How does an outsourced CMO use digital analytics to drive B2B SaaS Growth?
Analytics are essential tools for any business owner or marketer. They help us understand our customers better, improve our marketing strategies, and make smarter decisions about growing our businesses. But when it comes to the world of B2B software companies, there’s a big difference between what works well for consumer-facing brands and what works best for enterprise technology vendors.
The first thing that most people think of is data collection. The more information we have on who our users are, where they live, their interests and digital behaviour, the easier it will be to target them with relevant content and offers. This kind of data can also tell us which channels work best for reaching different types of audiences. However, this type of data doesn’t necessarily translate into sales success. Many studies show that collecting too much customer data hurts conversion rates by making prospects feel you don’t trust them enough to give away your company’s private info. So while it may seem tempting to collect as much data as possible from every prospect, keep in mind that if you do so without providing value back to those same prospects, you could end up hurting rather than helping your bottom line.
The second central area of focus for B2B marketers should be lead generation. While some consumers might not care whether or not they receive emails from a brand, B2B buyers often expect to hear from multiple sources before deciding to buy something. And since these leads come directly through your website, landing pages, ads, and other online properties, having a solid strategy for generating quality traffic to all of these places is critical. If you want to see real growth in your B2B SaaS Strategy, then you need to start thinking about ways to generate qualified leads instead of just sending out generic messages to everyone.
Top 5 ways outsourced CMOs generate leads for B2B SaaS firms today
1. Content Marketing – Create engaging blog posts, ebooks, webinars, videos, infographics, white papers, and/or case studies, that answer questions potential clients ask themselves about your product/service. These pieces of content must provide value to readers but still appeal to your audience. You’ll find that creating great content takes time and effort, but it pays off over time because it helps build credibility and authority around your brand.
2. Social Media Advertising – To promote your products and services use social media platforms such as: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest and Snapchat. When done right, social advertising provides a cost-effective way to reach new prospective customers at scale. It allows you to create highly targeted campaigns based on specific keywords, hashtags, demographics, interest categories, page likes, followers, fans, shares, clicks, impressions, CTR, conversions, ROI, etc.
3. Email Marketing – Send personalized email newsletters to current and past customers using MailChimp, Constant Contact, HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot, or Salesforce. Emails can include links to blogs, articles, whitepapers, FAQs, event announcements, special promotions, surveys or contests. These are designed to encourage repeat visits and purchases.
4. SEO & SEM – Optimize websites for search engines and pay-per-click ad networks to increase organic rankings and visibility. Search engine optimization, paid search marketing, display advertising, and programmatic advertising help businesses gain valuable exposure when someone searches for their products or services within SERPs.
5. Paid Traffic – Paying for traffic means paying for each visitor. The key here is finding the best balance between cheap and high-quality sites, so you don’t end up with too many low-value visitors.
Outsourcing your CMO role will allow you to spend more time focusing on growing your business rather than managing day-to-day operations. This frees up your team members to work on higher-level tasks, while allowing them to feel empowered to make decisions. This also grants you the opportunity to hire people who have experience working in digital marketing roles.
If you’re looking to grow your company’s revenue, this post shows how outsourcing your CMO position can accelerate your progress. By hiring an experienced external agency, you get access to top talent and proven strategies that deliver results.
Learn why companies choose us for their outsourced CMO needs.
How does an outsourced CMO assess marketing tactics and strategies?
The first step is to assess the entire marketing landscape. But what does this mean? Let’s break it down. First, we like to analyze the whole marketing mix for businesses in B2B SaaS. There are always four primary ways you will market your SaaS:
1. Content Marketing – blogging, eBooks, webinars, guides, and white papers
2. Paid Advertising – such as Google and/or Facebook ads
3. PR/Journalism/Social Media Outreach – guest-blogging on top blogs; writing articles; tweeting; getting involved with communities that influence buying decisions (e.g. AMA: Ask Me Anything); reaching out to influencers and identifying possible brand ambassadors
4. Events – this is especially important for lead nurturing and appointment setting and helps you with engagement and promotion of your content. We find events useful because they give you a chance to connect face-to-face with prospects and clients, which leads to better conversations about solutions and opportunities.
Next, we want to understand where your target audience spends its time online. For example, suppose you’re selling enterprise CRM software. In that case, chances are most of your potential buyers will be spending some amount of time on platforms such as Quora, Reddit, Medium, Stack Overflow, GitHub, Hacker News, Product Hunt, etc. Therefore, you need to know these places well enough to identify relevant topics, questions, discussions, comments, etc.
