Fractional CMO Salary: How to Maximize Revenue at Half the Price?

Have you heard of a Fractional CMO and wonder what is a fractional CMO salary? or what will a fractional CMO do and cost? Learn about fractional CMO rates and fractional CMO services.

Introduction

The post-pandemic resurgence across marketing departments has been quite significant, which makes marketing all the more interesting. After all, marketing expenditure across industries has increased by a staggering?10.3 percent?within twelve months — a record of its own. The global economy is quickly getting back on its feet and it’s time you expand your marketing capacities. One of the best ways to do that is by hiring a fractional chief marketing officer (fractional CMO). Therefore, in this extensive guide, we will help you learn everything you need to know about fractional CMO rates. We will discuss fractional CMO salary, related costs, and factors you should consider to make an informed hiring decision! Let’s get started, shall we?

What is a Fractional CMO?

Every company willing to scale quickly needs a chief marketing officer that can help envision, develop, and execute a high-performance marketing strategy. However, hiring a chief marketing officer full-time might not suit a company’s budget. It’s in such situations that we recommend brands hire fractional CMOs. What is a fractional CMO, you ask?

Well, a fractional CMO is essentially a person that will provide the benefits of a chief marketing officer or perform the role of a chief marketing officer. The only catch here is that the individual will provide the services on a contractual basis. Fractional CMOs are not full-time employees, rather they work at a company only for a ‘fraction’ of their time.

In other words, you can call fractional CMOs part-time employees. Hiring a fractional CMO might turn out to be an excellent decision if you own a medium-sized company that doesn’t always need a chief marketing officer. Organizations that don’t have many ongoing projects should consider the fractional CMO salary and hire an experienced candidate. After all, the benefits will come without a mind-boggling price tag.

NOTE:?A Fractional CMO is a part-time employee at an organization but performs the duties of a full-time chief marketing officer.

What do you achieve at a Fractional CMO rate?

Now that you know the fundamentals of hiring a fractional CMO, it’s time we learn what you get at a fractional CMO salary when the executive is added to an organization. So regardless of fractional CMO rates, they are typically hired for a minimum of six months. We will discuss the benefits of hiring them later. But for now, let’s dive deeper and understand the responsibilities of a fractional CMO at any company.

To outline the job responsibilities, a fractional CMO will have to lead the marketing team, develop a winning marketing strategy, monitor the performance, optimize the marketing campaigns, and manage the entire marketing department to achieve higher efficiency and productivity.

At a Fractional CMO salary, you can bring in impeccable leadership and executive-level expertise that can help companies run highly successful short-term marketing campaigns. Here’s a precise introduction to the exact job responsibilities of a fractional CMO. The candidate will be responsible for the following —

1.?Marketing envisioning and leadership.

Marketing is a field that requires a company to frequently come up with creative and influential ideas. This is only possible if you have a leader that can envision such creativity. A fractional CMO will have to show leadership skills.

2.?Developing marketing strategies.

A company that fails to plan, plans to fail. What does hiring a well-skilled and enthusiastic fractional CMO cost? A lot less than a full-time executive. At the same time, it helps develop marketing strategies to achieve the set company objectives and goals.

3.?Establishing key performance indicators.

The “set-it and forget-it” mindset doesn’t work in marketing. A fractional CMO will have to first determine the KPIs for the marketing campaigns to help the team gauge the campaign’s performance. This further helps the team optimize the campaigns.

4.?Managing the marketing team.

Every marketing team consists of different personalities, talents, and levels of expertise. A fractional CMO will be responsible to find a way to make the team work in harmony and as a unit. Proper team management is crucial to marketing success.

5.?Marketing tech/resources integration.

Regardless of fractional CMO rates, the executive is also responsible to figure out the tech and resources required for the proper functioning of the marketing team. After all, the marketing team must have the resources to develop highly competitive marketing campaigns. Not just that, the fractional CMO will also have to monitor the integration.

6.?Generating leads.

Every company is in need of new customers. At a fractional CMO salary, your team should be able to come up with ideas that help your organization stay in business, generate new leads, and stay relevant in the market.

7.?Email database management.

A fractional CMO will have the power to organize the email database (sort and segment) and make it more accessible to the marketing team. Not just that, the executive will have to come up with ideas to expand the database and make room for more customers.

8.?Monitoring and making sense of marketing reports.

Marketing campaigns should be thoroughly analyzed by making the most of marketing reports. A fractional CMO should be able to monitor the campaigns and derive practical insights for the marketing team.

9.?Hiring freelancers or other marketing agencies.

There will be times when your company will be brimming with marketing tasks, making work unusually challenging for the team members. In such cases, paying a fractional CMO salary will help hire freelancers or marketing agencies and delegate the tasks.

10.?Complete digital ad management.

Lastly, regardless of fractional CMO rates, the executive will have to overtake the marketing budget and achieve proper budget allocation across the marketing campaigns, especially the ones pertaining to digital marketing.

What are Fractional CMO salary and overhead costs?

This is a very hot topic as companies willing to scale their marketing strategies are in search of affordable fractional CMOs. To help you manage the fractional CMO cost, we will provide you with the most recent numbers available online. So, what is the average salary of a fractional CMO?

The average cost of hiring a CMO in 2022 is an estimated $337,470 per year. However, this figure is before you add any benefits, bonuses, and related taxes. Wonder what will a fractional CMO cost any company? Just a small fraction of the figure we just shared!

Most companies that generate under $20M in annual revenue hire fractional CMOs on an hourly basis. A fractional CMO salary is quite small and ranges between $200-350 per hour! This is because a fractional executive doesn’t work full-time. How much work are we talking about here? Well, a fractional CMO will work for 10 hours per week.

