What The SME Partners does

The SME Partners is a UK-based growth consultancy and marketing services firm founded in 2020 and headquartered in Shipley, West Yorkshire. The company operates as a fractional marketing department for small, medium, and enterprise businesses, offering strategic growth consultancy alongside executional marketing services spanning brand development, content production, digital marketing, social media management, UX and website development, affiliates, and CRM. The firm positions itself as a channel-agnostic outsourced marketing function that delivers CMO-level strategic leadership combined with specialist execution for the price of a single senior marketing hire. Its core service portfolio comprises Growth Strategy & Consultancy, Fractional CMO, Brand Development, Content Production, Digital Marketing, Outsourced Marketing, Social Media Management, UX & Website Development, Affiliates Management, CRM Services, Marketing Team Building, and PR.

The company was co-founded by Sonia Whiteley-Guest (Marketing Director) and Claire Chatterton (Head of Digital Experience), who bring 40+ years of combined marketing experience from a prior shared employer in financial services. Rather than developing proprietary technology, the firm leverages standard marketing technology platforms including Shopify, Elementor, WordPress, Mailchimp, HubSpot, Tidio, Google Analytics, and the AWIN affiliate network on behalf of clients. Its technology stack is therefore characterised as an integrator of third-party martech rather than a developer of owned IP.

The SME Partners generates revenue through bespoke professional services engagements priced at the cost equivalent of a single senior in-house marketing hire, structured as multi-year contracts that recur as ongoing outsourced engagements. The go-to-market motion is consultative and sales-led, beginning with a free 30-minute consultation followed by tailored scoping. Primary customer segments are UK-based SMEs across food & beverage, retail, consumer products, and health, with selective enterprise engagements during marketing restructures and government training work. The firm is entirely bootstrapped, with no external institutional investment.

Name

The SME Partners

Legal name

TheSMEPartners Ltd

Website

https://thesmepartners.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The SME Partners is a UK-based growth consultancy founded in 2020 that serves SMEs and select enterprises with fractional CMO leadership and full-service marketing execution. Co-founders Sonia Whiteley-Guest and Claire Chatterton lead strategy and delivery across brand, digital, content, social, UX, and CRM.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Shipley

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Fractional CMO & Marketing Consultancy Services: The SME Partners operates as a professional services firm, providing growth strategy, fractional CMO services, and marketing execution to SME clients. They deliver channel-agnostic marketing consultancy — from brand building to digital strategy to full end-to-end marketing programmes. Revenue is generated through bespoke consulting engagements, priced to cost 'for the price of one good hire'. The model is service-based and recurring in nature where clients engage on an ongoing outsourced basis.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The SME Partners is a UK growth consultancy and outsourced marketing department for small and medium-sized enterprises. It provides a fractional CMO service combined with full executional marketing capability across brand, content, digital, social, UX/website, affiliate, CRM, and PR disciplines, priced at the cost of one senior in-house marketing hire. Engagements are bespoke, channel-agnostic, and delivered by the founding team plus specialists on a recurring retained basis.

