The business landscape today is increasingly competitive, pressuring brands to step up their game to stay relevant.
And staying relevant requires a consistent execution of effective marketing strategies. Sadly, creating content and posting updates while still chasing deadlines can be overwhelming.
This is where fractional marketing services begin to feel like a magical wand. Such hires allow your business to tap into high-level marketing expertise on a part-time basis.
What’s more, this model offers greater flexibility to meet your business’s current needs. You can bring in a full team of fractional content marketers. Otherwise, you can settle for a strategic leader to provide guidance.
Hence, it’s unsurprising that fractional marketing is becoming the norm. These days, many firms are hiring fractional marketers while adopting cost-effective solutions.
This guide explains fractional content marketing and how brands can gain a competitive edge with it.
How content marketing has evolved over time
Over the years, marketing has changed from just “word-of-mouth” into something more powerful. More marketing channels are present, altering how things operate. Previously, print advertising allowed brands to reach target audiences through a single ad.
Later on, Radio and TV advertising came. Now, it is a full-fledged digital marketing practice. As a result, ads are trackable, and marketers can leverage analytics tools.
With many marketing channels entering the scene, there’s a need for continuous improvement. You need to develop a marketing strategy across email, social media, influencer marketing, and more.
These needs require continuous execution and efficient tracking of marketing efforts. Only by this can you make actionable insights that drive business growth.
These days, many small and medium-sized firms are adopting fractional content marketing services to help keep things coordinated.
What does fractional content marketing involve?
As the name implies, this form of marketing provides you with a “portion of a content marketer’s time.” It is a smart alternative to expensive full-time teams and marketing agencies. Imagine your firm needs seasoned marketers to develop a growth strategy.
But then, full-time hires can be a handful and will stretch your budget.
Fractional content marketers bridge this gap, dedicating specific hours per week or month to advancing your business goals.
These marketers begin by evaluating your business goal and spotting your biggest challenges. Then they design and implement a customizable strategy to drive growth. While their efforts influence your overall marketing, their sole focus is on content.
They can either build from scratch or enhance an existing content engine.
In practice, the engagement comes with great flexibility to suit your immediate business goals. Need hands-on support for a scale-up or product launch? You can hire a team to provide immediate assistance.
Then, as the busy period subsides, you scale back without disrupting business operations.
Why hire a fractional content marketer?
Right before the pandemic, many marketers were pushing for remote work. This gave them the freedom to work for several companies at once.
The pandemic later accelerated this trend, creating a pool of fractional marketing experts. At the same time, more companies are hiring fractional content marketing teams. Their goal is to fill gaps that full-time hires would’ve handled.
The result?
Companies are seeing content strategies come to life, with faster, more effective execution. Here are some reasons brands hire fractional marketers.
1. Expand your writing team
One of the key roles of fractional content marketers is to create systems that expand content-creation bandwidth. Scaling can be hectic when the focus is on increasing output rather than upgrading underlying processes.
Certain infrastructure must be in place to meet current business needs. Even with a reliable in-house team, there could still be process overload.
As a seasonal need, you could request fractional support.
These experts could enhance your content marketing efforts. They provide extra support and respond to demands. All these are attainable without you incurring high overhead costs or long-term commitments.
2. Excellent writing expertise
Have you ever thought that the lack of content strategies could be due to a writing problem? It is a common problem! Founders have their priorities, while marketing executives focus on metrics.
But nothing beats real subject-matter expertise that produces relatable content.
Notably, fractional content marketers are also highly skilled writers. They offer a unique value proposition. These professionals will bring in high-level content planning and persuasive execution.
We’re talking about compelling headlines and content that drive higher conversion rates. Also, these experts are versatile, having worked with a range of brands and industries. Such versatility allows them to quickly identify a brand’s needs and gaps.
Then, they go on to provide solutions that resonate with your audience.
3. Strategic thinking
The demand for content is higher than ever. And this cannot be addressed with a directionless content strategy. According to statistics, 40% of marketers say content marketing plays a central role in the overall marketing strategy.
While brands are showing up consistently, there’s still a need for a clear purpose. Well-curated content roadmaps are essential to achieving business goals and driving growth.
With fractional content teams, the days of pushing resultless content are over. These experts offer objectivity that bridges production and strategy.
4. Great for short bursts
For startups, there are always pressing needs and objectives that need urgent attention. Sometimes, this pushes the focus away from effective content marketing.
So, the content calendar design and content distribution plans are lacking. But this can’t be left hanging, and content marketing teams can help lay solid foundations. Yet, hiring a full-time content team may not be feasible at this early stage.
You need to hire a strategic leader to build a tactical marketing roadmap. There’s also a need for an SEO specialist to improve rankings. Hiring a content creator is also necessary for compelling blog posts, and the list goes on.
The hiring and training process for full-time marketing leads or a team can take months. However, you can expedite this process by engaging a fractional content marketing team.
