So you’ve launched your business and brought your idea to life. Perhaps you have even experienced some success in selling your product or software, and now you’re looking to really scale up your business. Yet, you’re probably wondering, “is it about time that I need a marketing director to help me achieve my next target?”. This question is easier asked than answered since every startup is unique and has different needs.
If you need to find a marketing director who can both create a strategy and lead your team through challenging growth phases there are 2 options to meet your needs depending on your business scenario.
Hiring a Full-Time Marketing Director
A marketing director’s ability to build an all-encompassing strategy and lead a company is an essential requirement. Their ability to build your strategy, plan, and budget, while overseeing your marketing operations will be crucial to the successful growth of your startup. Hiring a full-time in-house marketing director can be a good option if your startup has substantial long-term funding and is looking to drive many different initiatives simultaneously.
Long-term Financial Commitment
Marketing director salaries are generally upwards of $150,000 – upwards of $12,500 per month. Often times they also qualify for benefits and bonuses. In the case that the hired marketing director does not perform satisfactorily in their role, a significant severance package is commonly required to part ways with them. For this reason most startups find it difficult to justify the sizable expense of hiring a full-time marketing director.
Linear Industry Experience
If you can afford to hire a full-time marketing director, hiring the right one can be a daunting task. Every marketer has expertise in different industries and strengths in specific skills, so finding one that aligns with your marketing needs isn’t always easy. It’s also common that a marketing director from a specific industry will continue working in similar industries for the duration of their career. Finding that fit between all these variables and also the availability of marketing directors looking for a full-time role is going to be a challenge.
Work & Scheduling Flexibility
A full-time marketing director typically spends their day to day with the team whether in person or remotely. This enables them to be able to spearhead multiple marketing and sales initiatives simultaneously. Other advantages of having such time with the company is the ability to build relationships with the rest of the team that a contractor or agency may not be able to do as effectively. Some of these advantages could include impromptu meetings for agile marketing decisions and brainstorming.
Hiring a full-time marketing director has its challenges, especially in a startup. Luckily there’s another option.
Hiring a Fractional Marketing Director
Hiring a fractional marketing director is a great option, especially if you’re do not have the budget or enough work to commit to a full-time marketing director. Fractional marketing directors provide growing startups with professional marketing leadership at critical stages of growth.
Financial Flexibility
Hiring a fractional marketing director can be more effective for start ups who are seeking marketing leadership but don’t have a monthly budget that can sustain a full-time commitment. Fractional marketing directors work for you a fraction of the time when you need them the most and can be scaled up or down depending on the needs of the business. Other financial responsibilities such as benefits and vacation time won’t need to be accounted for either making this type of relationship suitable for those who are looking for sprinted projects.
Diverse Industry Experience
Fractional marketing directors generally work with numerous clients throughout their careers. They learn something new from every client, implementing and creating unique strategies for each. The breadth of experience a fractional marketing director has is immense. They can use their knowledge and expertise from past clients to help you build the best strategy to further grow your business.
Focused Initiatives
Fractional marketing directors often focus on very specific initiatives that would produce the most value for the business versus the administrative tasks that may not be as fruitful. Having specific initiatives to focus on means that they can also complete projects more productively than with a full-time marketing director that may be working on multiple different projects simultaneously.
Ready to Hire a Fractional Marketing Director?
If you have already experienced some success with your startup and are looking to start building your internal marketing team with the leadership from a Fractional Marketing Director , Able & Howe can help! If you’re lacking marketing execution, our fractional marketing directors work hand-in-hand with our fractional execution team. Contact us today to set up a meeting to discuss your marketing needs.
Written By:
Lucy Turner
Lucy is passionate about the creative and analytical aspects of digital marketing. She combines her experience with a commerce degree, specializing in marketing. Lucy specializes in content writing, search engine optimization, email marketing, and digital advertising.
