What does a fractional engagement look like day to day?

You have direct access to me. Not a team, and not an account manager. We typically work across a standing weekly conversation, async review of what's going out, and real-time input on the high-stakes moments. The shape adjusts to where you are in the engagement.

How long does a typical engagement run?

Three to six months is the standard starting point. Most clients extend. The work has a natural rhythm: the first month is orientation and architecture, the second and third is where the narrative starts to hold, and by month four you're operating from a different foundation. How many clients do you work with at once? A small number by design. This work requires full attention at the strategic layer. If I can't give you that, I won't take the engagement.

What size of organization is the right fit?

Mid-to-large enterprise tech with a marketing motion that depends on narrative precision. If your story needs to work across a board deck, a sales deck, a keynote, and a LinkedIn post — and all four are currently telling slightly different versions — that's the right fit.

Do you work with in-house teams or directly with the CMO?

Both, and the relationship between the two matters. I work at the CMO level on the strategic architecture. Where execution is needed I bring trusted contractors who work inside the standard I've set. The CMO has one relationship and one person accountable for the outcome.

What's the first step?

A single conversation. You tell me where you are. I tell you whether and how I can help. No deck, no proposal, no process before the conversation earns one.

The Narrative Office · Narrative Counsel for B2B Enterprise · Lianne Stewart

Some companies have a narrative. Some have a CMO whose point of view makes the narrative travel. Those are different companies.

I'm the outside voice CMOs bring in when the narrative needs to be right before anything else can work.

The moments

This is the work I do at a specific kind of moment.

01
Your company is repositioning and the story the market knows no longer matches the company you've built.
02
You're preparing for a capital raise and the investor narrative needs to be airtight before the first meeting.
03
You're about to speak at a major conference and you have the expertise but not yet the point of view that makes it travel beyond the room.
04
Your GTM motion is working but the narrative layer underneath it isn't holding — different teams are telling different versions of the same story.
05
You're a new CMO inheriting a narrative you didn't build and need to make it yours before you can lead it.

How the engagement works

Fractional Head of Narrative & Positioning.

I work as your Fractional Head of Narrative & Positioning, accountable for the narrative outcome from the first strategic conversation through to what ships.

That means three things in practice.

01
I set the architecture before the brief exists. I'm in the room when the positioning decision is live, before consensus has a chance to flatten it.
02
I build the conditions that protect the work through execution; the brief, the framework, the strategic thread that holds across teams and reviewers.
03
And when the work requires execution, an experienced team works inside the standard I've set. You have one relationship and one person accountable for the outcome.

This isn't only content production. It's narrative ownership at the level where it actually changes what the market hears.

Typical engagements run three to six months. Most clients extend.

Let's talk about where you are →

Proof

Trusted by teams at.

The pattern

What a broken narrative process actually costs.

01
A project gets scoped at two to four weeks for a single narrative deliverable.
02
The brief is thin or absent. The writer asks questions. The marketer says to get started anyway.
03
The first draft arrives. The marketer responds to sentence and word choice rather than the strategy.
04
The marketer raises concerns internally. A second reviewer joins. Then a third. Each adds comments to show they had input. Some feedback contradicts other feedback.
05
A VP or director sees the work for the first time and provides a completely different direction. The people who shaped earlier drafts move into react mode and request all of the feedback gets addressed, even if it's conflicting.
06
The project scoped at two weeks is now at six. The content that eventually ships is technically correct and internally approved, but it isn't landing as anticipated and gets scrapped after three weeks in market.

The salary cost of that sequence runs between $28,000 and $34,000 on a project scoped at $10,000 of creative output. It appears on no budget line. Which is why it never gets fixed.

This is the Safety Tax. The organizational cost of optimizing a narrative for internal comfort rather than external clarity.

The framework

The Safety Tax.

Every marketing organization optimizes for one thing above all others: internal approval.

Not market impact. Not narrative precision. Approval.

