5 Key Benefits to Hiring a Fractional CMO for Your Emerging SaaS Business

In the competitive and regularly volatile world of Software as a Service, marketing can be a game-changer for emerging companies. One one hand, a well-executed marketing strategy can quickly boost brand visibility, fill your opportunity pipeline, and create significant value for your early investors. But on the other hand, adding a full-time Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) with full benefits and a significant equity stake is really the last thing you want to do—particularly when payroll is already strained.

If you're reading this article, you're probably starting to explore the possibility of adding a full-time marketing executive to your team, but are hesitant to make the investment. If I'm right—and why would you be here if I wasn't—I encourage you to explore the benefits of hiring a Fractional CMO instead.

Benefit #1: Fractional CMOs Contribute Immediately

The average time it takes to find, phone screen, interview, negotiate with and eventually hire a full-time CMO is often around six months, with some processes taking well over three full quarters. And guess what usually happens from a Marketing perspective while your growing SaaS business is attempting to fill its CMO role? Absolutely nothing. Campaigns go on auto pilot, web traffic consistently declines month over month, and lead pipelines slowly dry up. But Fractional CMOs can be available to start in weeks if not days, and are experienced enough to begin contributing—or even managing existing teams and agencies—right away.

Benefit #2: Fractional CMOs are Scalable

As your emerging SaaS business rides the revenue roller coaster—which of course it will—your marketing needs will expand and contract. Unlike a full-time "all or nothing" CMO, the Fractional version offers you the flexibility to scale their involvement up when revenues are rising, or down when a terrible tech economy forces you to sweat your next payroll. And one more thing: if your Fractional CMO produces results, and your emerging SaaS business blows up in a good way, you can always offer her or him a full-time role.

Benefit #3: Fractional CMOs Cost Much Less

For those who don't know what an experienced and highly qualified SaaS CMO makes on an annual basis, I'll refer you to Salary.com for the answer (click the image to enlarge).

Keep in mind when viewing this that a) these numbers do NOT includes fully-loaded benefits, and b) I used Minneapolis as the baseline—not San Francisco, Seattle, New York or Boston. With this in mind, could you get someone to take your full-time CMO role for less? Of course. There are lots of inexperienced executives willing to take a discount in exchange for a CMO title on their resume.

But instead of settling for a first-timer—or a Senior Manager in CMO clothing—your emerging SaaS business can get a highly experienced, remarkably qualified Fractional CMO one day per week for 20% of this number . . . with no benefits, bonuses or equity awards required.

Benefit #4: Fractional CMOs are Both Strategic and Tactical

Given their time working for multiple companies across a variety of industries, experienced Fractional CMOs have seen, managed and done a lot of things. On the strategic side they have guided corporate messaging, aligned marketing efforts with business objectives, and developed goals and KPIs for both teams and individuals. And on the tactical side Fractional CMOs have executed campaigns, updated website copy, and managed day-to-day budgets. This combination of high-level thinking and detailed execution allows emerging SaaS firms to keep marketing headcount to a minimum, until their revenue numbers can support a wider and more diverse marketing team.

Benefit #5: When Fractional CMOs are Done, They Leave

Unlike the complexity involved with exiting a full-time executive, Fractional CMOs come with an expiration date. When that date comes, your emerging SaaS firm has two options: extend the engagement, or allow the Fractional CMO to walk away. And if your marketing efforts are on enough of an autopilot where they can be executed by a manager or direct-level marketer going forward, you can trade the Fractional CMO's weekly rate (guilt free) for a full-time staff marketer—with no extended notice or required severance package.

Wrapping it Up

Although not a fit for every company, Fractional CMOs can be the perfect solution for pre-revenue, emerging, venture-funded and private equity-owned software companies. If any of the abovelisted benefits sound compelling to you, and you'd like to speak more about the possibility of engaging a Fractional CMO, please feel free to fill out this form on my website. And be sure to connect with me on LinkedIn any time—my profile is always open.

About Eric

Eric is a Fractional CMO and CGTMO with 20+ years of experience owning Marketing, Growth, Go to Market and Strategy at emerging SaaS businesses. The services he currently offers include fractional CMO and GTM advisory services, interim or transitional executive placement, marketing team management, Go-to-Market process optimization and investment due diligence.