Meeting With Your Fractional CMO: How to Be Successful Together

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Hiring a fractional CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) can be a great move for your business. With their help, you can come up with better marketing ideas, audit your current marketing efforts, and begin executing new campaigns to support your organization.

But before you can reap the full value of these results, you'll need to have some initial meetings to chart a course. How can you plan these meetings in a way that supports your long-term success in this partnership?

The Basics of Fractional CMOs

A fractional CMO is a highly qualified marketing professional who is available to work on a part-time and/or flexible basis. These tend to be people with years, or even decades of marketing experience behind them, and they have the credentials and qualifications to become a traditional, full-time CMO in their own right.

However, for a variety of reasons, they may choose to work as a CMO in a more limited capacity, almost as a kind of side gig. For businesses, this is extremely valuable. It's an opportunity to hire a very talented, experienced, and knowledgeable marketing candidate without spending a fortune to do it. It's also a way to solve a temporary, niche problem with the help of some outside authority and perspective.

There are no right or wrong ways to hire and work with fractional CMOs. This position exists in large part because it's so flexible and accommodating for both parties. That said, there are some strategies that will increase your likelihood of success, especially when deployed in your first few meetings.

The Initial Meetings With Your Fractional CMO

When you first meet and get to know your fractional CMO candidate, make sure you hit all these points:

· Introduce your business. You should introduce your business and its brand identity, even if your fractional CMO is coming in with some knowledge on these topics. Spend some time going over the aspects of your brand that make it unique, and what you've historically highlighted in your marketing campaigns. Make sure your fractional CMO also understands the intricacies of your business model, including what makes it unique and what makes it successful. This is also a great opportunity to share any struggles you may have had with your business or its brand, or any particular problems you want to solve or compensate for.

· Introduce your goals. Next, introduce your goals, assuming you have them. And if you don't currently have any goals, use this time to start fleshing them out. What exactly are you trying to accomplish by hiring a fractional CMO in the first place? Are you trying to hit a certain number or achieve a certain target? And are you flexible on these goals, or do you need to hit them imminently?

· Get to know your fractional CMO. Spend some time getting to know your fractional CMO as well. Where have they worked? What are their greatest accomplishments and strengths? What is their marketing philosophy?

· Set your communication expectations. Always set communication standards proactively. How often do you plan to meet or talk? What do you expect from these meetings and conversations?

· Discuss differences in approach. This is also a great opportunity to discuss any differences in your philosophies or approaches. Are they reconcilable? And if so, how?

· Mutually agree on a definition of success. You will only be mutually successful if you have a mutually agreeable definition of success. Make sure you and your fractional CMO arrive at a common understanding of what success really means. At the end of this campaign, or this fractional CMO relationship, how will you determine whether or not it was worth the effort? Your fractional CMO wants to do a good job, and you obviously want the same, so make sure there's an objective standard by which you can evaluate that.

· Find a place to start. There may be a lot of work to do, and it may unfold across many areas, so it's probably going to seem overwhelming at first. Accordingly, you should take some time with your fractional CMO to find the right place to start. Is it generating new ideas? Is it launching a new campaign? Is it correcting something that's already in circulation? Should you start with your website, social media presence, or ads?

· Set your next touchpoint[b][/b]. After the first meeting, set your next touchpoint. When are you going to meet or talk next?

If you can follow these strategies and cultivate a mutually agreeable and successful working relationship, you'll be much more likely to achieve your long-term marketing goals. Any fractional CMO candidate is likely to have the experience, expertise, and insights necessary for you to boost your marketing results, but it's up to you to help them harness that full potential.