The result is a story that everyone signed off on and no one believes. Technically correct. Internally safe. Commercially inert.

That's the Safety Tax. The gap between what your market needs to hear and what your organization was willing to say.

It shows up on no budget line. Which is why it never gets fixed.

The Narrative Office exists to fix it at the level where it starts, before the brief is written and before the committee convenes.

Experience the methodology

The Narrative Council.

The Narrative Council is the public surface of this diagnostic. Paste a brief and seven independent advisors scrutinize it in ninety seconds. It exists so you can experience the standard before you decide whether to bring it inside your organization.

Reviews live only in your browser. Nothing is saved unless you email yourself a copy.

Read how the Council works.

What this is

A board meeting for your brief. Seven independent advisors each present their case against it. The Chairman tables a verdict. You sit at the head of the table and make the call. The Council offers suggestions. You make the decisions.

Who the advisors are

Seven fixed lenses written for the failure modes B2B briefs ship with. The Executive reads for strategic clarity. The Engineer reads for claim integrity. The Competitor reads for differentiation. The Analyst reads for evidence. The Buyer reads for relevance. The Skeptic reads for soft language. The Legal advisor reads for risk.

Who it's for

B2B marketing leaders, PMMs, comms directors, and founders who own the narrative, and who have to defend it in front of an executive, an engineer, and a lawyer who weren't in the room when it was written.

What it's for

Catching the objections that usually arrive at round three. Strategic ambiguity, soft claims, undefended differentiation, real legal risk. All of it surfaced at round zero, when it costs nothing to fix.

How it works

Three steps. About ninety seconds.

Seven lenses, in parallel

The Executive, Engineer, Competitor, Analyst, Buyer, Skeptic, and Legal each read the brief through a fixed lens. Independently. No groupthink.

The Chairman synthesizes

A single editorial verdict. Where the council agrees, where it clashes, and the decisions you own.

You decide

Nothing is saved on our side. No account required. Email it to yourself, print it, or just close the tab — the verdict is yours to act on.

Read the full methodology →

The premise

The Safety Tax.

The Safety Tax is the organizational cost of optimizing a narrative for internal comfort rather than external truth.

The Narrative Council exists to move that scrutiny to the front of the project, where it costs nothing to act on, and where you still have the conviction to act on it.

When not to use it

A short list of disqualifications.

You want validation, not scrutiny. The advisors don't soften and don't flatter. If you're looking for a second opinion that agrees with your first, this isn't it.
You want line edits. The Council reads for strategy, claim integrity, positioning, and risk. Not grammar, voice polish, or word choice.
You can't act on the verdict. The Chairman ends with a clear set of changes to make. If the brief is locked, already approved, or out of your hands, the Council becomes interesting reading rather than useful work.

Frequently asked

Questions worth answering.

What does a fractional engagement look like day to day?: You have direct access to me. Not a team, and not an account manager. We typically work across a standing weekly conversation, async review of what's going out, and real-time input on the high-stakes moments. The shape adjusts to where you are in the engagement.
How long does a typical engagement run?: Three to six months is the standard starting point. Most clients extend. The work has a natural rhythm: the first month is orientation and architecture, the second and third is where the narrative starts to hold, and by month four you're operating from a different foundation. How many clients do you work with at once? A small number by design. This work requires full attention at the strategic layer. If I can't give you that, I won't take the engagement.
What size of organization is the right fit?: Mid-to-large enterprise tech with a marketing motion that depends on narrative precision. If your story needs to work across a board deck, a sales deck, a keynote, and a LinkedIn post — and all four are currently telling slightly different versions — that's the right fit.
Do you work with in-house teams or directly with the CMO?: Both, and the relationship between the two matters. I work at the CMO level on the strategic architecture. Where execution is needed I bring trusted contractors who work inside the standard I've set. The CMO has one relationship and one person accountable for the outcome.
What's the first step?: A single conversation. You tell me where you are. I tell you whether and how I can help. No deck, no proposal, no process before the conversation earns one.