How To Determine If An Interim CMO Fits Your Business Needs

The last thing any company wants to experience is a void in leadership. Unfortunately, these things happen. Marketing departments, for example, thrive on having structure. Without this structure, the department can lose direction, which is why the notion of an interim CMO might not be as weird as you might think. For many, this type of executive hire is the right call.

Wouldn’t it just make sense to fill a full-time chief marketing officer position from the start? The thing is that it’s not that easy. Finding the right candidate can take awhile. You also have to take into consideration the numbers regarding full-time CMO turnover over the last few years (hint: it’s not great).

With the upheaval that can come with replacing your chief marketing officer every few years with the ideal person (a veritable unicorn it seems), a company’s ability to effectively get, and keep, its name out there gets exponentially difficult.

But is an interim CMO the best move? Things to consider can include:

Budget Issues

Full-time pay for CMOs is fairly stout. It may not be within the operating budget of a lot of companies. However, operating on a project-by-project contract basis may be easier.

Brand/Culture

Few things can sink a company than having no direction. Moreover, keeping an entire department on the same page when it comes to brand/culture is vital to keeping the team focused.

Variation in Consecutive Projects

Modern companies need to have marketing that is nimble & adaptable. Far too often, though, marketing strategies can be a little too similar from project to project. Interim CMOs bring a varied background that can help break companies out of any ruts.

Few companies want to think about less-than-stellar areas in their marketing strategy. However, this should be done regularly. Many marketing departments can become echo-chambers to their own ideas. It’s here where an outside perspective from an interim CMO can be very beneficial. Their ability to point out areas of weakness do more to make the company stronger & more able to fix internal issues that they may not have seen themselves.

MindEcology is an Austin advertising agency setting the standard on what an interim CMO can mean for companies everywhere. Contact them today to learn more.