CMOs have the final word in the vital decisions that guide an organization's marketing strategy and also establish the marketing objectives and goals that set the pace and scope of the organization's marketing activities. When we initially classified CMO functions, one of the crucial areas of focus was the responsibility to create and manage profitable growth. Subsequent conversations about the position of the CMO as an engine of growth have revealed large gaps between the ideal state and reality. For example, in interviews with several high-level executives, both inside and outside the CMO position, half of the interviewees said that having a business mindset was one of the most important factors in the success of a CMO.
However, only 6% of CMOs described themselves as people who were actively working to increase revenues in all global business activities. Another Deloitte report similarly reveals some of the annoyances that CMOs express when assuming the role of drivers of growth. In this survey of top marketing executives, respondents almost unanimously (95%) say that revenues are the main measure of organizational growth, while 70% feel more confident about driving growth through revenue. However, only 32% feel prepared to impact market share and only 20% feel prepared to boost gross margin, even though the company considers both areas to be critical areas of growth.
Marketers who can create breakthroughs with these platforms are another facet of the CMO. Most marketers who play the role of catalyzing innovation say that data and intelligence can help them advance the growth agenda. However, only 18% believe that in-depth knowledge of the product portfolio will help them move to the next stage of growth. Do you hope to one day take on the role of CMO? The CMO, or marketing director, is the highest-level marketing position you can get while working for a company.
CMOs have been the subject of many debates in recent years due to their growing popularity. Companies and corporations recognize the importance of marketing and the role of marketers has grown in many companies. Whether you're simply curious about the role of the CMO or if you're aspiring to be one yourself, we'll tell you everything you need to know about the role of the marketing director in the business world. We have discovered extreme variations in the responsibilities assigned to CMOs and in the skills, training and experience of the people who hold that position.
It should be noted that these CMOs have responsibility for the P& L and the widest range of functions, including innovation, sales, distribution and pricing. After a couple of successes in the market, he partnered with the director of operations (who had an authority of P&L) to design a different marketing position. By ensuring that the CMO position is designed and properly staffed, they can increase their own satisfaction with their chief marketing executive. A CMO who performs a well-designed marketing role will be responsible for meeting budgetary goals, for the results of projects (such as the redesign of a website), for the results achieved by marketing programs (for example, increased traffic to stores) and for management results (such as improving staff satisfaction and performance).
For example, while 34% of CMOs say they are applying these capabilities to campaign management platforms, only 10% say they use them to improve lifecycle or customer experience management platforms, according to a study by Deloitte. If the company's chief marketing executive has traditionally focused on marketing, moving to a strategic or company-wide role will require taking responsibility away from another function. However, expanding the responsibilities of the CMO requires significant participation from the CEO to communicate expectations and avoid internal reaction. Companies would be better off if CMOs dedicated their energy to the tasks they were qualified to do from the start.
As digital technology becomes more critical to marketing, the line between the work of the CMO and that of the CIO is blurring. Any CMO should have the knowledge and understanding of several different technical skills related to marketing. The power to accumulate and implement strong marketing capabilities is the hallmark of another key CMO function. As experts in designing CMO functions, executive recruiters must lead, rather than follow, the CEO in conversations about the position.
Whitler, a former marketing director who is now an adjunct professor at the Darden School of the University of Virginia, and Neil Morgan, professor of marketing at Indiana University, have done extensive research on the problem. .
