What Unique Challenges Can a Fractional CMO Help New York Business Overcome?

Every billboard and storefront you see in New York is a reminder that all these brands have undergone several challenges to get where they are. Even if your small business hasn’t earned a place in Times Square, you can still achieve the same success with a little help from a New York City fractional CMO.

Digital Authority Partners is a New York City digital marketing agency with the best FCMOs to help your business secure a spot with the big leagues.

Fractional CMOs are invaluable to companies because of their ability to navigate through different challenges in the market and transform small businesses into household names.

This article covers the challenges you may face as a startup or small business and how New York City fractional CMOs help your business conquer them.

Jason is also here sharing what a fractional CMO in NYC can do:

What is a Fractional CMO?

A fractional CMO or chief marketing officer is a C-suite-level professional who offers a wide range of marketing services to businesses. Their experience includes but is not limited to:

• Branding and identity
• Strategic budget planning
• Market and customer research
• Data-driven marketing
• Campaign development and execution
• Performance monitoring
• Team leadership

Having a New York City on your team is key to overcoming business challenges. Fractional CMOs help small businesses get a foothold in the industry. When these firms are still relatively unknown, FCMOs provide a clear marketing plan that helps groups increase exposure and drive more customers their way.

What is the Difference Between a CMO and a Fractional CMO?

The main difference between a CMO and a fractional CMO is their working arrangements. A regular CMO is a full-time employee and is eligible for all full-time benefits. Meanwhile, a fractional CMO only works on a part-time or project basis. In other words, you only pay them for a fraction of their time.

This setup is advantageous to any business looking to hire a fractional CMO. Since they work on a part-time basis, they are more affordable yet still offer the same value as a regular full-time CMO.

You can save on monthly salaries, health insurance, benefits, and other overhead costs when hiring a fractional CMO. The budget for these costs can be spent on other important business matters, such as product development and marketing.

12 Challenges that a New York City FCMO Can Help Overcome

All businesses face obstacles and difficulties when trying to reach their goals. Making the best use of a fractional CMO alleviates those problems and makes it easier for brands to make themselves known in the market.

Here are some challenges to keep in mind and how fractional CMOs help your business overcome them.

1. Needing More Marketing Experience

Small businesses and startups benefit the most from fractional CMOs. Larger enterprises have their own marketing team and external connections. New businesses often consist of small teams and are just getting started; they do not have their own marketing team to lead their efforts. 

Some business owners might have the know-how to scope out the competition or acquire prospective customers but don’t have the time to do so with running the day-to-day operations. Others are naturally experts in their field but don’t have the time to become experts in technical SEO and Google Ads best practices. Moments like these help realize the value of a fractional CMO.

As mentioned earlier, fractional CMOs are knowledgeable in several areas of the marketing spectrum, so you won’t have to search far and wide for these services. Whether you want to increase your website’s traffic or acquire new leads, your FCMO can help accomplish it. 

Having experience in something goes a long way, and fractional CMOs have years and years of experience across different industries. Their diverse skill set is useful for achieving any kind of marketing goal and executing campaigns that resonate with the audience.

2. Working With a Limited Marketing Budget

It's not always easy to operate a business in New York. New York has more small businesses opening now than ever before, leading to the government taking measures to protect the record-breaking number of new ventures.

With its high expenses and competitive market, New York is the ultimate place for entrepreneurs and business owners to prove themselves. However, this is where budget concerns occur. After all, much of the budget has already gone to setting up the business, securing property, product development, and other associated costs until there is not enough for marketing. In severe cases, there might be virtually nothing left!

Thankfully, fractional CMOs can work around this issue. One of their biggest strengths is budget allocation and devising low-cost marketing strategies to maximize your budget.

For startups, going big right off the bat in terms of marketing costs too much anyway, so it is best to start small and use up an amount that you and your stakeholders are comfortable with. When it comes to overcoming business challenges related to budgeting, an FCMO might recommend channels like PPC or email marketing, which tend to be more affordable.

3. Dealing With Constant Market Fluctuations

No one can really predict New York’s market demands because it is always changing. That’s why it is important to always be ready for whatever the market throws at you.

However, some businesses fail to realize this and, as a result, they get left behind because their products or services are not in demand. In other scenarios, the demand for their product or services is too high that they do not have the ample resources to meet the clamor.

Regardless, your business must be ready to scale up or down to meet fluctuating market demands. Here is where the fractional CMO in New York can offer their assistance.

Not only are fractional CMOs skilled at marketing, but they are also practical in managing resources. The FCMO can accurately adapt to the market’s changing demands using their skills in sales management, customer behavioral analysis, and industry dynamics.

They are objective in their approach, and take the relevant information from market research and use it to adjust marketing plans accordingly. Whether you need to take on new team members or temporarily, a NY fractional CMO can find, hire, onboard, and train these critical additions.

