An executive who is responsible for developing and overseeing all marketing initiatives as part of the C-level suite team. They report directly to the CEO. They are evaluated according to how well they attribute marketing efforts to quantitative and qualitative revenue-driven results.
At some companies, the role of chief marketing officer (CMO) is often referred to as the marketing director, or the marketing leadership team, rather than the hourly rate. However, marketing directors have fewer responsibilities and authority. Fractional CMOs typically have a lot of experience with both strategic development and tactical execution, as well as with scaling growth.
The most important aspect of the CMO’s role is to connect the marketing department with other parts of the company, including other executives. They need to be kept updated on all marketing initiatives and the long term marketing strategy, how well they are performing, and how the business is developing compared to the constantly changing long term marketing landscape and marketing tactics.
What is a Fractional CMO?
More and more companies are beginning to outsource their CMO, or hire a fractional CMO. This allows for more focus on marketing insights, marketing strategy, and branding strategy. This allows a business to gain the expertise and experience of a good fractional CMO at an hourly rate to help with customer acquisition, sales development, and company growth without the full-time hiring and salary of an in-house executive.
Companies have been hiring fractional CMOs for decades. The addition of a Chief Marketing Officer would provide significant value to business leaders, as the salary of a full-time Chief Financial Officer would be covered, and fractional CMO services would not be practical. However, companies are not always willing to hire a fractional CMO or to provide a description of their fractional CMO job responsibilities due to the fact that there is no one clear definition of what a fractional CMO actually is or does.
Hiring a fractional CMO is one of the best decisions you can make to meet your business objectives. A fractional CMO will get involved in all aspects of marketing, from research and analysis to messaging and execution. They will also work closely with your marketing team, executive leadership, and other stakeholders to ensure that your marketing goals are met. They also might bring in outside help, like fractional CMOs or other agencies, to offer additional support. An outsourced CMO can help improve your business’s long-term marketing ROI by leading and overseeing the implementation of your growth and branding strategy.
Why A Fractional CMO Can Improve Marketing ROI
In order to keep up with emerging long term marketing technologies, the scope of responsibilities for any in-house or part-time fractional CMO is continuously changing. CMOs can no longer get away with simply increasing top-line growth and attributing it to marketing activities.
Now brands are looking at how hiring a fractional CMO or external CMO services can help them reduce their customer churn rate by using persona-driven brand content, marketing content, and CMO cost promotions to delight customers and earn their loyalty.
This is because the marketing department has changed their digital marketing strategy and are now using better techniques to target corporate customers. The chief marketing officer’s role is to lead the organization’s overall marketing plan.
The CMO is responsible for aligning market research with advertising strategy to create a company’s overall direction, customer targeting, and branding.
The CMO of today is faced with a complete evolution of their business and marketing analysis. If you’re finding it difficult to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, fractional CMOs can help by providing an objective perspective of your client engagement. They fractional CMO client companies to identify areas where improvements can be made.
In most cases, the responsibilities of an outsourced CMO or fractional CMO include overseeing a strategic management process that involves making structural changes to the company in fundamental ways. These can be culture, procedures, systems, controls, and technology. The goal of the fractional CMO is to improve results by focusing the company’s time and energy on its main activity.
How do you know if you need a Fractional CMO?
You probably started your business because you wanted more freedom than a traditional job, more time with your family, and to enjoy life while still making an impact.
If you are still running the marketing department, it is likely that it is not going well at the moment.
The more day-to-day marketing decisions you make, the further away your vision for the business is.
If we’re being honest, you’re probably causing more problems than you’re solving. At best you are leaving revenue on the table. You could be losing money and not reaching your potential by not taking action.
You may be ready for a Fractional CMO if you’re a growing company that does not yet have the need or budget for a full-time Chief Marketing Officer. A Fractional CMO can provide the high-level marketing strategy and leadership you need to take your company to the next level.
Many of our customers come to us feeling overwhelmed by their business. They feel that their marketing is not working well.
Most founder-led companies have cost-center marketing departments that produce poor results because there is no clear direction. Pretty frustrating, huh?
If the following sounds like you, then you may be ready to transition to a model of true leadership via a Fractional CMO: -You want to be more organized, but you’re not quite sure how to get there. -You’re not sure if you’re ready to make the transition to a fractional CMO. -You want to know what a fractional CMO is and how they can help you.
