Thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, many companies switched their white-collared jobs to remote working. Working from home or outside of a traditional office environment is preferable for many. If given the choice of either returning to the office or finding another remote job, some would choose to find other employment.
Marketing professionals have particularly embraced remote work. You may not need or cannot afford to maintain an in-house marketing team. A fractional marketing team may be just what you need to meet your marketing needs.
How Fractional Marketing Works
According to a survey from April 2020, 87% of marketing firms were working from home. Given that 45% of all white-collared workers are still working at home, this is not likely to change soon. Marketing is ideally suited for outsourcing. Let’s look at how that works.
These outsourced marketing professionals work on an as-needed basis, focusing on the parts of your business that need attention. A fractional marketing team can scale their work to your needs and budget. They can work part-time or full-time and are an affordable and flexible way to move your marketing forward.
A CMO (chief marketing officer) or fractional marketing director leads the marketing team. Many businesses do not need a full-time CMO. As a company grows and becomes established, its marketing needs change, and a fractional CMO is better suited to adapt to these changes.
Because the fractional marketing team works remotely, you will not need permanent office space for them. Additionally, they are considered contractors and not employees, which means you do not provide benefits or pay unemployment.
Hiring a digital marketing consultant can also analyze your marketing needs and formulate a plan as an alternative for those on a tight budget. From there, you can hire a fractional marketing team to handle your social media, paid ad campaigns, and SEO as you can afford it.
Determine What You Need to Achieve with Your Marketing Goals
Before you hire a fractional marketing team, you need to determine what you’ll need them to accomplish. Even if you don’t have a clear idea of your marketing needs, begin by writing down any ideas that come to mind. The best strategies can come from this brainstorming.
You may need to improve your branding, drive more quality traffic to your website, or develop better content. Keep in mind that a fractional CMO or marketing director will evaluate your business and develop a marketing plan.
You may think you need more traffic to your website; they might discover that a social media campaign is in order. As an outside observer with analytical skills, they’ll be able to see problems that you don’t. The bottom line of all marketing campaigns is to increase profit.
You may also need to work on your branding, audience perception, and engagement first. Marketing campaigns take time to produce results, but they also should build brand loyalty along the way. By establishing a positive relationship with consumers, you can see long-lasting results.
A Team with Varied Skills
Your overall marketing plan will require a team with various skill sets. For example, you may need a team member adept at technical SEO and another skilled in social media. Moreover, your needs will change over time.
While you may need a website overhaul now, you will focus your attention elsewhere once that is completed. This shifting of needs makes hiring a fractional team a distinct advantage. Once a job is complete, team members can move on to their next client and a new assignment.
Working with a fractional marketing agency allows you to work with experts and specialists with diverse skill sets. This way of working can quickly adapt to the changing needs of your marketing plans. Since you hire the team members as contractors, they can move on once their job is complete.
Working with a fractional marketing team not only benefits your business but the team members as well. They’ll be able to keep their skills fresh with new ideas. In turn, they’ll bring these to your company as they rotate in and out of fractional gigs. In-house marketing can become stagnant since their network might be limited to your company.
Effective digital marketing requires a multi-faceted approach that includes social media, optimized websites, paid ads, and influencer marketing. As each aspect comes to the forefront, new, short-term team members can come onboard. Each will bring a fresh perspective to your company’s online marketing efforts.
Fractional Marketing Can Give Your Company a Competitive Edge
It’s essential to stay abreast of successful marketing tactics; an in-house marketing team with a limited network can quickly get stuck in a rut. According to Digital Authority Partners, fractional marketing professionals often spend their time between jobs educating themselves on the latest trends, putting them at the cutting-edge of the marketing industry. More importantly, they have broad experience with various industries and companies.
When you work with a fractional marketing agency, they make cutting-edge marketing strategies a top priority, giving the agency a competitive edge and passing it along to their clients. Your marketing campaigns will remain fresh and up to date.
Perhaps most important, hiring a fractional marketing team provides both the expertise you need as well as flexibility. Team members can change as required without terminating any permanent employees. This advantage helps you stay within your budget and pivot quickly, maximizing your marketing potential. Your marketing team only remains in place if you need them.
We have quickly normalized remote work and online shopping. As such, digital marketing has kept pace with fractional teams that can work part-time and remotely. Hiring fractional marketing experts could be the answer if your marketing strategy needs an overhaul. Start by hiring a fractional CMO or marketing director to get the ball rolling.
The world is moving and changing fast, and small businesses also need to change quickly. While mega-corporations have the assets to confront and survive headwinds, smaller companies often do not. That makes effective, cutting-edge marketing critical for the survival of smaller businesses.