4. Needing Access to Specialized Tools

Without the necessary budget, new companies and startups cannot afford specialized tools to coordinate and streamline marketing efforts. These reporting and tracking tools are important for quickly and accurately analyzing complex markets and tracking customer journeys. Otherwise, new brands have to rely on limited resources, which may lead to inaccurate results.

FCMOs provide reliable tool suggestions and recommendations that guide companies to produce concrete results and promote data-driven decision-making. FCMOs allow access to a wide range of analytics tools, CRM software, and automation tools for faster and easier campaign management.

Specialized marketing tools also allow your business to remain competitive in your industry. FCMOs can bring in software that helps you stay current and help show the company how to integrate it properly into their workflow.

5. Staking Out Your Place in a Saturated Market

One of the biggest challenges that businesses in all industries face is the saturation of the local market. New businesses often struggle with the fact that another business elsewhere is already doing something similar to them, making it difficult to differentiate themselves.

For example, if you are running a company in the restaurant industry, there are thousands upon thousands of other restaurants to compete with. This is especially true in the case of New York, one of the most commercially dense cities in America.

The more businesses there are, the harder it is to outperform and keep up with them. It may seem close to impossible to analyze all competitors, which is why you need the help of a fractional CMO. You might not be able to assess all competitors at once, but a fractional CMO can give you a broader overview of the local market.

Additionally, FCMOs can also help you develop your own personal branding strategy, which is key to standing out in an oversaturated market. The more distinguished and unique you are from everyone else, the better your chances of catching people’s attention.

6. Crystalizing Branding and Identity

Like people, sometimes brands go through some sort of identity crisis. Some startups fail to realize that business is more than just selling products and services. It is about establishing yourself as a unique and honest group that serves the local community.

Fractional CMOs lead the charge in creating brand positioning plans that help you build a firm identity within the local market. It is a lengthy process that involves competitor analysis, determining your target audience, and developing your unique selling proposition.

Brands must also define a mission and vision that guides their entire business. With an FCMO’s help in overcoming business challenges such as this, you can create these statements that highlight who you are, your values, and what you hope to achieve.

7. Increasing Team Confidence and Unity

New businesses and startups are typically working on building their marketing toolkits. Since they start out as small teams, they don’t have a fully fleshed-out marketing division. When that happens, they might be forced to execute marketing campaigns themselves.

However, they might (and their campaigns might) suffer if there is a lack of confidence, especially when the campaigns don’t perform as well as they’d hoped. Here is where a true FCMO professional offers their leadership. Their years of experience and expertise in several industries make them the perfect candidate to coach and elevate up-and-coming businesses.

The FCMO brings all employees together to create a cohesive and well-rounded team to accomplish various marketing tasks. They encourage all relevant departments to collaborate and communicate, resulting in smooth and well-thought-out campaigns.

An FCMO can even help companies hire and onboard potential candidates. They can assist in vetting applicants and finding the right fit to fill a specific role if necessary.

When a team member lacks confidence or struggles to keep up, FCMOs also provide encouragement and motivation. They point out things that need improvement and things that were done well. A collaborative and communicative team is key to boosting morale and overcoming challenges.

8. Creating a Digital Presence

Even if a company has its own website and social media accounts, they can be wasted without enough exposure or followers. FCMOs help with overcoming business challenges like this too. They have a strong understanding of how to firmly establish yourself online so that both customers and search engines will view you as a credible business.

After doing a site audit, competitor research, and target audience analysis, your FCMO gets to work. Part of their itinerary can include local SEO and finding high-value, low-competition keywords to target. These are low-hanging fruit that you can take advantage of to skyrocket your website to Google’s top position. 

They also help you complete and optimize your Google Business Profile, which grants you a spot on Google Maps, making it easier to find. The goal is to make it on Google’s 3-Pack, which are the first three results and take up the majority of local searches. These three results are the first things your customers will see, increasing click rate and online visibility.

Furthermore, new businesses need to invest enough time and energy into content creation. Content marketing services ensure websites and social media pages contain helpful resources: Content creation plays an important part in building an online reputation. Value-adding content such as blogs, videos, user-generated content, and reviews establish you as a pro in your industry. Customers are then more likely to take you more seriously and consider your products or services.

9. Getting a Better Return on Investment

Sometimes, businesses get carried away with either spending too much or too little on marketing. By the end of their campaign’s run, they find that their return on investment (ROI) is below what they would have wanted. In worse cases, it even reaches the negatives.

As a result, businesses scramble to make up for the money they just spent, but even that turns out to be unsuccessful. The solution is to locking down a better ROI is to hire a fractional CMO to help with budget allocation and management.

Achieving a good ROI is crucial for maintaining business growth and sustainability. It allows companies to spend reasonable amounts on marketing without spending more than they can handle. Some of the most important work in overcoming business challenges is related to ROI.

Positive ROIs indicate that your campaign was successful and you were able to earn back the money that you spent. It also shows that customers are convinced of your services and stakeholders believe in your value proposition.

