Fractional marketing directors are becoming more and more common in many industries. In injury law, it has been gaining momentum. Injury law firm’s approach to marketing is incredibly varied. Some have full in-house teams, some have an in-house resource and a full-service agency, and some handle it by committee. However, is the fractional marketing director a way for personal injury law firms to enhance their marketing function? In this post, I will compare fractional marketing directors with a full-time resource.
Table of Contents
What is a Fractional Marketing Director?
I explored this in detail in a previous post. However, a Fractional Marketing Director is a part-time outsourced marketing executive who handles your business’s marketing strategy or specific marketing tasks. They’re useful because they bring expertise, experience, and quality to your marketing that you probably wouldn’t be able to hire for due to their cost and experience level. Most specialize in specific functions like marketing strategy, digital marketing, analytics, creative execution, or other marketing skills.
How is That Different from a Full-Time Marketing Director?
The main difference is the focus, experience, and cost. A fractional marketing director focuses on specific things with your marketing that they can make a large impact on, they have a lot of experience working in this area. Additionally, a full-time marketing director is an employee of your firm and thus has all of the benefits and risk associated with that. They fall under the legislation of an employee, they require benefits, you have to pay them vacation time.
Benefits of Each Model
Fractional Marketing Director
— Focused on your most critical Marketing
Pros
- Hire an experienced professional
- Pay only for work you need
- Flexibility to hire for more work when needed and less when not needed
- Save money on salary and benefits
- Hire for the skills you need when you need them (Google Ads, Media Planning, Analytics)
Cons
- Divided across multiple clients
- Less availability than full-time employee
- Less company integration
Full-TIme Marketing Director
— Full time employee handling multiple tasks
Pros
- Consistent Presence
- Ability to train and grow the talent internally
- More invested in company’s long term success
- Available to handle the entire marketing function if needed
Cons
- Stagnation
- Turnover
- Higher Cost
- Likely have to outsource some elements of your marketing
How to Decide Which is Right For You?
Determining which is right for your law firm is a hard decision. If you’re a small to medium-sized injury law firm, a fractional marketing director seems to be a great fit. You get talent and ability you wouldn’t be able to hire otherwise. However, if you grow then you’ll have minimal institutional capabilities to continue to scale. If you are a larger firm, perhaps you should have some internal team members in your marketing department. A fractional marketing director could help with mentorship and strategy.
You also have to consider the scope of work on the horizon for your marketing team. Is there a unique skill that you envision yourself needing? Hiring a fractional marketing director could help there. Do you have a lot of digital elements that need strategy changes and development? A fractional marketing director can help lead you through that transition, and then you hire an in-house resource to manage your marketing when the technical direction is over. Is your marketing getting stagnant?
Rock Bound Marketing Can Help
Rock Bound Marketing is a marketing consultancy designed for injury lawyers. They understand the industry and how to best position your injury law firm for success. Rock Bound Marketing offers fractional marketing director services to help your law firm expand its marketing capabilities. If you have been considering bringing in more marketing capabilities to your injury law firm, we should talk.
Book a 30-minute Consultation