The Ultimate Guide to Fractional CMO Services for a B2B SaaS

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What is a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer Service?

A fractional CMO service allows you to outsource your entire marketing department. You can hire the best marketers globally, but if they are not working for you daily, it’s like having no team at all. This is why we created our fractional CMO services. When companies outsource their marketing departments, they have found that they get more results and better ROI.

A fractional CMO works with the CEO to help them achieve their goals by developing strategies, creating plans, and managing budgets. The fractional CMO also provides guidance and support to other executive team members as needed.

The fractional CMO is responsible for overseeing the overall success of the company’s marketing strategy. They work closely with the CEO and the rest of the executive team to ensure that the company achieves its goals. In addition, the fractional CMO helps to develop new products, manage advertising campaigns, create promotional materials, and provide feedback on current business practices.

By outsourcing your marketing department, you will gain access to the expertise of highly skilled professionals who can take care of all aspects of your company’s marketing needs.

When looking for a fractional CMO service provider, there are several things you should consider.

1. First, make sure that the company offers a wide range of services for your B2B SaaS. Some fractional CMO providers only offer traditional marketing methods such as print ads and television commercials.
2. Others may focus on social media marketing or search engine optimization. It’s important to find a company with experience in every aspect of B2B SaaS marketing so that you don’t waste money on ineffective marketing efforts.
3. It would help if you also looked for a fractional CMO service provider that offers a variety of packages. For example, some fractional CMO providers charge per hour while others charge a fixed fee retailer. If you want to save money, choose a package that offers a fixed cost fee like a retainer.
4. When choosing a fractional CMO service provider, be sure to ask about their case studies. A good fractional CMO service should have an excellent record of delivering promised.
5. Finally, make sure that the fractional CMO service you choose is reputable. There are many fractional CMO service providers out there, but only a few of them are legitimate. Make sure to do your due diligence and research before signing any contracts.

 

What does a Fractional CMO do at a B2B SaaS company?

Generally, a fractional chief marketing officer is an individual responsible for providing strategic leadership and management to one or more of your B2B SaaS companies within the industry.

The Fractional CMO will work with other senior executives to create, implement, and execute strategies designed to increase profitability and market share for their company.

This position requires the ability to manage multiple projects at once while working closely with various departments within the organization.

How do fractional CMO services help B2B SaaS companies achieve hockey stick type growth?

1. Fractional CMO services can help B2B SaaS companies achieve hockey stick type growth by providing the marketing expertise and resources they need to scale their business. Great fractional CMOs focus on short and long term goals at the same time. This creates a strong foundation for your B2B SaaS to move towards hockey stick type growth down the road.

Short-term focused CMOs who are under pressure from the executive teams generally hit revenue goals quicker but see diminishing returns faster because they fail to plan for the long term.

These short term driven CMOs are focused on 5 main digital marketing aspects:

1. a) Buying & cold calling lists
2. b) Using one-to-many sales outreach tactics and strategies
3. c) Paid search & Paid Social only to drive customer acquisition
4. d) Launch Events & Set up Trade Shows
5. e) Pay for Capterra/G2/Software reviews

Long-term focused CMO can truly achieve hockey stick growth by focusing first and foremost on:

1. a) Brand & positioning the brand effectively in the marketplace for lasting success
2. b) Collecting customer testimonials for social proof
3. c) Stacking Marketplace reviews over the long haul
4. d) Launching a highly scalable AI-Optimized content strategy that scales faster in the long run so it can be distributed in more places
5. e) Launching PR and Link building campaigns to go hand-in-hand with the content strategy
6. g) Building communities on Social Channels like Linkedin Groups, Facebook groups and other relevant places
7. h) Strategic ABM (account-based marketing focused on less than 100 companies) with a laser focus on scalable personalization strategies and tactics from top ABM vendors like Terminus, 6Sense, DemandBase, Triblio or Kickfire.

A fractional CMO can help you create a comprehensive marketing plan, identify and target your ideal customers, develop valuable content that speaks directly to your customer avatar, and much more.

By outsourcing some or all of your marketing tasks to a fractional CMO, you can focus on running your business while still achieving growth targets.

Fractional CMOs are much more affordable and provide a higher return on investment, making them an excellent choice for B2B SaaS businesses that want to scale quickly.

If you’re looking for a way to take your business to the next level, consider using a fractional CMO service.

