Guide to Selecting a Fractional B2B CMO or Marketing Director
How do you know if you need a fractional CMO or marketing director for your B2B business? This guide to selecting fractional CMO or Marketing director is designed to help you navigate what a fractional marketing leader is, how they can contribute to your growth, and the best way to select and get started.
Why hire a Fractional CMO or Marketing Director?
The Growing Demand for Fractional Leadership
Three recent trends have really accelerated the demand for fractional marketing leadership, especially in the B2B and SME space. They were outlined nicely by Art Saxby in this Forbes article but below is a quick summary.
- Rent not buy – post COVID interest rates rises and slowing economic growth has tightened the supply of cheap money for many businesses. Companies have shifted their understanding that you don’t need to buy all your assets. There are some really good assets that would be better to rent, including some leadership functions.
- Access top talent – the rise of the gig economy coupled with greater acceptance of remote working has opened the doors for companies to access highly experienced marketers, anywhere in the world, who otherwise would be too expensive or not available on a full-time employee basis. It also provides flexibility. As you undergo a change or pivot in your business, why not quickly tap into somebody who’s done it before.
- All killer, no filler – my favourite reason for hiring a fractional marketing leader is the ability to concentrate down and pay just for the work you need. How often can you say you’re spending 100% of your time on productive tasks aligned to your personal or corporate goals? With a fractional Chief Marketing Officer or Marketing Director, you only pay for the highest value part of the job, without getting sucked into the day-to-day fire drills and politics.
Step 1: Identify your business needs
The first step in selecting a B2B fractional CMO or Marketing Director is to understand your business needs. Where are the gaps and what do you want to achieve. There are many ways to conduct a quick marketing audit. Below is an outline of the basic key steps needed before hiring a fractional marketing leader.
Assessing Your Current Marketing Challenges
Take some time to evaluate existing marketing efforts. Identify where there may be gaps either in skills, experience, or outcomes. Often a fractional marketing leader will be able to address some, possibly all, of these challenges.
Setting Clear Goals and Expectations
Define what success looks like, whether it’s lead generation, brand visibility, or market expansion into new or adjacent geographies and industries. Discuss the importance of the marketing outcomes in the wider context of the business mission and goals, and how marketing key performance indicators (KPIs) can help assess progress.
Understanding the Scope of the Role
It’s worth noting there are differences between a CMO and a Marketing Director. Often for smaller organisations these can become blurred or blended but thinking about the outcomes you’re seeking and the skills and experiences that are likely to be required will help make a better selection. Marketing Week has a good overview on the differences between these two roles. Many CMOs of course have rising through the ranks of marketing director or marketing VP and have a bias in their functional skill sets or experiences (for example being a ‘brand marketer’ Vs a ‘demand generation/growth marketing’ Vs a ‘digital marketer’).
There are some good online resources to help guide you in conducting your own internal audit, such as HubSpot who have a great beginners guide here. Also, many fractional marketing leaders offer a free, no-obligation consultation, using their experience to understand your position, ask the right questions, and determine a potential fit which should be quick and involve much less effort.
Step 2: What to Look for in a Fractional CMO or Marketing Director
When bringing in a fractional marketing director or CMO, there are some important considerations to get the best fit for your business and the outcomes you are seeking.
Experience and Industry Knowledge
Consider the importance of sector-specific experience, especially in B2B markets. Does the fractional marketing leader you’re considering have a track record of achieving results in your product set, your industry, or your country/region? While experience is important, also consider the benefit of using experience from adjacent markets. Consider the overlaps or alternative points of view different experiences can bring. For example, with new or highly differentiated products, understanding the persona and finding new insights may be more critical than deep product knowledge.
Strategic Vision and Tactical Expertise
Consider the balance between strategic oversight and hands-on execution. Most senior marketing leaders have ‘been there, done that’ and it’s reasonable to expect a strong leader to do both. For example, it’s safe to expect a CMO to be able to run a conference, or write a piece of content. The balance is more about cost Vs effort. Can the deep experience of a CMO mean they can execute an event with less effort (and time/cost) than a junior marketer. Quite probably. But certainly they will have sufficient experience to spot and advise you when the balance isn’t right and 3rd parties or junior colleagues are a better option.
Cultural Fit and Leadership Style
Perhaps most importantly, it’s crucial for a fractional marketing director or CMO to align with the company’s culture and values. Does their leadership style mean they can influence and impact the broader team. A seasoned marketing professional should have the experience to quickly adapt and fit into new senior teams with ease, while still being able to challenge and ask questions to ensure the best results. You will most likely only know this by meeting the CMO or Marketing director for a conversation.
