We all watch it happen. Tsunamis of marketing success on social channels. Quakes and shakes of companies launching new campaigns, strategies, and platforms. We wonder how they make these things happen. Do they have large marketing departments? Do they have some guru or expert leading them? Can we even afford to do something like that?
We want to make tsunamis and quakes that bring brand awareness, drive sales goals, and leverage growth. What can we add that will help us achieve this kind of energy and disruption in a positive way?
Maybe, you need a Marketing Seismologist. Someone whose specialty is seeing your marketing in a way you have never considered before. Someone that can predict or gauge where the next “quake” can be generated. Someone that has been monitoring more than just your company and knows where the most active or potentially active marketing sites are developing.
Just like a Seismologist studies tsunamis and earthquakes across the world in a large variety of geographical landscapes, monitors current micro-tremors and activity as well as looks for the patterns in data that indicate the next BIG shake, a fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) can do the same thing for your company.
Yes, you may have a Marketing Director. You may even have marketing staff. However, they are all looking at your business and brand through eyes that are now clouded by “what we have always done.” Utilizing a fractional CMO to be another set of eyes and experience could help you unlock the tremors and tsunamis in your marketing in business. Here is how:
Looking for Trends Beyond Your Industry
Most internal marketing staff become blind to trends that are developing in other industries. While understanding your current industry is good, applying tactics and strategies from other industries might help you make some waves in your own.
Innovation comes from seeing what others are doing and tweaking it to fit your audience and industry. Utilizing a fractional CMO can give insight to your team and leadership that you don’t have the time to research and develop.
Employing New Tactics
The people supporting your company’s marketing are gifted. You may be utilizing a few key outside contractors. You may have some “marketing” staff or at least a few administrative personnel that are performing “marketing” activities such as keeping your social channels active. However, these individuals have “comfort zones”. They have specific gifts and talents. They aren’t generalists.
Over and over, company executives have shared that they feel like pieces of their marketing plan are good but other parts are almost non-existent. The reason for that is that you don’t have a strategist. You have a bunch of specialists.
A fractional CMO will look at what is working but will also help you identify the tactics that should be built for best impact. Many times, it isn’t about a huge marketing spend or a lot of additional staff time. It is about one or two key tactics that can be woven into your existing marketing plan for bigger impact.
Assessing ROI with an Eye to Long-Term Growth
Many times, companies are looking for quick wins. They want to place an ad, make a post, or write an email and get immediate response. They view marketing tactics with a return on investment eye. However, a fractional CMO is looking for a return on influence.
Just like a tsunami or earthquake will have follow-up waves or tremors, a fractional CMO is looking to create a series of wins. The first “waves” may not be the money makers, but they create the friction necessary to create the influence toward the “big one”.
A fraction CMO is looking at data on engagement to determine when the “big one” is primed to happen. This also gives other departments in your company the ability to better serve and deliver on all goals; not just a few.
As I have worked with many companies across many industries, I get the same questions with different wording. I know what they are looking for. The questions I always ask are more about their ability to layer, develop, and assess. Tsunamis and quakes aren’t just for a few companies with a brilliant mind or two behind the brand. Tsunamis and quakes can be for every business.
We must determine what level of magnitude your company can handle. We must build across departments the ability to manage a quake. We must build friction through the strategic use of tactics to create the “event”. The question I have for you is are you ready to use a marketing seismologist in your business?
About the Author
Number one best selling author of “Your Marketing Roadmap,” founder of MyCMO, and CEO of Marketing Initiative Worx, Inc., Liz Papagni is a leading brand and marketing thought leader who has worked with a vast array of clients, from established small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. As a marketing and leadership expert with a passion for helping companies develop strategies that convince and convert customers, she has launched and propelled numerous brands nationwide. You can contact Liz at marketingiw.com.
