One CMO’s honest take on the modern chief marketing role

There’s no shortage of commentary around the chief marketing officer title these days, and certainly no lack of opinions about the role’s responsibilities and meaning within a company. There’s a reason for that. CMO is the shortest tenured C-suite role — the average tenure of a CMO is the lowest of all C-suite titles at 3.5 years.

That’s because the chief marketing officer’s role is increasingly complex. Qualifications require broad, strategic thinking while also maintaining tactical acumen across several functions. There’s a big disparity in what companies expect from CMOs. Some want a strategist with an eye for go-to-market planning, while others want a focus on close alignment with sales in addition to brand awareness, content strategy and lead generation.

Still other companies want their CMO to emphasize product marketing and management. Ask 10 CMOs how they define their role and you’ll get 10 different answers.

So, I’m sharing my honest, straight from the mouth of a tenured CMO take on what the role actually means, plus the key attributes of today’s modern CMO.

We must be the Master Builder

Hat tip to “The Lego Movie” for this analogy. Today’s marketing executives must bring functions and teams together. From sales and marketing alignment to product and everything in between, chief marketers are the connective tissue between every function. Driving alignment between these functions is table stakes.

Same goes for people teams and culture — I’ve experienced an increase in CMOs serving as the linchpin of a company’s culture. My CEO lives by the famous phrase “culture eats strategy for breakfast” and driving culture alignment now sits squarely on marketing’s shoulders.

Consistently drives new opportunities

Ah, demand generation. Driving new opportunity creation will continue to be a top priority for CMOs, of course. I’m not sharing anything new here, but the stakes are higher. CMOs either produce the numbers or we find another job. Doesn’t get any more straightforward than that. But, simply generating leads to check a box doesn’t cut it in board rooms anymore.

Quality leads from target accounts that convert quickly and turn into highly retained customers matter. This shift requires marketers to adopt new ways of thinking about demand. Sophisticated companies are relying on strategies like account-based marketing to drive new opportunities and generate revenue, and the pandemic only increased that adoption.

We have to think differently about demand and how new opportunities we’re bringing in actually impact revenue, not just meeting a number. None of this works without strong alignment with the full go-to-market organization where sales, marketing and customer success all working together to drive revenue, not leads. My VP of Marketing has a pretty strong take on why the best marketers don’t focus on leads if you want some extra reading on this topic.

Be brand experts

Building a strong pipeline can’t exist without brand. Brand drives demand, period. There has never been more focus on brand within B2B SaaS than there is today. People want to buy from a brand they both trust and enjoy. One-third of CMOs cite brand strategy as their most vital competency, up from the near bottom of the list in 2019, according to the 2020 Gartner CMO Spend Survey.

B2B buyers can be finicky. They want companies to do business with them on their own terms with authenticity and transparency. It’s marketing’s job to identify every touchpoint and design the right experiences. Customers want brands to know them and empathize with them.

Developing content that helps your customers do their job, understand the market, and make thoughtful business cases are all examples where delivering a high-quality brand experience creates more customers and naturally leads to revenue growth. And ultimately, humans want to buy from humans. Make your marketing a human experience.

We drive the customer experience

Customer retention is the top question asked of me and my CEO in every board meeting. The pandemic flipped the script on top-of-funnel activity and refocused goals around keeping existing customers happy, making go-to-market alignment more critical than ever. Today’s CMOs must build our customer advocates and a sense of community to support retention. Even a 5% increase in customer retention correlates with at least a 25% increase in profit.

Go-to-market is all about driving new business, expansion and retention opportunities with customers — high-performing GTM teams that have this cycle nailed have a leg up on executing the best customer experience possible.

We’re expected to be fortune tellers

We already wear a lot of hats — that’s the case for any C-level role. The expectation to be one step ahead of the future — at every aspect of my role — is high. We must anticipate new trends, have a thumb on changing customer needs and drive innovation to stay a pace ahead of competitors.

The marketing and sales budget line item is typically the largest (at least in the case of SaaS companies). Expectations are increasing for go-to-market teams to deliver; CEOs, CFOs and the board are all watching those of us in the CMO seat. Combined with the effects of COVID-19 on both pipeline and culture, CMOs everywhere now have to think differently about our role and the impacts we have companywide.

Now we should ask nine other CMOs for their answers.

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