5. Prioritize content marketing needs
Many brands can’t achieve specific business goals due to declining email and ad delivery rates. This means they’re failing to reach their target audience. It also suggests that their content marketing expenditures are a waste.
The solution?
Increasing CRM data and pushing more relevant content to achieve business goals. And this is another reason brands are hiring fractional content marketers.
These talented experts provide a competitive edge and ensure successful outcomes.
6. Access to fresh perspectives
Sometimes, a fresh perspective can be the solution your business campaigns need to take them to a new level. Because they’re not entrenched in your company, fractional teams can help identify areas for improvement.
Leveraging these new insights can push continuous improvement.
Can’t choose between hiring an in-house Copywriter or an SEO Content Specialist? You can test these ideas with a fractional content marketer before committing full-time. This provides an opportunity to engage experts with a proven track record.
Later on, you can hire the one that proves to be a suitable product-market fit.
7. To save costs
Unlike large corporations, smaller businesses face budget constraints that can affect their marketing efforts. But with a fractional marketing team, they can achieve business growth objectives at affordable rates.
This cost efficiency results from access to high-level expertise without full commitment. While full-time hires may cost about 6 figures per month, fractional marketers are paid based on deliverables or on an hourly basis.
Also, there’s no need for paid leave, holidays, health insurance, or retirement plans.
Thus, fractional marketers are a smart, sensible choice that aligns marketing expenditures with each project’s requirements.
Who needs a fractional marketing team the most?
Generally, fractional content marketers are excellent solutions for organizations that aren’t ready for a full-time hire. But who benefits most from this game-changer model?
1. Startups
Companies at an early stage often have big dreams but a smaller team to make them a reality. This leaves the founder juggling multiple tasks at once.
But a fractional team can step in to handle content planning and strategy. All of this will be possible without these startups bearing the financial burden of a full-time marketing team.
2. Businesses with limited budgets
It’s no brainer that full-time high-level marketing expertise can be very expensive. This is not something you want to go into if you have a limited content marketing budget. Rather, you can align your expenditures with your needs by hiring a fractional marketer.
You’ll still have access to effective content creation strategies, but at a lower cost.
3. Firms needing a quick scale-up
Are you launching a product, rebranding, or transitioning into a new market?
Then, a fractional content marketing team can provide specialized skills needed for such moves. Instead of spending significant time hiring and training full-time staff, these marketers can leverage their expertise to get things done.
4. Teams in need of specialized expertise
If you already have in-house marketers, certain content skills may still be lacking. Your team is great in most areas, but lacks an SEO strategy. In such a case, a fractional content marketer can bring the specialized expertise needed.
Ultimately, your brand can deliver well-rounded, results-driven campaigns.
Need a marketing leader? Hire a fractional CMO
There is a high demand for fractional chief marketing officers (CMOs), as they help provide the “vision” for marketing efforts. These part-time executives can whip up strategic marketing leadership.
Heading the marketing department, they ensure that content creation aligns with overall marketing goals.
For startups, a fractional CMO can help build a content marketing team from scratch, hiring the right talent. And if you already have in-house marketers, they can provide valuable guidance and mentorship.
These professionals often specialize in lead generation, establishing brand credibility, SEO, and more. With this flexible model, you can engage fractional CMOs to address current needs and then disengage afterward.
What’s even more exciting is that the positive impacts of these professionals last even longer after they leave. And of course, hiring a fractional CMO costs way less than the salaries of traditional CMOs.
How to measure fractional content marketing success?
If it isn’t working, why keep it? This is common across many areas, which brings us to measuring fractional marketing success. There’s a lot to look at, including project completions and outcomes.
The work relationships between fractional experts and internal teams are also important. The first step is to evaluate the metrics associated with your marketing objectives.
Ensure you work through the content cycle, with early engagement tracking and then performance. For content production, evaluate content by category, type, and audience. You should look at page views, social shares, and amplification for engagement.
Then, conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, and return on ad spend are key performance metrics.
Moving on, you need to select the attribution model that best fits your sales cycle. Why is this necessary? It helps you determine how to assign credits across marketing touchpoints that drive conversion rates.
You can evaluate first-click, last-click, linear, and time-decay attributions.
This way, you can determine whether your fractional marketer is delivering strategic impacts. But remember, content works over time and influences clients through multiple interactions.
Aside from the metrics, there’s a need to evaluate qualitative benefits. Are the fractional content marketers providing fresh perspectives? What about their ability to come up with and implement new approaches?
These and many more qualitative benefits will translate into quantifiable results with time.
Conclusion
Do you need a fractional content marketer? It all comes down to your ambitions and the specific content that supports your business. The main idea is plugging in the right level of expertise to match specific content needs.
Nevertheless, a factional content marketer can help you develop a content strategy that drives growth.
They can enhance your marketing function without forcing you to go over your budget. But you must choose the right fractional content marketers.
Go for experts with a track record and sufficient industry knowledge.