Interim CMO
Bridge times of transition with confidence. Our Interim CMO leaders guide teams and build momentum through change.
Executive Marketing Leadership for Critical Transitions
When your organization faces a temporary gap in marketing leadership, our Interim CMO service provides experienced Chief Marketing Officers who can step in immediately to maintain momentum and drive strategic initiatives forward during the transition period.
Maintaining Continuity During Leadership Transitions
Authentic’s Interim CMOs bring stability during periods of change. Whether you’re managing an unexpected departure, medical or family leave, restructuring your marketing organization, or navigating a merger or acquisition, our executives ensure your marketing function continues to operate effectively without missing a beat.
What You Can Expect
- Seamless Transition: Experienced marketing executives who maintain continuity with minimal disruption
- Strategic Momentum: Continued progress on critical marketing initiatives during the interim period
- Team Support: Leadership and guidance for your existing marketing team members
- Knowledge Transfer: Thorough documentation and handoff processes for returning or newly-hired leaders
- Flexible Engagement: Tailored involvement based on your specific situation and timeline
Ideal For
- Organizations with marketing leaders on medical or family leave
- Companies experiencing unexpected leadership transitions
- Businesses navigating organizational restructuring
- Growing companies establishing a strategic marketing function
Our Approach
Our Interim CMO engagements offer flexible time commitments based on your specific needs and timeline. Each engagement begins with a comprehensive handoff from your departing/absent leader (when possible) or a rapid assessment of your current marketing state. Throughout the engagement, we maintain clear documentation to ensure a smooth transition back to your permanent leadership.
Unlike traditional interim executives, our CMOs leverage Authentic’s proven methodology and tools, as well as our collective Mindshare and Ally Network, giving you access to our entire community’s expertise during this critical period.
What is an Interim CMO?
An interim CMO is a marketing executive who steps into a leadership role during a time of organizational transition. They provide critical, short-term leadership for scenarios such as leadership turnover, medical or family leave, business transformation, rapid growth, or mergers and acquisitions.
Ready to find your right-fit CMO and get growing?
Our CMO match process can get you up and running with a marketing leader in days – not months.
Here’s how it works:
01
& Intake
Initial Meeting
& Intake
Our first priority is to understand your business model, goals, and culture - and assess your marketing needs.
A simple intake survey and a meeting with our team helps to ensure alignment for the right-fit CMO match.
Ready to meet? Contact us.
02
Match & Meet
Right-Fit CMO
Match & Meet
We curate your right-fit CMO match based on business model fit, relevant industry experience, culture alignment, and capacity to support your goals.
Your key stakeholders will meet with your matched CMO to ensure you feel confident in the fit.
Time: 2-5 business days after you give us the green light!
03
& Discovery
CMO Quick Start
& Discovery
Your right-fit CMO was matched based on real-time availability, so in most cases, we are able to begin work within days of a signed contract.
We leverage our proven process to efficiently onboard and quickly deliver value.
Time: 3-10 business days from receipt of contract
Is an Interim Chief Marketing Officer right for you?
If your marketing team is experiencing a leadership gap, hiring an interim chief marketing officer might be the perfect solution. Interim CMOs provide full-time or near full-time interim leadership to fill a critical role, keeping your marketing team focused and productive while your company recruits a permanent chief marketing officer or redefines the position.
This type of interim or fractional CMO is particularly beneficial for mid-sized to larger businesses that rely on an experienced marketing leader to guide their marketing strategies. Their primary objectives include maintaining stability, retaining talent, and ensuring your marketing strategy stays on track. They also evaluate existing programs, recommend improvements, and assist in transitioning to a permanent CMO.
When your marketing team needs a steady hand to keep the wheels turning during a period of transition, an interim CMO brings the expertise and leadership necessary to ensure your business objectives thrive.
An Authentic Interim CMO is your trusted leader through transition.
Marketing initiatives can experience significant disruption with the departure of a marketing leader, or during periods of rapid growth when an experienced leader is needed – but a full-time hire has not yet been identified. Ensuring your marketing strategy and digital marketing efforts perform effectively, considering an interim CMO over a full time CMO may be what your leadership team needs.
Our Interim CMOs work with our clients to ensure execution continuity (keep the wheels on the bus!), confidently lead marketing staff members through change, optimize budgets and vendor relationships, and add strategic value and fresh perspective to go-to-market strategy.
There are many ways to access marketing talent.
You could hire a full-time leader. You could contract with an independent consultant. You could engage a recruiter or staff augmentation firm for your marketing leadership. Or you could work with a management consulting firm that specializes in Fractional, Interim, and Advisory CMO services – like Authentic.
No matter which path you choose, it’s important to understand the differences so you can determine which path aligns best to your goals.
At Authentic, we help our clients achieve Authentic Growth® through our unique model which is powered by three key elements: Marketers, Methodology & Mindshare.
Authentic's Unique Model
Marketers + Methodology + Mindshare
The Value of a Fractional CMO: Quick impact and low risk
There’s a point in a company growth cycle when businesses recognize that they need to invest in marketing for continued growth. Often these companies have been sales-driven until they realize they need a marketing leader dedicated to building brand awareness and driving meaningful engagement to support business objectives. They often choose between hiring a full-time leader, a fractional CMO, or a marketing agency.
The Power of the Authentic Mindshare™ and CMO peer community
Clients have learned that they get more than a solo independent consultant when they hire an Authentic Fractional CMO. They get the collective expertise of senior-level marketers with diverse experience across a variety of business models and industries. We call the power of this community our mindshare, and it’s part of everything we do.
The Components of Authentic Growth® Methodology
Authentic Growth® Methodology is Authentic’s proven and proprietary marketing operating system that helps small and mid-sized, growth-focused businesses build strategic marketing departments and create alignment between sales and marketing. It’s a habit-forming system that teaches a simple, but powerful, set of components that drive alignment, accountability, and activation.
Ready to Overcome Random Acts of Marketing®?
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