The Current Case to Hire a Fractional CMO

But most CEOs need this expertise yesterday – and with the average tenure of a Chief Marketing Officer at its lowest historic levels, it’s more likely than not that, as you read this, you are once again on the hunt for the right expertise. But every day lost to recruiting, onboarding, training, and preparing the ideal full-time CMO is another day that you’re on the sidelines, hoping your mid-level marketers can take up the slack.

Fractional to the Rescue

Engaging an experienced, fractional CMO can be an ideal panacea for a company dealing with the need for accelerated growth, the unexpected vacancy of Marketing leadership, the lack of access to external best practices, or simply looking for the right experience in a right-sized engagement.

Working with a company like Chief Outsiders – with 120+ such fractional CMOs ready to help – is a great way to assure the right experience, the right insights – are ready right now. From the first interaction, a firm like ours ensures they are recommending the right CMO for your business – someone who understands your business holistically and has a deep network of partners in various disciplines that they can engage immediately.

Five Reasons Why

After three years at Chief Outsiders, I have gained a new appreciation for how the fractional nature of our business model makes perfect sense. I will break it down like this:

1. The gig economy has given rise to the concept of fractional roles and has encouraged extremely well-experienced and well-qualified Chief Marketing Officers to make themselves available for more “limited” engagements.
2. Without having to make any long-term commitments to a “CMO for life” with stock options and incentives, it’s easier to part ways with someone who is not a good fit. We operate 30 days at time and can ebb and flow, depending on the work.
3. Bringing in a seasoned CMO gives you, as a CEO or owner, a fresh perspective on your business. Fractional CMOs are looking outwardly at the market-level view and aren’t caught by the limitations of your company’s narrower lane in the universe. As fractional CMOs, we get daily exposure to current best practices globally that are transforming the marketplace.
4. A Chief Marketing Officer has the proven pedigree to lead growth. They are a critical part of the revenue machine for your organization – with a key focus on customers, digital & omnichannel strategies, best in class execution for customer acquisition, sales expansion, and margin improvement. In their universe resides the in-house marketing team, customer experience and insights, e-comm, external agencies, and public relations – working together to generate prospects, loyal customers – and revenue – for your organization. 
5. It turns out that fractional CMOs are amazing business coaches. I find that when we are engaged in a new fractional relationship, we find CEOs who are starved for leadership – eager to have a like-minded C-suite executive with whom to brainstorm, to lament, and to have as a sounding board. When it comes to talking about the vision for the business, there's really no substitute than to be able to have intelligent dialogue with someone at an equivalent level of experience.

Lastly, your Marketing team will probably thank you too. One of the best parts of the role is being able to serve as great mentors and coaches for them, not only as they grow their marketing skills, but also as they navigate their careers in these unprecedented times.

A No-Obligation Test Drive

If you’d like to hear more about how the Chief Outsiders model can help you drive your growth goals, simply visit my Calendly link to book a free consultation or reach out to me on Linkedin. Let’s talk, I’d like to find a perfect match for you with one of our CMOs!