Now that you know how fractional CMO services can help B2B SaaS companies achieve hockey stick type growth, here are a few tips on how to choose the right CMO for your business:

1. Look for someone with experience scaling your B2B SaaS niche and somebody that’s done it before.
2. Ensure the CMO has a proven track record of helping businesses achieve growth targets.
3. Ask for references and testimonials from past clients or check out their LinkedIn recommendations.
4. Be sure to ask about the CMO’s approach to marketing and what strategies they would use to help your business grow.
5. When interviewing potential CMOs, pay attention to your gut instinct and ask yourself whether or not the CMO is a good fit.

What is the CMO role in a B2B SaaS?

The CMO’s role in a B2B SaaS company is to create and execute a marketing plan to generate leads and sales. The CMO must have a deep understanding of the company’s products and target market and must craft a marketing strategy that will reach buyers through the right channels. The CMO must also track results and optimize the marketing plan as needed.

In addition, the CMO must build and manage a team of marketers. This team will help execute the marketing plan and track results. The CMO must also develop relationships with partners, media outlets, and other influencers who can help promote the company’s products.

How can your B2B SaaS benefit from Fractional CMO Services?

There are a few key ways your B2B SaaS can benefit from fractional CMO services. First, you can get help with developing and executing a marketing strategy from those who have been there and done what you seek. This generally includes:

• creating realistic growth goals for your B2B SaaS,
• developing digital marketing plans,
• executing paid media and earned media campaigns

Additionally, you can get help with lead generation and nurturing through marketing automation.

Providers of Fractional CMO services have the skills and experience necessary to generate leads through various channels and nurture them until they are ready to buy. Finally, you can also get help with branding and reputation management. A fractional CMO can help you create a strong brand identity that will resonate with your target market and help you manage any negative publicity.

If you’re looking for help getting your B2B SaaS company to the next level, Fractional CMO services can help you achieve your growth goals faster than you would be able with your own trial and error methods.

How can inbound content marketing help your B2B SaaS?

First, it attracts qualified leads to your website who are actively searching for information about your product or service. Inbound content marketing uses valuable content to attract website visitors who are already interested in what you offer. This is opposed to outbound tactics like cold calling or spamming, which may work if the recipient has no prior knowledge of your company. Cold calling is similar to cold emails and is spammy, resulting in much wasted time with poor outcomes.

Second, it educates potential customers about the features and benefits of your product. Once they’re on your website, inbound content marketing provides relevant information that helps them understand how your product can solve their specific problem. You can turn leads into qualified prospects who are more likely to buy from you by providing helpful resources.

Third, inbound content marketing builds trust and credibility for your brand. When done correctly, inbound content marketing establishes your company as a thought leader in your industry. Prospects will see you as an expert source of information and be more likely to do business with you when the time comes.

Bottom line: Inbound content marketing is an effective way to generate qualified leads for your B2B SaaS, educate potential customers about your service/product, and build trust and credibility for your brand. If you’re not using inbound yet, it’s time to start so that you can claim your real estate in the search engines.

Using Fractional CMO services to drive customer acquisition for your B2B SaaS brand

The SaaS market is buzzing, with new players entering the market almost every day. Also, existing players are launching new products and features to keep their customers engaged.

This has resulted in a highly competitive environment where each player is trying to acquire as many customers as possible and steal yours as well.

However, some companies still cannot seem to get any significant growth or traction despite investing heavily into marketing & sales activities.

Why?

Because most often, B2B SaaS brands do not emphasize driving customer acquisition at every stage of the business development life cycle (BDLC).

So what can be done if you want a sustained & predictable sales pipeline for your targeted customers at a lower customer acquisition cost?

Here are 5 steps that you can take to achieve this:

1. Define your target market in a super niche way & identify the right channels to reach them.

It is important first to understand your target market and then identify the right channels to reach them. Channels may vary depending on your target market’s size, location, and other demographic factors. Some of the most common channels include paid search, display ads, social media ads, PR/media outreach, lead generation platforms, partnerships/alliances and direct sales efforts.

2. Create compelling content that resonates with your target audience

Once you have defined your target market and identified the relevant channels, you need to create compelling content that resonates with them. This content can be in the form of blog posts, case studies, e-books, infographics, webinars. It is important to remember that your target audience is not interested in generic content. They are looking for content relevant to their specific needs and addresses their pain points.

 

 

3. Nurture your leads through an effective lead nurturing process

Once you have generated leads through your marketing efforts, it is important to nurture them through an effective lead nurturing process. This process should involve regular communication with the leads through email marketing, social media outreach, and other channels. Lead nurturing aims to educate the leads about your product and convert them into paying customers.

