Chief marketing officer

Responsibilities

As part of the senior management, the CMO is involved in developing and adjusting company strategy and plans based on market conditions and competitive dynamics. CMOs may be involved in departments such as production, information technology, corporate communications, documentation, public relations, law, human resources, and finance. One Gartner analyst predicted that in the future CMOs will spend more on IT than their counterpart CIOs, with many modern CMOs handling increasing amounts of customer-facing technology implementations. According to McKinsey, few senior-executive positions will be subject to as much change over the next few years as that of the chief marketing officer.

The CMO is responsible for facilitating growth, sales and marketing strategy. They work towards objectives such as revenue generation, cost reduction, or risk mitigation. The CMO completes tasks that fall into three different categories: Analytical tasks, such as pricing and market research; creative tasks, such as graphic design, advertising and product, and service promotion; and interpersonal tasks, such as coordinating with other company executives in creating alignment on strategy and execution plans.

CMOs see customer loyalty as their top priority in the digital era; their second priority is to design experiences for tablets and mobile apps.

Challenges

The unpredictable effect of marketing efforts and the need to drive profits often leads to a short tenure for most CMOs. Consulting firm Spencer Stuart revealed average CMO tenure in 2020 was 40 months, which was the lowest in a decade. In comparison, the average CEO tenure is 7 years.

In a CMO mapping study done by Raines, CMOs are losing influence. A proportion of CMOs don't feel valued, and many CMOs don't have clear alignment with their CEOs on key performance metrics.

References

References

1. McDonald, Malcolm. "The Post-Covid CMO in the Digital Age: The need for marketing planning is greater now than it has ever been". [[Worshipful Company of Marketors]].
2. Welch, Andrew. (March 2008). "Who is the brand daddy?". [[Landor Associates]].
3. (2015). "The Chief Marketing Officer Matters!". SAGE Journals.
4. Ives, Nat. (2021-04-29). "CMOs' Time in Their Posts Continues to Grow Shorter". [[The Wall Street Journal]].
5. Jefferson, Michaela. (2021-04-29). "CMO tenure falls to lowest level in over a decade".
6. "The evolving role of the CMO | McKinsey".
7. "By 2017 the CMO will Spend More on IT Than the CIO".
8. "7 Ways the Retail CMO Role Has Evolved".
9. "The evolving role of the CMO".
10. (October 2011). "From Stretched to Strengthened, Insights from the Global Chief Marketing Officer Study". IBM.
11. "CMO Tenure Study: Progress for Women, Less for Racial Diversity".
12. (15 January 2021). "CEO Succession Practices in the Russell 3000 and S&P 500".
13. Harbrecht, Amanda. (2021-11-10). "The Wall Street Journal - Advice for Chief Marketing Officers - Raines".