What is a Fractional CMO & what do they do?

Perana Viosa — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 10:45:00 +0000

What is a Fractional CMO & what
do they do?

You might have heard about outsourcing finance executives, but Fractional CMOs are growing in popularity across many industries too.

What is a Fractional CMO?

A Fractional CMO, much like any Fractional Executive, is an outsourced executive for your business. We’re specifically talking about the Chief Marketing Officer here, but you could outsource other experienced professionals for a fraction (see the link now?) of the cost of appointing them in-house.

Let’s face it, you want the best for your business so it can thrive in good times and stand strong in the inevitable hard times, but access to top talent sometimes costs more than you could hope to pay in even your first five years — if you make it that far.

Why would you need a Fractional CMO?

Marketing is one of the most complex departments within any business organisation. Technology continues to evolve more rapidly every day, and it places increasing pressure on marketing teams to stay updated with what goes on both inside and outside the organisation at all times. If you know or understand a little about Marketing, that’s a good start but you’re already behind your competitors who have a dedicated Marketing team.

Three reasons our clients choose to work with our Fractional CMOs:

Accessing the highest possible quality of talent available for a limited budget (perfect for startups and small businesses)
Entering a niche market which leaves less room for trial and error, which is usually how juniors learn.
Scaling up the business without exponentially increasing overheads.

What does a Fractional CMO do?

A Fractional CMO does the same thing an in-house CMO would do: lead and take responsibility for your entire marketing budget and operation. Because it’s still quite a new position in many countries, there are some myths and misunderstandings — let’s talk about this:

Myth: Fractional CMOs are expensive.
Reality: To appoint an in-house CMO your cost to company (CTC) would range between R120k-R170k monthly (US$7-10k monthly). That’s expensive. Our rates, depending on what you need us to handle for you, start from R7k monthly (roughly $375).

Myth: Fractional CMOs are hard to find.

Reality: You’re reading this article right now, which means you’re only a few clicks away from finding the right Fractional CMO for your business.

Myth: Fractional CMOs won’t understand your business deeply enough.

Reality: Contrary to what most people believe, Fractional CMOs are among the most versatile and agile professionals in the world. Here at Perana Viosa, we have ongoing R&D operations that all of our clients automatically benefit from, and our experience covers almost every industry you can think of.

Fractional CMOs drive strategy

A Fractional CMO will usually start off the working relationship by asking you about the context of your business challenges and goals. Finding out what matters to you and how you measure it is at the heart of how we run things here at Perana Viosa. Once we know all the ingredients, like what you care about and what will take your business further, we engineer your individualised recipe for marketing success.

Fractional CMOs are resourceful

It’s not always about who has the most money or the biggest network. Sure, those things can be useful, but what really counts is resourcefulness: using what little might sometimes be available. Our team explores more efficient and effective ways of configuring your resources, including updating your SOPs and streamlining marketing tasks to help your employees level up without spiking the CTC.

A CMO with a personal background of resourcefulness is a keeper.

Fractional CMOs pay attention

It’s almost too easy to get lost in the world of metrics. Not everything that can be measured should be measured, because it costs the business valuable resources that can be better allocated to revenue-generating activities. Data tracking and analysis requires human intelligence, server space to gather and store data, and time to interpret and represent the data (not to mention tool costs).

A Fractional CMO knows that the job is to pay attention to everything that can influence the way that the business generates revenue and increased affinity in the market. Brand-building is important, however it’s also the CEO’s responsibility to drive brand, enabling the CMO to leverage brand strength in driving revenue.

If a Fractional CMO can’t tell you how their strategy is going to help you hit your goals or overcome your challenges, it’s a red flag. RUN.

Fractional CMOs care

Paying attention and caring are in fact two different qualities, both necessary. When you choose a CMO you’re choosing someone who’s going to be responsible for the budget you make available.

You’re telling that person to conduct the orchestra that is your business, through the marketing operation which enables sales and affects every other section and department down the line. If you ever feel that your Fractional CMO doesn’t care about you or your business you need to reconsider your agreement with them.

How do you know if someone cares? You’ll know, alright. You’ll get that feeling of being speechless at times, when that person reaches out or updates you and includes details of what could happen, how, why, what it means for you and your business, or when they take the initiative to do something before you can ask them to.

What a Fractional CMO is and does should be synonymous, and at all times aligned with what you want for your business. Working with one is a way to access years of experience that you would otherwise pay 30x as much to bring in-house. Our advice is to offer internships and junior positions in-house to work with our Fractional CMOs, to also help train your staff to look after your business if ever you need to dial down your dependence on our seniors.

Two to three years of working with us will help you build a truly resilient marketing operation and team to rely on, no matter what comes your way. Get in touch if you’d like to take the first step toward that this month.

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What is a Fractional CMO & what do they do?