A chief marketing officer (CMO), also called a global marketing officer or marketing director, or chief brand officer, is a corporate executive responsible for managing 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
In marketing, brand management begins with an analysis on how a brand is currently perceived in the market, proceeds to planning how the brand should be perceived if it is to achieve its objectives and continues with ensuring that the brand is per ...
,
marketing communications
Marketing Communications (MC, marcom(s), marcomm(s) or just simply communications) refers to the use of different marketing channels and tools in combination.Tomse, & Snoj, 2014 Marketing communication channels focus on how businesses communicate ...
(including
advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
, promotions and
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
),
market research
Market research is an organized effort to gather information about target markets and customers: know about them, starting with who they are. It is an important component of business strategy and a major factor in maintaining competitiveness. Mark ...
,
product marketing
Product marketing is sub-field of marketing that is responsible for crafting messaging, go-to-market flow, and promotion of a product. Product marketing managers can also be involved in defining and sizing target markets along with other business ...
,
distribution channel management,
pricing
Pricing is the process whereby a business sets the price at which it will sell its products and services, and may be part of the business's marketing plan. In setting prices, the business will take into account the price at which it could acqui ...
,
customer success, and
customer service
Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services. Each industry requires different levels of customer service, but in the end, the idea of a well-performed service is that ...
.
The CMO is a member of the
C-suite
Corporate titles or business titles are given to corporate officers to show what duties and responsibilities they have in the organization. Such titles are used by publicly and privately held for-profit corporations, cooperatives, non-profit or ...
and typically reports to the
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
. 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.
A study from
consulting firm
A consulting firm or simply consultancy is a professional service firm that provides expertise and specialised labour for a fee, through the use of consultants. Consulting firms may have one employee or thousands; they may consult in a broad range ...
Spencer Stuart
Spencer Stuart is an American global executive search and leadership consulting firm based in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1956, operates 57 offices in 30 countries and is privately owned. In 2009, the ''Wall Street Journal'' described ...
in 2021 showed that women made up 47% of CMO positions in 2020, an increase from the 43% reported in 2019. 13% of CMOs had racially or ethnically diverse background in 2020, down from 14% in 2019.
Responsibilities
The day-to-day tasks and responsibilities 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
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
,
information technology
Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...
,
corporate communication
Corporate communication is a set of activities involved in managing and orchestrating all internal and external communications aimed at creating favourable point of view among stakeholders on which the company depends.Riel, Cees B.M. van; Fombrun ...
s,
documentation
Documentation is any communicable material that is used to describe, explain or instruct regarding some attributes of an object, system or procedure, such as its parts, assembly, installation, maintenance and use. As a form of knowledge manageme ...
,
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
,
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
,
human resources
Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include m ...
, and
finance
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...
.
In the 21st century,
digitalization
Digitalization or digitalisation may refer to:
* Digital transformation, the increasing adoption of digital tools to market your product.
* Digitization, the conversion of non-digital or analog information into a digital format.
* Medical use of ...
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. One analyst predicted that in the future CMOs will spend more on IT than their counterpart CIOs. According to another analyst firm, few senior-executive positions will be subject to as much change over the next few years as that of the chief marketing officer.
Peers to the CMO include
chief human resources officer
A chief human resources officer (CHRO) or chief people officer (CPO) is a corporate officer who oversees all aspects of human resource management and industrial relations policies, practices and operations for an organization. Similar job titles in ...
,
chief technology officer,
chief financial officer
The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...
,
chief communications officer
The public relations officer (PRO) or chief communications officer (CCO) or corporate communications officer is a C-suite level officer responsible for communications, public relations, and/or public affairs in an organization. Typically, the CCO ...
,
chief procurement officer
A chief procurement officer (CPO) undertakes an executive role within an enterprise, focusing on sourcing, procurement, and supply management.
Typically, a CPO is responsible for the management, administration, and supervision of the company's ac ...
,
chief information officer, and
general counsel
A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department.
In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...
.
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.
In a CMO mapping study done by Raines, CMOs are losing their influence (73% of Fortune 250 companies have a Global CMO, but only 44% of Global CMOs sit in the C-suite). CMOs don't feel valued (23% of surveyed Fortune 500 CMOs were unsure their CEO understood their job). CMOs don't have clear alignment with their CEOs on key performance metrics (42% of surveyed Fortune 500 CMOs considered "Topline Revenue Growth" a top priority) whereas "topline growth" is typically one of the major priorities for CEOs at any stage of a business.
CMOs see
customer loyalty
The loyalty business model is a business model used in strategic management in which company resources are employed so as to increase the loyalty of customers and other stakeholders in the expectation that corporate objectives will be met or sur ...
as their top priority in the digital era; their second priority is to design experiences for
tablets and
mobile apps
A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on de ...
.
See also
*
Digital strategy manager
A Digital Strategy Manager is an executive position. This position is based on a unique set of technological knowledge which directs all departments for digital industry growth. A digital strategy manager collaborates with all marketing, business ...
*
Chief web officer
A chief web officer (CWO) is the highest-ranking corporate officer (executive) in charge of an organisation's Web presence, including all internet and intranet sites. As a corporate officer position, the CWO reports directly to the CEO. A CWO will ...
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chief Marketing Officer
Management occupations
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Corporate titles