High Country Search Group’s Post

When hiring for our campaigns team, we ask a few key questions to determine if the potential candidate is passionate about their area of expertise. We find it essential that everyone likes what they do and strive to learn about enhancements to the platforms they manage. #tempodigitalca #digitalagency #digitalmarketingagency #digitalmarketing #advertising

When it's time to bring on your first marketing person, what position should you hire for first? Should you start with a more junior person, a mid-level generalist, a senior strategist, or someone else? We believe it's important to start with a senior marketer person first. Why? Because they've been around the block and have the experience to understand your business goals and recommend a strategy to get you where you want to go. That strategy will determine the next marketing resources you need to engage get you there. A senior marketer can also tell right away what's working and not working, work with your sales, customer and product teams, and clean up and streamline any of the ad-hoc marketing you've built up over years through various marketing agencies and contractors. Bringing on a junior marketing person who doesn't have the experience to connect to your business goals, build relationships across departments, set your marketing strategy and clean up all that ad-hoc marketing is really just setting them up to fail from the start. The great news is there are fractional options today that allow you to access the senior marketing leadership you need without the cost of a full time CMO or VP hire. #fractionalCMO #b2bmarketing

When it's time to bring on your first marketing person, what position should you hire for first? Should you start with a more junior person, a mid-level generalist, a senior strategist, or someone else?   I believe it's important to start with a senior marketer person first.   Why? Because they've been around the block and have the experience to understand your business goals and recommend a strategy to get you where you want to go. That strategy will determine the next marketing resources you need to engage get you there.   A senior marketer can also tell right away what's working and not working, work with your sales, customer and product teams, and clean up and streamline any of the ad-hoc marketing you've built up over years through various marketing agencies and contractors.   Bringing on a junior marketing person who doesn't have the experience to connect to your business goals, build relationships across departments, set your marketing strategy and clean up all that ad-hoc marketing is really just setting them up to fail from the start.   One of the reasons junior marketing people are hired first is because of budgets. It's a big investment to bring on a full-time senior marketing leader.   The great news is there are many more options now for B2B firms to engage the senior marketing leadership they need, without the investment needed to hire a full-time resource.   I'm one of those people! I've been the first marketing hire for many B2B firms - on a fractional basis to help them get their marketing ducks in a row. And this is a role I love.   There's nothing more rewarding than helping B2B companies figure out their first marketing puzzle, create their first strategy, get that marketing foundation set-up and adding huge value to sales and customer teams. And yes, I also love cleaning up all those random acts of marketing.   So if you know you need marketing help, but don't know where to start, consider starting with me - your fractional marketing leader. 

What does the "C" in CxO stand for? Better question, what *should* it stand for? Of course the C stands for "Chief" but it should stand for "Complete." Take your marketing strategy, for example. It needs to consider way more than your messaging, digital marketing, social media, and website. So a CMO needs a much more complete knowledge base than a digital marketing strategist does. A CMO needs to know how to integrate the market, what they need and want, and how much they are willing to pay; not just how to catch the market's attention. If your CMO cannot handle all of that, maybe it's time to bring in a fractional CMO who can assist and help them grow into their role? Should you just fire your current CMO and hire that Fractional CMO? Nope. A *true* fractional is never looking for their next full time job, but we love to help those full time CMOs grow.

When I work as a Fractional CMO, what is it that I actually do? The role and responsibilities of Fractional CMOs vary depending on the company's needs. The ownership and success of the marketing efforts is the most important part of the role The other responsibilities may include: - Develop the marketing strategy - Oversee the implementation and execution of the strategy - Establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) - Prepare or oversee marketing reports and metrics - Guide & consult the marketing department - Hire and manage the right people and/or agencies Being part of your company’s marketing and being that extra pair of helping hands means that you have a long-term partner connecting your business and marketing goals and helping you grow your business. Still wondering about having a Fractional CMO in your business – why not have a chat with me and see where the conversation takes us. #FractionalCMO #MarketingExpert #HannaMcDonnellMarketing

I'm Blowing the Whistle. The Unspoken DTC Growth Agency Challenges I've Uncovered: You ended up with outsourced talent. Fierce tug-of-war for attention from agency. An entry level strategist was designated to your account. You have no clue what your true marketing performance is.   Tracking made it difficult to perform. Relying on existing customers and not new customer acquisition. Lack of adaptability. Did I miss anything? 😅 We've all witnessed the exodus of employees from conglomerate DTC marketing agencies and now there's a saturated market of start-up agencies. Saturated markets yield lower performing investment opportunities. We'll often offer a list of interview questions to prospects in the vetting process because we're tired of the negative reputation others have given our kind. #DTCtruth #dontbeafraid

CMOs tend to hop from one company to another more frequently than their peers in other top executive roles. It’s like they’re on a never-ending quest for new challenges and learning opportunities. While each of these brands welcomes a new marketing executive to the team, there are many other similarities, too. From banger digital display budgets to agency reviews and consumer shifts, there’s much to be deduced when you hear about new CMOs hired. https://bit.ly/45fnLu7

Hiring for a Marketing Leadership role? Here are a few UNCONVENTIONAL questions to help you vet the candidates: 💡 What is your marketing experience and areas of expertise? All CMOs come in different shapes and sizes - some are stronger in demand gen, some have a communications background, some come from a creative agency side, and some have tackled product marketing. Depending on the company goals, they would have specific marketing requirements. 💡How do you go about estimating the marketing budget when given a specific revenue goal? Can you walk me through your thought process of estimating a marketing budget to hit a $10M revenue goal? 💡 With a limited budget, how do you determine what marketing channels and tactics are most effective? What is your mentality behind recommending paid media vs social vs SEO or vs PR, for instance? What factors are you going to take into consideration when providing those recommendations? 💡 How do you measure marketing ROI and what benchmarks do you use to measure against? Industry average, analyst reports, historical data? Can you give me an example of a marketing ROI benchmark you’ve recently looked at? These are just some of the questions we (with Elmira Abushayeva) are asking when recruiting for our roster of Mavuus Fractional CMOs. Granted marketing is not an exact science and some trial and error will take place, but getting to the bottom of the CMO’s mentality behind some of the decision making and resource allocation is definitely key. Having been in marketing for 15 years, we know the very REAL questions to ask. We don’t focus on your typical ‘thought leadership’, ‘content mapping’, ‘lead generation’ cr*p. Instead we touch on pain points like ‘marketing ROI and attribution’, ‘budget allocation’, ‘channel mix prioritization’, and more. You know? The REAL challenges that CMOs should help with!! Looking for your next marketing leader to help grow your company? We got CMOs with backgrounds of all shapes and sizes. Let us do the vetting, you just do the picking. #cmoinsights #cmos #fractionalcmo #interviewtips

Lots of people asking me lately 'So what's a Fractional CMO?' Your business is ready to grow, but you need someone to manage your targeting and messaging and create that growth. The problem isn’t finding someone with the skills to help; there are plenty of skilled marketers in the world. The problem is finding the right person for the job: someone who understands your audiences and how you help your customers, someone who will be unreservedly forthright and provide the required guidance without the commitment of the big salary. What you need is a chief marketing officer — a CMO — to take responsibility for guidance, inspiration, strategy and delivery/execution. Enter the Fractional CMO.