What does a fractional CMO do?

A fractional CMO is a part-time executive marketing leader who usually covers the same range of tasks as a full-time chief marketing officer would. It's a marketing expert who leads the marketing efforts and strategy, oversees the implementation, tracks marketing metrics, and helps with acquisition and brand awareness.

A fractional CMO is more hands-on than a marketing consultant or marketing agency, has less power of decision than a marketing director, but can provide you with all the skills and know-how of a full-time marketing executive.

Here are some more activities and duties performed by fractional CMOs:

• Building a holistic marketing plan and setting the priorities
• Identifying the target market, ideal clients, and buyer personas
• Helping with the unique selling proposition
• Overseeing marketing channels
• Creating a go-to-market strategy
• Helping you overcome marketing challenges
• Building and managing a sound marketing budget, in an efficient way
• Hiring marketing roles and coordinating a modern marketing team

Why you should hire a fractional CMO

As a business owner or founder, hiring a fractional CMO is valuable for many reasons. Here are some of the most important ones:

Your remote marketing department needs a leader

If you already have marketing pros in your team, a fractional CMO can provide leadership to your remote marketing team and ensure that all goals are achieved on time. Having someone to coordinate, mentor, and guide your agile marketing team will be invaluable down the line.

You need to build a marketing strategy

A marketing strategy is not the same as a set of marketing tactics - or a marketing calendar, for that matter. A fractional CMO can develop a comprehensive strategy that considers your current market situation and devise plans to grow brand awareness and generate more leads.

You don't need a full-time hire

If you're running an early-stage company, you may not need the services of a full-time marketing executive. That’s when having a fractional CMO can come in handy — you will get the assistance you need without spending a lot of money.

They can bring their experience and expertise

A fractional CMO has hands-on experience and expertise, so they can help you get the desired results. They can offer you experience-driven insights about marketing trends and new ideas for your business — things that may not have crossed your mind if you're not a marketer or if you just don't have the time to keep up with all the trends in marketing.

You need to keep track of the KPIs

You can't know how your marketing is doing if you don't measure your efforts. A fractional CMO can identify your essential key performance indicators (KPIs), track them, and create reports so that you can make better decisions.

You need marketing campaign optimization

To maximize your success, you should ensure that all marketing campaigns are optimized for the best results. A fractional CMO can identify areas of improvement and help you optimize your campaigns for the best performance.

You have to build a GTM strategy

Need to build a go-to-market (GTM) strategy? Your fractional CMO can help you reach this business goal. They can create a strong GTM plan and make sure it’s up-to-date with the latest market trends, so your business can be successful in the long run.

You're looking for a fresh perspective

Sometimes, when you’re too close to the problem, it can be hard to see the bigger picture. That’s when you need someone with a fresh perspective, such as a fractional CMO. They can look at your business from the outside and help you develop new ideas.

You need the flexibility to pivot in a new direction

The reason so many businesses look for fractional CMOs is that they need the flexibility to pivot in a new direction. When things change, they can quickly adjust to the new reality and focus on what works best for their business - and how to scale going forward.

5 skills every fractional CMO needs

Just because you're not hiring for a full-time CMO, it doesn't mean you have to settle for marketing leadership with less-than-excellent skills. Here are some non-negotiable skills your fractional CMO should have:

Lead generation

A great fractional Chief Marketing Officer knows how to drive lead-generation marketing programs. They have a good understanding of all marketing activities (from performance marketing to content marketing and community marketing efforts).

More than that, they know how to bring together the entire marketing plan in a way that helps your business generate more leads based on data-driven marketing insights and current trends in the market.

Retention

Your fractional CMO understands that retention is one of the biggest marketing challenges, so they will focus on developing and implementing customer retention strategies. They need to understand customer lifetime value (CLV) as a marketing goal, how it impacts your business's bottom line, and how to craft campaigns that will keep your customers engaged and loyal.

Brand positioning

You can run all the SEO, social media, and PPC in the world - but without a brand to unify all your efforts and make people recognize your products/services, it's all a race to the bottom. Your fractional CMO should know how to craft a powerful brand identity and company narrative that resonates with your target audience.

Marcoms

Your fractional CMO should also be able to create and manage marketing communications. They must understand how all the pieces fit together in your overall marketing strategy, including digital channels and traditional media. Moreover, they need to know how to communicate effectively in a way that's aligned with your brand strategy.

Research and analytics

Finally, your fractional CMO should be able to research and analyze data. They must be able to interpret the numbers and draw insights from them. This will help you make informed decisions about your digital marketing strategy, budget, and other campaigns.

How much does a fractional CMO cost?

A fractional CMO's services cost between $250-$300 per hour or $2,850/month and $5,350/month, depending on what you need them to do. If you only need your CMO to mentor you and create your marketing strategy, you will pay less. But if you also need to execute the strategy, as well as hire marketing talent and manage them, it will be more expensive.

How to find the perfect fractional CMO for your business

Looking for a fractional CMO with a lot of experience and a track record of success? look no further than Mayple. Our vetted fractional Chief Marketing Officers are here to bring their wealth of expertise to the table and help you drive your business forward. We can match you with the best option for your specific needs.