Are grow with a Fractional CMO? It’s the age-old question: “How do I know if my marketing is working?” If you are asking that, there’s a good chance you already know the answer: “Probably not as much as it could be.”
Maybe your branding is misaligned, or your audience has changed. Or maybe, you’ve been introducing a new digital campaign with the wrong targeting. Whatever the case, a company’s marketing is key to success and should constantly be reviewed to ensure the message is on point.
Whether you have an internal marketing department or not, the answer to getting things back on track is a Fractional CMO. A cutting-edge marketing strategy is only effective if a business has someone to develop and execute it.
A fractional CMO is a unique solution that can offer a CMO or Senior Marketing Director the benefits without the long-term costs. More and more often, this role is fulfilled by a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).
Yet, many organizations struggle to find the money to hire a senior-level full-time employee when so many other items demand a similar resource investment. Here’s how.
What is a Fractional CMO? Accelerated Marketing Leadership towards Faster Business Growth
A Fractional CMO is a marketing executive serving businesses by leading marketing strategy, sales development, growth opportunities, and heading the marketing department. Companies use fractional CMO services because they do not need a full-time CMO but still require expert strategy and leadership.
Businesses enjoy the flexibility that a fractional CMO provides. Your Fractional CMO should have a wealth of marketing and managerial experience. Therefore, the Fractional CMO should be the natural leader of the marketing team.
What does a Chief Marketing Officer do?
In companies large enough to support the role, Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) typically report to the Chief Executive Officer and oversee all marketing efforts within the organization while also playing a role in developing the overall company strategy. The CMO leads the marketing team to create, implement, manage and track the Marketing Plan.
What does a Fractional CMO do?
When you hire a fractional CMO, your company gets an experienced executive without the cost of a full-time CMO. This can be extremely valuable to companies where having a full-time CMO would not make much sense.
So, what does a fractional CMO do for a company? A fractional CMO can help you accomplish the same things a traditional CMO would, but in a way that makes more sense for a company of your size and budgetary needs.
Who needs a Fractional CMO?
The primary purpose for fractional CMOs is for companies who can’t justify the expense of a full-time CMO or where hiring a full-time CMO doesn’t make sense. It applies to those who need an experienced marketing strategist to elevate their company, renew or redefine their brand, launch a new product or meet growth goals.
The duties of a fractional CMO will be the same as a full-time CMO, but your business won’t have to make the same investment in them to carry out these duties.
Your company needs the help of a Fractional CMO if:
- You’re facing budget constraints or uncertainty.
- You’re trying to figure out how to stretch limited marketing resources.
- Your marketing strategy needs high-level guidance.
- You’ve wanted more organizational and financial flexibility.
- You feel your business needs a fresh perspective.
How Do You Know If Your Business Needs a Fractional CMO?
Although every business has unique marketing challenges, for many, some common circumstances will inevitably benefit from the expertise of a fractional CMO.
For example, regardless of the age or size of your business, your budget often cannot be adjusted or simply isn’t big enough to justify another C-suite executive.
When you grow with a Fractional CMO, you’ll have a dedicated marketing professional with years of industry experience without the full salary burden associated with full-time hires, such as benefits, vacation time, and recruitment and onboarding costs.
Perhaps your existing marketing team has not stayed current with new marketing techniques and trends. Thus, your strategies need to be brought up to date with industry thinking and new technology.
An effective Fractional CMO will work directly with your company’s existing marketing team, moving them seamlessly into the world of contemporary digital marketing — and leaving them with a new and valuable set of marketing tools and tactics.
How do you know if a CMO is right for your organization?
A Fractional CMO is part of your marketing team but is not an employee. They have specific goals set forth that need to be completed in a set amount of time.
Here are some concerns that need to be answered before hiring one:
- Do you feel comfortable with your current marketing?
- Is your internal marketing department meeting its goals?
- Do you have a large number of new marketing initiatives that have yet to be started?
- Does your internal marketing department have the skills and expertise to tackle all of your projects?
- Do you need someone to temporarily lead the marketing department to get everyone on the same page?
Why should you work with a Fractional CMO instead of hiring a full-time CMO?
