As your business grows, there becomes an ever-increasing need for a marketing strategy to grow your business further; that’s where a traditional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) would come in. However, many small to medium-sized businesses simply don’t have the need, or budget, to hire a full-time CMO. Consultants are sometimes hired to fulfill the role of a CMO as needed and are great for overhauling your digital marketing presence and developing strategy in-lieu of a full-time CMO.
Below, we’ll cover the ins and outs of CMO consultants and how they benefit your business.
What a CMO Consultant is
Developing a marketing plan that works best for your business is essential to drive growth, so a consultant can be hired to bring marketing expertise needed for your business’s future growth & to create a strategy built to accomplish your business goals. For businesses, this is a great stepping stone into future campaigns and strategies because a consultant will lay the groundwork for your marketing team to execute the plan effectively.
Typically, CMO consulting provides a specialization pertaining to marketing: (PPC, graphic design, strategy, etc.) They also tend to work segmented from the rest of your marketing team while developing marketing strategies. These strategies are designed to increase your online presence, generate new leads, and much more while creating new channels and social media accounts.
However, since a CMO consultant works externally from your marketing team, implementation of these strategies ultimately is the responsibility of your marketing team and not the consultant.
Duties of a CMO Consultant
A CMO consultant is an expert at making the most of your current resources to create an effective marketing strategy. Their duties typically involve the creation of online campaigns, lead generation, exposure, and generating sales via their strategies. They’ll do everything from setting up new social media accounts to developing content for SEO and advertising campaigns. Still, they tend to be more hands-off when it comes to implementation.
Below is a broken-down list of the types of duties a consultant will do:
- Data Collection
- Channel Identification, Creation, and Implementation
- SEO
- Content Development
- Research
- Marketing, Growth, and Advertising Strategy Development
When you need a Consultant
Consultants can be hired to solve problems for your business. Depending on your business’s needs, you’ll be able to find a consultant that will work best for you. A consultant that fills the role of a CMO is great for expanding your digital marketing offerings and creating a strategy that compliments what your business can manage. The best way to determine if your business needs a consultant is to start by deciding what your business’s goals and needs actually are. This means looking at your current marketing efforts to determine where improvements are possible.
CMO Consultant vs Marketing Strategy Consultant
The key differentiation between a CMO consultant and a Marketing Strategy Consultant lies in implementation. Marketing strategy consultants are primarily problem solvers, so a business will typically hire them to solve a specific problem with their business, like SEO, social media, or sales. However, the role of a marketing strategy consultant ends after developing a plan to remedy the problem. This type of consultant isn’t involved in the implementation of the strategy at all.
CMO Consultant vs Fractional CMO
From a broad perspective, a CMO consultant is hands-off mainly when it comes to implementation. They are not responsible for their strategies and ideas being implemented. A fractional CMO, on the other hand, is responsible for the implementation of a marketing strategy through delegation and management.
A Fractional CMO embodies the expertise of a consultant, with the experience and strategic insight to apply strategies and lead a marketing team. A good fractional CMO will show you how to execute the strategies effectively and put the processes in place to grow the business. Fractional CMOs provide value to nearly all aspects of your marketing strategy, and ensure your business has an effective, tailored, and cohesive brand image and messaging.
At CMOx, we streamline CMO services for businesses to grow their marketing strategies. Our fractional CMOs work closely with your business to implement strategies tailored to your business’s needs and guide your marketing team toward the effective implementation of their strategies.
To learn more about the Fractional CMO services we offer, call us at (219) 804-0797 or fill out a contact request form here.