In this way, the total annual cost of hiring a fractional CMO will amount to $96,000-168,000 — still a significantly less amount than what hiring regular CMO costs, isn’t it? Not just that, you get to hire a fractional executive that caters precisely to what your company wants most at the time. When instant profitability is the demand, you can never go wrong with hiring an executive at fractional CMO rates.

NOTE:?The average fractional CMO salary depends on the years of experience, expectations, and benefits.

What do you gain (benefits) at a Fractional CMO salary?

What value does a fractional CMO bring to the table? We have already discussed the job responsibilities of a CMO and related fractional CMO rates. But does a fractional executive just complete the responsibilities or extend any benefit to your marketing team? When you hire a fractional CMO from us, we make sure your company gains the following benefits —

1.???Extensive leadership experience.

The most convincing benefit of hiring a fractional CMO is the sheer experience and skills you’ll bring in. The leadership skills and marketing experience you get at the fractional CMO rates will boost your marketing campaigns and bolster future plans.

2.???Negligible hiring risks.

Believe it or not, the fractional CMO hiring process entails minimum risks. First, you are not hiring for a full-time position. So, the stakes aren’t that high. Second, the recruitment process is unbelievably faster. Third, regardless of fractional CMO rates, the executives are easy to replace if you don’t get the desired performance.

3.???Indispensable flexibility.

Fractional CMOs hired from our platform always hit the ground running. Indeed, you will hire them on a contractual basis. But, the contract can be stopped or renewed as per your company’s needs. This makes it easier to bring changes to your organization.

4.???Opportunity to test, experiment, and learn.

Companies that experiment always grow. If you are looking for an opportunity to experiment or test ideas, you should hire fractional CMOs. After all, you can test different skill sets and ideas in the same role! The more you test, the more you will learn, and the more you will earn.

5.???Get an outsider’s perspective.

Do you find it challenging to identify areas of improvement at your company? This is probably because you are too accustomed to how things are done. Hiring a complete outsider will give the analysis a fresh perspective and make it easier to identify areas of improvement.

6.???Save your hard-earned money.

Again, a fractional CMO cost a company much less than hiring a full-time CMO. It is the more affordable option as fractional CMOs aren’t entitled to benefits, bonuses, or other perks. This is your chance to boost your company’s growth without breaking the bank!

7.???Marketing team growth.

Lastly, hiring a highly skilled and experienced fractional CMO will uplift your marketing team morale. Regardless of fractional CMO rates, the executive will make the team members perform to the best of their abilities and generate results you earlier believed were fictional.

NOTE:?Remember, companies with a CMO tend to perform?15 percent better?than companies that run marketing campaigns without a CMO.

Do you even need to pay a Fractional CMO salary?

Here’s a basic question you should ask yourself when considering fractional CMO cost — should you even hire a fractional executive? What are the situations in which a fractional CMO will be more useful to your organization? Ideally, you should use fractional CMO services if you don’t want to commit to a full-time CMO. But there are several other reasons as well —

1. You want to see what a CMO can do for your company. This makes a perfect case for hiring a fractional CMO since the executive will work part-time.
2. Your company is in dire need of an expert outsider that brings in a completely new perspective. This is quite useful when you need fresh digital marketing strategies and initiatives.
3. Hiring a fractional CMO will work if your marketing team lacks vision or motivation. An experienced fractional CMO will provide much-needed marketing leadership and guidance.

Other important reasons to hire fractional CMO

1. Most marketing teams have the talent to create and implement a marketing strategy. But not all teams will be able to draw insights, optimize the campaigns, and make strategic adjustments. This is precisely what an experienced fractional CMO can help your team with.
2. Customers want to do business with brands that reflect professionalism and reliability. And to achieve that, brands need to imbibe uniformity and consistency across all their marketing campaigns. Indeed, a fractional CMO costs a brand relatively less than a regular CMO. But it will make sure the marketing message is consistent across different channels.
3. Are you a company that has to deal with different marketing accounts? In that case, the marketing-related tasks will keep on stacking one above the other if you don’t delegate soon. Regardless of fractional CMO rates, the executive can work wonders for your team.
4. There are times when your company will hit a major marketing obstacle that will seem like a dead end for a particular marketing campaign. You should consider a fractional CMO salary if you want to resolve a specific, major pain point.
5. Lastly, the simplest of reasons you should consider when hiring a fractional CMO is your budget. Not all companies are cash rich. And there’s no point in hiring a full-time CMO if a fractional CMO can do the same job and deliver similar or better results.

Key differences between CMO and Fractional CMO salary.

The main difference between a CMO and a fractional CMO is money. While a CMO will be at your service all the time, a fractional executive will only be available part-time. A fractional CMO will put in only a few hours per week, which makes hiring them an affordable alternative. More importantly, companies that are stuck between hiring freelancers and hiring a full-time CMO should consider going for a fractional CMO. Regardless, you should do your due diligence before landing on conclusions.

Hire an affordable Fractional CMO!

There you have it. We have shared everything you need to know about hiring a fractional CMO. More importantly, you now know the average fractional CMO salary and can adjust your company’s budget efficiently. But, where should you start the search for a fractional CMO?

We have the perfect place to hire a fractional CMO that can add the highest level, non-full-time marketer to your business! Elite CMO Services can handle marketing for a variety of businesses from start-ups to large corporations without making a hole in your pockets.

So, what are you waiting for? Give your marketing strategy a new feel and scale your businesses exponentially!?Connect with us today.?