Instead, set the individual up for success. Here's how.
Companies often expect the CMO to be a silver bullet for growth.
According to a Google study, the CMO is expected to be an innovation catalyst, capability builder, growth driver and customer champion within their organisation. In reality, their role is mostly limited to marketing communications and social media.
Fundamentally, when businesses can't tell and sell a differentiated story about themselves, it's a strategy problem. But it gets named and blamed as a marketing department problem.
In 2020, the average tenure for a CMO slipped to 25 months. Some companies have sidelined the role or gotten rid of it altogether, handing duties over to other C-suite execs or creating new roles like chief growth officer.
The truth is, even where the title has disappeared, the responsibilities haven’t. So how might we set the CMO up for success rather than failure?
1. Narrative drives Everything
Historically the purview of the marketing department has been to convey the story of the brand, business or product through paid advertising or PR.
With cycles of innovation getting shorter, consumers are quick to evolve their needs — and quicker to abandon a brand. Every year new companies enter the market providing appealing alternatives to the business models, customer experiences, and brand purposes of legacy companies.
The role of marketing therefore, isn't just about promotion. It's about creating value for the business.
The Founder or CEO needs to define a clear and compelling narrative that will shape the future of the company and organise around it - building it into the business model, new products and services, capabilities, org structures and communication.
This narrative becomes the guiding light for the entire organisation, not just for a marketing programme.
2. Marketing isn't "Advertising"
Most marketers think advertising is the making or breaking of their brand.
But when you take a 180 degree view of your customer, you quickly realise not only the broader scope of customer experience, but that other touchpoints massively overshadow it on every level.
Service. Price. Product performance. Packaging. Availability. Partnerships, collaborations and sponsorships. Owned platforms. Personal branding and influence of the founder. Work culture and employer branding. Word of mouth. E-commerce/ retail media. Visual presentation in store. Salesperson input. Installation and initial use. Returns and refunds. Support and maintenance. End of life and disposal. Every action and interaction, every channel and touchpoint is a chance to make an impact.
And all of these things - are in a sweet spot for marketing to support. They have a major impact on the key customer metrics – acquisition, retention, cross and upselling, and profitability and add up to faster growth.
3. Eliminate the need for Marketing to be "briefed"
The average marketing department operates in a constant ebb and flow of briefs, presentations and approvals. It looks something like this:
Source: Oatly
Instead, when marketing sits in on sales, innovation and product development meetings you get a way of working that's completely different.
Here is an example of how Oatly, the oat milk company, built its own in-house creative team and turbocharged growth.
Source: Oatly
Not only do decisions happen faster. It builds trust in the company. The focus is on creating ideas and executing on them. Not approvals. Or discussing what the CEO might think.
In taking a 'systems approach' to marketing, growth becomes an outcome of collaboration within the company and not simply a result of a "creative campaign".
Our strategy accelerator can help your new CMO get off to a faster, more productive start. It's less about changing what marketing does and more about transforming how it's done.
To learn more, get in touch.
