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Kevin C. Whelan

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July 17, 2021

Fractional CMOs are generalists and that’s okay

Some number of years after going to university, I studied ‘Small Business Entrepreneurship’ in a post-graduate college program.

In the one-year program, I learned the fundamentals of most core areas of business, including finance, tax, law, management, marketing, accounting, HR, and a variety of other disciplines.

And while I learned plenty about the various aspects of running a business, I didn’t master any of them.

However, I learned enough about each to effectively manage those areas in my own business. I knew how they worked, how to speak the language, and how to measure their effectiveness.

That’s really all you need to be an entrepreneur. And it’s the same thing with being a fractional CMO or marketing advisor.

As a marketing advisor, you’re lucky to be very strong in one or two areas. You need to be able to leverage those core skills and be reasonably capable with the rest to create business results.

You don’t need to be the most technical, most creative, or best strategist. But you do need to know how business works and be able to demonstrate the value you create.

You need to be able to speak the language of each marketing channel, hire the right people, measure their effectiveness, and bring it all together to get actual business results.

No two advisors are skilled in the same ways, which makes what you do unique. Lean into that. Own your strengths and your weaknesses.

As long as you know enough to get results, how you do that is up to you.

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