Best Practices for Integrating a Fractional CMO

There are many reasons why a business would choose to hire a fractional CMO, and those reasons can differ depending on the business. In general, the desire is both expertise-related and financially-driven. Hiring a full time CMO can be costly and hiring a fractional CMO allows you to leverage someone who has a lot of industry expertise while also saving a lot of money for the company.

Well, once you decide to work with the fractional CMO, the work is only just beginning. This is a collaborative relationship and one that requires the company to become available for meetings, training sessions, and more, in order to really leverage the relationship. Here’s a look at some of the best practices involved with integrating a fractional CMO into the company.

Have Clear Goals and Objectives

The initial stages of the relationship should be spent meeting with the fractional CMO to discuss company goals and objectives, as well what would need to be done in order to achieve them. In some cases, where the company may already know the answers to these questions, the answers will be a lot more obvious. In other cases, meetings will be spent defining the goals and objectives and establishing how marketing fits into the big picture.

Either way, all parties involved need to be on the same page when it comes to company goals. This is because the marketing strategy will need to be developed around them in order to take the company to the next level. Otherwise, the marketing efforts won’t be as powerful. It takes time to define these goals, but it’s worth it in the long term.

Clear Your Schedule to Work with the Factional CMO

It’s important that expectations are set from the beginning. Sure, this starts with defining the goals and objectives. However, that is only the beginning. The next phases are to develop a marketing strategic plan that aligns with these goals, as well as discovering the details of implementing the plan, such as personnel needed, budgeting, and other details. This all takes some time.

This means that it is crucial for everyone to clear their schedules. There could be multiple meetings involved to get things off the ground. The work for a fractional CMO needs to be done in tandem with the main players in the company. They can’t just do things on their own. To maximize the relationship with the fractional CMO, you really need to be available.

It isn’t just the beginning stages that takes work, either. You need to be present throughout the process. In other words, you really need to treat the fractional CMO is an employee at the company, otherwise they won’t be as effective as they could be. Being present and allowing them to integrate into the company as they need to will greatly improve results.

Remember that the length of time that each stage in the process takes varies depending on what each company needs. The main goal is for everyone to be available when needed so as to not slow the process down.