Should we hire a CMO?
Not until there is a marketing function to lead. A CMO sets direction for a team, a budget and channels that already produce pipeline. Many companies between £2M and £10M do not have those yet, so a new CMO spends the first months building them. Forte Growth builds and runs that function first.
What does a CMO need in place to succeed?
A defined buyer and positioning, channels that already produce pipeline, content and proof that work, a CRM and reporting the sales team trusts, and people to run each part. A CMO leads that. Without it, the role becomes five jobs done by one senior person.
Why does a first CMO hire often stall?
They walk into a blank page while the company pays executive money for them to build the function before they can lead it. The first quarters go on choosing segments, rebuilding the CRM and hiring the team underneath.
A complete UK marketing function is five hires: a Head of Marketing, a growth marketer, a content lead, an SDR and marketing operations, at around £250,000 a year in salary. One senior hire covers the first of those roles, not the other four.
Is a fractional CMO the answer?
It depends on what is missing. A fractional CMO or advisor usually brings the plan and the frameworks, and your team still has to run them. If the gap is execution, a plan without people to deliver it moves pipeline slowly.
When is hiring a CMO the right call?
When marketing already produces pipeline, there is a team or budget to lead and the next step is new segments, markets or products. A CMO then multiplies a function that works.
What is the alternative to hiring a CMO now?
Forte Growth takes over your go to market and marketing: outbound, inbound, content, brand, sales process and the automation underneath. It builds it, improves it and runs it to get you results, with outbound live in week three. Not every result comes from outbound. Ujji closed its first $100K deal through a podcast, with no cold outbound.
You own all of it. When marketing repeats, a CMO inherits a working system, or you keep Forte running it.
TOLGA SEN · OMMA
The OMMA founder on the system built from positioning through campaigns, content and follow-up.
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