Meet the fractional CMO

A few days ago this writer came across something interesting while conversing with a marketer who called herself a "fractional chief marketing officer" or FCMO for short. "This will soon be the designation of many marketing experts," she informed.

A FCMO is a marketing executive who is outsourced by the company and unlike a traditional CMO, a fractional CMO does not commit to a full-time role, often putting in just hours and servicing more than one company.

Marketing folks are known to not stay at a company for a long period of time (usually around five years) and they are people who love taking creative challenges that impact the business at large.

Some of them leave for a better opportunity, some of them leave to start their own start-up, while others start their own businesses or consultancies.

An FCMO is usually hired by a start-up or an SME to guide them and drive them towards their business goals while giving them a fraction of their time. So at a time, an FCMO could be working on multiple businesses in different sectors and be the decision-maker for them.

Perks galore 

A paradigm shift in the concept of the CMO could mean a win-win for both marketers and the organisation, said Deepti Karthik, FCMO at Sleepyhead and Founder at Decision Pinnacle. “The CMO gets the flexibility of work hours, ability to work remotely and manage work-life balance while doing only quality work that gives satisfaction and the organization gets much needed strategic and functional guidance," she said.

“In a VUCA world, personal goals might not necessarily align with organizational goals which end up in senior resources feeling disenchanted. Being a Fractional CMO untangles own goals and organizational goals and gives the ability to straddle between various brands which offer a buffet of projects that satiate the creative appetite of a seasoned marketer while ensuring financial independence.”

“A full-time CMO can be very expensive for a company or for a start-up. So they hire an FCMO who acts as a CMO and he it she could be working for different companies acting as an FCMO," added Achyuta Nand Chand, FCMO, co-Founder of an app called Wizdom, and co-founder of digital marketing agency Mashrise.

With the rise of the gig economy, marketers also seem to be excited to take up new challenges every now and then. In the last year, marketers of some of the big companies have resigned and gone on a journey of self-exploration.

The perks of being a fractional CMO include the privilege of using time efficiently, according to Pankaj Bhawnani, FCMO, and founder at Northstar Consultings. "Some other benefits include increasing your network right from businesses to media, and exploring a different part of the business and not just sticking to advising," adds Bhawnani who took a leap of faith a year ago to explore the term FCMO and there is no looking back for him.

Challenges too

Since all the glitters is not gold, we also asked about what are the challenges of being an FCMO, Karthik says, “The challenges are uncertainty of the monthly salary, the constant need to do BD and create a pipeline because these are time-bound engagements which come with a predestined completion date.”

Mental bandwidth is another casualty in the case of the fractional CMO, says Chand. "Being a part of multiple projects at once also involves a lot of context switching between different companies and sectors and understanding marketing initiatives. Since you are not engrained properly in the culture as well as the daily functioning of the company, it is really difficult to keep track. And the third is, you have to gain the trust of the juniors as well as your peers as you are part-time.”

What's in it for organisations?

Hiring a fractional CMO makes good business sense to small companies that often don't have the big budget to hire a full-time executive. "In such situations, the FCMO helps organisations by being with them on a project basis and focuses on them completely during that time. The FCMO helps them with strategies and guides them to the right medium to get the right exposure" says Bhawnani. 

Karthik chimed in, “A business which is looking to scale can benefit from having someone who has been there done that and can warn off the perils of going sideways. The young teams get a mentor and guide to who they can bounce ideas and learn in turn. It also gives the founder a trusted advisor who can opine on team, growth strategy, portfolio and channel play all at a fraction of the market cost.”

All the experts agreed that in a few years, fractional CMO will become a thing as more and more marketers will be inclined towards being with multiple businesses and taking up new challenges in different sectors.