Marketing is a key part of your B2B brand and therefore it is something that you need to make sure that you do right. You may be lucky enough to have a marketing expert working within your business already, which helps to put you ahead. However, this is not true for every single B2B business.You may feel that the only choice that is open to you is to hire someone who is an expert in marketing to help put you ahead. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. If you cannot afford to hire someone to work on your marketing full-time, then you may want to consider a fractional CMO.

What is a fractional CMO?  

CMO stands for Chief Marketing Officer. This is someone who acts as an outsourced marketing executive, someone who performs the function of a CMO but does not commit to your marketing to your brand full-time.   

Thanks to the sheer volume of experience and skills that a fractional CMO can bring, they can perform a wide variety of tasks within your business. The types of things that you can expect a fractional CMO to do include:  

• Acting as a leader to the marketing team  

• Optimising your online presence   

• Building your marketing infrastructure  

• Creating high-quality onboarding processes for your clients   

• Helping you to develop your client loyalty programme  

• Allowing you to figure out your brand and trademarks  

• Developing organic search marketing and paid search campaigns  

• Hiring new marketing team members  

What skills should a CMO have?  

If you are thinking about bringing a fractional CMO into your business, then you need to make sure that you have someone who is going to bring you everything that you need.   

A good quality fractional CMO will be someone who has experience in what they set out to do. They know what it takes to help your brand to grow and they can guide you through the process.   

Another key thing that a fractional CMO can do for you is to ensure that you have a team that can move towards your end goal, with them as the leader.   

This includes thinking about the day-to-day functions that your marketing team should carry out, as well as those much longer goals that you want to achieve in the future. They should be someone that your existing marketing team (or the team that they create with you) feel that they can trust in what they say. They should also be able to gain (and keep) the trust of other key stakeholders and roles that are within your business.  

Why it is a good idea for you  

If you are trying to save money as much as possible, then you may want to take the time to consider whether or not a fractional CMO is going to be a good idea for you and whether or not you want to invest in this service for your brand.   

The main thing to consider is that a fractional CMO is going to provide you with experience and knowledge that you simply won’t have. They understand marketing in general and they can apply the things that they know to your marketing plans.   

Not only can they help you to make plans, but a fractional CMO is also going to have the understanding and ability to then take their knowledge and use it if something should crop up that is out of the ordinary or that is not expected.   

A fractional CMO can provide you with advice, advice that they take from a variety of sources and that can then be applied in a variety of ways.

This can prove to be invaluable and is something that many people say they didn’t expect would come with the service.   

One of the best things that many people find with a fractional CMO is that they come at a fraction of the cost that it would cost to hire someone full-time in the role. Because you only pay for the time that you need them, you are saving yourself money in the long term.   

When you weigh this up against the benefits of what they can bring, all of a sudden the idea of having a fractional CMO Is going to make a whole lot more sense.   

If you are wondering how to make the next big steps in marketing your B2B business, then why not think about whether or not a fractional CMO is going to be the right path for you to take? They are going to be there to support and guide you through the process of marketing and ensuring that you can successfully bring in new clients and grow your business for the now and for the future too.     

Take a look at some of my other blogs you may be interested in:

Guide to Building a Marketing Budget with a Fractional CMO

The Fractional Marketing Director Guide

Need help?

If you would like help with your marketing then bringing on a marketing consultant with a fresh pair of eyes can make all the difference. I work with B2B businesses and professional service firms in London, Kent, UK and Europe as well as specialising as a Legal Marketing Consultant. Please get in touch or book a free 30-minute consultation.