As your business continues to grow, you’ll need a leader to focus and drive marketing. The problem for many small and medium-sized businesses, however, is that they can’t afford a top-notch Chief Marketing Officer or VP.
This is why more companies are starting to turn towards part-time CMO. A part-time CMO will perform all the duties of a full-time one, just in less time.
Here are four signs that your company needs a part-time CMO:
Tight Marketing Budget
For many businesses struggling to market themselves, their marketing budget is a catch-22. You want to boost sales and increase your budget, but until you experience success you won’t be able to afford world-class executives.
A part-time CMO is an easy way to balance your budget without sacrificing results. You’ll suddenly be able to afford top-notch talent. Outsourced part-time executives offer a 40-60% savings over their full-time counterparts. Basically, you’ll double the amount of expertise you can afford to bring into your company.
If this looks like your budgeting meetings, you need a part-time CMO!
Growth is Rapid
If your company is rapidly growing, or expecting to shortly, a part-time CMO is your best bet. A part-time CMO is going to have more agility and expertise than the full-time one you could currently afford. Past success has given them hands-on experience helping companies grow. They’ll help make your marketing efforts scalable, breeding even more success.
Lack of Expertise
If you have a marketing team that’s performing well but lacks expertise, you definitely need a part-time CMO. Your CMO won’t seek to replace the existing marketing and sales staff, they’re going to look to make them better. Your employees will have a mentor and leader, helping them quickly sharpen their skills and become more valuable assets.
If you don’t have any dedicated marketing staff, your need for a part-time CMO is even greater. A business can only build itself so much with industry expertise and a great product. Eventually, somebody needs to provide the leadership necessary to get strategic about marketing. Part-time CMOs can do this without changing the internal hierarchy your business thrives on.
Lack of Direction
If your company’s marketing strategy is simply to sell more products, you need some help. In order to truly succeed to need clear, defined goals and strategies. A CMO will be analytically driven and will help you prepare a marketing plan backed by research and competitive analysis.
Another way you can tell if your company lacks marketing direction is taking a look at how you measure success. Is marketing success defined simply by an increase in sales, or do you use more precise metrics? If you don’t know which campaigns are driving success, you’ll never know how to fine-tune marketing efforts in the future. A part-time CMO will be able to wean your company on analytics and metrics. Eventually, you won’t know how you survived without them!
If you don’t know where you’re going, your marketing is just going to be confusing.
If you’re looking for a part-time CMO with expertise in a wide variety of industries and channels, consider us here at Blue Wave Marketing. We have 20 years of marketing experience in content, social media, strategic marketing, and much more.
For more information visit us at our website or call us at 617-576-3100.
