Fractional CMO services can be the missing ingredient that small- and mid-sized businesses need to optimize their marketing efforts. From increased marketing campaign performances to overhead cost savings, fractional CMOs offer benefits that are tough to pass up—especially for growth-oriented businesses. In this blog, we dive into the many benefits you can experience by partnering with a fractional CMO.
What Is a Fractional CMO?
A fractional chief marketing officer (CMO) fills the same roles as a traditional, full-time CMO but on an as-needed basis. These standard roles include:
- Leading marketing strategy direction
- Integrating marketing, advertising, and sales goals and initiatives
- Managing the size of the marketing department
- Overseeing the creation and implementation of marketing campaigns
- Identifying KPIs to maximize the return on investment of marketing initiatives
- Coordinating marketing efforts with organizational goals and available resources
Your business needs all of the above functions to maximize your marketing budget and stay competitive. However, a full-time CMO doesn’t fit into many small- and mid-sized business budgets. If this sounds like your organization, there’s another way. Fractional CMO services allow you to focus on the functions you need most—which means you only have to pay for what you’re prioritizing.
What Does a Fractional CMO Do?
Fractional CMOs have the primary responsibility of optimizing your business’s marketing, sales, and advertising resources to increase revenue. The best fractional CMO companies also ensure that fractional CMOs are an integrated part of your leadership team. That way, marketing can stay in alignment with overall business goals.
Specific key functions of fractional CMOs include:
- Establishing Marketing Metrics
- Allocating Marketing Budget
- Hiring Marketing Team Members
- Developing Marketing Strategy and Campaigns
- Overseeing Campaign Implementation and Management
- Analyzing Marketing Campaign Results
Marketing isn’t about checking tasks off your to-do list—it’s about results. When working with a fractional CMO, you should expect improvements in the following:
- Marketing Campaign ROI
- Lead Quality
- Conversion Rates
- Revenue
Ready to see these improvements in your business? Get in touch today to learn how.
What Are the Benefits of a Fractional CMO?
There are numerous benefits that your business can gain from working with a fractional CMO that range from improved marketing campaign ROI to reduced overhead costs. Specific benefits of partnering with a fractional CMO include:
- Cross-Industry Innovation
- Experience with Small- and Mid-Sized Business Needs
- Agile Allocation of Resources
- C-Suite Level Marketing Leadership
Essentially, working with a fractional CMO can increase your business’s resources in two ways. First, if your business doesn’t already have dedicated marketing leadership, then a fractional CMO can make your marketing campaigns more effective. Second, paying exactly for the services you need allows you to reinvest the savings in other areas of your business, like product development.
What Are the Benefits of Being a Fractional CMO?
Fractional CMOs aren’t just great for growing businesses; they can be a rewarding career path, too! As a fractional CMO, you can benefit from:
- The opportunity to work in different industries and business growth stages
- The ability to make a transformative difference in the performance of growing businesses
- Control over which clients you take on and what your work schedule is
If you have experience as a marketing director or manager, it can be worth exploring fractional CMO job listings to see which qualifications you need to add to your resume.
Is a Fractional CMO Worth It?
Dollar-for-dollar, fractional CMOs are often a worthwhile investment for growing businesses. As we mentioned earlier, the benefits of partnering with a fractional CMO include:
- Access to C-suite level marketing experience and leadership
- Reduced overhead costs
- Increased ROI from marketing, sales, and advertising efforts
- Improved coordination between marketing, sales, and advertising initiatives with wider organizational goals
These benefits are all great, but what about budget? Let’s add some numbers in for context. Recent LinkedIn estimates recommend budgeting between $200 and $300 for an hourly fractional CMO cost. Salary.com reports that the top 50% of earners in a CMO role earn an average of $204 to $233 per hour.
At first glance, it may seem like a full-time CMO is better value. After all, $204-$233 an hour is less than $200-$300 an hour. However, the hourly rate for a full-time CMO applies year-round (plus the additional benefits costs), while fractional CMOs are only on your payroll when you have projects for them to lead. This allows your business to access executive marketing leadership when you need it—without tying up resources when you don’t.
Contact Us Today To Learn More About Fractional CMO Services!
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