Once you’ve identified all of these areas, start analyzing the data.
- What types of posts do people respond to?
- How much interaction does each forum offer?
- Which channels drive the highest conversion rates?
Once you’ve analyzed everything, there are two main approaches to take next. One system is to use proprietary AI technology to generate ideas for content. Another option is to partner with another expert firm to brainstorm creative concepts together. Either way, once you have a list of options, you’ll then narrow down the ones that fit into one of three buckets:
A) Ideas that would require minimal effort to produce
B) Ideas that could potentially earn you money
C) Ideas that are guaranteed to bring in sales
An outsourced CMO can help build brand awareness, brand loyalty and drive customer engagement.
Many companies have shifted from hiring an in-house CMO to outsourcing this marketing function. In most cases, it reduces costs or frees up internal resources for core business functions outside of marketing alone (product development, hiring in other processes, market research, R&D).
Does hiring an in-house marketing executive equate to having someone who will dedicate all their resources to building your brand, developing a great marketing strategy, and meeting with your investors to raise capital? If you think those are all the things a CMO is all about, then what can possibly be outsourced?
Think again.
Hiring an outsourced CMO gives companies access to the same expertise and insight as previously available only within their walls – minus some of the overhead – that’s why we say “outsourced marketing excellence.”
You should be well aware that the main tasks of an outsourced CMO would be to work closely with your management team, establish processes and guidelines to ensure consistency in messaging across all digital marketing touch-points. This includes:
- Building marketing strategies
- Developing content initiatives
- Creating & launching new products through digital channels
- Partnering with agencies on various projects (online & events)
- Optimizing online properties (website/social media)
- Building a consistently healthy pipeline
- Aligning sales teams’ goals with marketing objectives to help drive revenue and profitability
When we engage with clients, we select our B2B SaaS clients based on their potential (i.e., growth stage, level of resources, or established players looking for fast growth). Our clients understand that it’s not enough anymore to only compete on product features as marketing is no longer about how great your products are; it’s the total consumer experience that matters. This forces any SaaS-oriented CMOs to focus on the holistic nature of the whole user journey “from blog readers and prospects to customers” and activate those customers to become your SaaS brand advocates.
An outsourced CMO must build a strong brand identity, develop their social presence, and influence key audiences. By having a dedicated marketing team around your executive team and the product, you will establish a stronger relationship with your customers, increase their engagement rate and loyalty, and create awareness about your products/services amongst new potential consumers.
It all boils down to the fact that companies need to think differently from competition to stand out from the rest. In an information-overloaded and cluttered world, it is hard for even highly recognized brands to cut through the noise and engage prospects effectively. Therefore, we believe marketers must begin by creating more innovative campaigns that build lasting relationships.
The most common approach to marketing, especially in the B2B SaaS space, is to have a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) or equivalent in-house.
However, an outsourced CMO can be more efficient at bringing your brand to fruition and achieving business goals faster. A study by Forrester Research shows that outsourced CMOs generate almost twice as much revenue for B2B SaaS companies than those with an in-house CMO. It also indicates outsourced CMOs reduce the cost of services by 20%.
It’s not just about saving money, though; outsourced CMOs can deliver insight and results you may be missing. They also free up time for your CEO to focus on other areas of the business. Outsourced CMOs are now the industry standard for B2B SaaS marketing agencies and help many brands meet their marketing objectives faster.
As well as “outsourcing your CMO” (not a phrase we advise using), you may want to consider the following key points about hiring CMOs.
- CMOs are not one-size-fits-all, outsourced or otherwise. Make sure you look at how much time your outsourced CMO will spend on specific tasks and who they report to. Learning about their responsibilities before hiring can save a lot of confusion down the line.
- In B2B marketing, just as in any other business venture, it’s essential to have clear goals from the start. This means knowing what success looks like for your outsourced CMO and making sure that both parties agree on those goals and measures of success along the way. Otherwise, you’ll have a hard time seeing your marketing executive deliver on results.
- It’s essential to remember that outsourced CMOs are executive professionals. Make sure you allow enough time for outsourced CMOs to carry out proper market analysis and build a long-term marketing strategy that will deliver results in the end. Most CEOs are far too impatient and don’t see eye to eye when it comes to shaping the company’s vision for one reason or another. It all comes down to aligning the vision and strategy together and being on the same page while having the patience to allow the marketing team to deliver on the plan.
