“Because the purpose of business is create and keep a customer, the business enterprise has two – and only two – basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs.” – Peter Drucker
There may be no more critical, yet inconsistently defined, senior leadership role than that of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).
For any organization seeking to grow (dare I say that should be every organization!) having an experienced marketing leader is vitally important.
In collaboration with other senior leaders, the CMO is responsible for presenting the organization to the market, developing the strategy, and then executing the go-to-market plan to drive growth.
Does your organization need someone with the skills and experience required to be a CMO?
The answer is, “it depends.”
To define the unique value of a CMO we must think through several challenging aspects of the marketing function that sometimes feel like a Catch-22. These are:
- Every CMO is a marketer, but not every marketer is a CMO.
- Every company needs a head of marketing, but not every company needs a chief marketing officer (CMO).
- The purpose of marketing can mean something very different between organizations, depending on factors like the industry and customer target (i.e. B2B vs B2C)
Defining the CMO Role
Before we define the unique value of a CMO and explore whether you need one, let’s begin with a high-level job description:
Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) – Responsible for overseeing the planning, development and execution of an organization’s marketing and advertising strategy. Reporting directly to the CEO, the CMO’s primary responsibility is to help generate revenue by increasing sales through successful marketing for the entire organization, using market research, pricing, product marketing, marketing communications, advertising and public relations.
In many organizations, the scope of the CMO role expands to include sales enablement, sales team management, new business development, product development, channel partner management and customer success.
The Chief Marketing Officers is a member of the company leadership team and usually reports to the chief executive officer. In larger organizations, it is common to have a number of senior marketing managers responsible for various parts of the marketing strategy reporting directly to the CMO.
NOTE: The CMO role has traditionally been a full-time, in-house executive position. However, in recent years, as the value proposition and complexity of marketing strategy have increased, there has been a growing number of the part-time CMO or Fractional CMO roles. Stay tuned for an upcoming article that will explore the value proposition and use case for a fractional CMO.
The Unique Value of a CMO
It is true that every CMO is a marketer, but not every marketer is a CMO.
Once you understand the true complexity and scope of the CMO role, you can begin to see that it is a challenging role. Only the most seasoned and experienced marketers, typically those who also have extensive company leadership experience and strategy development in their background, can be effective as CMO.
Furthermore, while every company should have a head of marketing, not every company needs a CMO.
There are a number of variables to consider when answering the question of whether your organization needs, and can justify having a CMO. The answer is ultimately very company-specific. However, there are some general factors to consider that can help make the decision. Rate each of the following criteria for your organization, on a low-to-high (or, small-to-large) scale:
- Size of company
- Company growth ambitions
- Product/service value
- Market size
- Geographic scope
- Market ecosystem complexity
- Lead sources
- Complexity of buyer’s journey
- Length of sales cycle
- Sales channels
- Size of go-to-market (marketing and sales) team
- Customer lifetime value
- Industry competitiveness
Scoring: Generally, the higher you rank your organization on most or all of the above criteria, the more you can justify and should consider having a CMO on your leadership team.
The CMO Role is Complex and Evolving
As you saw in the brief job description above, the CMO role is complex. It is also rapidly evolving to meet unique company and market dynamics. The increasingly disruptive VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) environment that most organizations now operate in is just adding more fuel to the fire.
Driven by the forces of technology, increasingly complex digital interactions with the marketplace, and the growing ubiquity of social media channels, the marketing role has a growing sphere of influence in many organizations. The expectation is for the modern CMO to drive growth, deliver the brand vision and manage the customer experience across all touchpoints and intersections: print, digital, retail, mobile, social and more.
The role of marketing no longer ends with a sale. That is just the beginning. The span of marketing now extends into building relationships and delivering value to customers throughout their buyer journey. To be successful, CMOs must create and maintain a delicate balance between growth strategy, brand purpose and value, customer success, employee engagement, creative, technology, data and analytics.
Easy, right?!
Once you decide that your organizations needs a CMO, you must also think about what type. Depending on the maturity of the organization, the industry, the growth objectives, the skillsets and interests of the CEO and leadership team, and the type/scope/complexity of the sales process there can be different focal points for the CMO. This examination will drive different requirements for the CMO and create a different profile for the role.
An upcoming blog will examine the most common CMO archetypes.
More than Just a Marketer
While it is true that a head of marketing, a VP of marketing, and a CMO all have responsibility for the marketing function, that is where the similarity ends. The level of experience, strategic vision, and cross-functional leadership that a CMO provides is what sets them apart.
A CMO is much more than just a great marketer for the organization’s products and services. They are growth strategists and partners with the CEO to promote the company and its vision. They collaborate with the leadership team to formulate the growth vision and strategy, and lead the execution of the go-to-market plans that propel the organization into the future.
Every CMO is a marketer, but not every marketer is a CMO.
-Onward