4. Convert leads into paying customers through an effective sales process

The final step is to convert the leads into paying customers through an effective sales process. This process should involve a series of interactions with the leads to understand their needs and convince them to purchase your product. It is important to note that not all leads will convert into paying customers. So you need to have a well-defined sales process to identify & disqualify the non-qualified leads.

5. Measure & track your progress and adjust your strategy accordingly

It is important to measure & track your progress regularly using digital analytics and adjust your strategy accordingly. This will help you determine which marketing channels are working best for you and focus your resources on those channels. It will also help you identify areas where you need to improve and make necessary changes.

So these are some of the steps you can take to drive customer acquisition for your B2B SaaS firm. Following these steps will help you acquire more customers and help you achieve a sustainable & predictable sales pipeline over the long term.

How Fractional CMO services help deploy digital marketing strategies for a B2B SaaS brand

Almost all B2B SaaS companies offer product demos as a key part of their marketing mix. But how can you make sure that your CMO can drive demos to help you grow your SaaS business?

Here are 4 digital marketing strategies to help you generate more leads and close more deals from your product demos:

1. Fractional CMO services can help make sure your demo is top-notch

Your demo is the first impression potential customers will have of your product, so it’s important to make sure it’s high quality. Spend time rehearsing your presentation and make sure that everything works smoothly.

Also, be prepared to answer questions from potential customers. Be ready to explain how your product works and what benefits it offers. Make sure to research your customer’s language and use that in your sales pitch. Avoid jargon and tech-speak unless you are dealing with a technical person. Tailor your presentation to your audience every time and focus on specific benefits relevant to the person you’re presenting to.

2. Fractional CMOs have experience picking the right channel to offer your demo

You may spend much time preparing for product demos, but if you’re not offering them the right way, they won’t help grow your business. That makes it crucial that you choose an appropriate channel to promote your product demos. Some channels are more suitable for B2B SaaS companies than others.

For example:

• Slideshare or other presentation-sharing sites – If you have great sales slides, then sharing them on sites like SlideShare can be a great way to drive traffic back to your website and generate leads from potential customers interested in what you offer. Just make sure you have backlinks to sign-up forms on your website to get leads.
• Video – Videos are a great way to demonstrate the benefits of using your product. If you have an account on YouTube, then sharing videos can be really easy and allows potential customers to feel the value of your product before they even contact you.
• Webinars – Webinars are another effective marketing channel for offering demos. This is because webinars allow you to reach out directly to specific groups based on their interests and expertise, making it easier to find the right people for your demo. You may also want to add some questions or polls at key points in your webinar, so that audience members stay interested in what you’re suggesting.
• Whiteboards – If you want to build a long-lasting relationship with potential customers, whiteboarding is another great option (the link above will take you to an example).
• Virtual whiteboarding lets people get an online feel for your personality and approach by hearing more of what you have to say than if they were watching a video. It also gives viewers the chance to ask questions about anything that isn’t clear, which can help them better understand what your product does and how it can benefit their business.

3. CMOs can help you identity a blind spot and get creative when it comes time for self-promotion

If your demos are designed to drive leads back to your website, then there are lots of ways that you can promote them online. Here are just three ideas:

• Add a demo button on your website – A ‘demo’ or ‘request a demo’ button is an effective way to get more leads from people who visit your site and want to try out your product. This will also allow you to track the success of this self-promotion strategy by getting insights into how many visitors saw and clicked on this button.
• Use social media – You can use social media like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to promote offers for free trials or demos on your corporate page that followers can click on. For example, if you’re having difficulty getting leads from Twitter, then add some hashtags (i.e. #demo) to your messages so that people can click on them and go directly to your website for more information.
• Promote using email outreach – If you send out newsletters, then including links to demo pages or videos is an effective way of attracting attention. You’ll also be able to measure how many of the people who open your messages clicked on links like this, which will allow you to tailor future messages based on what works best for them (and therefore generate more leads).

4. CMOs know how to engage watchers or readers to take action

If viewers value what they see, they must take the next step and request a demo after watching something like a whiteboard video. You can do this by adding a CTA (call-to-action) button or link at the end of your content and ensuring that it takes people to a page where they can easily fill out a form to schedule a meeting or ask for more information.

To increase the chances that potential customers will want to try out your product, you need to make sure that your demos are well-made and engaging. Utilize the tips in this article to create high-quality demos that will help promote your business and increase sales.

 

Using fractional CMO services to start a digital transformation for your B2B SaaS

What are your Fractional CMO needs for your B2B SaaS?

