How will you use your bonus B2B marketing dollars?

Here are the quantitative measures of how engaging The Slade Group and our teams of specialists is a better investment than a full-time hire with direct and indirect costs.

Marketing Coordinator or Marketing Specialist – typical salary range for these upper middle income positions, according to www.1salarly.com/ December 2015, is in the $50-80 k range.

According to www.payscale.com the average salary for a U. S. Marketing Director is $79,998, so you can see that the range mentioned above will likely be somewhat lower than a Director.

Labor burden includes payroll taxes, retirement benefits, health benefits, worker’s compensation, life insurance, pensions and other fringe benefits. Labor burden can be a significant portion of the total cost of carrying employees, especially when employers provide many fringe benefits. Currently, the labor burden for these marketing positons is 23% of direct salary. So let’s do some basic math;

1. Marketing coordinator hired @ $52,500 as a new hire + 23% of base, $12,075 = $64,575.

2. Marketing specialist hired $ 61,400 as a new hire + 23% of base, $14,122 = $75,522.

3. And your new Director of Marketing at some reasonable amount above average;

$85,600 + 23% of base, $19,688 = $105,288. That’s a lot of Benjamins!

Now let’s look at and do some math on another viable option; the fractional chief marketing officer and the services included in this engagement opportunity.

First, let’s look at a pattern that’s playing out in the U. S. marketing profession and marketplace. It can be described concisely. The senior, experienced talent base that has driven and allowed the profession to morph along its current steep curve . . . is going away. At a very brisk pace.

Ten years ago, as this revolution was starting, there was a large and diverse population of senior marketing executives. Today, according to www.payscale.com/, only 31% of marketing managers or positions above this level have 10 or more years of experience. And dwindling.

So? The need to navigate a constantly changing sea of buyer persona characteristics and online buyer discovery processes, plus the need to develop a customer into a lifelong customer requires more than a set of skills normally associated with a late 20s or early 30 something whose attention is driven by the CRM and what’s going on at happy hour this week. Not a judgement, but a data-drive set of observations.

There is hope and it comes in the form of opportunity of choices. You can continue to pay out hard-earned cash every two weeks, along with payroll taxes, for a person to be under your tent full time, or you can look at outsourcing and engaging top talent to drive your marketing bus and to mentor younger team members who are aligned with wanting to learn as they work.

Your investment is modest and we are accountable for our content product!

Where have these marketing gurus gone and where are the few who remain? Many have opted to either retire or to pivot their careers and apply their talents in new and stimulating spaces. And yes, some of them have gone over to Chief Outsiders, who posture that they are gifted especially for middle-market companies scaling up but who lack the 30,000-ft. market perspective.

Now let’s get real and focus on the talent pool with a diverse base of successes and the ability to adjust immediately to new corporate cultures with both inbound and outbound marketing engines humming along at high RPMs.

The B2B content marketing agency leader who has these talents and a broad portfolio of successes across an array of industries is a small target to hit but one that gives you an exceptionally high ROI for the engagement dollars you invest. OK, let’s have some proof.

1. Career success and longevity a demonstrate authenticity and accountability. No messing around on social media or video games. Otherwise no bread in the pantry.
2. This niche or specialist marketer typically will target annual revenue for the agency and its virtual teams at around $250,000. That doesn’t include invoicing for paid media.
3. Back out operating expenses like auto, insurance, memberships, internet and office costs and you take gross margins down to around $200 k.
4. If the agency has 3-5 really good clients who engage it for fractional equivalent services and some budgeted project work, then the agency leader will personally gross around $100,000 or less. Remember, the agency is also doing its own marketing strategy.
5. So productivity and deliverables to the client must be high on the basis of working for them at a 20% – 30% equivalent. The client then is investing $ 40,000 + annually.

Which delivers the better opportunity for vision, focused leadership, content creation excellence and measurable ROI? Do you choose $64,000 + for a marketing coordinator or $ 40,000 + for a fractional chief marketing officer . . . and the available virtual team of proven creatives?

#b2bcontentmarketing #fcmoservices