A few months ago, I returned from the holiday of a lifetime in Australia. My girlfriend became my Fiance, I rambled in the Blue Mountains, I watched the New Years Eve fireworks on Harbour Bridge (twice) and I stood up on a surfboard for the first time in Bondi. But when I landed back home in London there was a surprise waiting for me - no job. Happy New Year! This isn't a sob story; it was the best thing that ever happened to me. It was a mere speedbump. It was where a Virtual Marketing Director was born.

For a while, I was looking for a new role. I picked up my little black book, I signed up with recruiters, I went door-to-door with companies I know - the whole gambit. As word got out, between visits to industry friendlies and coffees with recruiters my phone started to ring. It wasn't the industry friendlies. It wasn't the recruiters. It was friends of friends.

One particular call was 'we need [Marketing] help, come in and see us'. So I did. I sat in the room with the CEO and Head of Sales and had a chat. The chat lead to 'come back in and pitch a plan, we think we need you on the team'. So I did. I spent hours researching the company, their respective market, their previous activities, their competitors, their successes, their failures and went back in armed with a kick-ass Marketing plan and presented it. They loved it. The job was mine. Or so I thought.

A week went by, then two - no word. I called the CEO, no answer. I e-mailed, 'I've been busy'. I left it a couple of weeks later, the same exchange and it was the same story. Then it dawned on me - I'd had my pants pulled down. Ouch.

While I stood there, with my pants around my ankles, I had my lightbulb moment. Start-ups and Small Businesses want and need Marketing to build strategy for their brand. To establish and tell the world 'who they are', 'why they are'. To build a relevant and profitable customer/client pipeline and to differentiate themselves from their competitors, but they don't have the budget, or enough of a workload.

They don't have the budget or enough of a workload to hire someone who has experience of fighting the good fight in the world of Corporates, someone who has got the battle scars from working in Start-ups that have gone on to raise $30m in funding. But they want those Marketers. They need those Marketers experience and expertise.

This is the big reveal. This is what a Virtual Marketing Director is. A Virtual Marketing Director is someone with the years of experience that is able to set a Marketing Strategy and roll out a Marketing Plan that aligns with your business goals and objectives with minimum fuss. A Virtual Marketing Director is someone who can recruit and/or give direction to Junior Marketeers and mentor them along their career journey, to co-ordinate 3rd parties, to get the job done.

As flexible as you need to be, a Virtual Marketing Director can dedicate as many, or few hours / days as you need a month to establish and build your Marketing function. What's more, when you're in a place to bring it all in-house, it's all there ready for you.

Find out more about Virtual Marketing Directors here and feel free to share this article with your network - you never know just how much it could benefit them.