Step 3: The Recruitment Process
As in any business purchase, it’s important to follow good practice, for example asking for references or detailed information about experiences. Often it can be most beneficial to start with an existing network. CMOs or marketing directors that have worked with colleagues before, have worked with familiar companies, or are introduced by trusted advisors. Below are three considerations when undergoing the search for your fractional marketing leader.
- Where to Find the Right Candidates – Start with existing networks, ask for introductions, find appropriate industry associations, specialist agencies, and online platforms.
- Evaluating Candidates – Establish a list of essential questions to assess a candidate’s fit, covering areas such as strategic thinking, past successes, industry or geographical experience, and adaptability.
- Trial Periods and Project-Based Evaluations – Consider the benefits of starting with a trial project to evaluate the performance before committing long-term, or balance the opportunity for a short-term contract Vs a longer-term agreement with more favourable pricing.
How much fractional time do I need?
As we wrote in our recent blog, a survey from vouchercloud found that the average UK worker is productive for just 2 hours and 53 minutes per day. That’s a useful yardstick to determine the level of support required for a fractional marketing leader. Consider 8-16 hours per week (1-2 days) as giving sufficient time to get the job done, and avoiding drawing your new CMO into non-productive day-to-day activities. In our experience, over 50% of a full-time equivalent (FTE) time is likely to give diminishing returns.
Step 4: Making the Most of Your Fractional CMO or Marketing Director
Once you start with a new fractional marketing leader, there are a number of steps to follow to ensure smooth onboarding and ensuring ongoing performance.
Setting Clear Expectations and KPIs
Establish a clear mission and outline the company objectives and key performance indicators you are aiming for. Ensure the new CMO or marketing director has good alignment with the business goals and understands their role in supporting them. It is reasonable to expect your marketing leader to provide dashboards and reports that correspond to the ongoing activities.
Integrating Them into Your Team
To ensure a successful engagement and experience, consider strategies for smoothly integrating a fractional leader into the existing team, fostering collaboration and trust. It is crucial, for example, to provide the right resources and access to people and information as you would do with an ‘In-house’ person.
Regular Reviews and Feedback Loops
Emphasise the importance of ongoing communication and a regular performance cadence. A good fractional CMO or marketing director should be able to account for their time invested in projects, outcomes delivered, and blockers that the company may need to address to accelerate or unlock more performance. Having regular checkpoints (for example a fortnightly 1:1) will keep the fractional leader aligned with the company’s evolving needs whilst minimising time spent in internal meetings and calls.
Deciding on Long-Term Engagement and Planning for the Next Phase of Growth
Have clear milestones to evaluate whether to extend the contract or explore other options as the business grows or changes. Avoid the trap of renewing a comfortable relationship. Some fractional CMOs or marketing directors may be open to converting to a full-time role – it’s worth establishing this up front – but most likely a fractional marketing leader will like the variety and flexibility and the benefit they can bring to multiple concurrent clients. Involving your fractional CMO in recruiting decisions and scoping job descriptions, interview process is also a valid use of their time and experience as your business grows.
Conclusion: Making an Informed Decision
Selecting the right fractional CMO can give your business the right strategic expertise and leadership necessary to drive growth without the long-term commitment of a full-time executive. We hope our ultimate guide to selecting fractional CMO Marketing director has helped informed your viewpoint. Ready to take your business to the next level with a fractional CMO? Contact us today to discuss how we can help!
Bonus: Five things to avoid with fractional CMOs and marketing directors
- Soaking up time in internal meetings and reviews – fractional leaders should be ruthless with their time. Don’t fall into the trap of paying for additional admin. Use them as a guide to what is valuable and non-valuable use of time.
- Incomplete information or keeping outside the circle – treat your fractional leader a one of the SLT. They will have signed a non-disclosure / confidentiality agreement on contracting with them so including them in systems, information, and decision making will be crucial for their (and your) success.
- Scope creep – remember you’re paying for time and expertise. Loading non value add tasks or migrating from the original scope of agreements can dilute results and end up costing more in the long run.
- Frequent changing beyond short-term projects – while short engagements to boost marketing programs are a great idea, most transformational marketing initiatives can take time to yield results: 3-6 months to initiate change, 6-24 months to see consistent benefits and long-term growth. Turning fractional roles on and off over time can kill momentum – consider reducing or increasing the service level instead.
- Saving on experience – remember, the key benefit of a fractional leader is tapping into deep experience at a cost that is unobtainable for many smaller B2B businesses no a full-time basis. There will be limited value in recruiting a ‘fractional marketing manager’ to just get the work done (that’s what agencies are for). Aim high and get the full benefit of the experience effect!