1. You can’t afford a full-time Chief Marketing Officer, yet…
If you want to grow your business to the next level, you will need someone with expertise to help lead your growth team.
If you want a good Chief Marketing Officer, you will have to pay a lot of money. The price is likely more than what your business can afford.
According to the folks at PayScale, the breakdown for average costs of a Traditional CMO are:
- Base salary: $172,292
- Bonus: $37,351
- Commission: $21,000
- Profit Sharing: $15,357
- Health Benefits: $20,576
- Retirement: $20,502
You will be earning $287,069 a year in total.
You may need some time to recover from the shock.
Even if you only consider the base salary, it is still a lot of money. Not too many businesses that are scaled can afford to spend that much money.
The biggest reason most people hire a fractional CMO is because they need help with marketing but can’t afford a full-time CMO. In fact, Fractional CMOS can actually cost more per hour. While fractional CMOS chips may not be cheaper per hour, they can still cost more than other types of chips. It’s that:
- You’re not paying benefits
- They are not full time/salary
- You’re not paying taxes
- You’re not paying bonuses or commissions
- You’re not paying for office space to house them
2. Free Up Cash Flow for Fractional CMO
If you want a successful long-term marketing strategy, you need to be willing to pay for it. Compared to another employee on the payroll, fractional CMOs are much more profitable and this is encouraging when deciding whether or not to outsource. There are many expenses associated with hiring someone full-time, so fractional CMOs are a great option.
When you hire an outsourced CMO or fractional CMO, you can be confident that they will be effective and experienced at helping you to achieve your marketing goals.
3. No Innovation (Static Marketing Methods)
One issue that companies without a marketing lead may have is that many decisions are based on outdated methods.
When your employees are struggling to keep up, innovation is not a priority. We’ve all experienced meetings where a problem is brought up and the marketing team members say something like, “We’ve dealt with this before using this method, so we’ll do that again.
Did you examine the data from the previous campaign closely? You can’t find the best marketing strategies if you don’t try new things.
I believe that if something is not broken, there is no need to spend time or money fixing it. In marketing, A/B testing is a popular method of comparing two versions of a marketing campaign in order to see which performs better. Marketers analyze the results of these tests and make adjustments to their campaigns accordingly. If you keep doing the same things, your business will fail.
An unbiased opinion and experienced guidance from an outside expert can help you become innovative and successful. Your Fractional CMO will not feel like they have to keep things the same, which is a huge benefit. They are there because the status-quo needs some shaking-up!
4. Culture Shock
I’m here to tell you that we’re not alone There’s always going to be problems in business, but it’s important to remember that we’re not alone in facing them. We can all relate to the frustrations we face every day.
But often times, things aren’t dire. In fact, things are fine.
But to me? Fine is just another word for mediocre. Yes, getting things done is important, but it is not the only thing that matters. You also need to make sure that what you are doing is actually moving things forward.
A Fractional CMO can bring in new energy and new ideas to an organization.
I’m sure you’ve worked with someone who is full of energy and enthusiasm, like Steve Ballmer, that makes you want to be the best you can be.
Aside from bringing their expertise to the table, a Fractional CMO can also bring other qualities that can be beneficial to the company.
- The ideas to get the table thinking and talking.
- The motivation to have a plan and execute on it.
- The determination to push everyone to the common goal.
A good CMO gives you a positive return on investment.
5. Increase In Company Productivity
Hiring is one of the tasks that you need to solve. If you are hiring a fractional CMO to work on something for you, this frees up your attention to focus on the main aspects of your business that only you and your employees can solve.
If fractional CMO marketing machine employees are given more time to do their job, they will be more productive. And more productivity, of course, leads to more profits.
6. Not enough leads
The final reason you might need to hire a Fractional CMO is if your sales team is struggling to find and convert quality leads.
Word-for-word referrals are great, but they’re not always dependable. They aren’t scalable.
Founders who are typically ready for a Fractional CMO:
1. Understand the value of a strategic marketing leader
2. Are ready to allocate significant budget to marketing
3. View marketing as a means by which your business will expand.
Are you willing to invest in a marketing team and resources? It takes time, effort, and a experienced leader to create a marketing foundation for long-term success. We’re looking for someone who is excited to take on a leadership role in marketing and help our team do great work.
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