If you are the proud owner of a small or midsize business and you are looking for new, innovative ways to improve your marketing strategy, what you need is a chief marketing officer (CMO). We will explain what a CMO is and how they can benefit your company. Then, we will break down some of their responsibilities and what they can do for your business. A CMO will help you to build lasting relationships with clients through marketing, help you to build a recognizable brand, and provide innovative solutions for your business.
We will leave you with some words of advice for scaling your business. You should learn to spot business mistakes earlier in the game, identify your mission in business and use your talents to go after your goals. Let’s break all of this down in more detail.
What is a CMO?
A CMO is a chief marketing officer. This is someone who can steer your business’ growth and development through clever marketing strategies and deep knowledge of the marketing world. The talents and expertise of a CMO are invaluable for businesses looking to survive and thrive.
The problem for small businesses with a limited budget is that they cannot afford to have a permanent full-time chief marketing officer on their books. A CMO requires a salary worthy of their invaluable help. So, this is where a Fractional CMO comes in.
What is a Fractional CMO?
A Fractional CMO will work with your small or midsize businesses for a fixed amount of time. Often, they will provide marketing advice and guidance over just a handful of hours over the course of a few weeks.
This means they dedicate a fraction of the time a salaried, full-time CMO would spend on the company’s marketing strategy. Therefore, they receive a fraction of the pay. Hence, they are Fractional CMOs.
What is the Difference Between a CMO and a Fractional CMO?
The difference between a CMO and a Fractional CMO is the cost for your business. A CMO will require a high annual salary, while a Fractional CMO will require a one-off fee. Even a high one-off fee is far more affordable for small and midsize companies than an annual salary on the payroll.
Introducing Kurt Uhlir, Fractional CMO, and Keynote Speaker
Any business, large or small, needs top-quality marketing to succeed and grow. This is how you drive traffic to your website, gain recognition as a brand, reach your target audience across the globe, and establish your reputation online and in the local community.
Hiring a Fractional CMO is a great way to benefit from the guidance of a marketing expert without having them on the payroll permanently. This is why Fractional CMOs such as Kurt Uhlir are hired to streamline processes, come up with innovative new ideas and help businesses generate new leads. They support companies in building client relationships to maintain their loyalty.
Kurt Uhlir is a marketing expert who has built and run companies from startups to over $500 million in annual revenue. His expertise and inside knowledge make him qualified to guide other organizations in their marketing efforts.
We will now break down the responsibilities of a Fractional CMO, with reference to Kurt Uhlir’s guidance and work.
The Responsibilities and Role of a Fractional CMO
Now that you know roughly what a Fractional CMO is hired to achieve, we can dive deeper into their role and responsibilities within a company.
The role of a Fractional CMO goes far beyond streamlining marketing strategies. A Fractional CMO is an innovative thinker who can come up with brand-new ideas and effective business solutions to help you reach new leads and save time and money.
They focus on building client relationships to maintain leads and know how to use their resources, words, and expertise to deliver the perfect pitch to clients. Moreover, a Fractional CMO will come into your company and support you in building a recognizable brand.
Now, let’s explore each of these responsibilities and roles for more clarity.
Marketing and Building a Lasting Relationship
One of the main roles of a Fractional CMO is to implement new marketing strategies that reach more leads and develop more traffic to your site. On top of that, they will focus on retaining leads once they have been directed to your products or services.
As Kurt Uhlir and Leigh Brown discuss here, clever marketing is more than just blasting information into the world. It is about building a relationship with leads. A real estate agent who walks into a room, stands on a chair and yells “I’m having an open house!” and then leaves, will find that nobody in that room comes to their open house.
Why? Because they did not read the room, lead into their pitch, lead out of it, and stay to build a relationship with potential clients. Good marketing goes beyond getting a message out there. It is about nuanced relationships, smart communication, and making a client or customer feel seen and well looked after.
Great marketing speaks to your target audience and makes them realize that your company is their best option. It also makes your target audience feel safe and trusting in your ability to support them and provide them with what they need when they need it.
Building a Recognizable Brand
Another skill that a Fractional CMO will have honed from their marketing experience is developing a company’s brand image. You need to establish what kind of a company you are, what your company culture is, and what your brand represents.
It is likely that you have already begun this process, but a qualified CMO will help you to hone in on your brand image and represent this image across the globe with clever marketing. With the right marketing approach and a clear idea of who you are as a brand, a CMO will tell a powerful story about your business that drives revenue and brand awareness.
