It's 2024 and fractional jobs are more popular than they ever have been. For smaller to medium sized companies, hiring a fractional role can help to fill an important gap without having to fork over a massive salary. In most cases, fractional roles are considered part-time and involve a flexible or hybrid schedule. There are many advantages to hiring fractional... and in this blog we're going to cover a few of the reasons why you might need to consider hiring a fractional CMO or marketing department.
Most chief marketing officers or marketing director salaries start at six figures and go up from there. For companies who are trying to scale and have a wide but also shallow list of needs, hiring an outside agency to help can actually save a ton of money. Agencies that are built for fractional work understand their role is to support existing teams and pick up the lose ends where there might be weaknesses. In a fractional CMO role, the CMO will understand their role is to provide strategy and then execution amongst internal and external teams. The most obvious benefit is the cost savings from paying a retainer as opposed to a large salary. Seasoned CMO's and marketing teams will also know and understand that their role is to function like an arm of your business without taking up a lot of room on your payroll.
While hiring a young team of fresh college graduates can be a cheap and easy fix for filling marketing holes and needs, the reality is that they are green and have little to no experience outside of their summer internships. When hiring a fractional marketing agency, you're getting a team of experts for the cost of a single salary but with the united experience of years and years. The speed, efficiency, and quality of work from a seasoned fractional marketing team might seem expensive, but when compared with a young marketing professional, does not even come close. Hiring a fractional team can often get you specialized skills and years of experience that you might not have if you hired a full-time role. For example, if you hired a green marketer to design packaging it might take then 4 hours to do market research, 4 hours to make some templates, and 30 hours to design your initial rounds... while a seasoned designer might only take 5-10 hours total because of their past experiences, industry knowledge, and reps.
Some of the best combinations are hybrid models where an agency serves and works with an internal team. The collaboration and the combination of your team's specific customer and industry knowledge combined with polished professionals can be a wonderful one-two punch. Additionally, working with an outside agency can provide stability, thought leadership, and mentorship to younger or greener marketing professionals on an internal team. An outside team can also bring fresh perspective, knowledge of new marketing technology and trends, and bonus experience from serving other clients outside of your industry. Fractional teams often have the ability to think outside of the box because of the nature of serving a vast portfolio of clients.
Hiring a fractional team can also provide a ton of flexibility when it comes to seasonality in your business. For example, if you are a seasonal business, reducing the retainer during the slower months is easier and more affordable than having to carry an expensive salary. Additionally, the benefit to having a fractional team is that you don't have to take on the pressure of managing a team. They are trained professionals that understand how to meet deadlines and execute as needed. The benefit is that they are built to take load off of you as opposed to managing a team of employees.
There is an old fable that describes a specialized mechanic who was once called to fix a massive ship that had broken down on the ocean. The ship had been stuck with a dead engine for several days to no avail... many of the staff had tried to fix it, but had no success and urgency was growing by the minute as millions of dollars were stuck on board waiting to be brought ashore. They called a specialized mechanic who flew in on a helicopter and quickly asked to be taken to the engine room. After 5 minutes of asking questions from the crew, he simply pulled out a small hammer and went straight to a specific spot on the engine... one hit, two hits, three hits... eventually the engine started right up in less than 10 seconds. The crew was thrilled and the mechanic simply walked back to the helicopter and flew back to the shore. In 5 minutes, the ship mechanic had saved the freight company millions of dollars and from the bad reputation that could impact many customers who were growing impatient. A few weeks later the freight company that owned the ship received a final invoice from the mechanic. The line items were as follows: $300 Helicopter Transport, $20 Hammer, $20,000 Knowing Where to Hammer.
To most people, paying $20,000 for 5 minutes of work might seem a bit ridiculous, but not when their problems are urgent and the risk is losing millions of dollars or a golden reputation. Hiring a team of experts vs. a green employee can make or break the future of an organization. Not hiring the right fractional team can cost you vastly more money than the mistake of hiring a single person or a younger team with limited experience. Do yourself a favor and hire a fractional marketing team or CMO that can help you build the right strategy and execute at a high level of excellence.
