Examples of What a Good Fractional CMO Can Do for Startups
What does a tech startup do when it needs help controlling costs while developing products and reaching new clients? At first, you might think about hiring a full-time CMO. Then, you see how much it would cost to add a C-suite officer to your team. That isn’t going to work. A part-time CMO, however, can set a strategy, help establish processes and make operational decisions, for example how to drive more leads or build a launch plan to enter new markets.
Is a fractional CMO the right option for your post-Series A-funded startup? It is if you want someone with the skills to reach the following goals.
Prepare Your Startup for Fundraising
Few tech startups generate profits, so they have to rely on fundraising as they develop products and grow their brands. As you already know, fundraising takes a lot of hard work. One mistake could mean missing out on the financial backing your business needs to continue.
A fractional CMO can prepare your startup for your startup’s next phase of fundraising. Putting an experienced tech marketing leader at the helm means that you find ways to polish your image and express your ideas convincingly.
Tell an Effective, Compelling Story
A cohesive story can make investors and clients pay closer attention. All too often, though, tech startups don’t have effective, compelling stories that make people perk up and listen. What if you had an interesting, true origin story like Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon?
Fractional CMOs have two things that make them good at putting together a story for your business:
They have worked with a lot of startups, so they know what approaches tend to work well.
They have enough distance from your startup that they can see narrative threads that might not be obvious to those who have been working there since the beginning.
Bring in a fractional CMO to make a story that forms the foundation of your B2B marketing strategy. Your future success will grow from a well-crafted story.
Identify Your Target Audience
A lot of post-series A startups feel so much pressure to show that they can generate profits that they lose sight of their target audiences. Revenue FOMO is a real thing, and it can distract your business so much that you never identify the audience you truly want to serve.
A good fractional CMO can come into your startup, survey your work, and help you focus on the steps you need to take. That might involve hearing some difficult things that prevent you from pursuing revenue streams. When you take strategic advice from a fractional CMO, though, you set yourself up for long-term success instead of a short-term growth spurt.
Launch a New Division or Expansion
Once you have identified your audience and decided how your tech startup can serve them, you need help from someone who truly understands that market. Getting your product out into the world is a time-consuming process that can include a lot of wrong turns. A fractional CMO with experience working with your niche market can create a strategic plan for launching a new product.
When choosing your startup marketing expert, consider how much experience they have with your target audience’s industry, pain points, budgeting, and geography.
Keep in mind that your fractional CMO will not stay with your start-up for long. There are pros and cons of using a fractional CMO, after all. Once you have an initial plan in place, though, the full-time CMO you hire in the future will have good results to work with.
Establish a Digital Presence for Your Startup
How hard can digital marketing be? You set up some social media accounts, add some blog posts to your website, and convince people to sign up for your newsletter. Easy, right?
Establishing a digital presence might look simple once someone finishes the work. The process, however, requires a lot of insight and coordination. You need consistent branding across all of your channels, and you need to provide accurate information that leads people toward conversion. Anything from an unfortunate logo to a poorly placed call-to-action could derail your efforts.
Let your fractional CMO build your business’s digital presence from the ground up. The results will give coherent branding that makes a strong first impression and increases your conversion rate.
Find the Right FCMO for Your B2B Startup
Arch Collective excels at helping tech startups with B2B marketing, establishing their online presences, and identifying opportunities for long-term growth. Get in touch with us today to learn more about how a fractional CMO can contribute to your startup’s success.
