Atlanta Startups: Here’s How a Fractional CMO Can Transform Your Business!

The Georgia Secretary of State reports that there are over 1.4 million businesses in Georgia. Statistics like that speak volumes of the high potential for establishing a growing business.

Starting a business is a huge step for anyone who wants to dip their toes into the world of entrepreneurship. While it may be an exciting venture, running a newer company has many responsibilities that an average entrepreneur often cannot meet by themselves.

One of these duties is marketing, which requires a certain level of expertise and experience to do well. How can young businesses ensure they have the right marketing capabilities when they have barely gotten their feet wet?

Enter the Atlanta fractional CMO.

A fractional CMO is the secret weapon for startups in Atlanta. Not only are they pros at their job, but they also help turn new, up-and-coming companies into pros as well!

Continue reading to learn how an Atlanta fractional CMO can take your business to the next level.

How can an FCMO give your Atlanta startup a boost? Find more with this video!

6 Ways a Fractional CMO Can Transform Your Atlanta Startup

A fractional CMO’s scope of work covers many different areas, making them incredibly valuable to your startup. Let’s discuss six marketing strategies for Atlanta startups that can turn your business into a crowd favorite.

1. No Full-Time Commitment

Atlanta fractional CMOs are not full-time employees—they only work on a part-time basis and can only report for a few hours a week. The fractional CMO hourly rate may vary, depending on who you hire.

Cost Savings

Because of the nature of their job, fractional CMOs help you save a ton on costs, which can then be allocated for other important matters. To put it in perspective, full-time, in-house CMOs generally command six-figure salaries.

This makes fractional CMOs a worthwhile investment: You don’t have to pay for health insurance, benefits, and other full-time employment costs—not to mention the full-time salaried role.

Budget-Friendly Plans

Because fractional CMOs understand a startup’s budget limitations, they tailor marketing efforts to fit their financial capacity. One crucial FMCO strategy for Atlanta startups is coming up with budget-friendly marketing plans.

They do this by carefully assessing the startup’s financial situation and creating a plan that guarantees a high return on investment. In other words, with an FCMO’s help, you can spend less and earn more in return. It’s a win-win!

2. Enhanced Digital Presence

All businesses are digital nowadays. If yours is not established online, expect to fall behind your competitors. Thankfully, Atlanta FCMOs are experts in working with digital media to promote your business and reach wider audiences.

Google Business Profile

If your company needs to boost brand awareness online, a fractional CMO can work to achieve this by helping you establish your organization on Google Business Profile and other platforms.

No need for phone books or paperback directories! With a Google Business Profile, you have a higher chance of appearing on a Local Pack (the SERP feature for local search queries). There, customers can easily locate your business and contact you.

This also lets Google know that your business is legitimate because you have supplied the necessary information, such as your name, contact information, business address, and more.

Local Keyword Research

Local keyword research also plays a huge part in helping startups rank above their competitors and providing answers to users’ search queries.

FCMOs may use tools like Ahrefs and Semrush to find high-volume, low-competition keywords to target. This local keyword insight keeps your content highly relevant to exactly what your target audience is looking for from businesses like yours. 

Content Creation

Content drives the digital world. Your business is bound to be more successful when complemented by shareable and valuable pieces of content.

The content you create can range from blog posts relevant to your niche, videos that highlight your business, or promotional ads that catch users’ attention.

FCMOs help devise content marketing strategies that dictate what kind of content to create, as well as when and where to post it. This ensures the content you create reaches the right people on the right channels at the right time.

3. Team Leadership

Poor marketing at startups is one reason they fail; often, efforts are a combination of inefficient and ineffective. They often lack the necessary skills, experience, and workers to back them up. 

One of the benefits of hiring an Atlanta fractional CMO is their leadership and experience in the world of marketing (at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire). Not only are they familiar with the different types of marketing (from SEO to PPC and more), but they also have vast professional networks and can be effective at hiring and training new team members.

