When you think of company executives, you think of corner offices and people in well-tailored suits.
However, that narrative is changing fast with companies adopting a more virtual approach to their top employees. One of the most popular positions to outsource is your Chief Marketing Officer.
At first thought, having a virtual CMO might seem counter productive, however, it is a small change that can have a huge impact on your bottom line. From developing your marketing strategy, to hiring outside talent to help execute, moving your CMO to a virtual role can save your company money and ultimately get you to a better product.
Saving You Money
Looking under the hood, it’s safe to say that a company’s marketing budget is generally a bigger number than the others. Marketing is significant piece of your operation because it dictates how your customers learn about your product and why they choose your product.
Not only are “robust” marketing strategies viewed as expensive, but the personnel hired to conduct your marketing department come with a hefty price tag.
A qualified Chief Marketing Officer with experience can run you anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000 a year in salary; not taking into consideration benefits or any other company perks such as parking or travel reimbursements.
Outsourcing to a virtual CMO could cut your cost in half, or more.
Along with being more cost effective, by not limiting yourself to the area that your company is located, your talent pool widens and with that comes a broader range of expertise.
Hiring the perfect-fit employee becomes much more attainable when you aren’t restricted simply because of the company’s address.
Giving You a Better Product
However, breaking tradition isn’t always easy. One of the biggest concerns executives have with adopting a virtual CMO strategy is the fear that the product will be downgraded because the marketing department isn’t physically present.
What ends up being the case is quite the opposite. Since the CMO is virtual, their outside view can provide an unbiased, objective perspective that could be exactly what your product needs to take it to the next level.
How many times has your marketing strategy been pushed down the to-do list because of other, more pressing matters happening in your business? Chances are, when you can’t focus on your own workload, your product ends up feeling it the most. When there is a shortage in one area, all-hands abandon their posts and help fill in the gaps. While that is teamwork at it’s finest, it is hard to run a business that way.
Having a CMO that can be consistent no matter what’s happening at the office or in other departments translates into a better product, and ultimately a better profit.
Summing it up, here are your top five reasons to rethink your in-house CMO:
- Virtual CMO costs anywhere from 30% – 50% less than a traditional in-house CMO
- Widening your talent pool outside your physical area yields more options in a wider range of expertise
- A virtual CMO can focus on marketing no matter what else is happening inside the workplace
- Virtual CMOs can give you unbiased feedback that in turn, gives you a better product
- Access to a broader network of resources to execute on various portions of your overall marketing strategy.
While, I doubt that companies will move to a strictly virtual operation overnight, I think that parsing specific roles, such as your Marketing Executive, ultimately saves you time and money. What’s better than that?