Key Strategies for Building a Strong Marketing Muscle Early

In episode 002 of The DTC Podcast, we spoke with marketing executive Julie Crabill on the ins and outs of building your early-stage marketing team and when engaging with a fractional CMO might make sense.

Julie brings more than two decades of experience in communications, marketing, and from founding/scaling/exiting her own company to the conversation.

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Key Takeaways for Building an Early Marketing Function

You don’t need a full-time CMO early on. There, we said it.

Hiring Framework

Hire a marketing manager “do-er” first. Someone who is a mid-level rising star. Give them room to be a utility player. Focus on their growth and encourage them to find their sweet spot (e.g., performance marketing, brand, comms, creative).

Be open about the plan to hire senior marketing talent over that rising star when the organization is ready for it. You should be soft recruiting a year or so ahead of making a senior hire.

Don’t snooze on the right hire. The market remains tight for top talent. Your hiring plan should be flexible so you can move quickly if a star candidate falls into your lap.

TIP: Build in 3x the cost of a senior hire compensation for your marketing budget before making that hire. There’s no point in bringing a senior strategist in if there’s no budget for them to execute against that strategy.

Fractional Leadership

Consider a fractional CMO to lay the foundations for your marketing program and hiring plan. The right fractional CMO can connect product, sales, and brand together, articulating and aligning goals across functions.

Engage when you have focus and you have executive alignment on the immediate need to address a larger go-to-market challenge (e.g., product messaging or sales enablement motion).

Be prepared to build a team (internal or agency/consultants) behind the fractional CMO.

TIP: Have a coordinator or specialist-level person on staff before engaging a fractional CMO. Don’t waste your retainer/budget having expensive, experienced talent doing administrative tasks.

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