- If you think it’s all about saving money, think again. Investing in outsourced CMO services is an investment in your business B2B SaaS growth. It should be viewed as such from the start. While an outsourced CMO work may sometimes cost more in the short term than doing everything in-house, outsourcing allows you to achieve results faster because you have someone to help with areas of digital marketing you might not have expertise in.
- The best outsourced CMOs combine excellence in marketing strategy and creativity with deep account knowledge and a passion for growth. Results come from building strong relationships with clients and generating new business opportunities. This must all be rooted in the business strategy and company culture to enable brands to grow exponentially.
- An outsourced CMO can help bring out the best in your B2B SaaS brand by working with you on everything from:
- Content creation to public relations,
- Events management,
- Social media,
- Marketing automation,
- Digital analytics,
- Content marketing,
- Paid social,
- Organic,
- Building out your Martech,
- Improving the sales process and
- Focusing on the customer experience and customer acquisition.
Lastly, don’t forget your outsourced CMO needs support too! Make sure you include marketing managers or agency partners early on so you can closely work together to achieve your business goals. If outsourced CMOs aren’t given the support they need, it will be harder for them to deliver, and you may risk seeing lower results than expected.
An Outsourced CMO can define a holistic brand strategy to fuel business growth.
The outsourced CMO can define a holistic brand strategy from understanding your brand, positioning your brand, connecting digital analytics, and making data-informed decisions to drive business growth.
An outsourced CMO can create a holistic B2B SaaS brand strategy for your firm. Hiring an outsourced CMO is different from hiring a consultant or agency because an outsourced CMO has direct access to change processes within your organization instead of advising how to implement changes. When companies hire for the CMO role in an outsourced capacity, they immediately see that an outsourced CMO will oversee the entire brand strategy from start to finish and help connect the dots between marketing channels to drive true business performance. The primary role of an outsourced CMO is to oversee brand strategy and implement it.
When you hire an outsourced CMO, your company will receive a single point of contact for all marketing-related needs. Marketing executives of this stature should be able to:
- Handle everything from digital analytics to reporting and performance measurement to ensure all channels work together effectively to drive business growth.
- Create a complete B2B SaaS brand strategy customized for your business by tracking data points that provide actionable insights into your customer’s buying process.
- Work across many marketing channels, including paid digital advertising, social media, email, web design, and content development.
- Unify the customer experience across all channels, so customers feel like they are always in touch with your firm. This helps bring your B2B SaaS brand story to the marketplace in a semi-personalized fashion at scale using ML-Powered Martech.
- Create new business opportunities by implementing different types of marketing campaigns across many channels that can work together seamlessly and can be adjusted depending on how customers are engaging with your brand.
- Implement a unified customer experience by standardizing all channels’ look, feel, and messaging so they work together seamlessly to create an integrated experience. The experience is often dictated from the very first touchpoint of a potential customer to their continuous brand engagement with the firm’s content and beyond their purchase as they become brand advocates on their private communication channels. CMOs can understand these cycles from top to bottom and create sustainable and predictable growth over time.
- Customer-Focused Content & Optimized Messaging: The outsourced CMO will typically implement data-informed strategies that improve customer experience across all channels, including customized AI-Powered content creation and targeted messaging that resonates with each consumer segment in a semi-personalized manner.
- Outsourced CMOs have already begun creating branding strategies for firms in almost every industry, not just B2B SaaS. One example from a B2B SaaS company that outsourced their CMO for a year and saw their revenue jump 25% and their customer satisfaction jump up 15% overall.
- Outsourced CMOs can create holistic B2B SaaS brand strategies for companies of all sizes – regardless of industry or budget. You’ll see B2B SaaS revenue growth by bringing your outsourced CMO on board and letting them build a team around your product/brand.
Outsourced CMO can drive business performance by setting the right KPIs in place.
KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, are critical for outsourced CMOs because they give insight into how the strategy is improving its performance. In fact, it’s so crucial that Nike, Vodafone, and Verizon have been spending money on AI-Powered analytics software from IBM Watson. Most notable B2B SaaS companies are doing the same. Without these valuable metrics, outsourced CMOs can’t correctly measure progress and understand what’s critical for business growth. This can help them take the right next step and pivot the strategy if market conditions change.
In the case of outsourced CMOs, success is usually measured in terms of revenue. In other words, outsourced CMOs are responsible for the performance of their client’s brands and how they compete in a competitive marketplace. According to Deloitte, “established firms must either differentiate or die,” which makes having a solid understanding of what’s a very critical key to outsourced CMO success.
