Did you know that there are different types of Integrators? There are actually 3 different types of Integrators in the online digital space and today I want to compare them all so you can decide which one is the best fit for you!

This is all part of my series that are essentially back to the basics about what an Integrator is, how to know if you need one, and more! So, if you haven’t yet, I recommend you go back and check out:

Visionary vs. Integrator: What’s the Difference?
How do you know if you need an Integrator?

And before I jump in, I want to make sure that you all grab my free resource, the Visionary/Integrator Duo for Small Businesses and Solopreneurs. This is a super simple guide that breaks down the V/I relationship and it also talks about how the V/I relationship best fits within your team and the org chart that you are building for your brand.

Even if you’re a solopreneur, this is perfect for you because it’s really going to help you understand all of the different seats that YOU sit in.

Now, let’s get into it!!

THE 3 THREE TYPES OF INTEGRATORS

The 3 types of Integrators are: Traditional, Fractional, and Agency.

And I’m a really terrible secret keeper sooo… spoiler alert!! I think that the majority of you showing up here fall under needing a Fractional or an Agency.

I want you to keep reading, though, because I really do want to break down all 3 of these to help you better understand the differences and then self-assess for yourself if I’m right.

Do you need a Traditional? Do you need a Fractional or do you need an Agency?

A TRADITIONAL INTEGRATOR

A Traditional Integrator is the most obvious. This would be a full-time integrator position and in the freebie that I actually mentioned at the beginning of this episode, the Visionary/Integrator Duo, I actually give you a job description for an Integrator in a digital business in that resource.

You can Google Traditional Integrator, you can read Traction, you can read Rocket Fuel, (and I hope you do because they are so helpful when you’re processing through all of this!!)

However, I want to take it all one step further and help you see the nuts and bolts of what is an Integrator’s job description.

What can an Integrator actually do when it comes to an online digital business?

Some of their role is launch management, content/marketing management, team management… you see a zone thing happening here. All three of these have management and the term they are overseeing. They are managing.

An Integrator is also going to help with the analytics and the data. So they’re going to help you assess funnel performance, track launches, and track profit and loss – they’re going to look at those black and white numbers to be analytical for you.

As you’re sitting in ideation and figuring out where to go next, your Integrator is going to bring it back down to earth and help you assess all of these things.

Now, a little caveat here. I’m not going to say that every Integrator excels in all of those things!

For example, math is not my favorite. Math is hard. So, everybody’s going to have their own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to sitting in that Integrator seat with you, and if they are not the person actually pulling that data and assessing it, they can help manage the people who are to then best read that data for you.

So, they are typically overseeing analytics and data – the black and white of your brand.

Now, again, we saw a theme of management in that job description. That means that in order to manage, there needs to be a team! You need to have a team, people sitting in different seats in your company org chart, to hire an Integrator to oversee all of those moving pieces.

This is important: Integrators are not the only implementers on your team.

In our digital space, sometimes we get Integrators and VAs confused. VAs are fabulous. Every business needs a rock solid VA! They make the world go ‘round.

But, a VA and an Integrator are different. Virtual Assistants and Integrators are different when it comes to implementation. This doesn’t mean that Integrators don’t implement – they absolutely can step in when needed. However, as the Integrator, I’m not solely responsible for that. An integrator is not an implementer.

So if you’re thinking about a Traditional Integrator, you need to make sure that you have implementers, you have actual humans on your team, doing an awesome job, needing this one person to step in and manage the projects and the moving pieces.

A FRACTIONAL INTEGRATOR

Now, maybe you have a team but maybe it’s smaller, or maybe just the scope of your brand as a whole, your business as a whole, is smaller.

That’s where a Fractional Integrator comes into play. Fractional means a part of something.

So a Fractional Integrator is truly a part-time Integrator for your brand.

Whether that’s 10 hours a week or 20 hours a week, their job description can be the exact same as a Traditional Integrator but they require less time in the week (or in the month) to get it done.

This is a great fit for somebody who has a small team, or your brand as a whole doesn’t require quite as many hours of work throughout the week. You can have somebody for 10-20 hours per week to serve in a Fractional Integrator seat.

Fractional and Traditional are the exact same thing. The only difference is the amount of time going into the workload.

AN INTEGRATION AGENCY

The Agency model is different. Our Agency model is for those of you that do not have a team or your team is super small – I’m talking 1 or 2 people. one two people – and essentially you just need more humans to do the work.

You need the implementers and you also need the Integrator to oversee all of those humans.

I started an integration agency back in 2021 because when I was working as an Integrator, I was working as a Fractional Integrator for a brand and I realized that as much as I loved working with her (and I still work with her today!), she was the exception to the rule.

Most businesses in the online digital space did not need a Fractional Integrator because they either couldn’t afford it or they didn’t have the team members or something else similar.

Instead they needed an Agency! They needed an Integrator to come in and say, “Hey, I’m going to sit with you and as a Visionary/Integrator duo, we are going to rock it out… and bonus! I have a team of implementers underneath me to do the work for us.”

Systems and organization can only get you so far. At the end of the day, you still need the human going into ConvertKit to schedule the email or jumping into Thrivecart to work on that checkout page or jumping into Zapier to troubleshoot. You need a human doing those things.

With the Agency model, that allows you to have that Integrator as well as the humans doing the thing.

So for those of you with very small teams, meaning you’re the Visionary with 1-3 subcontractors or employees, our Agency steps in with our project managers, designers, copywriters, project assistants and all of the people that we need to move the needle forward.

SUMMARY

So, if you’re wondering which type of Integrator makes the most sense for you, you want to consider these 3 types: Traditional, Fractional, or Agency.

You can check out this free resource here to see the full job description but you’re going to want to ask these questions as you self-assess which one is right for you:

-How big is your team? How big is your band?
-For the growth you want, do you need someone 40 hours/week? If so, go Traditional.
-Could I use someone for 10-20 hours a week? Go Fractional.
-Or, if you don’t have the team infrastructure, and maybe you don’t have a desire to build that team on your own, maybe you’d rather go with an Agency! They can then adjust the hours and the workload and have a team already in place.

These are all 3 great options for hiring an Integrator and I’m SO excited to hear which one you decide to add into your brand!!