Scale companies with Fractional CMOs — Sheila Kloefkorn // KEO Marketing

The fractional CMO role is becoming increasingly popular across many industries, from startups to established corporations. With the increasing popularity of digital marketing, many industries are turning to fractional CMOs to manage their marketing strategies. Listen to Sheila Kloefkorn, CEO and President of KEO Marketing, as she discusses how to scale companies with fractional CMOs.
About the speaker

Sheila Kloefkorn

KEO Marketing

- KEO Marketing

Sheila Kloefkorn is CEO and President at KEO Marketing

Show Notes

  • 01:53
    What is a Fractional CMO?
    A fractional CMO is essentially a part-time head of marketing. And some companies have a chief marketing officer, some companies have an executive or vice president of marketing, but it's the senior leader of marketing.
  • 15:17
    Is there a trend towards fractional CMOs?
    There's a trend for Fractional CFOs. There's a trend for fractional product development people, you know, all of those kinds of things. To me, it's an extension of the agency model, where, you know, the missing piece was the leadership.
  • 16:12
    What industries are taking up the Fractional CMO approach?
    We see it primarily in tech, particularly in SaaS, where they probably have their teams spread out anyway, we're seeing it not so much in manufacturing or things that require people to be in one place. But if your company is already, either partially or wholly working virtually, this fits in very well with your model.
  • 16:50
    Is this trend expected to continue?
    I firmly believe it's going to continue and expand, if you just look at the number of fractional CMO job listings that are on the boards right now, it has tripled just in the last eight months.

Quotes

  • "If you have a fractional CMO, it's important to think about what kind of leadership do you need? How is your executive team structured? And what do you want your role to be as the CEO if you're hiring that person?" - Sheila Kloefkorn

  • "I sit through a lot of board meetings. I sit through a lot of sales kickoff meetings. And it's important to be a part of all of those things. Just as any CMO would, would move from meeting with sales, to meeting with marketing team to meeting with product development, I do all those same things on a part time basis. And I work hard to make sure that I am focused on the right things at the right time with the right people." - Sheila Kloefkorn

  • "The advantage of having a senior level, part time CMO come on board is they can help you get to the strategy faster, help with the ramp up to that go to market faster, and execute faster, because they have experienced doing the same thing for other companies." - Sheila Kloefkorn

  • "I think every company needs to make the right decision for the company. And so, every company's cost structure is different. Every company's runway is different. And I think that having a part time CMO isn't the right decision for every company. But more and more companies are experimenting with different kinds of senior leadership." - Sheila Kloefkorn

  • "At some point in the future, I can see a world where most mid-market companies have part time leadership. And this might be the kind of thing that you're gonna want to experience at some point because it gives you more variety in your life. It gives you a bigger chance to make a contribution. My reason for being in the world is to make a big contribution, which is why I lead this kind of a life where I feel like I can make an impact on More organizations at the same time, and it's really fun." - Sheila Kloefkorn

About the speaker

Sheila Kloefkorn

KEO Marketing

- KEO Marketing

Sheila Kloefkorn is CEO and President at KEO Marketing

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