8 Questions You Should Ask To Get The Right Fractional CMO For Your Business

Hiring a part-time CMO is a cheap way to add strategic focus and speed up growth in your business. However, many businesses have a CMO who fails to deliver.

Here are 8 questions you should ask to ensure you get the right person on board:

1. What strategies will we need to achieve our growth goals? You are assessing whether the CMO understands what will work and what won’t for your business. This also sets up the next two questions.
2. Why will these work for us? You want to see if the CMO understands your business or, is just offering generic advice?
3. How many times have you done this for a similar business? You are checking whether their experience is relevant to their likely strategy. A key reason for hiring a fractional CMO is for their ability to execute swiftly and effectively; experience is crucial for this.
4. What should I expect to have once you finish your initial engagement? The CMO plays a strategic role. In addition to increased revenues and a viable strategy, you should also get the marketing systems to implement it, a team trained for execution, and training materials for efficiently onboarding new staff.
5. How much time will you dedicate to my business, and how will you allocate this time? You need to know if you will work directly with the CMO you are speaking with, or if others will do much of the work. Typically, you should expect the CMO to spend more time with you during the first two to three months.
6. How will you measure your performance? You need clear, measurable outcomes from the engagement. Aim for a return of at least 200%, but ideally over 500%, of your investment.
7. How will you achieve these results? It must be clear which resources will be utilized. Will the CMO use your existing team, hire additional staff or freelancers, or bring in their team? Ideally, about 70% of the work should be handled by your existing team or newly recruited members.
8. How will you engage and communicate with me and the team? The CMO will often be offsite. So, it’s crucial to understand their plan for clear and consistent communication. For example, will they introduce new collaboration tools or utilize existing ones?

The answers to these questions should help you assess the capabilities and fit of your potential fractional CMO. They will increase the chance of picking someone who fits into your team and gets big results.