What is the Advantage and Disadvantage of CMO Services

Executive as a service is no longer a new concept. Small and large businesses have been hiring executives temporarily for a long time. It helps them accept short-term large projects that do not require hiring a full-time executive. Small companies benefit more from this service, as you get a senior and experienced executive without committing to the long-term salary and benefits that top executives command. You can hire a chief marketing officer as a service. What is this service, and what are its advantages and disadvantages?

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Related: How to Become a CMO?

What Is CMO As a Service? Pros and Cons. []

What Is CMO As a Service?

Small to large companies regularly hire temporary employees for short-term projects and special situations. Various setups have emerged over the years in this domain. One such option is hiring a professional as a service for temporary requirements or when a company cannot afford to employ a high-level professional permanently.

The CMO as a service works in the same way as any other professional as a service. You receive the services of a CMO without committing permanent employment benefits to the candidate. You hire the CMO for temporary requirements when you have a surge in projects or require top-level support for your marketing projects but do not have the right professional. There can be many such contexts where hiring a CMO as a service is beneficial.

Pros

1. Save Money

Hiring a senior executive like a CMO can be expensive, especially if you do not have the revenue and profits to retain such a top professional. Seasoned marketing professionals require long-term salary and benefits commitment from their employer to work full-time. By hiring a CMO as a service, you avoid the long-term financial commitment of regular salary and benefits. If you require a CMO temporarily, the CMO as a service gives you lots of value as you get a top-level marketing professional on a fixed-term or project-based retainership.

2. A Flexible Option

CMO as a service comes with the flexibility to hire a top professional as and when needed without any financial or other commitments. You avoid many legal and employment issues by hiring a senior executive for a short term. Avoid the expenses of onboarding, executive employee benefits, and providing office space and other infrastructure support to the senior executive. Hire this executive as and when needed. This setup is especially useful for smaller companies that cannot afford to employ a high-level executive permanently.

3. Get a Top-Level Professional

All internal employees, including those at the senior executive level, require regular upskilling. Many executives join these upskilling programs at the expense of their company. You do not have to make any such financial commitment toward the upskilling of your CMO. By hiring a CMO temporarily, you can hire after vetting multiple candidates and selecting the best and most experienced one. You can regularly change and select a better professional for your next project. This flexibility is not possible when you have a permanent CMO.

4. Handle a Surge in Projects Without Any Issue

Sometimes, you will see a surge in projects due to holidays when people buy more products and services or for other reasons. Your permanent executives may be unable to handle this surge in demand. Take the help of the CMO as a service option to handle this temporary surge.

Related: Startup CMO Responsibilities

Cons

1. Confidentiality Issues

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There is always a risk of losing your confidential information, patents, and marketing plans to an outsider who does not have a strong commitment to your company. While temporary employees sign confidentiality agreements, the risk of losing your confidential information exists. The same executive may work for your competitor next time and use your successful marketing strategies.

2. Wrong Fit

A CMO you hire temporarily may not be the right fit. Any new employee takes time to adjust to the new working environment of a company. It takes time to adjust to the new work culture as each company has a different one. Temporary employees are hired with a very short vetting process. Sometimes, when you hire through an agency, you get a professional sent by the staffing agency. You have little say in selecting a temporary executive in such a case. It can result in hiring a temporary executive who is not the right fit for your company.

3. You Cannot Plan for Long Term

This option is not suitable for keeping the temporary executive on long-term, as the person can leave when the contract ends. If you hire through an agency, the commitment may be for a CMO, not a specific professional. So, if the first CMO sent by the staffing agency leaves before the contract term ends, it will send another one who will take time to adjust and understand everything from the start.

Related: CMO Action Plan for First 90 Days

Conclusion

The CMO as a service lets you temporarily hire a top marketing professional at the executive level. You can hire this professional when you see a surge in projects and need the services of a CMO temporarily. There are advantages and disadvantages of CMO as a service option. While you avoid any long-term financial commitment and can hire the best professional, the executive may not be the right fit for your company, and you cannot plan long-term with this setup. You must also deal with a different set of legal issues when hiring temporary staff.

+ Why do I even need marketing if my entire business grows through referrals?

You definitely can ignore marketing, but in an industry that is getting more and more competitive, you will notice your referrals continuously slow down as your competitors become more and more active in reaching out to the people you want to meet. These competitors no longer include just financial advisors, but banks, investment bankers, accounting firms, and roboadvisory firms, to name a few. Without the usage of marketing to Beautiful, Broadcast and bring Brand Awareness to your message, you will go into the category of the "Old Doctor": The doctor we all love but know will be dying soon.

+ What are the pros of hiring an in-house marketing employee?

There are many benefits to an in-house CMO namely:

1. Ultra focus on only you and your marketing goals. With an in-house marketing professional, 100% of that person's focus will be spend on you and your goals.
   
2. This person will come in, day in, day out, working on your behalf. They are heavily intertwined with you and your firm's marketing goals.

+ What are the cons of hiring an in-house marketing professional?

Although there are many pros to hiring someone in-house, there are many considerations to make:

' Their initial cost: Depending on their experience, a person with high credentials around marketing, typically over 10 years, will cost you at least $200,000 per year.
' Their ancillary costs: Beyond just their wage, an in-house marketing professional will have many many additional costs they will naturally incur, namely website coding, design, video production, advertising and more. So beyond the minimum $200K, you are looking at at least another $100-$150K in additional expenses to give to this person for a budget
' You may be saying "Oh, my marketing person doesn't cost nearly that much; I got him/her straigh out of college." That's great, but then how much does this person know about law, the markets, investments? The real world? Probably not much, which means then you and your team are spending this time training him/her, without the forecast knowledge if this person will even stay with you in the long term. What is your personal hourly rate worth? $500/hour? $/hour? Are you willing to spend that training someone else?

+ How do I select an Outsourced Chief Marketing Officer?

There is really no secret formula to selecting an Outsourced CMO. We believe your main priority should be the level of trust and confidence you can have in this person and/or agency taking over many of the marketing and branding decision making as it pertains to portraying you and your firm to your target audience. Do you want to focus on the ultra high net worth market? If so, is Tik Tok the best platform for you? Are you seeking to focus on the retiree market? If so, should you be doing podcasts?

All of these are decisions that you can ask and discuss with your Outsourced CMO, rather than taking on the extra burden of making such big decisions.

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