The total contract price for fractional CMO services will be a fraction of the price of hiring a full-time CMO with an indefinite contract. A CMO (or fractional CMO) will take charge of the success or failure of your company's marketing campaigns. You can hire the services of a fractional CMO for a specific period of three months, six months, a year, etc. If your marketing team is green or doesn't exist right now, six or twelve months under the leadership of a fractional CMO can get you in shape.
In other words, the fractional CMO has no time to waste designing a viable strategy, testing and iterating it, and putting it into shape on time and within budget. The difference is a fraction, meaning that you only pay a fraction of the CMO's salary. A good fractional CMO knows which strategies pay dividends and which don't; he understands which strategies work for other organizations but will not be appropriate for his own; he knows the best service providers, how to communicate their vision and expectations to them and how to get the best offer. Companies generally pay for a CMO fractionally based on the number of hours per week they want the CMO to work and the specific marketing products they need help with.
In other words, they spend a fraction of the time that a normal CMO would spend on the company and receive a fraction of the salary. Startups and midsize companies that are ready to move from a sales strategy to a growth strategy that could use a shot in the arm should seriously consider hiring a fractional CMO as the path to profitability. While it is true that your fractional CMO may require an additional budget for marketing programs or even for organizational development, in many cases the first impact of your fractional CMO will be to close all expenses that do not generate profitability. The amount you budget for a fractional CMO will depend on the scope of the work and the time commitment required.
As someone who has used a fractional CMO in the past, I've found that hiring one can be a great way to quickly get the benefits of having a marketing expert working in your company without having to pay the high cost of hiring a full-time CMO. These fractional CMOs “flying overhead” are much cheaper than hiring a full-time CMO and can offer considerable wisdom to small businesses.
