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Many financial firms face the challenge of needing to scale, but not having the budget for an entire marketing team or a full-time CMO to help achieve that goal. Many turn to full-service agencies and are faced with hefty invoices inflated to cover overhead costs. This obstacle has given rise to fractional marketing services that empower your company with a low-risk option to finding exactly what you need: Strategic marketing, at a fraction of the cost. Financial business leaders know they need marketing to boost brand presence, drive inbound leads and support their sales and product strategies with engaging materials. These diverse skill sets don’t need to be found in one place.
5 Benefits of Fractional Marketing Services
1. Reduced Marketing Budget
Fractional marketing is done by hiring a fractional CMO, head of marketing, or a small firm that offers a diverse set of marketing services. The most obvious benefit here is the budget. Full-time marketing officers come at a price and risk. Outside of the six-figure salary, there is risk a new hire isn’t the right fit or will move on after they’re ready for their next gig. Fractional marketing provides stability without hurting your budget. Instead of hiring a CMO to oversee a team of marketers, hiring an experienced fractional CMO, or fractional marketing services firm with the same mindset provides the leadership your firm needs without adding another person to the regular payroll. A fractional team/team member provides the same quality work, but at a much lower cost. This relationship provides a flexible, no risk option to scaling your marketing goals.
2. A Fresh, Outsider Perspective
Internal employees have bias and blinders that can hinder change. When a strategy isn’t working, internal employees aren’t often as motivated to mediate change. An outsider brings a fresh perspective. Fractional marketing services were developed to help firms jump start their strategic sales, product and customer success processes through the power of marketing. An outsider perspective can bring new insight that is less threatening to current employees, while also energizing teams to implement new approaches.
3. Addresses Important Gaps
Fractional marketing services are designed with one goal in mind: Help their client reach goals. That’s how they measure their own success. Gaps in fintech and finserv firms happen because employees are so hyper-focused on their own individual and departmental goals, they overlook the big-picture and wider company goals. A fractional marketing approach addresses these gaps. Not bridging the gaps between sales, product and marketing can hinder a firm’s ability to drive and nurture leads. Relying on fractional marketing services helps identifying where gaps exist between departments, how marketing can help, and what specific action items must be completed to do so. This is significantly easier to achieve with an outsider than with internal team members who may lack visibility into those problems.
4. Access to More Talent
Hiring a full-time CMO gives you exactly that: One person with skills specific to them and their background. A fractional marketing approach removes these constraints and helps your firm address more needs. For example, a fractional marketing team might have access to a designer, a writer, a strategist, a product marketing expert and a social media producer at their fingertips. You’ll pay the cost of a single resource and you’ll get the added benefit of having access to an entire team of experts. You’ll also get the added benefit of being able to tap into the network of your fractional marketing team, which can help introduce you to new talent, and new tools and services that might help streamline your marketing strategy.
5. A More Holistic Approach
Managing growth needs to be done holistically. An outsider is able to report back with a view from the outside-in. This is especially important if your firm is tasked with overhauling a young, and under-performing team. Internal approaches focus on problems and offer little to address actionable solutions that generate long-term benefits and results. Fintech and finserv firms are spread thin today and are attempting to scale without knowing exactly what strategies — and marketing materials — are needed to support their goals. Fractional marketing is built with a more holistic approach in mind, which comes with specific action-oriented services to ensure the goals of a strategy can be tested and validated for success. Fractional CMOs and their teams come with diverse leadership experience from many companies, which naturally helps provide a more holistic approach on how your firm can pivot your marketing strategy to better support your short and longer-term company goals.
Performance Marketing Pros is a financial industry marketing consulting and services business. We help financial businesses achieve next level growth through proven marketing strategy and tactics designed by marketers with over 20 years each of experience in the financial industry. Reach out for a free consultation.