Sometimes outsourced CMOs may have a tough time explaining the value they add to their clients because it’s difficult to quantify their impact on business performance properly. That said, outsourced CMOs should feel confident that if KPIs tell them something isn’t working, they need to adjust accordingly. Outsourced CMOs should be proactive about looking for new ways to measure their outsourced CMO performance, but they shouldn’t spend too much time measuring KPIs because “you can’t manage what you don’t measure.”
To help outsourced CMOs better understand the value of specific KPIs, Forbes contributor Mark Fidelman suggests that outsourced CMOs start by looking at customer lifetime value (LTV). This is critical because it provides outsourced CMOs with insight into how long they need to retain a customer to make more money than if they’ve invested resources into acquiring a new client. This is primarily a critical metric for most B2B SaaS companies that work on a subscription-based model. Measuring LTV can provide an insight into churn rates and retention of customers and which customer segments are the most profitable. This, in turn, can tell you which customer segments need a more significant marketing push. Most advertising platforms provide insights into audience segments, allowing you to reach specific types of customers on different platforms like Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, DV360, or other programmatic advertising platforms.
To help outsourced CMOs build a strong foundation of what’s critical, here are the top 17 KPIs they should be evaluating:
1. Social media engagement
Mark Fidelman suggests the outsourced CMOs pay attention to social media engagement because this is where these marketing executives can communicate their message, develop relationships with clients and attract new buyers. According to Kissmetrics, brands that show an active presence on social media typically have almost double the number of followers compared to those that don’t.
2. Audience size
Knowing how big your audience is, tells you if the current strategy is working or not. This insight can also help outsourced CMOs determine whether or not they need to invest in new channels and where most of their traffic comes from.
3. Conversion rates
Outsourced CMs should pay attention to conversion rates for different marketing channels. Hence, they know which ones are more efficient than others and who needs a more significant push, according to Kissmetrics. For outsourced CMOs that work with B2B SaaS companies, converting leads into customers is critical because it helps them see if their outsourced CMO strategy is working or not, as you can’t sell to someone that doesn’t buy.
4. Customer satisfaction
According to Forbes, customer satisfaction is another outsourced CMO KPI worth measuring because it can predict customer churn and provide outsourced CMOs with the insight needed to win customers back. To do this, outsourced CMO must look at metrics such as average revenue per user, net promoter score, and loyalty scores. These three metrics will give you insight into how satisfied your existing customers are and whether or not there’s room for improvement.
5. Revenue growth rate
The revenue growth rate is one of the best indicators of success for any company, including outsourced CMOs. It shows whether or not your efforts are paying off and allows you to identify areas where you’re losing out on potential sales. If you want to grow faster, focus on increasing your ARPUs and NPS.
6. Churn rate
Churn rate is another critical indicator of success for outsourced CMOs because it lets them know when they need to change tactics. A high churn rate means that some of your customers aren’t happy enough to stick around with your product/service. You’ll get a sense of this when you compare your churn rate against industry benchmarks.
7. Average deal size
Average deal size is another critical metric for outsourced CMO KPs because it indicates how many deals you close each month. The higher the figure, the more opportunities you have to increase revenues.
8. Lifetime Value
This is one of the most important KPIs for outsourced CMO because it measures the amount of profit you generate over the life cycle of a customer relationship. Knowing what LTV looks like allows you to make informed decisions about retention strategies and pricing models.
9. Net Promoter Score
Net Promoter Score is a measure used by marketers to gauge consumer perception of brand quality. An NPS rating above 70% usually signifies strong brand recognition, while ratings below 50% indicate low levels of brand awareness. In other words, NPS provides valuable insights into how well your products and services are performing.
10. Loyalty programs
Loyalty programs are great ways to keep track of repeat business and retain customers. They allow you to reward loyal customers with discounts and freebies. However, be careful not to offer too much value because otherwise, you may lose customers.
11. Cost-per-acquisition
Cost-per-acquisition is yet another way to calculate ROI. It compares the cost of acquiring a lead versus the lifetime value of that lead. By knowing the difference between acquisition costs and lifetime values, you can decide whether or not your campaign was successful.
12. Acquisition funnel
Acquisition funnels let you understand how effective your campaigns were at attracting qualified prospects. When looking at data, you can use funnel analysis to determine why specific segments weren’t converted into leads.
