5 Reasons Why You Need To Hire a CMO For Your Chicago Business

If your Chicago-based business currently doesn’t have a CMO, then you may be missing out on a huge opportunity for growth. CMOs aren’t just important for handling promotional campaigns and branding. They are needed to get a leg up on the competition, as well as achieve an array of other business objectives.

Gone are the days when marketing was a privilege reserved for huge corporations. Every business of every size must consistently advertise their products to remain in the customers’ minds. Today’s marketing is more complex than ever. That’s why it requires purposeful planning as well as a firm understanding of consumer insights.

While there is no one size fits all approach to marketing that will have a considerable impact on the bottom line, having a progressive CMO in your team can make all the difference in the world. The CMO is the heart of marketing strategy in any successful organization. A CMO makes sure that all the members of the team are working cohesively on common goals.

In the last couple of years though, the role of CMO has grown considerably. So does your organization need to hire a CMO? As a Fractional CMO Agency in Chicago, the experts at Digital Authority Partners have the following tips for you:

For strategy

A well-developed strategy is one of the most important things for any business that wants to succeed in a highly competitive marketplace. Strategy refers to the sum of every decision made by an organization as it regards availing their products or services to the marketplace. As new technologies, competitors and business models continue merging daily, customer preferences and behaviors never stay the same for too long.

That’s why a CMO is so important as he or she helps businesses differentiate their standing with well-defined and established strategies. By making better marketing decisions, investing in systems and capabilities, and experimenting with new marketing techniques, a CMO can help your organization grow and stand out with ease.

To get the most of your budget

Small businesses are constantly being forced to deal with tight budgets and financial uncertainty. This is especially the case for new or upcoming businesses. But when budgets are tight but there is a need to scale, the most instinct is to try and tighten the budget even further. When it comes to marketing and advertising though, investing less typically results in negative results.

That’s where CMOs come in. An experienced one will step in to help an organization make the most of its marketing dollars. A small business that’s not as financially adept doesn’t need to hire a full-time CMO as a fractional one can assist in more ways than one.

There is a CMO for every budget

Fractional CMOs handle the same duties as full-time CMOs. The only difference between the two is that fractional CMOs are brought in temporarily for a short period until the organization can fill the full-time CMO position. Plus, hiring a full-time CMO is often the best choice for small to mid-sized organizations that do not necessarily have the resources to handle such an expensive hire.

While mid-sized companies do need a CMO at some point of other especially if they intend to scale, their needs are typically considerably less compared to those of larger businesses and corporations.

The great thing about fractional CMOs is that they do a lot more than consult since they are part of the team in some form. However, they are not employees. Fractional CMOs are usually given deliverables that must be produced over a specified period. Most fractional CMOs never stay too long; they usually leave in a year or less.

A CMO gets everyone in alignment

If an organization’s marketing and advertising efforts are to work, then it needs to hire a CMO. A CMO will ensure that there is alignment in the hierarchy from the C-suite to the lower-level functions. A CMO understands the objectives of a company well and has the responsibility to ensure that the organization’s values are upheld consistently across the board.

Among other things, a CMO:

·  Makes sure that the group of marketers and company executives are working on similar goals.

·  Will implement planning and other management tools that will ensure everything is aligned.

·  Ensures that the marketing and sales team work together with top-level executives for the success of the entire company.

A CMO will track your spending

When you first hire a CMO the first thing he or she will do is review your internal process to determine what has been working, what hasn’t, and the changes that need to be made. Once everything has been analyzed and reviewed, a CMO should be able to create a plan of attack moving forward to maximize the return on investment in your marketing and advertising program.

The plan created must be scalable to meet the growing needs of your organization both in the short and long-term. To track the organization’s ROI, a CMO establishes certain metrics that make it easy to track everything including your ad spend, the success of your marketing strategy, the sales numbers being generated, and so on. This way, you will be able to tell what kind of returns you are getting after investing your hard-earned dollars.

Final Thoughts

Whether your organization is ready to hire a CMO or not, one thing is clear; the value of a CMO in a modern business cannot be overstated. The good news is that even if your business may not have the resources to hire a full-time CMO, it is still possible to hire a fractional one that will steer your business forward.

 A CMO, especially one with years of experience under his belt, will bring a wealth of benefits to your business and will provide you with a vision that you wouldn’t get from a marketing department. When directed to boost your marketing and track your ROI, the right CMO will transform your organization’s advertising and marketing efforts while adding real value to your organization long-term.