Ever wonder what EXACTLY a fractional CMO does?
If you’re a business owner, should you consider hiring one?
And if you’re a copywriter or marketing strategist, should you consider becoming one?
What do they actually DO? How much do they cost? How much do they make?
I’m breaking it all down for you in this blog!
Hey, Posse! What’s up? It’s Alex.
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This week, we’re going to talk about something that’s been a HUGE buzzword on the internet lately…
Fractional Chief Marketing Officer – or CMO. Let’s get right into it…
What Is A Fractional CMO?
A Fractional CMO, or Fractional Chief Marketing Officer, is an experienced marketer who works with businesses on a part-time basis to help them plan, manage, and run their marketing departments.
Exactly WHAT they do will vary depending on the needs of the client.
They might do things like:
- Craft strategic marketing plans from scratch
- Set up their branding initiatives
- Plan and execute launches and promotions
- Lead and manage teams
- Develop brand adaptions, mergers, or acquisitions
- Create growth plans and revenue projections, analyze market trends, and keep a pulse on market performance.
And any combo of that, but not necessarily ALL of that.
Because fractional CMOs usually only work a few hours a week for their clients – they are often working with multiple clients at a time.
In other words…
They are dedicating a FRACTION of their time to any given business’s marketing needs…
For a FRACTION of the pay that a full-time chief marketing officer would charge.
Hence the name: Fractional CMO.
Now, if you’re reading this, then you’re probably a copywriter or marketer and you might be wondering…
Well, that kind of sounds like what I do.
What’s the difference between an experienced copywriter and a CMO?
Couldn’t a business just hire a freelance copywriter to be the head of their marketing department?
What’s The Difference Between A Copywriter & A Fractional CMO?
In most cases, a freelance copywriter is usually hired to exclusively write the marketing materials that a business needs to bring in sales. Things like: sales pages, emails, landing pages, and ads.
But as freelance copywriters gain more experience in their field, they absolutely CAN start helping their clients with marketing strategy.
And they CAN help develop brand initiatives, messaging, launch plans—and even assist in hiring and training junior copywriters.
Freelance copywriters are usually given tasks and deadlines to meet – either by their client directly or by their client’s CMO.
A Chief Marketing Officer on the other hand can be thought of as the HEAD of the marketing department.
They aren’t typically doing the writing – per se…
Instead, they are overseeing the work of everyone on the marketing team. Looking for growth opportunities. And giving direction and feedback along the way.
So…
Can Freelance Copywriters Offer Fractional CMO Services To Their Clients?
Absolutely! But there’s a catch…
New freelance copywriters don’t typically have the extensive experience that a Chief Marketing Officer would need to run an entire department.
But, learning copywriting is a GREAT first step to get there, if the idea of becoming a Fractional CMO excites you.
I’d say that most freelance copywriters will follow one of three paths…
- Path #1 – They love what they do so much, they work as a freelance copywriter for their entire career. Gaining experience, leveling up their clientele, and making more & more money along the way.
- Path #2 – They transition from copywriter to marketing consulting, marketing director, or a CMO-related role.
- Path #3 – They take their extensive knowledge of copywriting, marketing, and sales and use it to build their own business.
Or ALL of the above, which is EXACTLY what I did over my 15-year career in marketing so far.
But here’s the catch to keep in mind: This requires a lot of relevant hands-on experience which means it can take a while.
If you’re new to copywriting…
Chances are pretty slim that you’d have the type of extensive experience that most businesses are looking for in a fractional CMO (unless you have relevant job experience prior to learning copywriting).
Most copywriters will only transition into a CMO role after working with several clients for several years.
As the copywriter gradually takes on more and more responsibility – including more strategic marketing advice, planning, and maybe even overseeing other copywriters.
Eventually, they find that they’re doing a lot more “strategy, planning and managing” and a lot less “copywriting.”
A copywriter who has been in the field for several years can absolutely transition to fractional CMO services and only YOU will know if and when you’re ready for that.
SO now that we know what a fractional CMO does versus what a copywriter does…
Let’s talk about the BUSINESS OWNER who might be considering hiring a Fractional CMO…
When Should You Hire A Fractional CMO?
Most SMALL businesses will find they need a Fractional CMO once they transition from that scrappy start-up environment… into more of a “team” environment.
So in the very beginning, the business owner might be the ENTIRE team – right?
They write their own copy, manage the budget, post on social media, and reply to emails, but as their business grows, they will start to outsource some of the roles.
They might hire a VA, then a copywriter, then a social media manager, then a customer support person. And so on…
During this process, the business owner is likely OVERSEEING and managing everyone’s roles and responsibilities.
But eventually, they will become a bottleneck to their business’s growth.
They will get to the point where if they want their business to continue to grow…
They will NEED to hire someone to manage that growth and take the responsibility of researching, planning, and strategizing OFF their plate.
But because their business is still small to mid-sized, they likely won’t have the budget to hire a full-time CMO.
Enter the Fractional CMO.
Which finally brings us to…
How Much Does A Fractional CMO Charge?
Like any other freelancing role, Fractional CMO pay rates have a pretty wide range.
According to Glassdoor, a FULL-TIME CMO makes anywhere from $245K – $453K/year depending on experience.
From my research, I’d say most experienced & qualified Fractional CMO’s charge an hourly rate somewhere between $150-$250 an hour.
This means their average salary varies depending both on their rate and the number of hours they’re hired for
Let’s just say you hire a fractional CMO for $200 per hour. And you only need them for 15 hours a month.
That works out to $3,000 per month or $36,000 per year…
Which is much more easily doable for small to mid-sized businesses.
And because this client only requires 15 hours a month, the Fractional CMO will likely be working with several more clients at this rate.
Let’s say they only want to work about 30 hours a week. That gives them 120 hours a month…
And if they’re charging all their clients $200/hour, they’d be bringing in a whopping $24k A MONTH.
Or $288,000 a year.
Not bad for only working 30 hours a week.
Now, of course, this is just a hypothetical scenario based on the averages I read about when I was researching for this blog. It all, of course, depends on your experience, skills and client relationships…
But hopefully, now you can see how a Fractional CMO can be a HUGE benefit to both the business owner and the freelancer.
I hope this was helpful! Comment below and let me know what you want to learn about next.
Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Alex. Ciao for now!
