Is Fractional CMO Right for Your Business?
These days, it seems like businesses are outsourcing as many roles and functions as they can. From human resources and payroll to IT, small to medium-sized businesses are learning that they can get a better value when they opt to bring in outside resources on a part-time basis rather than hiring more full-time members for their team.
A growing trend in today’s marketplace is to outsource marketing leadership, but is this the right solution for your business?
What Is Fractional CMO?
Marketing includes a number of different areas, or services, such as content, video, SEO and digital marketing, direct marketing, and graphic design. But the person who oversees all of these components in many larger companies is the CMO: a chief marketing officer. As a member of an enterprise company’s strategic-planning team, a CMO works hand in hand with other C-level executives, including the president, vice president, chief information officer (CIO), chief executive officer (CEO), and chief operating officer (COO). Together, this high-level team defines directions for the company, what the overall goals are, budgets, and how they’re going to meet the goals they’ve set.
A fractional CMO works with small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the same role an onsite, full-time CMO would fill—except it is on a part-time, or fractional, basis. A fractional CMO can be one person or a firm with a number of talented individuals. The company that hires a fractional CMO gains access to an experienced strategic leader for a smaller investment.
The idea of fractional CMOs is so popular that Forbes wrote an article about the concept in the summer of 2015, suggesting that SMBs should embrace the idea due to its high-value, low risk proposition.
Is Fractional CMO Right for Your Business?
Knowing what a fractional CMO is and knowing if it’s right for your business are two distinct topics of conversation. Typically speaking, SMBs that choose fractional CMOs do so because they don’t have the resources or don’t need for a full-time, onsite marketing leader. While they understand the value inherent in hiring a strategic visionary to lead the charge of their marketing efforts, they’re not quite at the point where they want to pay six figures to hire a permanent team member to fulfill the role. A fractional CMO, therefore, fits their fiscal and strategic goals perfectly.
SMBs that choose fractional CMOs do so because they don’t have the resources or don’t need for a full-time, onsite marketing leader
You might need a fractional CMO if your company:
- Has the desire to create a strategic marketing plan that goes beyond developing one-off marketing materials.
- Doesn’t have the resources to pay a six-figure salary to a full-time CMO.
- Needs marketing direction and leadership and can implement many of the tactics in house.
- Is ready to embrace honest feedback and do what’s needed to move forward.
Still Not Sure?
Fractional CMO is a Phoenix-based company that, as the name implies, provides fractional CMO services to SMBs. Our cost-effective marketing leadership might be just the right answer for your company, but if you’re still not sure, we encourage you to watch this video [link] that explains a bit more about our process. We even provide a complimentary marketing analysis to give you an idea of how, exactly, we can make a positive impact on your bottom line. So what are you waiting for?
