My 180 degree about turn.
Five years ago I left behind a role as a marketing director in a well known construction and fit out company and set up a business at my dining table. Ignoring the rising panic of imposter syndrome, I thought a couple of businesses might pay me to do ‘a bit of marketing’ for them. I offered a service whereby clients could choose from an à la carte menu - whether they wanted help with graphic design, bid production, social media posts or an awards submission - they could cherry-pick according to what they saw as a need in the business at the time. I believed I was providing a great service, solving a problem, filling a need.
But I was wrong.
To be fair, the à la carte thing worked well for me at the start. Plenty of enquiries coming in, plenty of work. Within a few short months I had hired a team of people who could design graphics, build websites, shoot and edit video, understand the Linkedin algorithm…a sort of rapid response unit that could flex as needed by the clients. I remember ‘awards season’ being chaotically busy. I remember working until 2am to get a tender over the line. I remember panicked texts from CEOs saying a web page was down. We were doing well. There was plenty of ‘busyness’.
But was it sustainable?
We were writing blogs, making videos and telling the stories of the businesses we worked with. We were writing awards submissions, tenders, e-blasts - we were telling the stories of the businesses we worked with. We were creating lots and lots of content. We would make videos, hand them over, get paid and never see the videos again. We were reactive, but not strategic. We were productive, but not effective.
I realised this was not in the best interests of the clients.
Over time, I got over the imposter syndrome and realised I had something unique, a defensible space if you like. A 20 year career in the construction industry combined with an undergraduate degree in International Marketing and a Masters in Digital Marketing. I was a LEED Green Associate. I had been a director (it’s rarely a woman and it’s almost never Marketing) I was (and still am) enthralled by HVAC and renewable energy. I had sat in meetings with the keyest of key players who invest in, develop, design, build and maintain real estate. I had done shots at the bar with the top names in our industry. I had a profound understanding of how construction work was won, and how it was delivered. And I wasn’t allowing my clients to fully avail of this experience and thinking. I needed to up my game.
So I became a fractional CMO.
“What’, I hear you ask, ‘is the difference between a fractional CMO and a marketing manager?’ Well, the FCMO brings a high-level, strategic perspective to your team that goes beyond what a marketing manager can offer. While a marketing manager often focuses on executing day-to-day operations, a fractional CMO is a seasoned leader who:
- Drives Strategy to develop a comprehensive, long-term marketing vision tailored to your business goals, aligning all efforts towards growth and competitive differentiation.
- Provides Flexibility: Working on a part-time or retainer basis, a fractional CMO delivers executive-level guidance without the full cost of a permanent hire, making it ideal for small to medium enterprises.
- Ensures Cross-Functional Integration: They work closely with your leadership team, ensuring that marketing is seamlessly integrated with sales, branding, and overall business strategy.
- Focuses on Measurable Growth: They’re all about generating opportunities and delivering measurable results, rather than just managing day-to-day tasks.
If you're interested in learning more about how this approach can benefit your business, I've shared more on this topic here.
More than just ‘a bit of marketing’.
Now I advocate for strategic planned, targeted content creation that gets you seen and nurtures your target audience through to trusting you enough to put you on a tender list. The exact opposite of à la carte basically.
Building a brand around your stories is an ongoing process, it doesn’t happen overnight, there’s no silver bullet that you can fire and forget. If you think doing ‘a bit of marketing' here and there will get you new leads, contracts and clients, you're probably wasting your money. If you want to hire me just for a standalone video or a website, you're probably not getting the best value for your money. You need to make the video AND the website AND the content that is part of a long term strategic marketing plan.
And I have an experienced team that delivers all that stuff!
So a lot of businesses struggle with succession planning - the founders or CEO are doing all the sales, the brand is built around them. If you want a brand that stands alone and carries its own value and equity, even beyond the owners and founders, then you’ll want to invest in your strategic storytelling and business development coaching, and make your senior leaders accountable for business growth. And that’s my favourite!
Done playing catch-up with scattered marketing efforts and ready to embrace marketing as an ongoing, evolving storytelling process? Want strategic marketing guidance that adapts and grows alongside your business in the AEC industry? Give me a shout and we'll workshop your long-term brand strategy that evolves with your company: tiffany@generateleads.ie
