All additional à la carte services are also billed monthly in advance — the one exception is web development, which is a 60% deposit to begin, with the balance due on completion. Your full payment terms are set out in your proposal, so everything is clear before you sign.

Question 24

How is my retainer worked out?

Accepted Answer

Your retainer is built from two parts. First, a set amount of your Commercial Director's senior time each month — direction, strategy and accountability — priced at $1,500 a day, so a smaller advisory retainer might be three days a month and a fuller engagement eight or more. Second, any hands-on services you need — SEO, paid, social, content, web and the like — added from our catalogue and scoped to your goals. We agree the mix up front and set it out in your proposal, so you know exactly what your monthly fee buys. Most clients invest between $8,500 and $12,500 a month, with a single advisory seat starting at $4,500.

Question 25

Why do I pay the retainer in advance, and is that standard?

Accepted Answer

Yes — paying monthly in advance is standard practice for consulting and agency retainers, and it's how ours works. A retainer reserves a block of senior time and capacity for you each month, and paying in advance is what secures that capacity and lets us plan the work and hold the diary for you, rather than fitting you in around ad-hoc jobs. It also keeps billing simple and predictable on both sides — one clear monthly fee, agreed up front in your proposal, with no surprise invoices. The one exception is web development projects, which run on a 60% deposit with the balance on completion.

Question 26

Do unused hours carry over to the next month?

Accepted Answer

Yes — for one month. A retainer reserves a set block of your Commercial Director's time and the agreed services each month, and if you don't use all of it, the unused portion rolls over into the next month, so a quieter month isn't wasted. To keep things fair and let us plan capacity, roll-over is capped at one month — carried-over time is used first and expires at the end of that following month, rather than banking up indefinitely. If your needs are consistently higher or lower, we'll simply rescope the retainer rather than let hours pile up.

Question 27

Are the early sessions credited if we continue?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The $695 Business Needs Analysis, the $3,500 Strategy Intensive and the $4,950 Strategy & Proposal Session are all fully credited against your first retainer month, so nothing you spend early is wasted if we move forward together.

Question 28

Is software or ad spend included in my retainer?

Accepted Answer

No — and that's deliberate. Your retainer covers our people, time and expertise: strategy, leadership and hands-on execution. Third-party costs — software licences and subscriptions (CRM, email, SEO and AI tools), and media/ad spend (Google, Meta, etc.) — are billed to you directly, at cost, with no markup. We keep it that way for two reasons: transparency (you see exactly what every dollar buys, and you own the accounts and data, not us) and flexibility (you're never paying us a margin on tools, and you can scale ad spend up or down without renegotiating our fee). We'll always recommend the leanest stack that does the job, and we manage it all for you — you just own it.

Question 29

How do you measure success?

Accepted Answer

Every engagement starts with clear KPIs tied to revenue, cost savings or efficiency gains, reported on a regular cadence. We're judged on outcomes, not activity.

Question 30

Do I need an internal marketing team already?

Accepted Answer

No. We can work with your existing team or agency, or bring in our own flexible resources to execute end to end.

Question 31

What if I already work with an agency?

Accepted Answer

Perfect. We can work alongside them, providing the strategic leadership and accountability that ties their execution back to your commercial goals.

Question 32

Do you offer one-off or project-based consulting?

Accepted Answer

Yes. As well as ongoing retainers you can engage Raw Digital for one-off or project work — a Business Needs Analysis, a Strategy Intensive, an AI opportunity audit, a brand or website project, a campaign build, or a specific piece of remote-team resourcing. Every service — fractional leadership, digital marketing, AI consulting and remote staffing — can be taken on its own, as a fixed-scope project, or combined into a single engagement. No lock-in required.

Question 33

Why not just hire a freelancer or agency?

Accepted Answer

Freelancers are sharp with a platform but work in a silo, with nobody thinking commercially about the business behind the campaigns — and big agencies bill you for the office, account layers and pitch deck, then hand your account to whichever junior is free. Either way no single person owns the result. Raw Digital puts one senior director over a vetted, digitally-native bench, judged on revenue, not activity.

Question 34

Why not just hire a consultant?

Accepted Answer

A consultant hands you advice and a deck, then leaves you to implement it — usually without the team to actually do the work. Raw Digital owns both the strategy and the execution: a senior director sets the direction and a vetted delivery team makes it happen across brand, marketing, sales, tech and AI. You're paying for outcomes and accountability, not recommendations you still have to resource and run yourself.

Question 35

Do you work remotely?

Accepted Answer

Yes — we're a fully remote team, which is exactly why our rates sit below a traditional agency or full-time hire. No office overheads, no city-agency loading. You pay for senior talent, not overhead. When local presence matters we can also draw on trusted onshore talent.

Question 36

What size businesses do you work with?

Accepted Answer

Ambitious small-to-mid-sized businesses — founders and CEOs who need senior commercial leadership without a full-time hire, companies at a growth plateau, businesses modernising their marketing and sales, and owners preparing the business to run without them or to sell.

Question 37

How quickly can we start?

Accepted Answer

Fast. A Business Needs Analysis can usually be booked within days, and because there's no lengthy recruitment process an engagement can begin in a fraction of the six-plus months a full-time executive hire takes.

Question 38

Do you offer team training?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Practical, hands-on training in AI, marketing, sales, analytics and more — designed to leave real capability behind in your team. Book sessions monthly or ad-hoc on their own, or fold them into your retainer.

Question 39

What training topics can you cover?

Accepted Answer

A wide range — AI tools & prompt engineering, digital marketing, the full sales stack (consultative selling, outbound, objection handling, price objections, remote sales and account management), customer service, content & social, analytics & reporting, plus HR and WHS basics, small-business essentials and industry-specific sessions. Can't see what you need? We build customised training around it.

Question 40

How is training delivered?

Accepted Answer

Every session is delivered remotely and live, and recorded so anyone who misses it can catch up. Slides, templates and resources are provided each time, and we can run it for a whole team or one-on-one.

Question 41

How much does training cost?

Accepted Answer

Single sessions start from $750, a monthly training plan from $2,000 a month, or it can be included as part of a retainer. Pricing is indicative and confirmed to the topics, format and team size you need.

Question 42

Can training be tailored to our business?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We tailor content to your tools, your industry and your team's level — and offer one-on-one coaching for leaders and individuals alongside group sessions.

Question 43

What is SEO?

Accepted Answer

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation — the work of getting your website to show up in search engines like Google when people look for what you sell. The higher and more often you appear, the more free, ready-to-buy traffic lands on your site. It is the foundation everything else here builds on.

Question 44

What is GEO?

Accepted Answer

GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimisation — optimising your online presence so AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews mention and recommend your business inside the answers they generate. Think of it as SEO for the AI era, and it is the term the industry is settling on.

Question 45

What is AEO?

Accepted Answer

AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimisation — being the single, direct answer to a question rather than one of ten blue links. That is the response a voice assistant reads aloud, or the box at the very top of Google. It overlaps heavily with GEO and AI SEO.

Question 46

What is LLMO?

Accepted Answer

LLMO stands for Large Language Model Optimisation — the narrowest of these terms. It is specifically about making sure your business shows up inside AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity when they answer the questions your customers are asking.

Question 47

What is AI SEO (also called GEO)?

Accepted Answer

AI SEO — also called GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) — is the practice of optimising your website and online presence so that AI tools like ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews, Gemini and Perplexity recommend, mention and quote your business when people ask them questions. Traditional SEO helps you rank in Google's blue links; AI SEO (or GEO) helps you show up inside the AI-generated answer itself.

Question 48

What do GEO, AEO and LLMO mean? Are they different from AI SEO?

Accepted Answer

They're all closely related terms for the same broad goal — being visible in AI-powered search. GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) is the technical name the industry is standardising on. AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) focuses on being the single direct answer, including voice search. LLMO (Large Language Model Optimisation) is specifically about appearing inside AI chatbots. For most businesses the differences don't matter much — 'AI SEO' covers all of it.

Question 49

Is AI SEO replacing traditional SEO?

Accepted Answer

No — it's building on top of it. Traditional SEO (ranking in normal search results) still matters, and the same solid foundations that help you rank in Google also help AI tools find and trust your content. AI SEO is an added layer, not a replacement.

Question 50

Which term should I use — AI SEO or GEO?

Accepted Answer

'AI SEO' is the clearest everyday term and the one most people recognise. 'GEO' is the more technical, forward-looking name you'll increasingly hear from specialists. Both are correct — the acronym matters far less than actually doing the work.

Question 51

Why does my business need AI SEO?

Accepted Answer

A fast-growing share of people now ask AI tools for recommendations instead of scrolling through search results — around a third of searchers in 2026. If AI can't find or trust your business, you simply won't appear in those answers, no matter how good your traditional ranking is.

Straight answers.

The model

Fractional roles explained

AI search & SEO

Pricing & engagement

Working together

Training

Frequently used terms, in plain English.

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