JoshIf your small business is transitioning to a medium enterprise, you need to hire a consultant to help you overcome the new challenges that you will face. A full-time marketing consultant costs much, and you do not want to spend much on this position.
The best thing to do is to hire a part-time marketing consultant who has the expertise you need, and you will just have to spend a fraction of the cost. This is why people also refer to this consultant as a fractional chief marketing officer (CMO).
A fractional CMO can help you chart a new direction for your marketing initiatives. Learn more about fractional marketing and fractional CMOs as you read on.
What Is Fractional Marketing?
Fractional marketing refers to a short-term marketing plan by a part-time CMO that yields long-term results for a company. This is what people call the work of a fractional CMO, who provides expert advice to the company executives and leads them toward better marketing results.
Fractional marketing helps the company see business insights that ordinary marketers cannot. Because of the extensive experience of a fractional CMO, they can provide valuable leadership and marketing direction for the company. Most of the time, they fine-tune or overhaul an existing marketing campaign.
According to Digitalauthority.me, a fractional CMO still has the responsibilities of a traditional in-house CMO. But because they are a part-timer, you can have access to expert knowledge without the commitment and cost associated with a full-time marketing consultant.
You should not settle for a mediocre marketing consultant when starting a new business venture, and you cannot afford to commit mistakes in charting the course of your marketing campaigns. That is why you need the services of a fractional CMO.
How Can a Fractional CMO Help a Small Business?
A fractional CMO can help small businesses through affordable professional marketing auditing and planning. They can solve marketing problems and reach goals in a short time.
In more detail, a fractional CMO can help small businesses through the following:
1. Leadership
The best fractional CMOs have leadership roles in marketing guilds and have reached certain success in their professional careers and self-established businesses. This rich knowledge and success in the field of marketing enable them to provide valuable insights and leadership direction for companies needing professional services.
It is challenging for small businesses to hire part-time employees, let alone a full-time CMO. Nevertheless, they can benefit much from hiring one fractional CMO. They can get the professional marketing services they need without breaking the bank.
2. Marketing Audit
A fractional CMO’s first task is to conduct a marketing audit to evaluate your business operations and strategies. Analyzing your marketing campaigns will help identify areas for improvement or overhauling.
A marketing audit may include reports from sales and other related departments to see factors that affect reaching goals and the company vision. It reviews all campaigns conducted, including media channels.
With this marketing audit, you will know whether you are hitting the marketing targets. A marketing audit can provide insights that lead to planning breakthroughs for the company.
3. Marketing Campaigns
One of the primary responsibilities of a fractional CMO is to create marketing campaigns. These include marketing audits, market research, plans, and marketing strategies. They can also include a timeline and budget for management to know how long it will take to see results and how much management must spend.
Because a fractional CMO works only part-time, you cannot demand immediate reports. But most fractional CMOs understand the struggles your company is experiencing and are willing to provide quick insights and advice that you can readily apply to your small business, especially during a business crisis.
The fractional CMO presents the campaign reports, and you have to discuss with them the resources needed to hit the targets.
4. Marketing Training for the New Team
A fractional CMO will not be around for long in your company. Thus, they create secure data files that outline the training plans, seminar content, and workshop schedules for the marketing team.
These can also include team-building activities that aim to improve the core competencies and skills of the staff to execute marketing campaigns successfully. It will be helpful if your whole marketing team gets along with the fractional CMO so that building relationships is smoother.
The full-time marketing staff will eventually implement the marketing campaigns once the fractional CMO leaves the company. So they need to undergo rigorous training while the fractional CMO is still around.
5. Marketing Troubleshooting
There will be times when the company faces troubles. Being able to address the needs of the time and creating immediate solutions are critical duties of a fractional CMO.
We have seen businesses shift to digital marketing and ecommerce to survive the lockdowns. Now, those restrictions are loosened, and fractional CMOs face new demands to develop new business marketing solutions that neither go back to the traditional method nor focus much on advanced technologies.
A fusion of old strategies and advanced technologies is the norm nowadays to accommodate customers who can go out once again. Hire a fractional CMO who is quick to solve problems and is adept in business troubleshooting. That way, you can address critical issues in the company and apply remedies immediately in the best ways possible.
Final Words
Fractional marketing works best for small companies transitioning to bigger enterprises. Hiring a fractional CMO enables you to get professional marketing services at a fraction of the cost of a full-time consultant. You can learn how successful businesspeople run their marketing departments with an expert on board.
With tons of marketing insights and advice, you can look at your business from a fresh perspective and gain a new vision for your company. However, be ready for changes or complete overhauls in your marketing department. Embrace change in your company as you welcome a fractional CMO.