Product overview

The SME Partners is a growth strategy and marketing consultancy offering a comprehensive suite of marketing services. Their core offering operates as a unified consultancy model where they function as a client's outsourced marketing department, providing fractional CMO leadership combined with specialist execution across multiple disciplines. The portfolio includes Growth Strategy & Consultancy, Brand Development, Content Production, Digital Marketing, Social Media Management, UX & Website Development, Affiliates Management, and CRM Services. They position themselves as a cost-effective alternative to building an in-house team, delivering strategic leadership and execution capabilities for the price of one senior hire.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Growth Strategy & Consultancy Strategic growth consultancy helping businesses identify growth opportunities and develop comprehensive marketing plans aligned with business objectives.
• Fractional CMO Part-time or interim Chief Marketing Officer service providing senior marketing leadership for businesses at the price of one good hire.
• Brand Development Brand proposition development, creative identity creation, tone of voice establishment, and brand strategy to create impactful, effective branding with market cut-through.
• Content Production Content creation services including SEO-optimized content packages designed to achieve content marketing and search engine success.
• Digital Marketing Digital marketing services including Google pay-per-click advertising, digital strategy, and digital campaign execution.
• Outsourced Marketing Full outsourced marketing department service managing all marketing execution including PPC, email marketing, SEO, website design, and trade event marketing.
• Social Media Management Social media content planning, scheduling, campaign management, community engagement, and social strategy services.
• UX & Website Development Full suite of website development services including UX design, digital strategy, project management, and website builds using platforms like Shopify and Elementor.
• Affiliates Management Affiliate marketing services spanning traditional affiliate networks to wider partnership marketing, including influencer marketing and strategic partnerships.
• CRM Services Customer relationship management services including email marketing strategy, customer segmentation, automation programmes, loyalty schemes, and CRM implementation.
• Marketing Team Building Advisory Advisory services helping businesses build effective marketing teams including skills gap analysis, team structure design, job descriptions, recruitment support, and hiring processes.
• PR Services Public relations services including press releases, media relations, journalist outreach, and PR campaign management.

Quantifiable outcome

• 250% growth in sales pipeline over two years for Queensland Bakery Co
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered notable and preferred.

• National GeographicnotableStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe SME Partners established a partnership between Living Nature (a client) and National Geographic as part of the Living Nature brand launch strategy. The partnership added educational value for young customers and provided brand credibility through association with the National Geographic brand. The partnership resonated with all customer segments and contributed to the brand's authentic positioning in the marketplace.
• AWINpreferredChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThe SME Partners recommends and manages AWIN affiliate marketing campaigns for clients. AWIN is described as providing access to a vast network of affiliates who drive traffic and conversions for a percentage fee per transaction. AWIN's small business scheme starts at £99/month. The SME Partners positions affiliates as a cost-effective digital marketing channel where clients pay only when the affiliate drives a sale.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Hallam Internet: Nottingham-based digital marketing agency serving UK SMEs and mid-market businesses across SEO, content, paid media and digital strategy. Highly comparable in geographic footprint, client-size focus and integrated digital-plus-strategy positioning.
• The Marketing Centre: UK firm providing fractional Marketing Directors to SMEs on a part-time basis. The closest direct competitor to The SME Partners' fractional CMO model, targeting the same SME segment with a similar "senior marketing leadership without full-time cost" value proposition.
• Propeller Digital: Manchester-based integrated digital marketing agency serving SMEs and challenger brands. Similar integrated agency-plus-strategy model and comparable client size band.
• Koozai: UK digital marketing agency providing SEO, PPC, content and social to SMEs and mid-market clients. Comparable in digital-channel execution focus and SME-targeting.
• Cedarwood Digital: UK digital marketing agency working with SMEs and mid-market clients on strategy, SEO, PPC and content. Comparable in SME-targeting, multi-channel execution and consultative positioning.
• Pace Marketing & Events: UK fractional marketing consultancy offering part-time marketing director services to SMEs. Comparable service model (senior marketing leadership on a fractional basis) and overlapping target audience of growth-stage UK SMEs.
• The Bio Agency: London-based digital product and marketing agency serving challenger brands and SMEs. Comparable in serving growth-stage UK businesses with combined strategy and executional capability.

Broad incumbents

• Bray Leino: Larger UK-based creative and digital marketing group serving mid-market and enterprise clients. Operates in the same marketing services space but at greater scale and broader portfolio, providing a credible scale-up benchmark.
• WPP: Global marketing services holding company with deep UK presence across advertising, media, PR and digital. Provides a benchmark for what a fully scaled version of the marketing services value chain looks like, while operating far above The SME Partners' SME segment.
• Engine Group: Large UK-headquartered marketing services group with creative, media, digital and PR capabilities. A broad incumbent that overlaps with several of The SME Partners' service lines (PR, brand, digital) and represents an acquisition or scale-up reference point.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/thesmepartners
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-sme-partners
• Instagraminstagram.com/thesmepartners
• TikToktiktok.com/@thesmepartners

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The SME Partners