Forward March Communications

An in-depth overview of the benefits, cost-effectiveness, and strategic impact of hiring a Fractional CMO.

Have you seen this Progressive Insurance commercial? It’s a Post-it note monster following an entrepreneur around reminding him of the enormous amount of “To-Do” items that they need to take care of. Great commercial and messaging by Progressive Insurance, because this commercial visually and emotionally captured the mental burden of the unending task list that leaders deal with on a daily basis.

Visually and emotionally captured the mental burden of the unending task list that leaders deal with on a daily basis. 

It also got me thinking about how leaders might view marketing. When an area of business is not in your wheelhouse, it is viewed as one of these sticky notes. A task that continually falls to the bottom of a very long list. 

This feels like bookkeeping for me. I know I need to do it, but I dread it and not surprisingly I never get around to it. I even bought Quickbooks thinking that would help, but it only made me feel guilty for not doing it! Clearly I need to call in a pro. Send me a recommendation if you have one!

I wonder how many business leaders
feel the same way? 

Maybe they have access to a few marketing tools, and they could DIY it, but marketing becomes a sticky note and it falls to the bottom of the list every time. 

For business owners, executives, entrepreneurs, and leaders that are continually dogged by the need to DO marketing, it’s time to call in some help.

Here are three approaches to consider;

• Hire a full-time Marketing Manager;
• Hire a Marketing Agency; or
• Work with a Fractional CMO

Let’s get into it.

Hiring a full-time Marketing Manager

If you want to keep your marketing in-house and you already have a very good sense of strategy and direction this is probably a good option. I have been a marketing team of one and it can be daunting and dare I say, a bit lonely?  For me, it was a struggle to carve out the necessary time to really focus on the high-level strategy. I was so busy blocking and tackling the daily tasks that absolutely could not wait, that oftentimes strategy fell off. It wasn’t until I started hiring a team of contractors and consultants to help me did I free up the mental space for strategic planning.

Hiring a Marketing Agency

I have been a client of huge multi-national comms and PR agencies; as well as local, smaller, more nimble agencies.

What I learned was that an agency is only as good as you are at managing them.
Like most things in life,
you get out what you put in.

But it’s even more true of the agency/client relationship. At best, you have access to a full team of niche experts that can help you execute your plan. The trick is to be absolutely clear on your strategy and your deployment plans upfront. Once they know your strategy then a great agency can be a big help. 

At worst, an agency is not connected or passionate about your business, they have experienced operators at the top with much younger and less experienced marketers doing the everyday tasks on your account. Without constant care and feeding, the relationship will likely not be a good return on investment. 

Working with a Fractional CMO 

The rise of the Fractional C-Suite has been a fairly recent offering and really started to take hold in early 2023 after the Covid Pandemic.  Born from the idea that a consultant brings a helpful outsider’s perspective, plus businesses want investment and commitment. A Fractional leader offers the best of both worlds; a seasoned and experienced leader that can come alongside a team and be as invested as an employee. This blog has a great summary of how organizations can benefit by working with a Fractional CMO and I’ve listed them here: 

• Fractional CMOs are experienced marketing professionals who provide strategic guidance on a part-time or project basis.
• They offer a cost-effective solution for businesses that need high-level marketing talent without the commitment of a full-time hire.
• Fractional CMOs bring strategic marketing expertise, a fresh perspective, and innovation to help companies develop effective marketing strategies and leverage digital channels.
• They can drive business growth by developing tailored marketing strategies, leveraging digital channels, and measuring and analyzing results.
• Hiring a Fractional CMO provides businesses with access to top-tier marketing talent at a fraction of the cost of a full-time CMO

For some businesses, hiring a Fractional CMO or relying on outside expertise might represent a strategic pivot. During my tenure at the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, we adopted some of the same hiring approaches of Dell Technologies, where they actually optimize their hiring strategies to work with contractors.

Its really a smarter approach when you need an expert to hit the ground running on
Day One, and it allows businesses to hire for marketing strategy, industry experience, and marketing functional experience
all with one hire.

I actually just spoke with a leadership team today that shared their struggle to define a marketing strategy. They think they need a marketing manager to execute the daily marketing tasks, and that might serve them for the short run, but what they really need is a marketing leader that can help them with messaging and strategy and then they can go about executing on their plan. Without a strategy, they might just stay stuck with the giant Sticky Note Monster following them around forever.

If your business needs help defining your marketing and messaging strategy, I’d love to work with you. Click the Let’s Connect button or email me directly at Caroline@ForwardMarch.xyz.