Does The C-Suite Really Understand The Role Of The CMO?

As we now know companies who thought they had years to?transform?have just had a very nasty wake up call.

Whilst many companies still advertise for sales and marketing directors, this short article illustrates that the hiring companies don't understand the current state-of-play in the revenue industry and they're still directing their businesses as if it we're the 1980's 90's or early 2000's.

On average, CMOs are the?shortest-tenured members ?of the C-suite. Their boards demand greatness from them expecting top marketers to be customer champions, frontline defenders of the brand, stewards of internal morale and culture, and drivers of company growth initiatives.?And all round provider's of the magic silver growth bullet.

Yet?only 26% of CMOs ?are invited to attend board meetings regularly.?

Expectations are high, but it seems access and influence are low.

As the marketing industry grows increasingly digital, the demands and expectations of CMOs continue to evolve. CMOs are now required to focus on being customer-centric and data-driven whilst also offering personalised strategies. They are also being called on more to prove ROI on campaigns.

The seemingly mismatch between a board simply needing?execution?of an existing strategy (more of the same please) yet?hiring for growth?tends to be at the heart of the CMO turnstile.

Losing their jobs every eighteen months?seems to me to be a case of a CMO being employed, given six months to get their feet under the desk and then they try and 'do what they've always done' having told the board how great they were in their previous role.

Then within a year or so, the board decides to fire them for?poor performance?and the company needs to hire again.?

The other scenario is that the board keep changing the goal posts because of poor performance and the dutiful CMO does as they're told and get fired anyway because they didn't speak up, simply because they're not going to tell their paymasters they're wrong or they don't know any better and just did as they were told.

The reason to hire a CMO is usually because you’ve got a big?strategic?problem to solve, you need to drive?growth?and become more?innovative, or reposition the?brand.?

That’s what the connotation would be in the CMO interview process.

What often happens in reality is?‘Deliver me a Q1 plan that drives growth of 3%’. The trap is that you’re hired for your?thinking and strategy,?but very quickly you discover what you are being asked to do is execute an existing sales and growth plan that post Covid and within the framework of a continuing challenged economic outlook is nigh on?impossible. SalesXchange

A "CMO Collaborator" is defined as a CMO who encourages teams to work across the company, fostering a culture of collaboration and ensuring that brand vision and customer experience align.

So could ditching the CMO role and moving what marketing does under the 'chief growth officer' umbrella actually cause more damage to marketing’s reputation and standing within the wider business in the long-run?

"It’s almost as if marketers are admitting defeat and confirming the suspicions of shareholders, analysts, and even their colleagues in finance and other departments, that marketing doesn’t have any real impact on business performance". Marketing Week

And dressing the CMO up as a CGO could actually create more of a void and added confusion between what marketing does and the business outcomes it delivers.

Taking ‘marketing’ out of the title means the C-suite might continue to overlook the value of marketing. It’s almost like admitting marketing is a dirty word.

The role of the CMO must also change to fit the changing needs of modern organisations, overseeing not only branding and marketing activities but also business growth and customer experience.

The need to become deeply embedded in the entire business enterprise operating more as as an agile (challenging) 'general business manager' has created the requirement for a number of unique skills to sit alongside all business touch-points.

In a world of rapidly advancing technology, changing customer attitudes, and unpredictable trends, marketing is evolving at lightning speed.?

CEOs are expecting CMOs to be a "magic bullet" that can revive sales, grow market share and inspire customers. These many, varied demands are often impossible for CMOs to meet, leading to increasingly shorter tenures.

Without getting too deep into what growth marketing is all about the above really summarises how we do what what we do, and why we do it.?

We are people who like to see the bigger picture, we've had exposure, and gained experience across all aspects of an enterprise and in different sectors, and we all have an endless enquiring mind.?

We simply want to ensure our brand/company remains front of mind to the consumer ahead of any competitor. We are the people whose role it is to 'motivate' not just our internal teams, but to motivate our existing, and potential customers into looking at us before they look elsewhere.

We are the people who look to see how others can disrupt what we do, way ahead of that disruption taking place, and seek to align the business in that thinking.?

To achieve business success, CMOs must adjust their mindset and working practices to achieve a more collaborative role.?

The priority of the CMO going forward must be to enable all departments in the organisation to work together and with external partners to build a customer-centric culture. Only by doing this can they meet both the marketing needs of the business and the needs of the customer, and stay relevant in today’s marketing landscape.

Today the pressure on the traditional CMO is changing due to the rapid developments, and adoption by the consumer, not of devices or other forms of technology, but social interactions.??

For innovation and transformation to really take place in the ever changing technical and digital landscape requires both roles to work in a symbiotic manner, the rapid change in social networks and people's interactions across these platforms are already having huge impact on all kinds of businesses.

So, does this crisis now set the scene for the?C-Suite?to let the CMO get back to what they're supposed to do which is to focus on growth, innovation, and product development - not just the?corporate bullhorn?

Do you think that the CGO will replace the CMO role?