Singapore is home to 300,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and with the proliferation of digital platforms, traditional marketing models may no longer suffice for these enterprises, which often operate with limited resources.
Fractional marketing has emerged as an apt alternative, allowing SMEs to access specialized marketing expertise without the financial burden of hiring a full-time team. This model enables businesses to leverage the skills of seasoned marketing professionals on a flexible, part-time basis, thereby enhancing their ability to implement targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience.
However, a few questions remain. How does the fractional marketing model benefit businesses today? And is it suitable for every business?
Singapore faces a persistent talent shortage crisis that is bound to hinder the growth of companies, especially hyper-growing ones. A recent survey conducted by the Manpower Group found that 79 percent of employers find it challenging to fill roles within the organization – slightly exceeding the global average of 75 percent. Additionally, with only 23 percent of Singaporeans looking to improve their leadership and management skills, hiring experienced talent with strong leadership capabilities is proving to be a significant challenge, further exacerbating the leadership deficit within the Singaporean workforce.
This is observed across all industries, including marketing, where leadership roles are no longer able to keep up with the growing demands of companies. For resource-strapped small-medium enterprises (SMEs) in the market that are looking for senior hires who are crucial for the success of their growth, the search for qualified and well-experienced leaders will be an increasingly daunting task. Especially with 50 percent of SMEs citing a rise in operating cost followed by reduced profitability, their inability to provide competitive compensation could prevent them from attracting experienced senior hires that will add value to the business.
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Unable to find suitable managers to lead their teams, existing managers in SMEs must resort to putting on multiple hats. That means a manager must be responsible for multiple roles and tasks within the organization, even if it’s not within their expertise.
While managers may be nimble enough to make quick decisions when it comes to overcoming surface-scratching challenges, they might not be able to respond effectively once the business is met with a specific challenge beyond their expertise. This could be unproductive and could lead to incurring high costs, without solving the problem. Furthermore, these managers may have longer working hours to fulfill the multiple tasks and roles required, leading to poor work-life balance and hence greater job dissatisfaction.
The fractional marketing model offers a solution to full-time hires from SMEs on a limited budget
The fractional marketing model addresses these challenges by allowing businesses to engage highly experienced chief marketing officers (CMOs) and marketers on a part-time basis, sometimes short-term as well, significantly reducing the financial costs of hiring a full-time team. Fractional CMOs are equipped with the skills, expertise, and experience to provide in-depth marketing support for clients, without having to onboard a full-time senior hire or team.
Hiring a fractional team also offers SMEs the ability to leverage the diverse expertise of fractional experience marketers with unique specializations in different facets of the marketing industry. By doing so, SMEs are provided with a well-rounded perspective and comprehensive solutions to solve complex marketing challenges, providing them with a competitive edge over peers who hire a single full-time hire. Moreover, the flexibility of fractional services helps SMEs adapt to the evolving market trends and volatile business landscape more effectively.
As such, by engaging a strong fractional CMO or marketing team, SMEs can access top-tier marketing talent, drive strategic growth initiatives, and enhance their marketing performance while also maintaining cost-efficiency and flexibility in their marketing operations.
But, are fractional marketing teams suitable for all businesses?
The short answer is no. Fractional CMOs and marketers work exceptionally well for companies in their early growth stage when they lack resources to onboard full-time hires or have insufficient workloads to justify hiring full-time marketers. With 13 percent of marketing leaders indicating that content strategy is one of their biggest challenges, finding the right full-time staff that shows strong expertise in the field could be challenging.
In such instances, fractional marketing emerges as a strategic solution, offering a wealth of experience and industry insight to bridge this gap. By partnering with fractional CMOs and marketing teams, companies can leverage the expertise of experienced marketers without the commitment and overhead costs associated with hiring a full-time marketing team. This model not only saves valuable time and resources but also ensures that marketing efforts are driven by individuals who can operate at the required level of proficiency almost immediately.
Fractional marketing is poised for growth
The shift towards exploring alternative marketing models like fractional marketing among Singaporean SMEs highlights a strategic adaptation to the evolving business landscape. As witnessed by one of our clients, Lendela, who engaged us (OtterHalf) as their fractional marketing team, they successfully lowered the CPA by 25 percent, and increased CTR by up to 51 percent for their META ads, as well as onboarded 3 affiliate partners. By leveraging OtterHalf’s expertise in online marketing and forging strategic partnerships, including performance marketing strategy review, creative conceptualisation and creating ad campaigns, Lendela was able to achieve its business goals more cost-effectively.
In another example, another client of ours, REFASH, engaged us as their fractional marketing team, and they successfully onboarded 3 marketing partners that eventually resulted in close to S$40,000 of cost savings (equivalent to more than 3X the ROI!)
It is evident that in an increasingly competitive business landscape, transitioning into fractional marketing proves advantageous (perhaps even necessary) for SMEs to stay afloat and position themselves for long-term success.
Cassandra Ong is the Founder of OtterHalf.
Former Growth and Marketing Lead at Tripadvisor, Chope and Foodpanda, Cassandra faced a low in her life when she was made redundant during the mass tech layoff of 2023. She launched the remote-based global marketing consulting firm OtterHalf with two ex-team members who were faced with the same situation. By knowing first-hand the struggles of staying relevant in a competitive tech industry, they built OtterHalf with a mission to bridge the marketing expertise gap of tech companies, and to help give businesses the advantage they need to thrive.
With 12 years of experience in marketing strategy and strategic partnerships for big names under her belt, her proudest achievement would be: Securing CapitaLand as Chope’s partner, seeing through the partnership, and ultimately resulting in their investment in Chope’s Series D funding round.
Cassandra graduated from Singapore Management University in 2011, with a Bachelor of Business Management and majors in Human Resources and Economics.
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