Hiring a CMO is only a portion of the effort to build your marketing team. Your CMO’s primary function is to oversee the marketing effort, not to complete those activities themselves.
Therefore, most CMOs’ first order of business is to hire a marketing team to execute tasks inclusive of digital marketing strategies. It includes copywriting, graphic design, research, client communications, email, social media, direct mail, digital marketing, media research and buying, website design and maintenance, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and much more.
As mentioned earlier, all of the services could more than triple the budget of your CMO’s salary alone. However, outsourcing your marketing efforts solves that problem. With Cam’s own internal CMO Team of Digital Marketing Specialists, we seamlessly integrate with your company to understand all aspects of your brand, how to best represent you and how to get your message to the right people.
How Does Hiring a Fractional CMO Compare to Other Marketing Options?
When you need marketing help, there have traditionally only been a few options:
- Hire a Full-Time Chief Marketing Officer
- Outsource Your Marketing to an Agency
- Hire a Part-Time Consultant for Additional Help
- A Combination of the all three
Unlike any of the above options, except for hiring someone full-time for your team, a Fractional CMO becomes an integral member of your marketing team and provides you with the same caliber of expert marketing leadership that a full-time member would but for a fraction of the cost.
Why are Fractional Marketing strategies rising in popularity?
In this ultra-competitive and evolving digital landscape, mid-sized B2B businesses need smarter-than-ever marketing. Without an overall strategy to ensure that resources are being maximized, marketing is little more than gambling.
This is precisely what too many businesses do – roll the dice and hope for the best. Fractional CMOs can provide top-level guidance and B2B strategic marketing consulting, resulting in the odds stacked overwhelmingly in the business’s favor.
Cam’s own internal CMO Team of Digital Marketing Specialists brings years of experience and expertise to the table. A Fractional CMO does not need to be micromanaged. We get to know your team, the obstacles you face, your current marketing stands, what you have already done, who you consider your target market to be, and more.
Understanding the Marketing Leadership with a Fractional CMO
When marketing leadership is missing, a Fractional CMO should offer options that help clients get their marketing effort organized and moving. Even if some marketing team members are in place, but a seasoned leader is not, a fractional CMO may work best.
A fractional CMO should fill the role of the marketing leaders who can:
- Review and revise marketing strategy, branding, budgeting, and planning
- Assess and reorganize the marketing department based on the needs of the marketing strategy
- Manage current team members/digital subject matter, experts
- Keep marketing running on time and the budget
- Oversee any internal marketing team members and project-manage all marketing activities.
All of Cam’s own internal CMO Team of Digital Marketing Specialists experts possess years of marketing management experience. We provide a support team of content writers, editors, graphic designers, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialists, website developers, and a lot more.
Our digital subject matter experts get the work done without an in-house marketing department’s high cost and overhead. Your Marketing Direction CMO and Lead Marketer work closely with you and your management team to develop and implement a plan, keep it on track, manage the marketing team and ensure it’s all delivering to your bottom line.
Addressing the Common Misconceptions in Hiring a Fractional CMOs
Here are four misconceptions that surround fractional CMOs:
1. “It is essential to have a full-time CMO.”
The CMO’s role is certainly essential, but this person doesn’t have to be a full-time member of your team. A part-time CMO can provide the strategy based on hands-on experience to steer junior marketers toward high-value programs and away from low-ROI ones.
In the end, you increase your return on marketing spend and do not waste time on tactics that do not work. Even if your ultimate goal is to someday hire a full-time CMO, a fractional CMO supports your organization while you search for the best candidate.
Given the amount of time and money it takes to find top-tier marketing executives, partnering with a fractional CMO quickly leverages experienced leadership without sifting through hundreds of résumés or hiring a headhunter. He or she can help you vet candidates while managing your strategic marketing initiatives and mentoring your less experienced marketing professionals.
2. “I am better off promoting an internal candidate.”
Fractional CMOs train and mentor your up-and-coming internal candidates until they are ready to take on the CMO position. Think about the amount of time, training, and resources it takes to transform a junior team member into an experienced CMO for months or even years.