When people see your logo, you want them to recognize it instantly, hear your company motto and know exactly what products and services you offer. A Fractional CMO can help put you on the map as an instantly recognizable and well-reputed brand.
Innovative Thinking and Finding Solutions
A Fractional CMO’s job is more than just making existing marketing more efficient, it is also knowing how to use data to develop a business and streamline processes in new innovative ways. They can take the evidence about which marketing strategies work and which do not, and then develop new processes for better results.
Moreover, a great CMO should be well-versed in technology as well as business solutions. This way, they can combine these areas of expertise and come up with smart solutions to grow and improve your day-to-day business processes and your digital marketing.
Then, once the Fractional CMO leaves your company, you will have more streamlined, effective, and technically-advanced processes in place. So, you are hiring a short-term worker to implement long-term improvements in your small or midsize business.
Words of Advice from CMOs
Bearing in mind the role and responsibilities of a Fractional CMO, these experts are well-versed in the world of business. Therefore, they can provide some great advice for general business practices and mindsets for success.
We will look at three key pieces of advice: learn to recognize mistakes in business, identify your mission in business and be a steward of your talents and resources.
Learn to Recognize Mistakes in Business
As marketing expert Kurt Uhlir explains on the S Factor podcast, it is pretty much guaranteed that everyone is doing at least three things wrong in their business life, and three things wrong in their personal life.
If you look back on something you stopped doing six months ago, whether it is something in a personal relationship or a business decision, you can see that you have grown and adapted since then. You thought it was right at the time, and now, with hindsight, you can see that it was a mistake.
Well, this is a continuous process. Sometimes we fail and make mistakes, both in our personal lives and in business, and we have to learn and grow from these errors. We will continue to do things wrong, and then we will work them out and improve our processes.
So, you should ask yourself “what am I perhaps doing wrong in business?” to prompt this growth and change.
If you can figure out three or six months earlier that you are making a mistake in business, whether it is your investment decisions, your sales material, or anything else, you can save a lot of time and money down the line.
Identify Your Mission in Business
The second piece of advice that every business owner can benefit from is to identify your mission clearly. You might know that you want to succeed, grow your business, and create a recognizable brand. But beyond this, what is it all for?
Think about why you started a business in the first place. Can your products or services revolutionize the industry in some way? A great business owner creates a legacy that people will look to for inspiration. Decide now what you want your legacy to be, and then you can make the right decisions to achieve this legacy for yourself and your company.
Perhaps you want to provide an unbeatable service that is available the world over, or else your goal is to invent a unique product that makes people’s lives easier in some new way. Do you want to be a carbon-neutral business or a leading expert in your field?
Identify what your end goal is and then you can start to work out how to get there. Whenever you are faced with a tough business or personal decision, you can then ask yourself “will this help me to succeed in my mission?” If the answer is no, then maybe you need to try something else.
The more clearly defined your mission is, the more clearly you will see the road in front of you. Focus your energies on achieving your business goals and cut out any time-wasting or unhelpful diversions in your business and personal lives.
Be a Steward of Your Talents and Resources
Finally, you have to remember that you are blessed with certain opportunities, talents, and resources. It is your responsibility to do something good with them. Think of yourself as a steward of these talents.
You cannot simply sit back and wait for success to come to you. Instead, as a business owner and also in your personal life, you need to recognize your talents and take positive action with them. Do not let them go to waste.
Many people have the potential for success but lack the drive, ambition, or sense that it is even possible. You need to break through this barrier and seize the opportunity. If you do not see an opportunity, create one. You have already identified your mission in business, now you need to envision the future and take all necessary steps toward it!
With hard work, determination, and the right support from a qualified CMO, you can make it happen for yourself and your company.
So, there you have it! This has been a comprehensive guide to understanding the responsibilities of a Fractional CMO. A chief marketing officer has the knowledge and expertise to support your business as it scales up. A Fractional CMO will do the same work for a fraction of the cost, as they are only hired over a short term. Your Fractional CMO’s role is to help you reach new leads, retain them and build lasting relationships. Moreover, they will support your company to build a recognizable brand and implement better marketing solutions.
Keep in mind the importance of recognizing mistakes in business. This can save you time and money down the line. Make sure you know what your mission in business is and then hone your resources and skills to go after your goals. You are a steward of your talents, so use them wisely!