Fractional CMOs determine your financial capability, including areas that can benefit from spending (and how much spend would be wise for each). They also lead cost-effective marketing campaigns so that your new business still has enough in the budget for other uses.

10. Improving Customer Acquisition and Retention

Even if a customer buys a product or avails of your services once, there is no guarantee that they will return. As a result, startups need to secure a solid and consistent customer base. After all, customers are the lifeline of every business—no customers equals no business.

This is where a fractional CMO’s expertise in customer research and acquisition comes in handy. Since FCMOs are quick to understand the needs and distinct qualities of New York residents and tourists, they tailor customer-specific solutions that accurately answer those needs.

FCMOs develop and execute targeted marketing strategies that emotionally resonate. They take into account the buyer personas’ personal experiences and buying habits to create personalized messages and campaigns.

Maintaining relationships with clientele is also vital. FCMOs also make constant efforts to nurture their clients through open communication and putting their needs first. To see them keep coming back to your brand, treat them with respect and authenticity.

11. Fixing Previous Campaigns

Just because something worked for one company doesn’t mean it’ll work for another.

If you have experienced failed campaigns or campaigns not turning out the way you wanted them to, consult a fractional CMO for help. They are extremely valuable in finding out what went wrong and where you can improve with your previous campaigns. 

They take these errors and provide actionable solutions to apply for the next one. Defining clear objectives (backed by data), redoing target audience segmentation, and making the most of local trends and events are just some of what your NY FCMO might have planned for you. They will likely also implement A/B testing to determine what works best in the New York market.

12. Making Network Connections

Because startups are just getting started (the name alone gives it away!), they might not have had enough time to integrate themselves with other people in business. They are left to do many things on their own, which can be especially difficult, particularly if hands-on experience is lower.

Fortunately, fractional CMOs have made many connections throughout the years, consisting of fellow marketing professionals and contacts who can provide advice and additional support to your business. Entrepreneurs can learn a wealth of knowledge from these marketing veterans.

Not only that, but FCMOs also have a wide connection of creative agencies who can offer their skills in graphic design, digital design, or any other creative services that startups may need.

It is always handy to have friends on the inside whom you can turn to in case you need additional help. The wider your circle is, the easier it is to access additional resources and manpower.

When Do You Need to Hire a Fractional CMO?

FCMOs can be crucial in overcoming business challenges (whether marketing-related or otherwise). If your business is undergoing any of the following signs, it may be a good time to hire a fractional CMO.

Let’s go over some of the reasons to hire an FCMO:

Your Growth Is Stagnant or Declining

Sometimes, businesses go through stagnant periods where not much happens. Same number of customers, limited products sold, and no major increases in revenue or sales.

If you notice your business’ growth going in the opposite direction, it could be a sign that you need an expert’s help. An FCMO provides new and fresh perspectives on how to approach your campaigns, hopefully leading to increased sales and decreased churn rate.

They encourage you to think outside the box and strive for innovative solutions that drive new, positive results. They also point out what methods are working and prioritize those versus those that aren’t contributing to growth.

You Need an Objective Set of Eyes

As mentioned earlier, some startups may have a solid marketing plan in place, but it’s not quite right (or not the one quite right for their industry or brand). At the end of the day, all of this amazing, creative work can be pointless if it doesn’t bring results. 

Plus, some teams are too close to the problem to figure out a solution. As a result, they end up making choices influenced by their personal attachment to the brand. It’s normal to be attached to the company you dreamed up and brought to life, but sometimes, this can hinder objective decision-making. 

To remedy this, company leadership can hire a fractional CMO to offer an objective perspective. Since objectivity plays a major role in overcoming business challenges, FCMOs rely on factual and research-based solutions to solve marketing problems.

You're Facing Major Projects or Business Changes

Any business undergoes big changes or upgrades, such as releasing a new product or collaborating with a major client. In major milestones like these, when there is little room for error, a fractional CMO’s help could make a huge difference.

FCMOs provide overall guidance and direction when handling big projects like these to ensure you achieve your goals with these projects. After all, these milestones are great for business, but you must also approach these carefully and methodically. Otherwise, you might end up flying too close to the sun.

You Need Interim Assistance

In some cases, a full-time CMO has just left a company, leaving the spot vacant. However, until the company fills the spot, marketing must continue, so the best option is to hire a part-time FCMO.

Because finding the perfect CMO takes time, a fractional CMO can take over until you find a full-time replacement. This is the most cost-effective option, considering FCMOs are more affordable and you still get the same level of services.

Learn More About Fractional CMO Services With Digital Authority Partners

To expand your brand to new heights, consider whether you need a fractional CMO to help ramp up and refine your marketing efforts.

Fractional CMOs are key to overcoming business challenges and standing out in a competitive industry. They elevate your brand’s image through extensive research and customized marketing solutions. They know what it takes to drive local customers your way and increase credibility in your industry.

Contact us today to learn more about how a fractional CMO can help you reach your goals.