Introducing the Portfolio CMO, Part 3 of 3
Review: The last two blogs introduced the concept of the Portfolio CMO — a job title which “doesn’t exist” [at least before these blogs]. It means, quite simply, Portfolio Career + CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) … a salaried employee who brings a life-career portfolio to bear on behalf of an employer on a pro-rated, part-time basis. It brings long-term, consistent management to a companies’ marketing efforts. I also suggested that Small or Micro businesses often lack the skill-sets to create either strategy or tactics; and presented case studies of a Marketing Consultant for a family Oriental Rug store and a Marketing Generalist for an Auto Service Center to contrast the meanings of Marketing Consultant, Marketing Generalist and Portfolio CMO.
FORTUNE 500 EXPERIENCE
In reviewing my drafts, a friend asked, “Did your experience with Fortune 500’s (Target, 3M, Ecolab, etc.) play a significant role in your work with these companies?” Well, that’s hard to separate out. My experiences with these companies taught me everything I know, so yes. But from a budgetary standpoint, the answer is largely no. While I am forever grateful for the opportunities and education I received contracting with these companies, I must paraphrase the Harvard Business Review (HBR):
- Does the CMO of Target hand-address Christmas cards to every client?
- Does the CBO of 3M bring bagels and coffee in every Monday morning?
Hardly.
HBR has published multiple articles pointing out that the CEO (or by extension, the CMO) of a Fortune 500 company has support and services that a micro business or entrepreneur can only dream of. That’s because small and micro businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs share a common problem: no help, no staff, no budget, nada.
Example 3: Being a Portfolio CMO for a small distribution company
In a word, the difference between a Portfolio CMO and all other positions is fiduciary – the fiduciary responsibilities of employment. I work for a family owned distribution company. They aren’t large, but they are second generation, closing in on a 100-year history. My relationship with them started as a Marketing Consultant executing a tactic – a new website. But while they did indeed need a new site, what they needed most was a fundamental brand analysis, and strategies to create brand differentiation.
MARKETING ANALYSIS FOR THE SMALL COMPANY
Whether I’m working with a Fortune 500 company, or a small retailer, the PROCESS is the same, beginning with analysis. Analysis is heavy lifting. It is time-consuming, migraine-inviting, client-bewildering work. But the client hired me as their Portfolio CMO not only for my skill-set, but because it saves them money. Consider the math: a business could hire a Marketing Consultant for $x/hour or a Portfolio CMO for $y /year. The Consultant working 100 hours costs 100x. The Portfolio CMO working 100 hours would be about one day/month costing a percent of a reasonable salary. For a small or micro company, such a commitment is within reach, and can yield untold benefits in both directions.
In my case, as a Portfolio CMO, I created the company’s first annual marketing budget. I researched the competition, customers and market trends to find ways to bolster the brand – to determine what we wanted to say, to whom, for what purpose. Once the brand was refined, I wrote much of the new copy, hired an editor to check my work, hired an excellent designer, a Google Analytics expert, photographer, videographer, etc., – with no markup – and so far, the RESULT of my current tenure is significantly increased web traffic, phone inquiries and new business – all within budget, all paying for itself.
PORTFOLIO CMO, MARKETING GENERALIST OR MARKETING CONSULTANT
Being a Portfolio CMO for a small or micro company is different from being a CMO for a large company (let alone a Fortune 500 company). Further, unlike a Marketing Generalist or Marketing Consultant I am an employee, a paid part-time member of the management team.*
At the start of this 3-part series, I pointed out that neither Google nor Linkedin believe there is such a thing as a Portfolio CMO, which is my current career. It is my hope that these blogs have helped the reader understand what the title means in the broader sense. I am a Marketing Consultant, Marketing Generalist, Marketing Manager, Creative Director, etc. I am the Portfolio CMO. The position is real. Small Businesses looking to bring long-term, consistent management to their marketing efforts need to add this option to their toolkits!
Stay tuned!
*In this particular case, being a W-2 employee was not practical. However, in all other regards, the relationship is as described above.
© 2019 Craig Sinard
Craig Sinard is a Portfolio CMO, Marketing Generalist and Marketing Consultant, depending on your needs. He creates strategies to put your brand and position in harmony. He also has deep content creation experience, especially in video production, web and virtual reality.