13. Lead generation sources
Lead generation sources tell you where your target market is coming from. For example, if you see that new users come primarily from organic search traffic, you should optimize your website accordingly.
14. Return on ad spend (ROAS)
This outsourced CMO metric tells outsourced CMOs how well their advertising budget is performing and if they’re spending enough time testing campaigns before scaling them up, according to Kissmetrics. In most cases, outsourced CMOs should aim for a ROAS of 1:1, otherwise known as “one dollar spent generating one dollar in sales.” For most B2B SaaS companies that work on a subscription-based model, outsourced CMOs should aim for LTV to be at least 3x the yearly cost of buying the product.
15. Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
The outsourced CMO KPI that tells outsourced CMOs how much money they’re spending on acquiring new customers is customer acquisition cost or CAC, according to Kissmetrics. According to Forbes, the good news is that it’s easy to calculate because you just need two numbers: your advertising budget and your number of new customers. If this outsourced CMO metric gets too high, outsourced CMOs might want to reduce their ad spend or otherwise known as stopping burnout campaigns.
16. Profit margin (%)
As an outsourced CMO, you should pay attention to your profit margin because it tells outsourced CMOs how much money their company makes after paying for all expenses. If outsourced CMOs doesn’t know this outsourced CMO KPI, they might make the mistake of investing more in customer acquisition without understanding if there’s a big enough market out there. Profit margin can be calculated by subtracting total costs from total revenue and then dividing that number by total income.
17. Customer lifetime value (CLV)
Knowing how many customers are profitable is another outsourced CMO KPI worth tracking because it helps outsourced CMOs determine which customers are most valuable. For B2B SaaS companies, CLV can help outsourced CMOs predict how much an average customer is worth, so they don’t focus too much on one customer.
How do these outsourced CMO KPIs help me grow my SaaS?
Outsourced CMOs should pay attention to the metrics mentioned in this article to help understand what areas need a little more focus. For example, outsourced CMOs might be focusing too much on acquiring new customers instead of keeping their current ones happy.
As an outsourced CMO, you’re ultimately responsible for your company’s outsourced marketing strategy and how it performs, which means that knowing some of these KPIs is a part of your job description. In general, outsourced CMOs should measure everything from ROI to churn rates, so they know exactly what’s going wrong and why before taking action.
How can an Outsourced CMO help with B2B SaaS business growth?
Outsourced CMO can help define what you need to focus on with your B2B and formulate a growth strategy based on previous experience and the best practices today.
An outsourced CMO will know how to create the right message for your brand and position it better for your specific addressable market. They’ll work with various departments and teams within your B2B SaaS. Depending on the CMO’s strengths and weaknesses, they will supplement their deficiencies by hiring a team with the skillsets to execute their vision.
It’s essential to find the right outsourced CMO for your BaaS SaaS business. They need to understand your market and tell a story that will resonate with potential customers to grow faster. This is especially critical for new SaaS companies who want to establish a foothold in the marketplace.
A good outsourced CMO can help you define precisely what you need when it needs to be done, determine who is responsible for doing it, and explain why they are doing it. This makes outsourcing much more effective than trying things out yourself, which often leads to wasted time and money if not executed correctly.
Your outsourced marketing leader should also have an excellent understanding of today’s digital marketing landscape, so they know how best to implement their strategy.
Startups should outsource their marketing to a professional as soon as possible to initiate a more robust growth strategy and avoid wasting money and going through a lengthy trial-and-error phase. Hiring an outsourced CMO will also help you focus on other areas of your startup’s marketing operations that have room for improvement. This, in turn, gives power to outsourced marketing teams to make more impact when executed correctly without stepping on any toes.
An Outsourced CMO can help with B2B SaaS business growth
Outsourced CMO can help define what you need to focus on with your B2B and formulate a growth strategy based on previous experience and the best practices today.
An outsourced CMO will know how to create the right message for your brand and position it better for your specific addressable market. They’ll work with various departments and teams within your B2B SaaS. Depending on the CMO’s strengths and weaknesses, they will supplement their deficiencies by hiring a team with the skillsets to execute their vision.
It’s crucial to find the right outsourced CMO for your BaaS SaaS business. They need to understand your market and tell a story that will resonate with potential customers to grow faster. This is especially critical for new SaaS companies who want to establish a foothold in the marketplace.
A good outsourced CMO can help you define precisely what you need when it needs to be done, determine who is responsible for doing it, and explain why they are doing it. This makes outsourcing much more effective than trying things out yourself, which often leads to wasted time and money if not executed correctly.
