Fractional CMO Overview
A Fractional CMO brings immediate expert-level marketing knowledge that fills the gaps on your team and provides your organization with direction to align your marketing with business goals.
Using a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer, or CMO for hire — either as an Interim CMO or CMO consultant, provides your company with both the experience and capabilities of a senior staff member with cost-efficiencies that are at a fraction of the cost, and with predetermined outcomes. Typically, a fractional CMO can cost 50-75% less than a fully loaded, full-time CMO.
The role of a fractional CMO is increasingly complex, as it addresses the marketing goals of an organization both on a micro and a macro level. A Fractional CMO is adept at thinking both broadly and strategically, while having the tactical acumen in multiple marketing channels such as digital marketing, marketing strategy, product placement, and social media marketing.
Understanding The Role of a Fractional CMO
As a start-up, sole proprietor or small business, do you sometimes wish you could harness the sort of marketing strategy and leadership that multinationals can afford? Small businesses rarely have the budget, but it’s not difficult to imagine what you could accomplish with the same or equivalent resources. Financial constraints are sometimes the only thing stopping your business from expanding. However, it is possible to acquire the experience and skills of a CMO quickly and hit the targets you want to achieve when you hire a Fractional CMO.
Simply, a Fractional CMO conducts whichever marketing tasks and goals you need but not as a full-time employee. The “Fractional” part of the equation means he or she does so on a part-time freelance basis; it also means at a fraction of the cost. There are many benefits to outsourcing your marketing to a Fractional CMO.
A Fractional CMO is a skilled and experienced outsourced marketing executive who applies their expertise in the following marketing segments:
- Product and Services
- Branding Awareness & Promotion
- Lead Generation
- Customer Success
- Sales Integration
- Content and Message Development
Download the Fractional CMO Brochure
Understanding the Benefits of a Fractional CMO versus an In-House CMO
What can be expected from the Fractional CMO?
The Fractional CMO continuously refines the marketing strategy in response to shifting external and internal factors. As a fractional CMO, we typically address the following tasks:
Go-to-Market Planning
A Go-To-Market Plan answers fundamental questions about why a business does what it does. It answers questions about what its products and services are, who benefits from their use and how they benefit. It is a guide for companies to stay on track.
Product / Market Fit
When trying to reach Product – Market Fit, the company needs first to determine the target customers and their underserved needs. After which, the business needs to find a way to define its value proposition, feature set, and lastly the user experience.
Target Marketing
Exploring specific data about the preferences of people who are predisposed to potentially buy your product can include where they live, age, gender, interests, education, relationship status, buying concerns and more.
Brand Building
Creating valuable connections with customers is the essence of building a brand. To accomplish this, companies need to have a clear idea about who they are, what they do, why they do it, who they do it for and how they make their customers’ lives more enjoyable, convenient, or valuable when they use their products.
Content & Digital Marketing
Drawing in customers may require a combination of paid, owned, and earned media. The mix of content, be it owned media that tells your story, bought media that finds buyers and draws them in, or earned media that generates interest and curiosity, the marketer has to build awareness and draw potential buyers.
Data, Product & Platforms
Understanding how prospects and customers are reacting to your offering is detailed and sensitive work. It includes formulating pricing strategies and offers. Working on detailed buyer/user personas, developing a product roadmap and interpreting data, including win/loss analyses.
Meet Karee, Chief Marketing Officer and Lead Fractional CMO
Karee Laing is our chief marketing officer, leading a data-driven modern marketing organization that drives company growth. She champions the company’s vision of a brand recognized for innovation, successful business outcomes, and exceptional people.
Karee oversees (directly and indirectly) the branding and digital marketing strategies, public relations and media, external communications, and event experiences for the client’s at Studio Brand. Her leadership has contributed to Studio Brand’s industry recognition and reputation for best-in-class customer solutions for over ten years.
Prior to starting Studio Brand Verisk, Karee served as the Senior Director of Marketing and Communications, for Laura U Design Collective, where she was responsible for the company’s brand growth across national markets.
While leading the team at Studio Brand, Karee has spearheaded crucial projects, including corporate rebranding for Discount Power, a division of NRG Energy; a county-wide awareness campaign for Harris County (the 4th largest county in the United States), and the year-long “Here, We Go” giving campaign for the University of Houston that generated more than a million dollars.
Under the leadership of Karee, Studio Brand has won more than 100 awards and recognition for their strategic marketing, branding and corporate giving campaigns. Karee has been featured in several publications and has also been honored with several awards in the profession. She has also spoken and moderated panels at local and regional conferences.
