Charlie Warden
January 12 2021

We help you develop a comprehensive, holistic Go-To-Market revenue strategy and provide you with the necessary support to help ensure your business is stable and can grow over the long term.
And we mean it! We don't just say it; we show it. We put in the effort to build strong relationships with every client who chooses to work with us. We understand that success is not achieved alone; it is only possible when we work together as a unified team focused on delivering outstanding results for all involved!
We invite you to take advantage of our resources, familiarize yourself with our processes, and meet our passionate team of revenue scaling professionals.
The digital marketing era has already begun, and turbulent changes in 2020 to how consumers purchase goods and services make a digital focus even more essential. According to ad agency predictions for the coming year, 60.9% of global ad spend will be digital, and your company's leadership needs to reflect this growing focus on digital — and ultimately omnichannel — campaigns.
Hiring a fractional CMO is a solid step in making your company more versatile and creating marketing strategies that more tightly align with revenue goals. This article will explore what a fractional CMO is and the considerations your executive team should make before the hiring process begins.
Chief marketing officers, or CMOs, are executive leaders that head marketing strategies, and any marketing managers or marketing directors in the company report to them. A great CMO will oversee strategies and efforts often including:
Traditionally, CMOs are full-time, in-house employees. But small businesses and flexible 21st-century company structures have resulted in the creation of a part-time CMO that provides short-term consulting services.
A fractional CMO works a certain number of hours with a company, providing marketing experience, clear strategies, and guidance that your company needs. Both small and medium-sized businesses benefit from hiring CMOs for six-month terms; during this time, your fractional CMO can:
If your company needs more robust marketing strategies and interdepartmental alignment without the salary costs of a full-time traditional CMO, a fractional CMO is the right fit for your company.
Once you decide that this is your next step, don't immediately begin hiring. It's important to find the right fit for your current company, your anticipated growth, and your leadership team. Before you start the hiring process, focus on these five considerations:
Many small and growing businesses make do without a CMO. But as your marketing strategies become more complex and your marketing team continues to grow, the department can begin to fall apart. A CMO can analyze traditional, digital, and omnichannel campaign teams and ensure they're working together along the right trajectory.
However, growing businesses may not have the capital to pay a full-time CMO. Both CMO and CIO positions tend to be unfilled or bundled with other roles in developing companies, but this can create underdeveloped infrastructures or limit future growth. A fractional CMO provides the insight your organization needs at hourly or consulting rates. Start your search for the right fractional CMO by determining if your organization:
Different fractional CMOs specialize in different areas, such as aligning pricing with target markets and sales goals, identifying target markets, and transitioning organizations to digital marketing. While fractional CMOs — like any high-level employee — will spend their first 30 or 60 days learning about how your organization operates, it's important to have your own understanding of how your company operates. Look for:
Having clear insight into problems in your marketing department will help you find the right candidates for the position. This prep work also organizes your department so your new CMO can more easily develop an understanding of your company.
A fractional CMO can help guide your company. Ultimately, though, your core executive team needs to decide what's missing and where your company should be going.
For example, a new and growing business may decide their top priority is forming a strong foundation for the marketing department. A small company may decide that it's time to grow the business and reach out to new audiences. Other companies may know their marketing department is underperforming but don't know how to fix it.
Talk to your executive team about the company's goals, friction points with the marketing team, and what you want your fractional CMO to achieve. Instead of looking for a long-term full-stack CMO, look for one with the focus your company needs now.
The marketing department doesn't just coordinate with sales. Marketing initiatives include customer services and support, pricing strategies, and more. Even hiring new employees involves systematically building up your company's brand reputation.
Marketing touches every revenue-related function in your business, so revenue stakeholders should be involved in the hiring process. Talk to both the individuals who will report to the CMO and leaders who will work with the CMO — including your CFO, VP of Sales, and HR director — to see what they need. Involving them early on in the process can help align goals, interview efforts, and expectations for the first six months of the CMO's engagement.
As we've discussed previously, marketing should not be siloed. Great marketing campaigns generate new leads and sales. They can also encourage highly qualified candidates to apply for roles in your organization. New pricing initiatives will impact accounting. Marketing campaigns built with the proper insight and organization provide data that all revenue stakeholders can use.
Before you begin hiring, determine (i) how your marketing efforts have hindered or helped revenue and (ii) what questions you can't answer because you don't have insight. Identifying unknowns and gaps in how your revenue ecosystem ties to marketing is just as valuable as knowing what you need.
Hiring a fractional CMO is an excellent step toward organizing your marketing department and creating a strong marketing foundation your company may lack. Fractional CMOs also specialize in the fluid marketing trends taking over digital and traditional marketing fields. At House of Revenue®, we work with CEOs who want to scale their business with a solid focus on their revenue ecosystem. Contact us today to build better alignment between your departments and scale your revenue growth.