Chief marketing officer

A chief marketing officer (CMO), also called a global marketing officer or marketing director, is a corporate executive responsible for marketing activities in an organization. Whilst historically these titles may have signified a legal responsibility, for example at Companies House in the UK, the titles are less strict/formal in the 21st Century and allow companies to acknowledge the evolving and increasingly significant role that marketers can play in an organisation, not least because of the inherent character of successful marketers. The CMO leads brand management, marketing communications (including advertising, promotions and public relations), market research, product marketing, distribution channel management, pricing, and customer service.

The CMO is a member of the C-suite and typically reports to the chief executive officer. A number of senior vice presidents, vice presidents, directors, and other senior marketing managers responsible for various parts of the marketing strategy may report directly to the CMO.[1]The chief marketing officer has traditionally been a full-time, in-house position. However, in recent years there has been an emergence of the part-time CMO or Fractional CMO.[2]


Responsibilities

The day-to-day tasks are often categorically different from one another, due to the fluid nature of the CMO's skill set: language is needed to stitch together all aspects of the company. Thus, in a given day the CMO completes tasks that fall into many different categories:

  • Analytical tasks, such as pricing and market research
  • Creative tasks, such as graphic design, advertising and product, and service promotion
  • Interpersonal tasks, such as coordinating with other company executives in creating alignment on strategy and execution plans

The CMO must quickly react to the changing market conditions and competitive dynamics and must reshape, as needed, the company's strategy and execution plans based on real-time market scenarios. Each of these products comes from a different department, so the CMO must be a nexus of information: it is a highly receptive role, with involvement in departments such as production, information technology, corporate communications, documentation, public relations, law, human resources, and finance.[3]

In the 21st century, digitalization and the rise of consumer-centric marketing has changed the role of the CMO. They are now typically finding themselves handling customer-facing technology implementations in addition to the above tasks. [4] Gartner analyst Laura McLellan predicted that in the future CMOs will spend more on IT than their counterpart CIOs.[5] According to analyst firm McKinsey, few senior-executive positions will be subject to as much change over the next few years as that of the chief marketing officer. [6]

Peers to the CMO include Chief human resources officer, Chief technology officer, Chief financial officer, Chief communications officer, Chief procurement officer, Chief information officer, and general counsel.

Challenges

The CMO is responsible for facilitating growth, sales and marketing strategy. They must work towards objectives such as revenue generation, cost reduction, or risk mitigation. The unpredictable effect of marketing efforts, coupled with the need to drive profits, often leads to a short tenure for most CMOs. Forbes reported that the average CMO tenure in 2008 was just over 28 months.[7]

According to a 2011 IBM global study of 1,734 CMOs around the world, CMOs see customer loyalty as their top priority in the digital era; their second priority is to design experiences for tablets and mobile apps.[8]

See also

References
  1. Chief marketing officer search guide
  2. "What is a Fractional CMO? - CMOx | CMOx". CMOx - Fractional Chief Marketing Officers. 2020-05-21. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  3. McKinsey Quarterly: The evolving role of the CMO
  4. 7 Ways the Retail CMO Role Has Evolved
  5. "By 2017 the CMO will Spend More on IT Than the CIO". Archived from the original on 2015-07-31. Retrieved 2015-08-14.
  6. The evolving role of the CMO
  7. "Why Do Chief Marketing Officers Have A Short Shelf Life?". Forbes. 2009-05-15. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
  8. "From Stretched to Strengthened, Insights from the Global Chief Marketing Officer Study". IBM. October 2011. p. 34.

Further reading
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