Fractional CMOs are a crucial addition to start-up, small to mid-size businesses who want innovative and quick resolution to critical and short-term marketing initiatives.

The role of a CMO is becoming more complex than ever. It is no longer just about brand promotion and advertising, now marketing encompasses a much wider range of activities based on the changing customer needs, digital disruption and demand for higher revenues. Marketing is not just for brand promotion, now it is seen as a driver for business growth, by that extension CMOs are now responsible for impacting the business bottom line.

In fact, organisations are in constant need of a fresh perspective and innovative ideas that stand out in the clutter. the branding and promotion clutter of competitive brands. This is truer for the new consumer-facing businesses, and startups who need to make a mark in the market as quickly as possible. This is where the role of a fractional CMO becomes very relevant.

You may ask why? Well, because a fractional CMO brings in a new perspective, fresh focus, out of the box thought process that the existing marketing team may not have. They can be brought in to boost brand perception, influence business growth and deliver quick resolution to marketing initiatives in a shorter time frame at a more affordable cost.

The rise of the fractional CMO

With the increasing complexity in marketing a brand, businesses are constantly in need of fresh approach, and that is when you get yourself a fractional CMO. Who are they? They are a new tribe of marketing and brand experts who come in, join your team for a short period of time, develop specific ideas or processes and deliver business transformation.

Sometimes it is not feasible for an organisation to hire a full-time senior marketing executive to solve a short-term plan. However, there is an urgent need for a marketing expert who can help deal with short term business challenges quickly and efficiently at a relatively lesser cost. This is again where a fractional CMO works best.

As a matter of fact, fractional CMOs are another flavour of outsourced CMO. Both are external entities who are brought in to manage the marketing department of an organisation. While an outsourced CMO might join the marketing team for a more long-term, full time work approach; a fractional CMO joins a marketing team on a part-time basis to help organizations meet their immediate marketing and brand promotion needs. Fractional CMOs work for a specific period of time to fulfil a specific role for a specific business requirement. According to Harvard Business Review, companies that use a fractional CMO experience an average revenue growth rate of 29%.

When is it right to hire a fractional CMO

Say you are a startup or a small to medium business that needs quick turnaround of their marketing plans, are short on time and money to put in for hiring a full time CMO with relevant expertise; then hiring a fractional CMO is the best option. It enables you to tap into the experience and expertise of a senior-level professional without committing to a long-term cost associated with a full time CMO position.

Getting a fractional CMO is relevant, when you are still deciding on a full-time CMO or are setting up the marketing team. They can handle all the tasks of a full-time CMO without similar cost. Fractional CMOs do bring in specialised knowledge and deep industry experience. That is why when you are planning special campaigns and brand promotion activities, getting a fractional CMO is a good strategy. They can focus on the special projects while the in-house marketing team can continue with its regular marketing activities.

Since they work on a short-term basis, most Fractional CMOs ensure a faster turnaround time and tailor different programs to meet specific business goal. Fractional CMOs also offer more flexibility by scaling up or down their services depending on the organisation’s need. This is useful for startups that are still trying to build the business and get their footing right without spending too much.

Fractional CMOs can be integral to tactical business strategy

Whether you are a big business or a small one, a fractional CMO can help drive business growth with crucial strategy input and implementation. They bring in fresh perspective to existing marketing practices and can infuse new energy to existing team.

It is now common to hire a highly experienced fractional CMO to develop overall marketing strategy, branding and promotional activities; then implement them and then analyse the results to understand their impact on the business.

They can be hired by an organisation to set up the marketing team and provide strategic guidance to the team. The fractional CMO can hand-hold the team and help it mature in a phased manner.

While a full-time CMO or the inhouse marketing team manages the day-to-day marketing and branding activities, a fractional CMO can be brought in to focus on the bigger picture and develop targeted marketing agenda. They can be employed to build the go-to-market plan and lead market operations for an organisation.

Fractional CMOs can be hired to provide critical analysis of your existing marketing campaigns. They can assess the initiatives and help identify areas of improvement. They can help identify and engage the target audience and oversee various marketing channel.

They can work with the leadership team within the organisation to analyse existing and new business practices and develop insights for future growth.

In conclusion

Whether you are looking to set up your marketing team, refresh your marketing initiatives or initiate business transformation, hiring a fractional CMO is a good business strategy seeing the changing business landscape. It makes sense to opt for fractional CMO You are a small or mid-size company looking to refresh your marketing team or you a startup with limited cash flow but need to have defined marketing plan..

Say the full-time CMO has quit during a crucial business transformation phase; instead of wasting precious minutes scouting for full-time CMO, hiring a fractional CMO is a good business strategy. They can guide your existing marketing team to execute campaigns. Business with limited resources benefit immensely from a fractional CMO for promoting their business.

A business should go for a factional CMO, when there is a need to optimize marketing strategy to align with new business goals and objectives quickly. A fractional CMO can step in when an organisation’s marketing team requires strategic guidance and access to marketing expertise on a part time basis.