Maximizing Impact: The Advantages of Hiring a Fractional CMO

With the average marketing budget increasing from 6.4% in 2021 to 9.5% in 2022, businesses in today's economic climate face a decision between hiring a full-time Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) or a Fractional CMO.

In this post, we’ll review the top 5 reasons to turn to a Fractional CMO.

You Need a Fresh Opinion

Has your business strategy gone stale? Are your sales and marketing teams trying different outreach tactics with lackluster results? When this occurs, it’s time for a new outlook gleaned from a CMO. The great thing about hiring a Fractional CMO is that they work with various companies and develop expertise that niche and full-time CMOs simply can’t offer. While you may think you need someone with niche expertise to provide you with new marketing ideas appropriate for your business sector, that isn’t always true.

A Fractional CMO can present you with options that had never been considered simply because they are on the outside looking in. They can also share marketing strategies that have worked for other companies they have advised. Greater diversity often comes with more expertise. Fractional CMOs have likely worked for different companies of varying sizes and industries, which gives them great insights. If you’re contemplating launching a new product or service, a Fractional CMO can identify the potential drawbacks that could make it unsuccessful. In other words, their expertise will open your mind to situations you hadn’t thought about before.

Your Financial Resources are Limited

One of the top reasons for hiring a Fractional CMO is limited budget. Hiring a full-time CMO doesn’t make financial sense if the company is experiencing budget concerns given the fact that CMOs earn well over $250,000 per year. If the idea of paying that salary for your marketing activities seems daunting, you will want to hire a Fractional CMO instead. Today, you can choose a Fractional CMO to join for a set number of monthly hours. Your savings will be significant and you will still gain momentum with growing the company’s market share.

You Need Marketing Leadership Full-Time

Once a business has scaled and developed a following, it’s often necessary to have a full-time CMO. Companies in this position appreciate having someone they can turn to for marketing leadership anytime. On occasion, when the Fractional CMO relationship offers the leadership, strategy and execution that was missing from the company, some companies will ask the Fractional CMO to become their full-time CMO. A full-time CMO will dedicate time to ensuring your sales and marketing teams work together with the right strategies. When changes are needed, you can rely on your Fractional CMO to design the right solutions that align with your company’s business strategies.

You Need Someone Who Can Drive Rapid Impact

A Fractional CMO has likely worked with dozens or hundreds of businesses looking to scale. Working with numerous companies on various marketing initiatives gives them a certain level of knowledge a niche and full-time CMO simply won’t have. Due to their fractional practice, a Fractional CMO can provide you with a high level marketing strategy in a much shorter amount of time and will need less time to complete their analysis than someone in a full-time role.

You Want a Brand-New Marketing Team

Many Fractional CMOs have spent their careers building marketing teams from the ground up. As a result, they usually have access to a host of contacts they can reach out to if you want to develop an entire in-house marketing team or hire freelance marketing support they’ve previously worked with who produced excellent results. In some cases, Fractional CMOs run their marketing agency, which you can tap into for additional help. Are you ready to tap into the new way of scaling your business?