Beyond Full-Time Executives: Unleashing Growth in B2B Tech with Fractional CMOs

Kiwi Tech Companies' New Growth Focus: 'A Sustainable 2024'

Right now growth is hard for many Kiwi tech companies.  But growth is table stakes - as many CEOs and Founders look to 2024 ‘sustainable’ is a word we are hearing more and more. 

We know scale starts with people, but companies on this journey are not building a marketing department, they’re building a marketing mindset. What does that mean? It means building marketing capability for the now. It means tapping into new ways of working, moving beyond the status quo, and in this case embracing new ways to scale. 

The Hiring Dilemma: CRO, CMO, or Fractional Executive for Tech Growth?
We were talking with a B2B tech client just recently who was feeling ready to hire someone to own their GTM, they just raised and were growing fast. They needed the right people but they could only hire one person. Who should their next hire be?:

A CRO who understands marketing?
A CMO who understands Sales?
A Head of Revenue with marketing background
A Head of Sales with product marketing background?…

It’s was tough decision, compromises are needed and impossible to know if they would make or break the business…  but there was another way, a new way to scale. 

Now you CAN have them all, if you are disciplined, focused and serious about where you need to go next… Enter Fractional Executives.

Common Pitfalls, Wasted Time and Money: The Risks of Lacking a Marketing Mindset

1. Rushing to Build: Quickly assembling a marketing team after hiring a head of marketing or a CMO, leading to a focus on function rather than outcomes.
2. Unicorn Expectations: Hoping a small team can plan, execute, refine, and deliver without a clear strategy or success metrics.
3. Misusing a Fractional CMO: Engaging a Fractional CMO without clear goals, leading them to get stuck in routine tasks instead of strategic initiatives or simply executing on a plan that hasn’t been clearly thought through.

All of the above always lead to wasted time and most importantly wasted money. The core issue? A lack of a marketing mindset.  

Embracing a Marketing Mindset: The Key to Sustainable Growth in B2B Tech

We champion the belief that marketing should exist as a collective mindset in the entire organisation, as a transformative power that shapes the future of a business to drive growth, spark innovation and impact. 

How we think about marketing and how we build marketing capability to fuel growth has fundamentally shifted.

At SwayTech we changed the game, and we support B2B Kiwi Tech companies navigate through their growth journeys, not just through hired hands, but with what we like to call Fractional Plus.  This is about more than providing a Fractional CMO. It’s about tailored CMO expertise plus a robust team ready to kickstart your growth journey.

Unlike the usual agency engagement, Fractional Plus is about embedding a marketing mindset:

• Tailored CMO Expertise: A seasoned exec aligning with your growth goals, working from within to drive real outcomes.
• Broad Skillset Access: Leveraging SwayTech's wide capabilities and network for efficient strategy creation and activation.
• Instilling a Marketing Mindset: A journey towards embedding a marketing mindset across your organisation, fueling growth long after our engagement.

The 10-Step Guide: Maximising Value from Your Fractional CMO Engagement

To get you started, we've created a 10-step guide to act as a roadmap that aligns your business strategy, with essential marketing programs that will not only maximise the value from your Fractional CMO engagement but also ensure you have the best chance of finding the right one.

In this rapidly evolving marketing landscape, it's not just a matter of keeping up; it's about embracing a marketing mindset to fuel sustainable growth. It's a journey that involves breaking free from conventional boundaries and nurturing a culture where marketing becomes an integral part of the business and the people behind it.

Accelerate Growth with SwayTech's Fractional Plus Executive Services

The engagement with a Fractional CMO under the Fractional Plus model is about competitive adaptability and zero waste approach to sustainable growth. At SwayTech we like to think of our team as Growth Navigators, on the  journey with you.

A fractional marketing team or a Fractional CMO can be the secret weapon to optimise your marketing efforts and accelerate growth.  By accessing top-tier marketing talent, without the commitment of a full-time hire, you gain valuable insights, strategies, and execution plans that will help you achieve your business growth goals faster. 

Our CEO Michael shares a 2min sound bites on this - have a listen below:

Learn more about SwayTech’s Fractional Plus Executive Services and download your 10 step guide here: