
Recently, it’s become more popular to hire a fractional CMO. Many see outsourcing as a viable way to bring expert ski...
A fractional CMO, also known as a CMO-for-hire is a part-time executive consultant hired by mid-sized companies to set up a strong foundation for marketing success. This resource brings in the experience of a CMO without you having to pay the high cost of a full-time resource. Fractional CMOs have decades of experience, knowledge and skills leading marketing teams across the country. They help you lead and grow your marketing capabilities and initiatives on a part-time basis.
The first thing the fractional CMO will do is evaluate your current marketing strategies and initiatives as well as create your 12 month marketing roadmap. They will guide your team through execution of marketing tactics such as: marketing automation, email marketing, organic search, paid search, branding, PR, and content marketing. The fractional CMO will setup and monitor marketing KPIs in order to optimize campaigns.
Without a marketing leader, it’s likely you are conducting random acts of marketing. If you wonder if your team is executing on the best tactics that generate the highest ROIs, there is likely a need for a fractional CMO. Companies of all sizes leverage fractional CMO experts in order to optimize their marketing spend, focus on the right marketing channels and tactics and create a proper process for measuring marketing ROI.
The overall hourly rates vary wildly depending on the industry you’re in, the agency you work with and the specialized nature of your product. In general though, most fractional CMO groups charge $250-$500 an hour. If you work in healthcare or fintech rates will be on the higher end.
A Virtual CMO is the same as a Fractional CMO. Different industries adopted different terms for the same function over time. These terms then made it into the public domain. That’s why you’re now stuck with Googling “virtual CMO”, “CMO for Hire”, “Fractional CMO”, “Outsourced CMO” or even “Fractional Marketing Director.” All these terms refer to the same function: a marketing executive who comes in to assess your current company, marketing efforts and technology stack and then creates a plan of action on how to optimize your marketing spend.
Fractional services refers to the practice of hiring an expert consultant to fulfill a specific need you have within your organization without the overhead of a full time resource. This is an executive that works with multiple companies on a part-time basis, usually for a few hours up to 20 hours a week.
An interim CMO is slightly different than a fractional CMO – even if a fractional CMO can fullfil an interim CMO role as well. An interim CMO is an executive brought in, usually full-time, for a short period of time (less than six months) to manage a marketing department while a company is searching for a permanent replacement. Generally, companies will either temporarily promote an existing resource into this role or contract a fractional CMO company to fulfil this role so that a marketing department can continue delivering on specific tasks while the search for a permanent replacement is ongoing.
A marketing consultant can help a company in a variety of ways over time. That includes go-to-market strategy, social media, SEO, PPC or content strategy. Marketing consultants will typically focus on a subject area, or division within a marketing department, and optimize their process, spend, and tactics in order to deliver a positive ROI for an organization.
Have questions about bringing on your next fractional CMO? Schedule a consultation with a DAP CMO today and find out what we can do for your business.
We have an expert team of CMO specialists with an extensive track record of success. Our CMOs-for-hire have worked with more than 100 companies over the last 5 years.
Our fractional CMOs aim to provide a full marketing strategy within the first 1-2 months of working together.
This year alone, Digital Authority Partners was named the: Gold Winner – Best Search Engine Optimization Agency, one of the Top B2B Companies by Clutch, an Expertise Best Agency, and one of UpCity’s Top Digital Agencies in the USA.
We provide forward-thinking fractional CMO experts who are well-versed in digital channels for the 21st century.
We doubled the revenue for a leading Chicago-based mobile app development company. The fractional CMO was in charge of leading the firm’s online rebranding initiative and conversion optimization.
We helped an at-home health testing company grow online visitors from 1,000 to 100,000 per month by prioritizing marketing spend on organic search growth.
Our fractional CMOs helped a personal savings company define its go to market strategy, budget, and market positioning. The company closed a $35 million Series A funding round within a year of working with us.
Our fractional CMO experts helped a custom art online retailer grow its monthly revenue from $20k to $600k by managing their paid social, PPC, and marketing analytics teams.
Our CMO-for-Hire successfully drove $20M + in online-enabled sales for a 98 year old manufacturer who had only launched their e-commerce website in 2019.
We prioritized and managed the PPC strategy for a well-established educational institution with multiple locations around the country leading to an increase of 82% in new enrollments.
Recently, it’s become more popular to hire a fractional CMO. Many see outsourcing as a viable way to bring expert ski...
Hiring a full-time Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) can be quite expensive. If you are a mid-size company, you might not...
Choosing the perfect fractional CMO is crucial to the success of your business. If you hire a fractional CMO that doe...
But organizations of all sizes have found recruiting a Fractional CMO to be one of the most impactful investments they’ve made for the future of the company. The importance of strong marketing cannot be overstated.
If your marketing fails to deliver the adequate results, no one will ever hear about your amazing solution. The goal of marketing is to be “top-of-mind” for your warm customer leads. Without strong marketing, your rightful customers will choose competitor with better marketing, even if that competitor offers an inferior solution.
In short, marketing is far too important for you to try to “wing it.” If you care about providing a high-quality solution to as many customers as possible, you owe it not only to your organizational stakeholders, but also to the customers themselves, to get your marketing house in order. For many organizations, especially small and medium-sized ones, the most effective and affordable way to do this is to enlist the services of a Fractional CMO.
To understand what a Fractional CMO is, let’s first define “CMO.” A CMO is a chief marketing officer. It’s a C-level executive position that assumes final responsibility for all marketing activities undertaken by the organization that employs them. Large organizations may have a full-time CMO to complement the efforts of the CEO, CFO, COO, and/or CTO.
Smaller organizations, however, may discover that they don’t have the budget for a full-time CMO. But that doesn’t mean the job is any less necessary for them. In fact, for smaller brands with less name recognition, the motivation is even stronger to market effectively.
This is where the Fractional CMO comes in. A fractional CMO is essentially a “CMO for hire.” Rather than being a highly-paid full-time employee, a Fractional CMO is a outside c-level executive that a company hires on a temporary basis.
A Fractional CMO might work for a company for anywhere from three months to one year or longer.
In other words, a Fractional CMO provides strategic marketing services to an organization without the need for that organization to commit to a full-time employee salary for multiple years.
You can see why this is an attractive deal to a smaller organization with fewer resources to spare on luxuries like C-level executives.
Just like the CMO must wear many hats within the marketing department of a large organization, a Fractional CMO assumes ultimate responsibility for the marketing strategy for the company that hires him/her. They usually don’t get into the nitty-gritty of writing copy, running digital marketing campaigns, running marketing reports, etc. Instead, the buck stops with the Fractional CMO on the most important strategy marketing activities, including:
A CMO for hire can have a substantial impact on the direction of the company. By leveling up the company’s marketing efforts, and arming the marketing team with the tools they need to continue a pattern of success, a Fractional CMO can completely transform an organization’s ability to create awareness around its brand. Examples of the lasting impact a fractional CMO include:
Lean organizations might be opposed to expanding the team. Adding another C-level executive to the team may not be appealing. Nevertheless, a CMO for hire could be just what a small or medium sized organization needs to put their brand on track for success. Here are some signs that your organization might need a Fractional CMO.
The reason Fractional CMOs exist to provide a service that most companies find too difficult to do on their own or fine the right people with the right skills. Some of the advantages of working with a Fractional CMO include: