Doing Better Business With Fractional CMO: A Case Study

A fractional CMO is a professional marketing contractor who’s responsible for all your marketing. Even at a higher hourly rate, you only hire an fCMO for a certain number of hours a month, keeping expenses down while at the same time giving you access to the gamut of marketing services. This flat fee is easy to budget into your company’s expenses and costs drastically less than hiring a CMO. In fact, HubSpot estimates that hiring an fCMO is up to 74% more affordable than hiring a full-time CMO!

Fractional CMO plans are a wise choice for businesses with tighter budgets. And unlike traditional marketing packages, fCMO plans are incredibly nimble, allowing you to redirect your monthly marketing efforts as needed. 

To give you an idea of what an fCMO plan looks like and how it can benefit you, we put together a case study of one of our current fCMO clients, the Electrical Association of Minnesota.

The Client

The Electrical Association is a trade organization empowering electrical contractors.

Their Need

Before working with us, the Electrical Association relied heavily on several internal staff members for their marketing strategy and implementation. However, they struggled to find someone with the time and experience to tackle marketing for such a multi-faceted organization. They knew they needed to outsource their marketing and reached out to us to see how we could help. 

We knew right away that, given their wide range of needs, our fCMO plan would be a perfect solution. 

Because I’ve worked with other trade organizations in the past, I have experience retaining current members and recruiting new members, while also helping everyone get plugged in. And my background working with nonprofits is invaluable when it comes to grassroots budgeting and marketing. I knew our creative team would be able to meet the Electrical Association where they were at, devise a solid strategy, and spearhead their projects. 

Our Fractional CMO Solution

When we first sit down with fCMO clients, we walk with them through our five-phase fractional CMO process. These phases include discovery, analysis, development, implementation, and training. During this process, we get to know our clients and their goals, what’s currently working for them, and areas where we can help them grow. We create and implement content and deliverables and initiate training as necessary. 

After walking through this process with the Electrical Association, we devised a plan of attack, which included the following:

Apprenticeship Marketing Plan

• We began by reviewing their current marketing. Then, we created a comprehensive marketing plan that helped them increase their enrollment.
• Result: Enrollment has increased by 15%.

Email Marketing Strategy

• We developed email marketing templates and created a monthly marketing calendar to help them plan their email communications. We ensured that key information from all departments was communicated at precisely the right time.
• Result: Email open rates now average between 26-52%.

Annual Electrical Contractors Summit

Historically, this has been their most poorly attended event, and attendance has decreased each year. With this in mind:

• We rebranded the event with a new name and logo.

• We created a new promotional campaign and new copy that resonated with the Electrical Association’s audience. We made sure people knew why they should attend the event and how it would benefit them and their businesses.

• We provided suggestions on how to get attendee feedback and testimonials they can use to market next year's event.

• Result: More people attended the event—many for the first time.

Social Media Marketing

• We reviewed their social media channels and came up with a solid social media strategy.
• We create 12 Facebook and LinkedIn social media posts for them each month to keep their social media presence consistent.
• We boosted Facebook posts to help increase event and program attendance.
• Result: Since September of 2023, both Facebook and LinkedIn have increased their followership and engagement.

Blogs

• We had them ungate their blog page to allow prospective members the opportunity to read their educational content.
• We developed a blog strategy and a blog calendar.
• Result: They publish consistent keyword-rich blogs that engage their viewers.
• Membership Engagement & Retention
• We reviewed their new member campaign materials, including email and print correspondence.
• We created a new framework for the campaign to help engage members more quickly and increase membership retention.
• We updated all the emails they send to new members.
• We implemented additional outreach ideas to help engage new members more quickly.
• Because this is in process, results are pending, but we’re excited about the engagement and retention we’re achieving so far!

Fractional CMO Testimonial

As an organization without dedicated marketing support for many years, we wanted to bring on a true partner—someone who could help us grow our offerings and expand our market reach while remaining agile in a rapidly changing market. It has been so nice having a consistent focus on our marketing strategies rather than the shotgun/reactive approach we were taking prior. The registered apprenticeship email you sent out recently resulted in at least six meetings with contractors interested in learning how the program could benefit their business!

Having a team of experts with their finger on the pulse is exactly what we have found in Wild Fig. We are excited to see where this partnership takes us!

Clara, Electrical Association

If we got your attention and you’re curious if hiring a fractional CMO is the right move for your business, we would love to talk! Schedule a free exploratory call with us today.