Top Questions to Ask When Interviewing a Fractional CMO
By Deb Andrews
Originally Published June 2016
Congratulations! You’ve heard the buzz, read my blog post, done your research, and decided that a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is just what your B2B company needs to help generate warm leads, engage new and existing clients, and accelerate revenue growth. You’re ready to move from tired, once-and-done marketing into modern marketing guided by an experienced strategist – one who will provide ongoing, hands-on, senior-level support as you navigate through today’s highly competitive and ever-evolving digital world. Now what?
Hiring a talented Fractional CMO who is a great fit for your company doesn’t have to be a difficult or frustrating process. If you know what to ask and what you should expect to hear in response, your thoroughly-vetted and carefully-evaluated Fractional CMO will be on board and ready to go in no time.
Based on our many years of experience, here are Marketri’s Top Questions to Ask When Interviewing a Fractional CMO:
- What are the most critical elements of a successful marketing program? (Some good answers would include clear positioning, a responsive website focused on the user experience, strategic target markets, and a segmented contact database.)
RELATED: Debbie’s Marketing Tips: Practical. Obvious. Usually Ignored.
- What are five words that best describe you? (You’ll want to hear words like leader, collaborative, fearless, innovator, strategist, pioneer, tech-savvy, determined, creative, growth-minded, and results-driven.)
RELATED: Five Signs Your Marketing Department is Rocking It in the Fast Lane.
Other helpful questions include:
- What should we expect over our first 6 months working with you?
- How would you build our marketing team? What work would you keep in-house and what would you outsource?
- Can you offer an example of an integrated marketing plan that you created and either supervised or implemented? How did you measure the results of that plan?
- Can you describe an unsuccessful client engagement and tell us what you learned from it?
- How will you communicate marketing progress?
The hiring process is rarely easy, but it can certainly be made a lot easier. With these questions in hand, you’ll be well on your way to hiring the Fractional CMO best suited to help your B2B company confidently rise to the challenges of today’s digital world.
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