The other common direction is when a business hands these critical responsibilities to a more junior person from within their organization, often someone who is an experienced marketing professional. While these individuals will have many strengths, such as a wealth of institutional knowledge, they often don’t have broader expertise across the full marketing ecosystem and how it all works together. They also often lack an executive leadership background, which is the other key part of the CMO’s job function and another way they contribute to the success of a business. This newly appointed team member will start tackling tasks such as posting to social media, writing blog posts, and managing campaigns. But larger key responsibilities, such as creating a robust and data-driven end-to-end marketing strategy for the business, are often overwhelming and can be significantly over their heads.

Why Critical Business Initiatives Need The Right Leadership

Implementing new marketing initiatives can be a long and complex process. A rebrand alone can take 8 to 12 months, and a product marketing campaign can take 6 months to a year to execute if it is done well. Transforming your marketing technology stack can take several months to a year or more depending on the project and your capabilities.

What is interesting is that there always seems to be massive market demand for organizational marketing enhancements, but the average tenure for a chief marketing officer continues to shrink. In today’s market the average time CMO's is typically only 40 months. So how is this impacting brands?

• Inconsistent brand & marketing messaging
• Reduced team morale and stability
• Slower progress on long-term goals and key business initiatives
• Weakened relationships with external partners
• Difficulty aligning with other C-suite leaders
• Loss of return from marketing investments

If you’re experiencing any of these various pains due to a void in seasoned marketing leadership, don’t despair. There is a different kind of marketing leader available who can step in quickly, deliver results and move on when the job is done. Enter the fractional CMO.

What Is a Fractional CMO?

A fractional CMO is a seasoned marketing executive who steps into an organization on a temporary or part-time basis to provide critical leadership and expertise. They offer the same strategic services and insight as permanent hires but come at a lower cost and with added flexibility. These part-time marketing experts are often responsible for leading marketing teams as well as providing strategic marketing guidance across key initiatives aimed at achieving growth goals. They can take your current challenges and turn them into opportunities, and your opportunities into captured gains. They can also lead your existing marketing resources to new levels of sophistication.

Why Are Organizations Adjusting Their Approach To Talent?

The trend toward the fractional marketing executive resource model all started in the early 2000’s. In recent years, the use of fractional leaders has become more common, expanding into other business functions such as finance, operations, project management, IT, human resources, as well as data & analytics. The rise of remote work and digital business tools has also played a huge role in this shift, allowing these fractional leaders to cross geographical boundaries while also growing the pool of talent available to organizations.

The rise of fractional leaders speaks to a broader shift in how businesses are thinking about growth and talent. The focus is now about getting the right expertise at the right time, leveraging experienced talent when you need it without being encumbered by high overhead. Traditionally, only large organizations could afford full-time seasoned executives. The fractional model allows even small and mid-sized companies to tap into a higher caliber of marketing expertise during critical growth phases or when trying to deploy significant enhancements to their marketing sophistication.

Example: Let’s say your business is a technology startup that’s recently secured Series A funding. While your team has a wealth engineering experience, you lack go-to-market expertise for a successful launch. Instead of building out an entire marketing team and hiring a CMO to lead it, which will take time and consume a good chunk of your capital, you can bring on a fractional CMO to devise and execute a go-to-market strategy. Later, you can reassess your long-term marketing needs with a fresh perspective.

How To Successfully Bring On A Fractional CMO

The success of a fractional CMO largely depends on selecting the right leader who can integrate quickly, adapt to your team’s needs, and deliver results while also creating minimal friction. Finding the right candidate isn’t always easy. The market is flooded with freelancers, one-trick consultants, staffing firms, and unemployed middle managers repackaging themselves as fractional executives. Remember, the key benefit of the fractional CMO model is access to the highest level of expertise but at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire.

Once you find the right fractional CMO for your business, you’ll need to integrate them into your organization. Eliminating communication gaps, especially when they’re working remotely, is essential for effective decision-making and collaboration with your new fractional CMO. It’s also important to align priorities and build trust with your existing team members, especially in fast-paced environments that require urgent decisions to transform your marketing ROI. But in most cases the cost-efficiency and flexibility of a fractional CMO outweighs the risk of creating some temporary organizational friction. After all, isn’t that the case when hiring any new critical team member into your organization? Remember the end goal, transforming your marketing engine into an efficient and effective tool for growth.

Are You at the Fractional CMO Tipping Point?

Just lost your Chief Marketing Officer or another senior marketing leader? Whatever your situation, bringing in the right fractional marketing leader can be a game-changer, improving your sophistication and overall ROI. Click here to learn more.