Beyond that, they possess a fresh, unbiased outsider’s perspective. Company politics and bureaucracy will not bog them down. Instead, they will feel free to point out flaws, voice concerns, and give honest feedback and suggestions that revolutionize your marketing function.
3. “I would rather save money by hiring a junior person.”
You get what you pay for. Most businesses have little to no margin for mistakes. If you hire an inexperienced CMO to lead your team, you open the door to this very issue.
Fractional CMOs bring a breadth of experience across different marketing systems, tactics, and corporate environments. They possess a big advantage over junior employees. As senior leaders, they already know how to manage teams and quantify their impact.
4. “We hired a great marketing agency, so we have it covered.”
Agencies should be an extension of your marketing strategy — not drive it. Your team needs to provide the competitive landscape, target segmentation, buyer personas, and differentiation. Thus, your CMO remains responsible for ensuring your marketing operations are running efficiently.
Agencies are not equipped to dive deeply into a company’s internal operations and infrastructure, discover inefficiencies and provide relevant solutions that move the needle. On the other hand, when you hire a fractional CMO, your company becomes his or her only priority.
The hired person remains ready and able to roll up his or her sleeves and investigate the inner workings of your marketing department & company as a whole. They offer tailor-made solutions that result in measurable benefits.
What Are the Benefits of Hiring a Fractional CMO?
While every B2B business has different customers, challenges, and marketing goals, the lion’s share of organizations realize a similar set of benefits by partnering with a fractional CMO.
To develop a successful marketing strategy and see it through, relying on mid-level team members and freelancers alone will not suffice. Adding another C-level role, however, may not be feasible.
Hence, a fractional CMO offers the following redemptive solutions to your business:
Marketing Expertise
As customer behaviors and industry need change, so should your marketing. Fractional CMO services allow businesses to tap into the knowledge and skills of marketing professionals experienced in the industry, predict and analyze changes within it, and adjust their strategies accordingly.
External Perspective
You and your marketing team work hard to bring an objective, data-based strategy to your marketing efforts. Still, industry shifts can be difficult to sense from within the company.
Thus, a fresh perspective works as a game-changer for B2B businesses. A fractional CMO brings external experience to new marketing approaches, ideas, and trends you might not have considered.
Competitive Awareness
In an increasingly saturated B2B market, staying in touch with competitors’ strategies, strengths and weaknesses are essential. But perpetual market research and strategy evaluation take a keen eye and extensive marketing experience that other C-level members of your team may not have.
A competent fractional CMO or fractional CMO agency will help you stay ahead of your competition and identify differentiation methods, enabling your business to compete more effectively in your industry.
Manageable Growth
Fast-growing businesses face an entirely new set of challenges, everything from hiring increases to office supply demands. These changes necessitate an enhanced marketing plan that adequately accommodates and complements a business growth cycle.
While your C-suite may or may not have experience managing growth, a fractional CMO brings a wealth of marketing experience, including marketing for growing businesses. With a fractional CMO on board, you’ll be better able to anticipate your marketing needs, as well as the needs of your clients, as your business grows.
Are Fractional CMOs Too Good to Be True?
Many B2B businesses hire marketers at the Coordinator and Manager levels, mainly due to financial concerns, and expect them to deliver strategic guidance. In reality, not all professionals can be “big picture” thinkers, especially during the early stages of their careers. They might be terrific tacticians but need some marketing leadership to ensure that their efforts are optimized.
Cam’s own internal CMO Team of Digital Marketing Specialists provides access to strategic marketing consultants for tactical marketing professionals in B2Bs. We provide senior-level support, an outside perspective, and current marketing best practices. We also get the benefit of being able to leverage an in-house professional’s tactical skill set and strong relationships within the company.
Only you can decide if hiring a fractional CMO is the right move for your B2B business, and you may need to learn more before deciding whether a fractional CMO or fractional CMO agency is the right choice for your organization. That’s where we can help.
Ready to Hire Cam Roberts as Your Fractional CMO or Have Any Further Questions?
To learn more about the ways our marketing strategy, content and design, performance marketing, SEO, web design, and marketing technology services, drop us a line today and take your B2B business to the next level to achieve your principal marketing objectives.