Fractional Marketing: The Best Idea You’ve Never Heard Of

Depending on the track you took to start your business, there’s a good chance you may not have heard of fractional marketing. It’s the kind of terminology you might hear during a lecture on economics while earning your MBA. Nonetheless, fractional marketing is a concept that may be heavy on the lingo but is worth its weight in gold for companies looking to make strides within their marketing department.

The basic idea behind fractional marketing isn’t too complicated. Essentially, you have an individual or firm that operates as a roving marketing expert. Companies find that they have a void in their marketing leadership but aren’t quite keen on hiring a full-time CMO. Fractional marketing allows these companies to get all the perks of an experienced marketing executive when and where they need it. They pay for the highest value skills & abilities, but they’re also getting assistance on getting brand & messaging alignment across the board. Fractional marketing also provides quick relief to fill a role by someone who can be an effective third-party auditor.

Sounds interesting, but for those caught up in the rigid world of the C-level hierarchy, it sounds a bit out there. In actuality, fractional marketing isn’t a new concept. It just happens to be gaining momentum lately for a number of reasons:

Financial Considerations: Companies know that maintaining a full-time marketing executive isn’t cheap, especially if you want results. Working with an individual or firm with superior skills on the marketing front on a part-time basis, however, means less financial investment for their expertise.

Reflection of A Changing Society: In many respects, the best companies have a hierarchy that mirrors the world around them. Today’s commercial world is being fueled by a surprisingly large “gig economy.” As assessment of the everyday employee continues, companies are finding that scaling down the traditional office makes more sense. This also applies to the folks at the top.

Your company may operate under the umbrella of a particular industry. Still, the projects you tackle vary, sometimes in a big way. If you’ve got the same marketing team & executive working on each project, though, there’s a chance that the strategies employed on one project may be used interchangeably with another.

Fractional marketing allows for getting the right person in place to maximize the quality of each project. You’re taking on this person or firm’s experience, skills, and resources to get at the heart of what you’re trying to say for a specific client. In a world that emphasizes the significance of personalized marketing to engender consumer confidence & loyalty, the fractional approach can go a VERY long way.

Would fractional marketing be good for your company? Truth be told, the answer will be different for everyone. Even if you think it might be a good idea, you may still convince yourself you can handle the basics well enough. Well enough, though, shouldn’t be in your vocabulary. Why allow this “meh” take on business to become a part of your culture? You’ve made a lot of good calls on getting where you are right now in your industry. Knowing when you need a little help & going out to get it is about as good a business decision as you can make.

Can setting the bar on fractional marketing in Austin be of use anywhere else? Ask MindEcology, an Austin advertising agency with a killer portfolio of clients from all over the country.