There are fractional CMO opportunities for your B2B SaaS. The fractional CMO can be paid on a monthly retainer or Pay-per-Engagement (PPE) model. Below is an explanation of each fractional CMO role in the fractional CMO ecosystem.

A fractional CMO who plays multiple roles within their client’s business through Time-Based & Time + Material offerings will develop significant expertise in understanding their client’s business-specific pain points and how they provide value to address those issues. The fractional CMO is a hybrid role that can provide value across the entire sales cycle.

The fractional CMO service is one of the best routes for modern B2B SaaS brands because they have domain experience in marketing and sales. The fractional CMO option allows the CMO to get involved early in the process with ideation and creation of product development, positioning & messaging, content marketing strategy, lead management/generation through social media platforms or earned media placements (such as blogs), conversion optimization through A/B testing or even launch management.

The fractional CMO may be responsible for the following:

Positioning & Messaging – Fractional Chief Marketing Officers will help craft positioning statements and marketable messaging, providing direction around key business drivers that are most important to address when marketing your B2B SaaS company’s attributes.

Content Marketing Strategy – Even if you already have a content strategist, it’s a great idea to get a fractional CMO involved in your company’s content marketing strategy. Often, fractional CMO’s have expertise around creating or curating industry content that can be syndicated for use across owned media channels, including website, blog and social media.

Social Media – In the fractional CMO model, you should expect expert knowledge of key social channels based on your B2B SaaS vertical along with proven strategies that deliver value through organic lead generation from highly targeted prospects. For example, if your fractional CMO is a blogging expert, they may offer a service to write 3 posts per month across major business topics. The fractional CMO may also manage your accounts daily while focusing on other duties.

Conversion Optimization – Once the fractional CMO has established a key content marketing strategy, they may introduce conversion optimization techniques to increase site traffic and qualify leads. A part-time CMO can help you determine if you are collecting enough data to implement conversion rate optimization or recommend technology tools that will do this for you.

 

 

Launch Management – During the launch of your B2B SaaS product, fractional CMO’s can offer guidance on how best to position your product in your market, conduct competitive research analysis, identify target audiences for distribution strategies and manage go-to-market events & campaigns. After launch, an outsourced Chief Marketing Officer can often develop ongoing customer acquisition strategies using paid media channels.

The outsourced CMO’s job is to understand your business, its current position, and where your brand would like to be. This type of marketing leader lends their expertise in strategy development for marketing programs that will increase awareness, generate leads/inquiries/and drive revenue. This includes the development of a messaging framework, positioning strategy, product messaging & differentiation, associated content & collateral elements. They also focus on campaign planning & management across both traditional media platforms (print/broadcast) and emerging digital channels.

Technology companies often use an outsourced CMO service to help address their expanding marketing needs. A fractional CMO can provide tactical execution against a holistic plan by developing appropriate traffic building/leads generation programs and help execute launch plans for B2B digital products.

With a fractional CMO service, the fractional executive is often expected to provide strategic guidance across all marketing disciplines (i.e., PR/ influencer outreach, social media program development & management) but be involved in tactical execution of key marketing territory (i.e., web copywriting or journalist outreach). Other responsibilities may include: content planning & creation, social media listening; competitive analysis; lead nurturing campaigns; product positioning; promotional campaign management, a range of possible activities depending on your needs.

Does your B2B SaaS need a fractional CMO?

The fractional CMO model can be a difficult concept to wrap your head around if you are not familiar with it – so we thought we would do it another way and answer the question via an analogy instead with a cake concept. This is how it works.

B2B SaaS companies have very carefully targeted their market, developed their propositions, built up their technology stacks, hired the best leaders they can find, invested in sales enablement & marketing automation systems to ensure efficient lead management, refined the sales process, recruited the right people and trained them in best practices. However, despite all of this hard work, they still don’t make enough sales to generate the level of revenue they need to satisfy their investors or be profitable. They are bursting with potential but can’t seem to get over that final hurdle.

Many fractional CMOs market themselves as consultants who can help B2B SaaS companies finally break through these barriers by giving them access to experience & expertise at a fraction of the cost of hiring someone full time. Who wouldn’t want an experienced CMO on board for just 1-3 days per week? The fractional CMO would have seen all kinds of different problems before, so they can have some great ideas on how to tackle pipeline issues and to get more sales through the door.

What do fractional marketing leaders do in a B2B SaaS?

Marketing managers and directors work to strategically advance marketing campaigns across various channels and marketing tools in marketing leadership roles.

