Building a Successful Fractional Career: Insights from an Account-Based Marketing Specialist
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The fractional executive model has emerged as a powerful alternative to traditional employment. We recently spoke with Paola Piccinno, a fractional CMO specializing in Account-Based Marketing (ABM), who shared her journey from corporate redundancy to building a thriving fractional practice. Her insights offer valuable guidance for consultants looking to navigate this growing field.
Transitioning to Fractional Work After Corporate Life
Paula's journey into fractional work began with an unexpected redundancy after years in agency environments. Rather than immediately seeking another full-time position, she leveraged her existing personal brand and network on LinkedIn to announce her availability.
"I posted on LinkedIn a really nice message. I'm good in communication and storytelling, so I told a really nice story in that message when I said that I was available and these were the services that I could offer".
The results were immediate—she received an offer from a competitor the very next day. This quick transition highlights the power of a well-established professional network and personal brand when pivoting to a fractional career.
Finding Your Niche: Specialization as a Competitive Advantage
Paula's success is built on her specialization in Account-Based Marketing (ABM), a sophisticated approach that targets high-value accounts with personalized marketing strategies. When asked to explain ABM simply, she describes it as:
"A highly sophisticated, tailored marketing strategy. It's not another campaign, it's not something you plug and play like a demand generation piece. It is a whole change management piece that involves the entire organization".
This specialization sets her apart in markets where ABM expertise is scarce. For fractional executives, finding your niche—whether it's a specialized methodology, industry focus, or technical skill—creates a compelling value proposition that's difficult for generalists to match.
Pricing Models That Work for Fractional Executives
Paula's approach to pricing offers practical insights for other fractional professionals:
- Initial projects: She charges upfront for complete programs ranging from AU$12,000 to AU$25,000+, depending on the brief. These might include ABM strategies, B2B strategy programs, or training sessions.
- Monthly retainers: After completing initial projects, she offers ongoing support at AU$7,000 per month for one day per week, scaling proportionally for additional time.
- Advisory services: For clients who can't afford full programs, she offers blocks of 20 hours per month at an hourly rate.
Paula emphasizes the importance of upfront payment and setting clear boundaries: "I don't even start checking their websites... I don't even want to know what they sell exactly until the money hits my bank account".
She also suggests regular rate increases tied to natural calendar points: "I take advantage of January [for the new calendar year] and the financial year which starts in July in Australia, so I raise my rates twice... Even just 10% is nice to have".
Identifying Red Flags with Potential Clients
Every fractional professional eventually learns to recognize warning signs that a client relationship might not be successful. Paula shares two major red flags from her experience:
- Lack of understanding: "When they don't understand what you do... In the long run, if they don't appreciate or understand the value you bring, it's just going to fall apart".
- Budget fixation: "When they mention already too many times 'budget, budget' at the very beginning... I now run away from them straight away".
To qualify clients upfront, she shares her daily rate in the first meeting, allowing those who can't afford her services to self-select out of the process early.
Effective Marketing Tactics for Fractional Executives
Paula employs several unconventional yet effective tactics to attract high-quality clients:
1. Personalized gifting
Gifting and sending something very personalized to that person. Paola has sent books with a personalized letter that says 'open this letter before the book' with a couple of post-it notes inside because that shows how well I know that person.
2. Conference speaking
Speaking at conferences. When she is on stage, you just get a lot bigger exposure, and there are people in the audience that came to her after that in person or LinkedIn later, and they wanted to meet and they're her clients now.
3. Podcast and webinar appearances
Being a guest in a lot of webinars. What they give you after that as well, if they give you always different snippets that you can up the contents in, like I ask maximum 1 minute, then they share them with me, and that's content. I'm still repurposing from months ago.
4. Strategic LinkedIn engagement
Beyond posting her own content, Paola emphasizes the value of thoughtful commenting: I get approached still weekly by people from all over the world because they saw me commenting on someone's comment where I added a little bit of value.
Overcoming the Mindset Challenges of Fractional Work
The transition to fractional work isn't without challenges. Paula candidly shares her struggles with the uncertainty of not having a fixed salary and the frustration of slow market periods. Her approach to overcoming these challenges centers on:
- Community connection: "Speaking to the community... sharing with anybody else that I could meet online, but especially in person, I realized that I wasn't the only one".
- Finding joy in the work: "I am having so much fun. I get to travel now for work under my own brand... I get paid to fly around Australia or Asia and speak at conferences".
- Creating structure: "I'm speaking to you from the Parisian Beach Digital Hub... full of fractionals. This place is keeping me sane".
The Power of Curiosity as a Driving Force
When asked about the habit that has made her successful, Paola points not to a routine but to a personality trait: insatiable curiosity.
Even if I'm really happy in my life and professionally. I'm just so curious, I have itchy feet, I just want to know what's around the corner. I'm thirsty for more adventures, and the curiosity translates in my career as well. Every step that I've taken in my career so far has been driven by curiosity and always wanting to learn more.
This curiosity mindset powers her continuous growth and adaptation in a rapidly evolving business landscape.
The True Reward of Fractional Work
Despite the financial success Paula has achieved, she identifies something more valuable as the most rewarding aspect of her fractional career:
"The people I met along the way. It is very lonely to be a fractional. We are a lot stronger together, and we all really want to be together, next to each other physically or virtually, to share things and to do big things together".
These connections have opened doors to opportunities she wouldn't have had time for in a traditional corporate role, including teaching positions at two universities and collaborative creative projects with other fractional executives.
