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For a fractional CMO, scope of work is usually determined by a few different factors, including:

  • The budget you have assigned to spend on marketing
  • How many internal resources you have available
  • The nature of your current and future marketing initiatives

Since there can be a great deal of variation, let’s begin with what a scope of work for your fractional CMO could include.

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Marketing Strategy

When you hire a fractional CMO, they fill a vital role as a key driver for revenue growth by providing strategic leadership. Most will kick things off with developing a comprehensive marketing strategy. This usually includes a variety of marketing components, including:

  • Marketing budget
  • Marketing plan or roadmap
  • Brand messaging and differentiation
  • In-depth buyer personas
  • Competitive analysis and market positioning
  • Recommended content & resources

Marketing Review

In general, fractional CMO activity will include reviewing, analyzing, and optimizing your current marketing efforts. Here are several important areas of focus:

  • Brand Image and Messaging: This includes all the aspects of the brand that make up its presence in the market across all platforms and through all interactions. This includes brand image, look and feel, and logo. It also means taking a deep dive into messaging and market positioning to amplify differentiation. Branding exploration can also include customer experience and reputation management. 
  • Content Review: Analyzing current content and aligning it with the appropriate stages in the sales cycle (awareness, consideration, decision) helps the fractional CMO ensure that assets are being deployed and optimized correctly. This sales mapping process also highlights areas where new marketing deliverables should be created. This can include sales material, product or service brochures, powerpoint presentations, blogs, articles, white papers, case studies, and more.
  • Marketing Campaigns: A fractional CMO will want to understand what marketing campaigns are currently underway, what the goal of each campaign is, and how these campaigns are performing. From there, they can provide feedback and offer suggestions on how to improve efforts and how to allocate marketing budget going forward.
  • Marketing Department: A full time or part time CMO may be involved in hiring, firing, and helping to manage your current marketing department. This can be helpful for companies who don’t know what to look for in marketing professionals or how to analyze marketing-related job performance.
  • Marketing Resources: Fractional CMO services can also involve helping companies find and implement various marketing resources. This can include software and freelance services.
  • Marketing Processes: A fractional chief marketing officer can also develop more streamlined marketing processes for your internal marketing team. This can include project management, finding and managing outsourced work, reporting, budgeting, and more.
  • Marketing & Sales Alignment: Possibly one of the most important responsibilities of a fractional CMO is to ensure that Marketing and Sales are collaborating toward shared goals that include strategies for short term sales activation (lead generation) and long-term revenue growth, business resilience, and brand reputation.

Marketing Execution

In some cases, fractional CMOs take on a much larger role within an organization and become responsible for the execution of the marketing strategy. When this happens, a fractional CMO usually comes with their own marketing team. 

A fractional marketing team can include content and copywriters, graphic designers, web developers, digital strategists, editors, and project managers. This team can assist with:

  • Social media & social media advertising
  • Website development and maintenance
  • Google advertising
  • Organic SEO
  • Blogging
  • Email marketing
  • Print advertising
  • Public relations
  • Brand management
  • Lead generation
  • Podcasting
  • Video creation
  • And all other forms of digital marketing

Want to learn more about fractional CMOs and Their Scope of Work?

You’ve come to the right place! We’ve spent the last decade helping B2B companies grow their business through fractional CMO services, and we’d love to help you, too. Check out our additional fractional CMO resources, subscribe to our B2B marketing podcast, or take a look at our fractional CMO services.