The job may include:

1. Strategy development for digital marketing campaigns
2. Planning and launching digital marketing strategies and tactics
3. Managing, hiring and mentoring the marketing talent

According to Capterra, marketing leaders in B2B SaaS are responsible for marketing research, ROI analysis, Internet marketing strategies, market segmentation, content marketing strategies, strategic ABM and tactics. They also come up with marketing plans that include SEO goals and SMM goals, depending on what their employer requires. Marketing leaders are also involved in social media management which involves creating campaigns around Facebook Ads or Twitter campaigns, or other platforms, and analyzing results of these campaigns through reports generated using Google Analytics or any other tracking software.

Econsultancy emphasizes marketing leadership and sales enablement as major marketing responsibilities for B2B SaaS marketing leaders.

They stated that marketing leaders are responsible for digital marketing activities, including email marketing, affiliate marketing, search engine optimization. The list of marketing responsibilities depends on the company’s size, but in marketing leaders roles, they cover both offline and online marketing strategies.

Content Marketing Institute states that marketing managers come up with customer acquisition plans, including SEO, content calendar, social media post planning, and data measurement tools to track how well these activities are performing, which help measure their effectiveness. They also analyze content performance reports to improve future campaigns.

When is the right time to hire a fractional Chief Marketing Officer for your B2B SaaS brand?

This is a question we get asked all the time at Algocentric Digital Consultancy. Here’s what we’ve observed: marketing leaders can be most helpful when you’re looking to scale marketing and your marketing team, but only if you do it right.

If you’re considering bringing on a marketing leader, here are 3 things you need to know before hiring a fractional CMO for your B2B SaaS company.

1) You may already have what it takes in house. We often see marketing teams that can’t ask for help internally because they don’t feel empowered or resourced enough to do so. Bringing in an outside marketing leader can change this dynamic by putting someone else on the hook for getting marketing done.

2) You don’t need marketing expertise to bring marketing leaders on. Marketing leaders are not always marketing experts in every domain; they are generalists who can shepherd your marketing program through different marketing functions, including strategy, design, development, social media marketing and PR.

3) Fractional marketers aren’t for every company. Hiring a fractional CMO might be the right solution if you’re looking to do some marketing projects or consulting with an outside marketer. Otherwise, it’s probably more efficient to hire a full-time head of marketing with deep expertise in each function required for running marketing programs at scale.

A fractional CMO is someone who spends part of their time working on your business but has another full-time job. They are not marketing experts but rather generalists who can take an active role in marketing your company by managing marketing projects, working with marketing team leads and becoming a true marketing business partner.

Decide if you need a full-time CMO

Algocentric Digital Consultancy is a digital marketing consultancy that provides leadership and strategy for B2B MarTech SaaS companies looking to drive growth and revenue through paid search, SEO, demand generation strategies, inbound content marketing and paid social.

Do you need a fractional CMO on your leadership team?

To answer this question, you must ask yourself two questions:

1. How would your marketing department run if marketing leadership were optimized?
2. What’s the opportunity cost of not having a marketing leader on staff?

For example, if you’ve identified a unique marketing channel that has significant potential for acquiring new customers and growing revenue, but your marketing leaders don’t have time to take advantage of it, what do you?

It would help if you had someone who will focus their efforts exclusively on one marketing channel to get the results you want.

In other words, what specific opportunities are being left unexplored because of lack of time or resources?

For example, perhaps marketers are missing out on speaking engagements at conferences where they could build relationships with key influencers or failing to take advantage of marketing automation software for marketing reporting. In either case, marketing leaders could help fill in the gaps and capture more revenue for your B2B SaaS business.

When you hire a marketing leader for part-time help, here are 3 tangible benefits to look out for:

1. You’ll have marketing expertise when you need it most (competitor marketing moves fast)
2. Your product marketing will be focused on identifying high-value targets rather than scratching the surface with undifferentiated messaging to broad market segments
3. Your marketing efforts will become scalable because of process documentation and automation enabled by marketing leadership participation.

You should also expect continuous improvement in your marketing department’s capabilities over time due to the CMO’s cumulative experience in building successful marketing organizations at other companies.

Marketing leaders with marketing automation experience will prioritize marketing automation software in your marketing plans and help you get the most out of it. This is a big bonus because marketing automation has an ROI 10x higher than classic marketing efforts like trade shows and direct mail. When marketing leadership is combined with process documentation and continuous improvement, the result is faster revenue for new products (time to MVP).

If you’ve enjoyed reading this blog leave a comment below and ask us your questions.

You can also download one of our playbooks on growing your B2B SaaS faster or send us a message to talk about your growth goals.