Your outsourced marketing leader should also have an excellent understanding of today’s digital marketing landscape, so they know how best to implement their strategy.
Startups should outsource their marketing to a professional as soon as possible to initiate a more robust growth strategy and avoid wasting money and going through a lengthy trial-and-error phase. Hiring an outsourced CMO will also help you focus on other areas of your startup’s marketing operations that have room for improvement. This, in turn, gives power to outsourced marketing teams to make more impact when executed correctly without stepping on any toes.
Why outsource the B2B SaaS CMO function?
1. Outsourcing your CMO means that you don’t have to pay for someone full-time to handle these tasks.
Instead, you can hire a part-time CMO to work on projects when they’re needed. This way, you can reduce overhead expenses without sacrificing quality.
2. It gives you access to better talent.
If you’re looking to improve the performance of your current marketing department, hiring an outsider is often the best solution. When you outsource your CMO, you’ll gain access to experienced marketing leaders who know how to build successful strategies. These experts will bring fresh ideas and innovative solutions to your organization.
3. You save money.
If you want to save money, then outsourcing your CMO is the right choice. Hiring a part-time CMO is much cheaper than having a full-time employee. Plus, you won’t need to spend as much on training and onboarding costs.
4. You get a higher ROI.
When you outsource your CMO, you can enjoy the benefits of a high return on investment. The results will speak for themselves as long as you find a qualified marketer to work for you. The expert will make sure that your brand gets more visibility, leads, and sales. They’ll create compelling content that attracts attention and drives conversions.
Some FAQs about Outsourced CMOs
What is an Outsourced CMO?
An outsourced Chief Marketing Officer is essentially just a marketing professional hired to help grow your business. They may also serve as a liaison between your internal team and external partners such as agencies and vendors. The role varies depending upon the size of the client but typically includes:
• Strategy development
• Branding & messaging creation
• Content production
• Lead generation
• Customer acquisition
• Sales enablement
• Account management
How will an Outsourced CMO work with or improve my current marketing team?
An outsourced CMO can help you build a strong marketing strategy for your business. They are experts at building relationships with customers and prospects, and they know how to create compelling digital marketing campaigns that drive B2B SaaS growth and revenue. An outsourced CMO can also provide insights into the effectiveness of your existing marketing strategies so that you can make changes as needed. They can often dive into the data with their team to understand what’s driving business and what needs to be reduced.
When hiring an outsourced CMO, look for one who has worked within your industry before. This means knowing what makes your company unique from other companies in its field. It also means being familiar with trends and best practices in digital marketing. You want someone who knows what works and doesn’t work in online advertising, social media, email marketing, etc.
If you’re not sure whether this applies to you, ask yourself these questions:
- Do you have any employees who do most of the day-to-day marketing tasks related to running your business, but they’re lacking the bigger vision?
- Are there certain aspects of your business where you feel like you need more expertise than just doing it yourself?
Why Can An Outsourced CMO Improve Marketing ROI?
An outsourced CMO can increase your marketing ROI by helping you focus on areas where you lack experience. For example, suppose you don’t have much experience managing customer support calls. In that case, outsourcing those duties may allow you to spend more time focusing on growing your business instead of answering phone calls. If you aren’t very good at writing copy for landing pages, using an outsourced writer might free up some time to write content that helps grow your SaaS.
An outsourced CMO can also help you save money because they won’t be paid the total price for services such as website design, graphic design, SEO, PPC management, etc. Instead, you’ll only pay for the hours spent working on projects. So, suppose you hire a fractional CMO for $200 per hour. In that case, you could potentially end up spending less overall compared to hiring a traditional CMO who will ask for stock options, benefits, performance bonuses.
What Are The Benefits Of Hiring An outsourced CMO?
If you are looking for a way to get more leads, you should consider hiring an outsourced CMO. They have the skills and experience to help you with all the marketing activities that you want to achieve. They can also help you with the following tasks:
- Create compelling content that attracts new users
- Developing a brand identity that resonates with potential buyers
- Creating engaging user experiences through websites, apps, or mobile devices
- Managing lead nurturing programs
- Building out sales funnels
- Analyzing conversion rates
- Measuring success based on metrics
- Hire A Full Time Or Part Time Outsourced CMO To Grow Your Business In 2020
- You can either choose to hire a part-time or full-time outsourced CMO, depending on your budget.
