Does Your Non-Profit Need a Fractional CMO?

Most executive directors describe a similar week. Monday is a funder report. Tuesday is a board meeting. Wednesday is a staffing question. Somewhere in there, someone asks why the newsletter has not gone out. Marketing sits on the list every week and slides to the next one.

A fractional CMO gives your organization a senior marketing leader who owns that list. This post covers what the role includes, how to tell whether your non-profit is ready for one, and what to ask before you hire.

What a fractional CMO does

A fractional CMO is an experienced marketing executive who works with your organization part-time, on an ongoing basis. They set the marketing direction, choose the priorities, manage the staff and contractors who do the work, and report results to you and your board.

The scope usually includes:

• Defining your audiences (donors, funders, program participants, volunteers, partners) and what each one needs to hear

• Writing a marketing plan tied to your fundraising and program goals

• Directing the website, content, email and social channels

• Managing a marketing coordinator, freelancers or an agency

• Reporting on a short list of numbers the board can follow

You get the thinking of a chief marketing officer for a few days each month, which fits a non-profit budget.

Six signs your non-profit is ready

1. Several people touch marketing and nobody owns the result.

2. You post, send and publish regularly, and you cannot say which activity brings in donors, volunteers or participants.

3. Your website describes the organization the way staff talk about it, and first-time visitors leave without acting.

4. A capable marketing coordinator works without a senior person to set direction.

5. The executive director writes copy at night.

6. A full-time marketing director sits outside this year's budget.

Two or three of these is enough to justify a conversation.

Fractional CMO or full-time hire?

A full-time marketing director suits an organization with enough ongoing work to fill a full week, every week, and a salary line to match. Many small and mid-sized non-profits have strategic needs that call for senior experience and a workload that calls for a few days a month.

A fractional CMO fits that gap. Hours go up for a campaign or a website rebuild and come back down afterward. Because a fractional CMO has worked with many organizations, they bring tested approaches from day one.

A full-time hire becomes the better choice when the volume of work calls for a leader every day. A good fractional CMO will tell you when you have reached that point and help you hire and onboard the person.

What it looks like in practice

At the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, Bold Ink founder Lindsey Turner served as Fractional CMO so the Executive Director could concentrate on operations. She oversaw the Marketing Manager, who kept responsibility for design, and led content strategy and a website revamp. Bold Ink also handled social media and copywriting.

The Executive Director stayed focused on running the organization, and marketing had an owner.

Five questions to ask before you hire one

1. Have you worked with organizations funded by donations, grants and memberships, and how does that shape the plan?

2. Who does the execution: you, your team, or an outside team I manage?

3. What will I see each month, and how will it be reported to the board?

4. How many days each month do I get, and what happens during our busiest season?

5. When the engagement ends, what do I own? Plans, logins, templates and documentation should all come with you.

   
   

Next step

If marketing keeps sliding to the bottom of the pile, book a discovery call. We will talk through what you have, what you need, and whether a fractional CMO fits your organization. You can also read more about marketing for non-profits.