FCMOs are C-level executives; Their experience and leadership span years and multiple industries. They have already established their credibility and professionalism, making them the best option to spearhead the marketing department of startups.

Thanks to their leadership, FCMOs help establish organization and order within the company.

They ensure everyone has a clear role to play and oversee the whole process to make sure you meet your goals and requirements.

4. Allocating Budget and Long-Term Thinking

The market in Atlanta is very competitive, making it difficult for many startups to find their footing. They must learn to adapt to these changes or get left behind in the dust.

Fractional CMOs bring much-needed flexibility to these startups. Even during rapid market fluctuations, FCMOs can quickly change their plans accordingly for the company to stay competitive.

Resource allocation is almost like emergency room triage—what needs to be taken care of first and how much of our budget and staff can be allocated to that effort. It involves strategically distributing financial, human, and technological resources—that’s a lot of moving parts. 

From what technology to invest in to which marketing channels should receive the most investment, you can count on your FCMO. While you think of the next big move and focus on daily operations, your FCMO is analyzing past performance data and market trends to make every dollar count. 

Allocating resources effectively also comes into play with scaling. Scaling companies is an art as well as a science. As a company grows, marketing efforts and resources have to grow as well, and the FCMO is there to help. 

Scaling too quickly could mean employee burnout, quality issues, depleting financial resources, technical debt, and more. Scaling too slowly could mean reputation damage, lost funding, and stalled growth. With decades of experience, a fractional CMO knows how to maneuver when scaling for the most cost-effective plays in the long term.

5. Network Access

Having access to a network of resources is one of the most effective ways to transform Atlanta startups. Over the years, fractional CMOs have gained access to a wide network of resources that startups can utilize for their marketing efforts.

This network consists of industry connections who can provide additional support or assistance, such as fellow FCMOs, creative agencies, or other professionals. This network opens the door for future relationships and collaborations and widens the startup’s circle so they can seek assistance when needed.

Aside from people in the industry, this network also gives Atlanta startups access to different resources that may help achieve their marketing objectives. This includes analytics tools, CRM software, marketing automation platforms, and much more.

6. Data-Driven Decisions

Fractional CMOs approach a startup’s marketing plan (and overall brand identity) objectively. It’s natural for founders, leadership, and team members to have an emotional connection to an organization—an FCMO is able to see the whole structure with a fresh pair of eyes. They base everything, including marketing strategies for Atlanta startups, on what they gather from research and analytics tools.

FCMOs never assume anything about their customer. They research customers objectively and analyze consumer choices to find patterns or trends through behavior analytics tools, like Google Analytics. After learning what they can about their customers, FCMOs create marketing plans to increase retention and loyalty to the brand.

Real-Time Performance Monitoring

Executing a marketing campaign is not the final step in a startup’s journey. It is important to see the results of these campaigns, which fractional CMOs do through real-time monitoring.

Fractional CMOs set KPIs and SMART goals to help determine the effectiveness of their campaigns. These benchmarks allow them to see what went right and what areas the company can improve on. This feedback can be essential for future campaigns as well as meeting the overall return on investment (ROI).

Get More Marketing Strategies for Atlanta Startups Now

Fractional CMOs have a huge library of marketing strategies for Atlanta startups. All that’s left is to find the right fit for you.

You can seek help from the pros at Digital Authority Partners. We are an Atlanta digital marketing agency that specializes in fractional CMO services all over the country.

You are just one call away from connecting with some of the best and most proficient Atlanta fractional CMOs. Send us a message to get started! 

Sources:

Georgia Corporations - Active Entities Report | Georgia Secretary of State

SMART GOALS - Template | University of San Diego

What Is a C-Level Executive? Key Roles and Impact | Northwest Executive Education

What is ROI? | Business Insider

World-Class Fintech Marketing Get in front of the decision-makers in the fintech industry Your work e-mail No, I don't want expert services Thank you! We'll be in touch soon.