What is a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)?

A Fractional CMO is a part-time, contract-based executive who provides embedded marketing leadership to a business. The Fractional CMO provides the same strategic guidance as a full-time CMO, overseeing all aspects of growing the brand, representing the voice of the customer, designing and/or optimizing the customer journey, and launching revenue-driving marketing initiatives, without the cost and overhead of a full-time hire.

Why should I hire a Fractional CMO?

If you are looking to expand your business, a Fractional CMO can offer in-depth marketing expertise, a fresh perspective on executing your vision, the knowledge and experience to design marketing infrastructure, and the ability to articulate your brand at every stage of the customer journey. A Fractional CMO can also provide hands-on leadership and mentorship of your in-house team, helping to develop their expertise and scope in line with your business’s growth.

How do I know when I am ready to hire a Fractional CMO?

There are various inflection points in your business where hiring a Fractional CMO could be beneficial. Here are a few examples:

You need to clarify your strategic direction. Perhaps you have an existing marketing strategy but are finding that it’s not serving your long-term vision for the company. Or, you’re at the beginning phases of contemplating a marketing strategy that can accelerate your business’s growth. Regardless of the maturity of your marketing approach, a Fractional CMO can design marketing objectives and KPIs that are built to serve your top-level business objectives to ensure alignment between marketing and overall business strategy.

You are navigating a new growth phase. You have developed a great product and revenue engine, possibly through a scrappy, bootstrapped approach. Now, you are ready to scale your business and have recognized the need for brand and marketing investment to ensure that your company stands out amidst the competition and fosters strong, enduring relationships with your customers. If you're considering how to take your growth to the next level, it may be time to bring in an experienced marketing executive to develop sustainable, revenue-generating marketing infrastructure for your business. And if you’re not quite ready for a full-time CMO, a Fractional CMO will provide the experience and perspective your business needs, for a fraction of the cost.

Your business’s growth has decelerated. Growth can plateau for a variety of reasons, including market changes, rising competition, lack of innovation, and poor customer retention. A Fractional CMO can examine your customer funnel and provide focused recommendations to spur business growth.

You need guidance through a specific business transformation. An experienced marketing leader can help you navigate major business transformations, such as launching a new product, changing or expanding your distribution strategy, rebranding, and restructuring your organization. It’s likely that your Fractional CMO has led a team through the exact transformation you are contemplating or facing, and can help you look around corners to lessen the impact on your customers and internal team.

Your existing leadership is transitioning. While a Fractional CMO can help build marketing infrastructure from the ground up, they can also step in to provide turnkey support during existing leadership transitions or gaps. The Fractional CMO not only provides strategic guidance to business leaders, but also acts as a leader and mentor to marketing resources and external agency partners.

What focus areas can we address in the first three months of a Fractional CMO engagement?

Phase 1: The first month of the Fractional CMO engagement focuses on discovery and recommendations. Cara Verwholt will examine your business goals and current performance through stakeholder interviews and hands-on analysis. She will also review your customer profile(s), competitors, brand guidelines and messaging, customer journey through owned and paid channels, and marketing technology infrastructure. Cara takes these inputs and summarizes observations and recommendations in a strategy deck so that we can align on the key business priorities for marketing to address. Finally, Cara will provide a working roadmap to guide initiative prioritization and implementation.

Phase 2: Months two and three then focus on strategy development for the key items identified in phase 1. Focus areas can include, but are not limited to the following:

• Brand identity

• Marketing objectives & KPIs

• Marketing budget allocations

• Customer acquisition channel plan (organic & paid)

• Creative plan; agency evaluation & onboarding

• Specific campaign or product launch plans

• Customer retention and lifetime value initiatives

• Sales team enablement

• Marketing technology infrastructure

Ongoing: Following the initial three-month engagement, we focus on strategy implementation and ongoing leadership. This can include, but is not limited to:

• Marketing team leadership & mentoring

• Process development

• Agency negotiations, onboarding & management

• In-house resource identification & onboarding 

• Marketing technology evaluations, vendor negotiations & onboarding

• Implementation guidance:

  • Audience segmentation and targeting

  • Content development

  • Website & customer journey optimization

  • Search engine optimization (SEO)

  • CRM

  • Paid media channel and creative testing

  • Customer retention

  • Marketing measurement and analytics

• Strategic partnership evaluation

• Weekly team calls

• Bi-monthly or monthly progress reports
  

How long does a typical Fractional CMO engagement last?

Our initial engagement lasts for three months and then renews on a month-to-month basis. While our typical engagements span from six to twelve months, the ideal length of engagement will depend on your business's needs and budget. In the first month of our engagement (discovery phase), we will propose an ideal overall length. However, after the first three months, you will have the flexibility to terminate our engagement by providing a 30-day written notice.