If you’re like most businesses, you’re always looking for ways to improve your marketing operations.
But finding the time and resources to do everything yourself can be difficult – especially if you’re already spread thin.
That’s where a fractional CMO comes in.
While choosing an outsourced CMO is our suggestion (we know, we’re a little biased here) questions arise of how an outsourced CMO integrates with an internal team.
So how can you successfully integrate an outside CMO into your internal team and achieve maximum results?
Keep reading to find out.
Why is Bringing an Outside Party Into a Full-Time Team Difficult?’
When bringing on an external team member to work within a team, conflict is bound to arise.
There’s no way around that reality.
When you’re new to a team, it can take weeks or even months to get used to the dynamics and build trust with all members involved.
Not to mention the logistical difficulties that can arise, especially if projects require in-person or on-site visits.
Additionally, it can be difficult to coordinate everyone’s schedule so that the consultant is able to work with the full time team.
Often, consultants are only available for a limited number of hours each week, which may not be enough time for them to fully integrate as a w-2 employee would.
These are just a few of the many difficulties that internal teams will face when bringing on an external team member.
Luckily though, with a little bit of forward thinking and planning, these difficulties can be overcome.
How to Successfully Integrate an Outside Team Member into an Internal Team
Here are a few best practices that we suggest when adding an external member to a team.
1. Understand team dynamics
Trusting your gut is a great way to get an unbiased perspective on what you need for the team.
Start by observing how they work together, both during meetings and outside of them.
Then, talk with other people like managers or customers who may offer a different perspective into the dynamics of the team.
An honest diagnostic assessment can help identify what is working, or not working, and help ensure that the CMO or outside team member fits into a needed role.
2. Develop hiring criteria
In order to maintain the integrity of their business, companies should establish and enforce strict guidelines about what they look for when hiring an outside employee or team member.
Develop bulletproof criteria that includes non-negotiable criteria like capabilities, value, and cultural fit.
From there, cross reference every candidate against those criteria.
If they don’t fit what you’re looking for, don’t settle, but instead hold out for a candidate that is a better fit.
3. Align Expectations
Don’t be afraid to tell people – internally and externally – what your expectations for the new hire are.
Be professional and clear about what you want from this position and make sure every member of the team understands those expectations.
While you probably did this during interviews, make sure that the new hire knows how things will operate and where their role fits in so nothing is left up in the air come Monday morning or after Friday afternoon when everyone else has gone home.
4. Company Culture
Share with them what the company culture is like.
- How can they be expected to be treated in this professional environment?
- What does the work/life balance look like?
- What are expectations like for communication and timeliness of message replies?
Like communicating expectations, providing insight into culture goes a long way in setting an outside party up for success.
5. Ask them questions
A new hire will see things in your company which you may have missed.
Hiring is not a one-size fits all process, and you may be so preoccupied with your own way of doing things that new hires see better alternatives.
Listen to their suggestions without being defensive or argumentative; have an open dialog where both parties are heard!
6. Establish Trust
Trust is a cornerstone of any successful team.
Therefore, new employee introductions are an absolute must.
Building trust can take time, so meeting face to face when possible helps members understand the scope and process for their work together as well as how other teammates are assigned tasks within your organization’s workflow or overall goals.
Meetings should happen early on so that team members feel at ease with one another; this also ensures that all concerns get addressed quickly before they become an issue down the line.
Introducing someone can make them feel like part of the team – your tribe so to speak – which will help solidify their spot in both internal teams as well client relationships.
Onboarding the yorCMO Way
At yorCMO, we know the challenges of onboarding CMOs into an existing team well.
That’s why we’ve put together a bulletproof process for integrating our CMOs into your team, while setting everyone involved up for success.
1. Fiduciary Partner vs Contractor
yorCMO exists to drive results, but that doesn’t mean those results come at an unreasonable cost.
Our CMOs take an unbiased approach to marketing, and we’re committed to the strategy that works for you.
We’re fiduciary partners, and we treat every investment into a marketing campaign like we would for ourselves – wisely and responsibly.
2. We Only Hire A Players
yorCMO hand-selects only the best and brightest CMOS, all with a proven background in marketing.
Our C-level marketing experts bring to the table years of experience that your internal team can leverage.
You’re hiring experts that know exactly what growth levers to pull, and we have the industry experience to back up that claim.
3. Proprietary System
We’ve created a marketing system that is deployed by every CMO on the yorCMO team that has been proven to work effectively time and time again.
Our system allows our CMOs to understand where you’d like your organization to go, set goals that allow us to help achieve your vision, and then align sales to marketing to meet those goals.
This system produces results, but also allows our team members to seamlessly integrate with yours, reducing friction and common problems that teams often face when internal teams are onboarding external members.
A Case Study in Success
Don’t just take our word for it though.
We can make a bold claim like the one above because we can back it up with real results.
One of our longest-running CMOs, Rich Taylor, worked directly alongside a client that needed help with their marketing efforts.
The company initially sought out yorCMO because they were implementing a lot of marketing tactics, but were questioning whether or not those marketing efforts were actually driving the results they needed to grow their business.
Rich provided the necessary processes, leadership, and execution needed to turn those efforts around and worked directly with the company’s marketing team to execute on the campaign.
As a result, Rich was able to mentor the marketing team in a way that fostered independence and internal growth, then step away and watch the success continue on.
Read the whole story here: Leadership, processes and practices to improve results fast
Wrapping Up
Bringing an outside Chief Marketing Officer onto your team is not easy.
They need to be set up for success, and it’s important that you understand what their goals are in order to properly integrate them into the company.
If you feel like this might be too difficult of a task on your own or if you want some help with planning out how they will work within the organization, then give us a call!
yorCMO offers consulting services so we can come in and talk through any issues before setting up our experts as part of your marketing team.
What questions do you have about integrating CMOs into your marketing efforts? Book a call today!