Marketing is crucial in order for an organization or a business to reach its short and long-term growth objectives. A chief marketing officer or marketing strategy consultant can put together a “right fit” marketing strategy. This marketing strategy becomes the foundation of the marketing campaigns that the marketing department will execute.
Often, an organization will bring in a Fractional CMO to define this strategic marketing plan. The marketing consultant will then support in the execution of the marketing strategy.
Without execution, a marketing strategy and the fees of the marketing strategy consultant are wasted! Know what additional resources are required to execute on the strategy (SEO experts, a new website, graphic designers for branding, PPC experts, etc).
There are some specific difference between a strategic marketing consultant and a Fractional CMO that are worth noting.
Marketing strategy consulting may be beneficial to your organization if you lack an overarching, holistic marketing strategy. That said, it’s important to consider hiring a marketing strategy consultant who has experience in your niche or industry.
A strategic Marketing Consultant is a person who is brought into an organization to solve a problem in a strategic way, similar to how a traditional marketing consultant would come in and solve the problem of “our SEO isn’t working too well” so the specialist comes in and creates a plan to fix this issue and then shows a way for it to be implemented.
The strategic marketing consultant will solve the problem and then give the organization a plan for correcting it. But they will not be involved in the implementation of it.
Their role is restricted to solving the problem in this way and there are clear boundaries on what they can and can’t do. Their offer may be limited to solving the problem at hand and not extend to management and leadership.
The strategic marketing consultant will most likely not be involved in any of the marketing processes or internal systems of the organization.
The strategic marketing consultant is normally brought in to solve a big, specific, expensive problem. And that restriction in the role can foster great results.
This is where the fractional CMO comes into play.
Fractional CMO
The fractional CMO does all of the above in relation to the responsibilities of the strategic marketing consultant and more.
The benefits of the fractional CMO really start to present themselves when the efforts of the marketing personnel are being maximized by having strong and competent leadership.
The fractional CMO will deliver an overarching strategy to an organization and not just trust that that organization will implement it. The fractional CMO shows how to implement the strategy.
The correct implementation of the marketing strategy is often done by having expert leadership. Every single member of the marketing team knows their role, their outcomes, and is held accountable and supported.
The fractional CMO will have oversight on the systems and processes of the marketing department in order to get the best out of the marketing machine and campaigns.
This is often necessary with businesses under $100mm as even though the roles within the marketing team are correctly managed, there will still be inefficiencies that need correcting.
