Time Poor Business Owners
Anfernee starts by stating that the way that enabled startups to reach their first development stage, meaning having become successful in generating revenue it’s not necessarily the same way forward.
Once a company is set in motion, then it is no longer about ramping up, but about growth within the marketplace and that requires the contribution of (not just, but also) a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO); who plans and sets in motion the corporate communication plan which fosters market brand awareness, hence enabling growth.
A full-time CMO can represent a permanent expense that ranges between $70,000 up to $250,000 per year depending on their degree of expertise.
This means that a company that has recently set foot on the market, having stabilized its revenue stream and now in need of growing it, does not have the capacity to sustain such expense, despite being, in fact, an investment. So, Outsourcing CMO may be the best course of action here, since it means hiring part time someone with significant expertise at around 1/3 of the cost.
The CMO service that Simple Creative Marketing renders comprehends setting proper processes in place, leveraging automation to the maximum possible extent, training VAs, and more.
The birth of “Simple Creative Marketing”
Around 10 years ago, while working as a Global Project Management Center responsible at HP, entangled in multiple projects and traveling around the world on a constant basis, so in his own words: “lots of work and not so much sleep”; Anfernee found himself with a brain infection and having to undergo a sensitive surgical procedure that could have left him with severe sequels.
The recovery period served the purpose of rethinking his life.
After having moved to Canada, still in the company, financial crisis stroke and Anfernee became redundant having been let go.
Since his VISA was not permanent he could not apply for a job in other company, but he also had no financial margin to move anywhere.
Summing up, after having trained and coached himself over Social Media Marketing while surviving through Salsa classes for quite some time, Anfernee managed to start his Social Media and Digital Marketing consulting.
Top Reasons to Outsource CMO
The main compelling reason to Outsource the CMO role concerns Time and Money, meaning the Business Owner is struggling to find the required time that enables him to undergo required marketing planning and activities because he doesn’t have money to hire a full-time CMO; hence the solution is to go Outsourcing.
Companies have started to do so towards Virtual CFOs and now the trend is to also do it concerning the CMO.
The endeavor started once Anfertnee established contact with a company that did not even had a Marketing Plan, and he ended up proposing to perform the role of CMO in Outsourcing supporting them to develop the required procedures and processes.
The role
The Outsourced CMO scope may range from “merely” creating and or managing content within an existing Marketing Plan, up to performing the Plan, establishing the processes and training people to perform them in an appropriate manner, ending up managing the inherent communication projects while interacting with developers, Web Designers and so on.
Having in mind the potential need of developing, “full scope” or “extended scope” CMO support, Anfernee has developed a network of experts in several areas that may support him in such endeavors.
As an example and with regards to Facebook advertising, Anfernee resorts to a couple of expert agencies, for quotes and solutions, then going back to his client and presenting the alternatives from which to choose.
This mediator role also bears the added value of making the entire process linear, smooth and fast to the client, who on the other hand would have to navigate “uncharted waters” trying to find appropriate expertise at the expense of a significant time expenditure.
Clients and Workflow
Most clients are remote ones since those are mostly used to resort to Outsourcing which facilitates the sale and acquisition process as well as communication altogether.
Anfernee is currently developing work with a client, which is a Financial institution based in Sydney (Australia), and the entire interaction is done online from Malaysia where he currently is based.
Starting a CMO contract begins by allocating a specific work schedule, which comprehends feedback and status meetings. To begin with, the meeting where the “as is” status is clarified, then regular weekly evolution status meetings are required to promote awareness, yet, meeting need to be kept as swift and assertive as possible (some 30 minutes should suffice).
A way to complement the required information exchange is through email updates.
Scaling the service model is not applicable since the client expects an expert contribution from a given Virtual CMO (just like in the case of the Virtual CFO), therefore that person needs to perform the task.
Now, content production is a scalable activity where even some degree of automation regarding gathering the requirements can be set in place.
Hiring a virtual CMO
When considering hiring a virtual CMO, one should go about the following steps:
- List the Marketing requirements versus existing gaps
- Look for a Virtual CMO profile that covers the gaps
- Make sure he/she has a support expert network
- Check the backlog
- Clearly define your budget (something like overall 10% for marketing purposes)
- Do a proper debriefing towards some candidates and assess their reactions and attitude
You will be entrusting your business information to someone who must match your organisation aspirations as well as your “modus operandi”, besides most certainly being able to properly understand and convey your value proposition to the marketplace.
Outsourcing is mostly about setting and meeting expectations
Outsourcing is a brilliant model since it allows any size company to address issues while significantly reducing inherent costs, but it is mandatory to set expectations in the proper manner as well as what happens if they are not met.
Basically an “If, Then/ Else” clarification; if we are not able to meet the deadline then we will do this or the other thing to mitigate the impact towards your organisation or strategic plan, with this or the other additional benefit to you.
And, document the agreement.