Fractional CMO: Your Marketing Strategy Partner
“What’s a Fractional CMO?”
This is the follow-up question I hear most when I tell people I offer Fractional CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) services. And it makes sense - it’s a rather new model to the market, but it’s making waves as one of the most valuable ways for businesses to maximize their resources while still moving their marketing initiatives forward and attaining optimal growth.
A Fractional CMO is similar to any sort of fractional role that partners with companies (such as a Fractional CFO) in order to effectively fill a role part-time (anywhere from 5 - 30 hours per week, per need). There are multiple benefits to this type of business model:
Fractional CMOs Help Optimize the Marketing Budget
A CMO typically has a variety of cumulative skills and experience:
15+ years of Marketing experience, several of which typically include leadership and management of a Marketing/Brand strategy and team
Broad knowledge across multiple types of Marketing models and the tools associated with them
Network (and vendor) connections
This depth of experience, skills/knowledge and connections is extremely valuable to a business looking to grow, and therefore hiring a full-time CMO requires an investment; most CMOs in the U.S. are earning between $301,049 and $423,945 ($25,000 - 35,000/month) (salary.com).
When you partner with a Fractional CMO, however, you get that same value at a much lower cost (depending on need, the typical investment is between $3,000 - 15,000/month). This leaves more budget for actual spend on marketing initiatives and coordinator-level needs, such as technology, paid ads, client appreciation, live events, and even additional staffing.
Fractional CMOs Optimize Staff Resources
Have a lot of ideas about how to market your company, but no bandwidth to actually get it done?
Many of the businesses ideal for the Fractional CMO model have a small marketing team - anywhere from 1-3 people that are coordinator or manager level - that is probably being managed by a differently-focused VP or above - many times even the CEO. This can inadvertently cause a breakdown in communication and priority/time management, as the supervisor is already busy focusing on different priorities.
Additionally, there may be no one with true marketing experience setting the marketing strategy and guiding the team to stay consistent in brand and voice, while setting and measuring goals and tracking metrics. I.e. - getting it done.
When a Fractional CMO comes on board, they take over managing the marketing team by running regularly scheduled meetings and tracking progress and priorities, while partnering with leadership to set and define the marketing strategy and ensuring a plan is laid out and followed. This leaves more time for you to focus on building your business, and provides streamlined efficiency for marketing processes.
Fractional CMOs Provide Expertise and Guidance for Sustained Growth
The role of a Fractional CMO could almost be compared to a marketing consultant who is committed to not only helping your company set its strategy for growth, but then staying on board long-term to ensure it’s executed with excellence. This long-term presence helps ensure they truly understand your brand, value, and voice - and can develop relevant campaigns and initiatives that are deeply aligned with your business goals as a whole. The value is more sustainable and tangible.
There are a variety of additional benefits we could lay out, but if you’ve read this far - it’s probably time to jump on a call and discuss how our Fractional CMO model could add value to your business. Ready to chat? Get in touch today.
