The current economic climate has forced several businesses to make heartbreaking decisions about their executive staff. In many cases, the first to go is marketing. At the same time, many business owners have taken advantage of the PPP loans to expand their companies in an effort to grow through the new economy so they can emerge on the other side victorious.
Whether your business can be described by the former description or the latter—or perhaps somewhere in between—there is a good chance that a fractional CMO could help you in your quest for success.
How will you know if a fractional CMO is the answer?
Understanding the Fractional CMO Role
Your first step to determining if a fractional CMO is the solution you’re looking for is a full understanding of what one actually is.
Essentially, a fractional CMO is a Chief Marketing Officer—but at a fraction of the time and cost of hiring one full time. When you work with a fractional CMO, you get all of the benefits of a full-time CMO, including some perks you may not have considered.
First, fractional CMOs immediately become part of your executive team, but they’re only present—and paid—when you need them. They bring deep marketing knowledge, professional direction to your marketing strategies, and an understanding of working within leadership teams.
You’ll get these benefits on a part-time or short-term basis—all the rewards without the commitment or cost of a full-time CMO. For businesses that have made sacrifices during the pandemic, or those taking a chance on growing during this time, a fractional CMO is the perfect middle ground.
Small or Young Companies Need Guidance
Whether you’re an established small business or an emerging brand that plans to scale quickly in the near future, your answer could be a fractional CMO. It’s hard at his particular juncture to justify a full-time CMO—you may even struggle to justify a full-time marketing team.
One of the key benefits is that they can bring along some of their own established team members to help. You get the benefit of years of experience without needing to train a single person, or pay them full-time wages.
Established Companies That Lack Leadership
Traditional—read “old school”—businesses that have been around since before the days of marketing automation and funnels and KPIs and… Well, you get the picture. Marketing has evolved a lot in the last decade, and it continues to change on a daily basis as better technology becomes available.
In order to keep up with your current competition and stay ahead of any emerging competitors, you might need some help transforming your marketing strategies and techniques. This is where a fractional CMO could be of enormous use. Trust your business in the hands of an expert while you keep doing the things you do best.
Enterprise-Level Companies Experiencing a Vacancy
A fractional CMO can also be the perfect answer to enterprise-level companies, particularly when a vacancy opens for an executive marketing role. Finding the perfect replacement can take time, but you don’t want to leave that role completely vacant in the interim.
A fractional CMO can fill the void, bringing years of expertise to the table, so you can continue to operate at the same or higher levels until your perfect CMO match comes along.
Companies That Have Recently Downsized
Before 2020, the above reasons were the most common for needing a fractional CMO. However, with the current economy, a new reason has emerged. Many companies have had to make hard decisions about which of their executive staff and team members to keep. As we mentioned earlier, marketing is often the first to go. As we mentioned even before that, cutting marketing during hard economic times is a bad idea.
A fractional CMO gives you the chance to maintain your marketing, even if you can’t keep a full team on staff. You can continue to drive results and build revenue during these difficult times with the assistance of part-time marketing leadership.
Indeed, working with a fractional CMO may be the very reason your business thrives through the new economy and emerges on the other side ready to hire a full-time marketing executive once more.
If you would like to learn more about how a fractional CMO could turn your business around, please reach out any time. We’re here to help.
