When Should I Hire a Fractional CMO?

As an entrepreneur or business leader, you may reach a point where you realize your company needs more strategic marketing leadership, but you aren’t yet ready to commit to hiring a costly full-time CMO. This is an ideal time to consider bringing on a fractional CMO.

A fractional CMO is an experienced marketing executive who works part-time, outsourced to provide strategic guidance and leadership to your marketing initiatives and team. They can be your right-hand marketing strategist without requiring the large investment or commitment of adding a salaried CMO position.

There are a few key signs it may be time to engage a fractional CMO:

Many early-stage companies focus heavily on marketing tactics like content creation, social media posting, email campaigns, and advertising. While important, you can risk losing sight of the bigger-picture marketing strategy if you don’t have an experienced leader guiding the vision. A fractional CMO brings that high-level strategic perspective. They can assess your current initiatives, identify new growth opportunities, and map out a comprehensive marketing strategy aligned to your business goals.

As your company grows, what worked early on from a marketing perspective likely won’t continue to be effective. You need to scale your customer acquisition strategy, refine messaging and positioning, identify new marketing channels, and expand the types of content you produce. Rather than figuring this all out through trial and error, a fractional CMO has the experience to guide your marketing efforts through new rapid growth phases.

Many startups bootstrap their marketing until they gain enough traction to attract outside investment. If you’ve recently raised a seed round or Series A, it’s an excellent time to consider a fractional CMO to show investors you are putting resources into strategic marketing. The fractional CMO can help strategically invest that capital into initiatives that will fuel growth. Their leadership also demonstrates to investors your commitment to professionalizing your marketing.

Especially if you are a first-time entrepreneur, the nuances of marketing strategy may feel unfamiliar. An experienced fractional CMO provides a mentorship role, imparting knowledge about brand positioning, identifying target customer segments, choosing marketing channels, using market research to guide decisions, and staying on top of digital marketing trends. Unlike just hiring an agency to support specific tactics, a fractional CMO provides comprehensive guidance and big-picture thinking.

There are many advantages to augmenting your team with a seasoned fractional marketing leader. Some top benefits include:

An unbiased fractional CMO can objectively evaluate the strengths and gaps in your current marketing initiatives to provide strategic recommendations. Their outside perspective provides unique insights you may miss if you are heads-down on execution.

While you maintain focus on core operations and product, the CMO quarterbacks marketing initiatives. The fractional arrangement gives you an experienced leader to provide oversight, rally the team, streamline processes, and ensure alignment across sales and marketing.

Small, growing companies often pour effort into tactics without much strategic vision. A fractional CMO lifts the view from the weeds to take a high-level approach considering your brand positioning, buyer personas, addressable market size, competitor dynamics, customer lifecycle, and growth opportunities.

A fractional CMO focuses squarely on optimizing marketing full-time. This allows them to be highly proficient in modern customer acquisition strategies, channels, and trends— expertise you likely don’t have if you wear many hats as a founder or GM. They bring strategic rigor and operational excellence to marketing processes.

The outsourced fractional arrangement offers greater flexibility—you can scale their hours up or down based on needs. You also avoid the cost of a full salary, benefits package, and equity grants typical of hiring a CMO. The fractional model is attractive for startups with dynamic needs and uncertain futures.

Not all fractional CMOs are created equal. As you evaluate potential fractional executives, here are some key considerations:

Ideally, your fractional CMO has previously worked within your specific industry. For example, B2B SaaS marketing has very different dynamics versus consumer eCommerce. Deep vertical experience allows them to apply lessons from past success and avoid repeat mistakes.

Some fractional executives are more hands-on “doers”, while others focus more on strategic leadership. Assess whether they have previously led significant initiatives and teams, versus just executing themselves. You want someone capable of quarterbacking marketing from 30,000 feet.

Any additions to your leadership team can impact company culture—for better or worse. Ensure your fractional CMO aligns culturally and works collaboratively across other groups like product, engineering, and sales. Verify their work style and values gel with the team.

The best CMOs pair strategic thinking with the ability to execute operationally. Ask potential fractional CMOs about specific programs they have ideated and implemented successfully in past roles. Probe their track record, taking strategies from ideas through to measurable results.

What particular areas of marketing does the fractional CMO specialize in — brand positioning, demand generation, product marketing, advertising, research? Based on your most pressing needs, pick someone with competencies in those domains. A generalist may spread themselves too thin.

Once you have selected your fractional marketing leader, how do you formally establish the engagement? Key steps include:

Be very clear about priorities and KPIs for the fractional CMO. What are the most pressing problems marketing needs to solve? What key results do you expect over their tenure? Clear goals and alignment set the foundation for a successful engagement.

Given the part-time nature, you must establish expected weekly hours and the overall tenure. Many fractional CMO engagements run 6-12 months. You can renew if the relationship is yielding a positive impact.

Schedule a kickoff where the fractional executive meets extended teams— not just marketing but also sales, product, and CX, among others. Detail roles/responsibilities and sketch a 90-day plan. Circulate a role overview to the broader company.

Agree to a bi-weekly or monthly check-in routine. This ensures the fractional CMO doesn’t go too long without connecting to key stakeholders, mitigating potential misalignment.

If your fractional CMO doesn’t live locally, define any expectations around in-person trips to your office. Finding the right balance of onsite immersion versus remote work is important.

Adding an experienced fractional chief marketing officer allows high-growth and early-stage companies to bring in strategic marketing leadership without overextending budgets and equity. The fractional model provides flexibility while gaining the guidance of a seasoned CMO. Before moving forward, carefully assess priorities, cultural fit, and competencies during selection. Once engaged, take steps to formally onboard them, including defining goals, integrating with teams, and establishing ongoing cadence. You can take your startup marketing initiatives to the next level with the right fractional executive engaged.

If your company needs a SaaS fractional CMO, consider working with Peter Geisheker. Peter has been providing Fractional CMO services for over 20 years and has expertise in growth tactics and conversion optimization. View Peter’s Fractional CMO case studies.