When you’re ready to accelerate growth, it’s vital to remember that sales, marketing and customer service are just business systems to set up and manage. You want to approach sales and marketing as an investment in earnings growth, with strategic goals and key performance indicators to govern the process. Without clear intent, performance constraints and a way to measure results, you’re engaging in random acts of marketing and hoping for the best.
You engage a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer to keep the focus on business objectives, rather than wasting time and money on pet projects, fad tactics and busy work.
A Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) serves alongside the President, CFO or GM as a co-entrepreneur and/or member of the executive team. They are responsible for creating and refining a company’s sales, marketing or more accurately the commercialization system. However, few small businesses can justify a full-time CMO.
A Fractional CMO splits their time between several companies to fulfil this strategic role cost-effectively. Of course, cost-effective is a relative term that depends on your situation and growth objectives. The more you invest in growth, the greater your risk and need for strategic support.
Your Fractional CMO becomes your partner in business development. You engage them in a part-time or fractional leadership capacity. The size of the fraction depends on your goals, but a typical CMO engagement ranges from 2 to 10+ hours a week. Your CMO may work on-site, virtually or some combination of the two to help you and your extended team design, build and grow your business. For a more detailed introduction, please read our article Do I Need A Fractional CMO?
It’s important to determine if you need a Fractional CMO or if a Marketing Coach is more appropriate. The main difference is speed and cost. You engage a Fractional CMO when you have more to invest, higher risk, want to go faster and require a more hands-on approach. Marketing Coaches are ideal for situations with smaller budgets, or where guidance and direction are the primary goals.