The Bottom Line
Hiring an outsourced CMO isn’t always easy or cheap. But when done right, it can lead to better results and higher profits. And remember, even though you’re getting paid hourly, you still retain ownership over your project. So, if something goes wrong, you can stop working on it and move on to another task until you find a replacement.
Hiring the modern CMO: Is it better to go with an in-house one or an outsourced one?
By 2020, nearly half of global businesses planned to use external agencies to manage their marketing operations. However, the majority of SMBs are yet to adopt this approach. Why is that?
Our latest research explored how small businesses are adopting new technologies and strategies to improve their marketing performance. We found that although SMEs are increasingly turning to third-party providers to help them achieve growth objectives, they remain reluctant to embrace technology solutions to undergo a complete digital transformation fully. This comes mainly from an inability to pivot quickly because of large organizational sizes, big teams, outdated ways of thinking, and from too many opinions flying around reinforced by weak leadership that isn’t willing to let go of the old ways of doing things. The motto in these companies is “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?”.
Lack of forward-thinking or innovation generally drives these companies out of business over time and allows their competitors to take hold by deploying better-suited tech and agile methodologies across the board that is deployed relatively quickly. This helps them win in the market and drive out the competition creating a solid hold. This also means there’s plenty of room for improvement within these companies’ current digital capabilities. That’s where an outsourced CMO can help bring in a competitive edge to such companies to help them transform their business.
Why Is an Outsourced CMO so badly needed in the Small to Mid-Size B2B Market?
Smaller firms often struggle with limited resources and expertise. They need someone who has both the knowledge and skillset required to drive effective campaigns across multiple channels. A well-rounded marketer understands what works best for each channel and knows which tools work best for different tasks. But most importantly, a good marketer must understand his client’s needs and goals. He must know exactly where the company wants to go and how to get there. Only then can he create a strategy that aligns perfectly with those goals.
This is not possible unless you bring in experts from other fields like sales, finance, product development, customer service, human resource, legal, IT, PR, and more. These specialists provide invaluable insight into the nuances of running a successful business. Their experience helps ensure that every aspect of the campaign is aligned with the overall vision.
When you choose to outsource your marketing efforts, you gain access to a team of professionals who specialize in various areas such as social media management, content creation, email marketing, SEO/PPC optimization, website design, analytics, CRM systems, etc. You also benefit from having all of these services under one roof. It saves time and effort because you don’t have to coordinate between several vendors.
An outsourced CMO provides a comprehensive solution that includes everything needed to grow your brand online. The agency creates engaging content, manages social accounts, optimizes websites, develops landing pages, builds emails, tracking conversions, analyzes data, and much more.
What Are Outsourced CMO’s Responsibilities?
A great CMO will take charge of any part of the process without being bogged down by details. They should be able to focus on the big picture while delegating smaller projects to staff members. An experienced professional will make sure to stay up-to-date with industry trends and changes. In addition, senior marketing executives can keep track of metrics and measure success accordingly. Finally, an outsourced CMO can stay abreast of emerging platforms and technologies that could potentially disrupt existing processes. The following skillsets are a vital part of the business function and are generally essential:
• Strong communication and excellent organizational skills
• Ability to manage multiple priorities at once
• Experience working remotely or traveling frequently
• Familiarity with Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Twitter ads, LinkedIn advertising, Instagram ad platform, YouTube video advertising, Pinterest ad platform, Snapchat ad platform, programmatic advertising
• Knowledgeable about search engine algorithms and how to leverage them to build out effective content marketing techniques
• Ability to build out the right Martech specific to your business
• Understanding the power of a data-informed decision and being able to transform that into actionable bottom line drivers
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships within the company across departments
• Self-starter attitude with strong desire to meet growth targets
• High level of integrity and honesty to communicate the good, the bad, and the ugly
• Ability to multi-task effectively across different projects and departments
In short, if you want your CMO to succeed in this role, they will need to possess strong leadership qualities, excellent people skills, and an ability to execute quickly while being relentless when it comes to achieving growth targets.
How will an Outsourced CMO impact my B2B SaaS business?
Outsourcing is becoming increasingly popular for SMBs who don’t have time to run their digital marketing campaigns. They can hire an external team to do it instead. This frees them from worrying about things like website maintenance, email blasts, lead generation, etc., so they can concentrate on growing their business.
As more and more SMBs turn to outsourcers to help grow their business, we expect to see some exciting shifts in how these services work. For example, as more SMBs start using social media channels such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, they may choose to outsource those tasks rather than doing it themselves.
