Marketing is perhaps the fastest-moving aspect of business, but it’s also the most important part. Without quality marketing, even the best products won’t sell. Marketing turns a good business into a great one, all by itself.

Therefore, every business must have strong leadership from a marketing perspective. And yet, this rarely happens, especially in small and mid-sized companies. Marketing is all too easily lost in the shuffle, leading to serious consequences for the company.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. If you’re struggling with your marketing, a Fractional CMO can help you get the leadership you need without sacrificing anything from your current operation.

Here’s how you can use outsourced expertise to get your marketing back on track and the Fractional CMO services to accelerate your business growth.

What marketing activities can a Fractional CMO help you with?

Fractional CMOs help companies approach marketing strategically, considering the business landscape, effective objectives, and resources towards business growth— ultimately driving quicker impact and reducing risk.

Effective marketing strategy answers these questions:

• Who are we trying to reach (influencers, buyers)?
• Why should they care/consider us (how can we uniquely help them)?
• How do we get their attention (which channels/communication vehicles are effective)?
• What do we want them to do, and what are we trying to achieve (how do we define and measure success)?
• Where will we direct our resources (human effort, time, and budget)?

Choose the wrong marketer, and you’ll waste valuable time and money — and potentially damage your brand. Fractional CMOs go as a solution for growing businesses that eventually want to hire a full-time marketing leader but need guidance before they make this critical investment.

The Marketing Activities Performed by a Fractional CMO for your business.

Hiring a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) means bringing aboard a knowledgeable, experienced, successful branding and marketing professional.

Here are some of the top marketing activities that your business receives:

• An audit of your current marketing strategy and branding efforts.
• Creation of a comprehensive strategy that aligns your marketing with your business goals.
• Full suite of documents which may include: brand and voice guides, content plans, calendars, social media plans, and more.
• An experienced executive who manages your different vendors and gets your entire marketing team on the same page.
• Analyzes the market and customers’ pain points to develop the marketing strategy.
• Crafts a sales funnel covering all stages from lead acquisition to boosting the word of mouth of happy customers.
• Builds a brand that resonates with customers’ pain points.
• Make marketing decisions and adjust the action plan based on data.
• Manages the narrow-field specialists (copywriters, web developers, designers, etc.) to ensure consistency across channels.
• Oversees the marketing budget and ensures optimal marketing ROI.
• Works independently and drives the development of the marketing function.
• Determine and hold the marketing team accountable based on well-thought-out KPIs
• Put together and manage an effective and efficient marketing team, including recruiting, onboarding, training, and developing new hires.

What Skills Are Essential for a Modern Fractional CMO to Have?

Fractional or not, all CMOs need to integrate and lead a wide range of skill sets, all while keeping leadership looking forward.

What does this mean your CMO needs in terms of skills?

• The ability to influence and guide leadership to focus and align on their vision for growth and the business, instead of always putting out fires.
• The skills to create and maintain a consistent, compelling brand narrative.
• The experience to build and lead teams of internal and external resources to support marketing execution.
• The chops to interpret and apply analytical data to make incremental improvements to marketing channels and programs.
• The mindset of a CTO to help navigate the increasingly complex world of digital technology: bringing forward the right solutions at the right time and at the right scale for the business.
• The commitment to demonstrating revenue impact: defining and measuring the key metrics that move the needle on sales.

After you’ve determined that your CMO has the skills you need, it’s time to take a look at their qualities.

Balancing Necessary Skills with the Right Qualities

These skills need to be balanced with the right qualities. But, which qualities are most important for a fractional CMO to have?

A fit for your culture.

Many growth businesses that are hiring their first-ever marketing leader make the mistake of looking primarily for industry-specific experience or someone who has marketed similar solutions. The reality is, the most important quality to seek in a marketing leader is an alignment with your company’s values and vision.

Will this person work well with your leadership team, and do they understand what the role requires?

If you get the right person in the right seat, an experienced marketing leader will quickly learn your products or services and align strategy and execution. It’s great when the right person also brings industry or solution experience, but don’t overlook the leader that best fits your culture.

Experience building marketing teams and programs of similar scale

Taking marketing departments from the first generation to the next generation remains essential. A marketer who has led programs, teams, and vendor’s business in the past knows what it takes to do that successfully.

By contrast, a marketing leader with only enterprise-level experience may find it challenging to execute without large budgets or a deep bench.

Willingness to “roll their sleeves up” and the ability to support both strategy and execution.

Your Fractional CMO should provide high-level support when it comes to marketing strategy. But still be hands-on in the day-to-day integration, direction, and execution.

Ability to be both a sounding board and a coach to executive teams.

It helps business leaders align their vision with realistic expectations, criteria for success, and the best mix of marketing activities to balance resources and results.

Expertise in helping leaders from across departments align, make decisions and hold each other accountable.

The most effective and sustainable marketing programs are developed through leadership alignment, documented plans, and measurable results that inform ongoing iteration. It’s all about building the discipline of planning, execution, measurement, and ongoing evolution—with strong alignment from the top down.

Experience in hiring and coaching internal marketing team members to build the strongest support for the business as it grows.

An experienced marketing leader knows how to create the right balance of internal and external talent as programs evolve. A fractional CMO will also help define the criteria for their full-time successor, helping the company hire the right leader to take their marketing team to the next level.

Finding a Fractional CMO that fits the bill can be challenging, but getting the right leader in the seat is essential for success. Cam’s own internal CMO Team of Digital Marketing Specialists make this process easier by helping match the best fractional CMO to your culture and needs, aligning you with a seasoned leader that will help your business attain next-level growth.

Fractional CMOs Need All the Skills of a Full-Time CMO and More

Your fractional CMO will be in charge of driving all marketing efforts for your company. Trusting someone with that level of responsibility can be uncomfortable at first. Still, having a complete understanding of all the skills a fractional CMO needs can give you the confidence you need to make a decision.

That being said, here are some additional skills to look for in a fractional CMO.

• Ability to quickly assess and take charge of a company’s marketing program.
• A proven methodology and toolset allow them to provide tangible value quickly, and ongoing value with consistency.
• Equipping clients with documented strategies that a future marketing leader continues to lead after the fractional leader has moved on from the role.
• Capacity to make the right hires or create the right relationships to ensure your company has the resources it needs.
• Ability to help you hire and onboard their replacement, and the mindset that this day will come.

These skills will help your CMO hit the ground running, bring the right tools, and set your company up for long-term success.

How Cam’s Fractional CMO Service is different from the competition

You need more than basic marketing skills. As we’ve seen in this article, fractional CMOs are the astronauts of the marketing field.

• Follow a proven process for creating successful marketing programs and develop tangible deliverables that help teams align for execution and ongoing iteration.
• Provide fast impact and flexibility to help growing businesses develop their marketing programs and teams until they are ready to make a full-time leadership hire.
• Always one step ahead in planning for the next step in your company’s marketing growth.

Learn how a fractional CMO will help your organization gain alignment and traction to build strong marketing muscles. Click here to set up your consultation, and get the skills you need to hit your company’s long-term goals.