I’ve spent much of my career serving as a marketing leader, a confidant to one, or a consultant filling that role. I’ve had a first-hand, second-hand, and an outside look at what it takes to be an effective Chief Marketing Officer.
It has very little to do with marketing.
The Job is Different.
Chief Marketing Officers have a tough job. Not only has the role become increasing more complex with the expansion and reliability on the digital environment, but it’s also completely evolved based on the maturity of the industry and organizations in which CMOs work.
Today, the new CMO isn’t just brand leader. They are business leader.
Great CMOs are consumed with organizational performance, customer experience, creativity and culture because they seek to create the maximum impact with each investment they make.
They act as expert arachnid, weaving the soul of the organization into critical moments of the customer journey, and tying them to measurable results.
As Drew Nessie, author of The CMO’s Periodic Table points out in an interview with Forbes contributor Thomas Barta, “Great CMOs have a dramatic impact on an organization, expressing the vision, evolving the culture, improving product/service performance, enhancing the customer experience, and accelerating growth. They are the agents of change, the ones who should know the customer the best and are able to push the organization into fresh frontiers.”
This is profoundly different from the marketing of yesteryear, when companies looked to their marketing executives to prop up underperforming product lines with campaigns. When there was pressure to boost earnings, heads turned around tables until they landed on the CMO, with her big budget and quick ideas to boost quarterly performance to an acceptable level.
But today’s CMO knows that the energy it takes to “whip up a quick campaign,” kills forward momentum on experience-driven brand initiatives that create broader and long-term value for the organization.
Also Known As
As a reflection of this new understanding of their role, CMO’s have changed their titles, or their organizations have done it for them in a transition of talent. Now, we’ve got Chief Brand Officers, Chief Experience Officers, Chief Strategy Officers, and even Chief Growth Officers.
But while the title is admittedly sexier, the job is the same — Align business strategy with brand strategy, creating relevant experiences that drive organizational growth.
This happens when brand leaders are in constant search of smart, meaningful, emotionally-based connections. This world view often means the new CMO is out making the case for something others can’t yet see.
Today’s CMO is not just implementing organizational strategy, they’re creating it, usually before others even know there’s a gap.
That’s because the new CMO is focused on organizational performance. They know the levers to pull, and they can see and feel where something’s missing. They’ve studied what improvements would mean to the business, and they’re politically savvy and inspirational enough to paint a clear picture for others of what it looks like.
As many times as is necessary.
This ability to maneuver through and around the organization, trends, and daydreams, in combination with an analytical mindset, is tough to find. But the best CMOs do exactly that.
These are also the characteristics that often make the Chief Marketing Officer the CEO’s most reliable advocate, and more and more often the next in line to that position. Because brand leaders get strategy, and strategy is what makes businesses grow.
Grab A Chair
While most organizations have realized that the new CMO (or any of the other five titles we discussed) deserve a seat at the leadership table, others have asked them to prove themselves.
So, how might one do that?
It’s as simple as: See gaps. Fill them.
When there are deep cracks in organizational performance, I’ve always found it necessary to dig in to the vision and purpose of the organization. Is it really visionary? Is it a purpose that is compelling? Is it bold, disputable, and worthy of work?
If not, as the CMO, instead of declaring a new vision initiative, which most organizations groan about and try to short-cut, invest in something you likely already own that would drive a new perspective: brand strategy.
Brand strategy influences and guides every business function from product development to pricing. From delivery strategy to hiring. And, on and on.
Brand strategy creates opportunities for collaboration across departmental boundaries, and swings metrics into alignment. The aim is maximum impact of the investments being made across the company in a way that drives differentiation.
Differentiating means creating a game of one, where there is no competition. Only a brand and its customer bonding over a set of shared experiences that can be linked to business performance.
Brand strategy is the secret weapon of the new CMO as business leader. Strength in brand leadership connects the dots in organizational strategy, creating consistency during times of duress and swagger in moments of celebration, not just for the CMO but for everyone.
The CMO doesn’t need a new title. This chief only needs to lift the hood on organizational performance and own what she finds.
Danielle Milner is the Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of DO:BETTER, an independent design company specializing in the development of enduring brands and identity programs.