Why Hire an Outsourced CMO?
The benefits of outsourcing include the following 10 points:
1. You get access to someone else’s expertise. If you were to try to learn everything yourself, there would never be enough hours in the day! By hiring an outside expert, you gain access to all kinds of knowledge that you wouldn’t otherwise know where to find.
2. It saves money. When you pay someone else to handle something that you spent lots of time on, you save both time and money.
3. You avoid burnout. There’s nothing worse than spending too much time figuring out what needs to happen next to drive sales. Instead, let others handle the grunt work and give you time to think strategically about how best to reach customers.
4. You’ll feel better knowing that you’re not wasting valuable resources. As mentioned above, many businesses are already outsourcing certain aspects of their operations because they simply don’t have the bandwidth or skill set needed to accomplish specific tasks. So by letting another person take care of those responsibilities, you free up your time to focus on other essential areas of your business.
5. You get a fresh perspective. Letting go of control allows you to step back and look at your business through new eyes. That way, you can identify opportunities that might not even occur to you otherwise.
6. You can scale your B2B SaaS faster. Because you’ve freed up your schedule, you now have room to invest in additional staff members without worrying about whether or not you can afford to keep them around.
7. You can make smarter decisions. Since you no longer have to deal with every detail related to your company, you can devote more time thinking about bigger picture issues. And since you aren’t bogged down by minutiae, you can come up with solutions that are far superior to anything you could ever dream up on your own.
8. You can delegate responsibility. Rather than micromanaging each aspect of your operation, you can hand over authority to people who will actually execute well.
9. You can build relationships. One of the most potent ways to increase revenue is to develop strong customer relationships. But if you’re always working hard to maintain those connections, you won’t have any extra time left to nurture new ones. By delegating this task to someone else, you allow them to do so while still maintaining close ties with existing clients.
10. You can focus on higher-level activities. While you should certainly continue to monitor things like conversion rates and lead generation efforts, you shouldn’t need to worry about every little thing that happens within your organization. This frees up your brainpower for strategic planning instead of mundane operational details.
What are the Benefits of Outsourcing Your CMO?
There’s really only one reason why anyone would want to outsource their CMO position – it saves money!
Here are some reasons why outsourcing your CMO makes sense:
1. It helps you cut costs. When you hire a full-time employee, you pay payroll taxes, benefits, insurance, etc. All these expenses add up quickly. With an outsourced CMO, you don’t incur these fees because they work directly for you. Instead, they bill you based on how many hours they put into producing content and generating leads. So when you compare what you’d be paying in salary versus what you end up spending overall, there’s usually quite a difference.
2. It gives you access to better talent. Hiring a top-notch CMO isn’t cheap. Even though they don’t cost much per hour, hiring a good CMO requires significant investment upfront. For example, we recently spoke with a CEO who was looking to bring on board a seasoned marketer. He wanted to find someone who had experience running large teams and building brands from scratch. After interviewing several candidates, he ultimately decided to pass on the project due to budget constraints. Had he been willing to shell out the cash needed to attract a high-quality candidate, he probably would have landed someone who would have delivered significantly less value.
3. It lets you concentrate on other aspects of your business. As I mentioned earlier, having a dedicated CMO means dedicating yourself entirely to managing that person. Not surprisingly, this often results in burnout. Many CEOs simply cannot handle being responsible for everything going on under the hood of their businesses.
4. It enables you to leverage specialized skills. Some businesses may require concrete skill sets to reach specific goals. For example, if you plan on selling directly to consumers, you’d probably need to hire someone who has experience writing copy for websites. Or maybe you’re trying to drive traffic from social media platforms, and you’ll need to work with a specialist who has experience managing accounts across multiple networks.
5. It keeps you current. A brilliant CMO will remain at the forefront of digital trends by constantly keeping abreast of new developments. But without a dedicated team to manage day-to-day tasks, you’ll find yourself having to learn those lessons all over again. By outsourcing your responsibilities, you maintain the ability to stay ahead of the curve.
6. It expands your options. You’re more likely to come across qualified candidates who fit your needs if you don’t have to advertise for them. And since you won’t have to train them, you can choose from several different kinds of people, including those already established and experienced.
In summary, an outsourced CMO is a great way to get started in business without breaking the bank. The right candidate will help you grow your company faster while saving you time, money, and headaches along the way.
If you are ready to learn more, check out our playbooks or send us a message.
