Sometimes companies find themselves with a mish-mash of a marketing department. Maybe you have entry-level people who need an extra push to grow their strategic marketing experience. Perhaps your marketing “department” is a one-person show that simply can’t get everything done. Or maybe your marketing department is in transition because of recent turnover. 

Whatever the case may be, a fractional CMO can get the train back on the tracks. A fractional CMO can help you establish both a marketing department and a process for the future. This way, your business continues to thrive long after the fractional relationship ends.

There’s no need to worry about making the wrong hire: it’s possible to hire a strong, motivated marketing team with a hiring strategy in place. An experienced fractional CMO will put a plan and process in place before you start hiring your marketing team.

Follow these three steps to hire the best and the brightest while balancing your goals and budget.

1. Understand your business objectives

It’s tempting to realize you need a marketer, post a general job description on Indeed, and hire your first team member ASAP. But your business needs to hire marketers who will get the job done—that means you need to know your goals before you write a job description. 

Recently, I worked with a large waterproofing foundation repair company in the Midwest and discovered, via a survey of the customer database, that a large portion of deals not closed never made the purchase elsewhere, either. 

It was a huge opportunity because the business hadn’t been lost, but the sales process proved to be inadequate based on the customer’s needs. 

yorCMO discovered that many customers searching for fixes to their foundation issues waited one to five years before making a purchase decision. Yet the salespeople were only following up with marketing-qualified leads for a few weeks after the initial lead.  It was a huge opportunity to build a lead-nurturing program that talks to that potential customer for up to two years. 

A fractional CMO will give you the benefit of their expertise and an outside, unbiased opinion. They will work with you to establish your Wildly Important Goal (WIG) so you know exactly what you need to serve your customers. To start the process, a fractional CMO will work with you to understand your business objectives.

This includes analyzing: 

• Your current team. 
• How your company operates today. 
• Your marketing needs. 
• Your target customers. 

An internal audit will help the CMO customize your approach, no matter the size of your business. This is important because understanding your goals will help you hire employees who can achieve those goals.

Without a vision for the future, you risk hiring a marketing team that can’t get results, so always start with your business objectives first. 

2. Design a marketing strategy

Now that you know your business goals, a fractional CMO will help you design a marketing strategy that achieves those goals. Think of your business objectives as the destination and the marketing strategy as the map that gets you there. 

For example, maybe your Wildly Important Goal is to get more customers on a monthly retainer. That means you need a marketing strategy that increases customer loyalty. Depending on your situation, that might mean your CMO will recommend marketing efforts like: 

• Email marketing to pull more leads through your funnel. 
• Creating a VIP or rewards program to encourage loyalty. 
• Regularly posting on social media and replying to customers. 
• Managing your online reviews. 
• Forming a customer success team to optimize the customer experience. 

From there, the fractional CMO will help you create actionable tactics in service of your strategy. This checklist will not only jumpstart your marketing efforts but will also make it easier to hire the right people to tick those boxes. 

3. Build a team around your strategy

After establishing your business objectives and marketing strategy, it’s time to form your marketing team. It’s essential to save hiring for last because it ensures you hire the correct team members to fill in the gaps. 

For example, if your goal is to increase organic search traffic, it would be more important for you to hire SEO writers right now than it would be to onboard a pay-per-click (PPC) expert. 

A fractional CMO will look at every component of your marketing strategy to define the hard and soft skills you need to cross the finish line. Hard skills include the technical skills required and for day-to-day tasks, such as: 

• Proficiency in a particular CRM. 
• Familiarity with your content management system. 
• SEO writing. 
• PPC certification or expertise. 
• Cold calling experience. 

The hard skills are important, but your fractional CMO will also outline the soft skills required to succeed in the role based on your objectives, marketing strategy, and company culture. This often includes soft skills such as: 

• Communication. 
• Trustworthiness. 
• Motivation. 
• Customer service.
• Management or leadership experience. 

At this point, your job listings will begin taking shape. The fractional CMO will look at the required skills, your goals, and your budget to determine how many team members you need to hire. They will also help you set salary ranges based on your budget, prioritizing the most critical hires first so you get the most out of your investment. 

Next, you’ll work with the fractional CMO to write a clear job description that includes responsibilities, metrics, and KPIs. This will attract marketers who can satisfy your goals and clarify expectations. Over time, the fractional CMO will help you hold each hire accountable to these KPIs, ensuring everyone meets the business objectives you created at the start of this process. 

It’s time to hire your dream team

Even if you’re starting from nothing, it’s possible to hire a strong marketing team that gets results. Instead of going through the hiring process blindly, let a fractional CMO light your way. A fractional CMO will help you clarify your business objectives, design a solid marketing strategy, and build a team that fits your unique situation. 

Clarify your path forward and hire right from the start. yorCMO helps brands build long-term strategies that will help you recruit right for years to come. See how we help businesses of all sizes build better marketing departments from the ground up.