Marketing strategies and tactics are complex and require a variety of skill sets. Marketing people are required to be analytical, detail oriented, confident, intrinsically motivated, risk-takers, socially and technologically savvy, good writers – and the list the continues. This underscores the fact that marketing is a team effort, a collection of skills capable of executing a strategy; it is not a one man (or woman) job. With the influx of technology and importance of both an online and social presence, marketing strategies are becoming more complicated, requiring more skilled management and a wider boarder skill set in order to be effective. According to the IBM CMO Study: From Stretched to Strengthened, CMOs have the shortest tenures of any executive position; it is difficult to find any one person with all these skills, and progress is often halted with changes management and as a result, teams are changing too often.
Many small to mid-size businesses are in a position where strategic help is necessary for the company to continue growing, however, they don’t have a large enough scope of marketing activities to justify hiring a full time CMO or Director of Marketing. Without the size and competitive salary, finding a senior marketing person capable of strategic marketing is difficult, if not impossible. Organizations in this position often find themselves hiring a junior to mid-level manager without the necessary skill sets to develop or implement a strategic plan. And marketing functions such as graphics, web development, and content writing and creation get outsourced anyway because they require specialized skill sets. When you are looking for Tier One quality but you only need these resources part time, it is time to outsource your CMO.
So we are not just talking about outsourcing your CMO – but basically outsourcing entire marketing function to an organization that can help you not only with just PR, or website work, but with developing and implementing a comprehensive strategic marketing plan. It takes a team of people with varied skill sets working together to help develop the right plan and to continuously tweak marketing programs to today’s fast changing environment. Outsourcing your CMO position can be a cost effective solution, giving you access to not just one senior executive, but marketing managers and specialized resources- creating a team that not only contributes, but creates effective strategies at an overall lower cost.
To read more about Ahilia’s CMO solution, please click here.
Leave a Reply