If you have ever thought about starting a business on the side, you know how daunting it can be to take the first step. There are several tasks to accomplish. From finance and product development to marketing, each step needs individual attention.
The most critical thing that makes a business successful is marketing. Without good marketing, even a brilliant product will fall under the shadows.
But as a medium or small-sized business, you might not have the budget to hire a full staff with a marketing head. In such a case, a fractional CMO comes as a refreshing option. You get the full range of marketing related expertise at a reduced price.
Want to know more about this lifesaver for businesses? Keep reading to find out how you can benefit from a fractional CMO in your next innovative venture and how it differs from a head of marketing.
Non-traditional employees are on the rise. Companies are hiring employees on contractual basis, freelancers, and full-time remote workers more than ever. A fractional employee can be categorized as a non-traditional employee as well.
A Fractional CMO is a chief executive of marketing who performs the functions of a normal marketing chief for a company but is not a full-time employee and is often hired at a fraction of the cost of a permanent chief marketing officer.
1. Sales campaign development
2. Getting more leads
3. Managing digital marketing
4. Marketing strategy development
5. Email list management
6. Providing marketing leadership
7. Analyzing marketing data
8. Managing a marketing team
9. Company growth, and more.
Consider a scenario where you need someone to look over the marketing activities of your business, like building strategies and implementing them, but don’t have the budget to bring on a full-time employee.
We A full-time employee has several requirements such as insurance, bonuses, and a competitive fixed monthly salary which is paid every month regardless of whether you use their services or not.
A small or medium business will usually not have the budget to give out a fixed sum and bonuses to a permanent team member.
Getting into a contract with a fractional CMO will take care of both the budget and building a great marketing strategy. Remember, you are not compromising on the quality of marketing. You are just not hiring a full-time professional, which saves a lot on training, insurance, and related expenses.
A fractional CMO will not be available to work on your marketing projects all the time, but work for a few months on contract. This can be a downside if you have constant marketing projects on your plate.
A Fractional CMO will be the best choice if you are an SME and have limited business needs.
If you don’t know the full range of marketing activities your business needs, you might be better off with a marketing head. A head of marketing will be able to adjust strategies according to your business’ changing needs, and you will have a marketing chief in house to handle any marketing related emergencies that suddenly come up.
A fractional CMO will be on its way after the contractual months are over. You will have to sign a new contract each time you hire a fractional CMO. This can be an issue if you have a rapidly growing business and notice new needs arising every day.
But this doesn’t mean a big company can’t have a fractional CMO. Most large corporations have an in-house marketing head, but sometimes hire fractional CMOs alongside the full-time heads to handle medium marketing projects. A fractional CMO may also be brought in if the workload exceeds what can be handled by a single head of marketing.
One more difference between the two lies in the range of responsibilities handled by each. Although both represent top tier marketing employees, their roles differ in that one is a permanent employee while the other is a part-time worker.
A full-time head has a daily set of tasks that need to be completed in time. They handle more in-depth tasks, as all marketing related work needs to be done by the in-house employees. In contrast, a fractional CMO is not involved in the nitty-gritty of daily tasks. They are mostly hired to run one campaign or deal with a couple of projects for a few months.
And since they are not full-time employees, fractional CMOs are not embedded into the system. You only pay the fractional CMO for the tasks they were hired to do, and then they are off. The head of marketing is right there even when there is no work to be done and will receive the full fixed amount no matter the workflow.
This depends on the situation of your company. A fractional CMO is not limited to small and medium companies. You can hire one even if you are a big company. Size of the business is not a focal factor in hiring a fractional CMO.
Even large businesses are noticing that full-time employees are not lasting. You hire a person, and they seem perfect, but later turn out to be not as good a fit, or end up leaving for a better position.
This leads to the company spending excessive hours on hiring and rehiring in-house marketing heads. Hiring full-time heads is more extensive and costly than hiring part-time heads. If you are noticing this trend in your company, go for a fractional CMO.
Another reason you should hire a fractional CMO is the office politics. A fractional CMO won’t be involved in the side responsibilities and will focus on marketing alone. And if you are tight on budget, then you have a great reason to prefer a fractional CMO to a full-time marketing head.
Businesses are shifting to freelancing and contractual work, the main reason behind which is reductions in cost. In the start of your business, not committing to full-time employees can be a profitable strategy. Take a long hard look at your business and choose accordingly.
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