A CMO (chief marketing officer) is a C-level corporate executive answerable for activities in a corporation that have to do with creating, speaking and delivering choices which have worth for customers, clients or business partners.
A CMO’s primary mission is to facilitate development and enhance sales by growing a comprehensive marketing plan that will promote model recognition and help the organization gain a competitive advantage. In order to achieve their own goals and effectively shape their corporations‘ public profile, CMOs must be exceptional leaders and assume the voice of the customer across the company.
Chief marketing officers typically report to the CEO or chief operating officer (COO) and hold advanced degrees in each business and marketing. A CMO who has a robust background in information technology might also hold the job title chief marketing technologist (CMT). In some bigger organizations, nonetheless, these positions are separate and the CMT reports to the CMO.
Chief marketing officer job description
More specifically, the CMO is the executive answerable for developing the strategy for corporate advertising and branding, as well as buyer outreach. As the senior most marketing position within the organization, he or she oversees these functions throughout all company product lines and geographies.
It is the CMO’s job to:
understand the company’s position within the marketplace, using traditional strategies, as well as newer technologies comparable to data analytics;
determine how and the place the company ought to be positioned sooner or later;
develop the strategy to drive the organization to that future market position; and
execute on that strategy.
The CMO’s work is expected to produce top-line results, with marketing efforts elevating the model awareness, recognition and loyalty that will ultimately lead to increased sales.
As such, the CMO is predicted to work closely (or in some organizations even lead) the sales unit.
Salary and pay structure
In line with PayScale, total compensation for a U.S.-primarily based CMO ranges from almost $85,000 to about $315,000.
The CMO’s experience level and the geographic location of the position influence the pay, as does the scale of the organization.
PayScale places the median compensation for a CMO in the United States at $170,000.
CMOs make that money by way of an annual wage, individual bonuses, profit sharing and commission.
Chief marketing officer roles and responsibilities
The CMO has a breadth of roles and responsibilities to assist its overall mission. Those include:
overseeing the development and placement of the creative elements that position the company in the marketplace;
researching and assessing the market and the company’s position in it;
supervising or collaborating with sales to turn marketing insights into sales; and
directing the corporate’s public relations efforts, or working in conjunction with inside and external public relations teams to create a coordinated message.
Why the CMO position has gained prominence
The technology advancements of the twenty first century have elevated the importance of the CMO position in many organizations. The internet, the ubiquity of mobile computing, the internet of things, analytics, artificial intelligence and social media platforms all have created new ways to reach prospects and understand their thoughts on products, services and brands.
In addition they have given a new, a lot more prominent voice to consumers who can instantaneously broadforged their opinions to doubtlessly hundreds, if not millions, of people.
At the similar time, CMOs and their groups are able to faucet these applied sciences to reach and affect customers, position their products and problem competitors at the similar speed and scale because the customers.
As it has been with other C-suite executives in this new technology-pushed enterprise paradigm, the CMO must collaborate a lot more extensively with his or her executive friends to be able to keep pace. CMOs additionally should be capable of adaptation and innovation, as technologies evolve and markets shift in response.
Qualifications
CMOs, who may additionally have the title of vice president of sales and marketing, generally have no less than a bachelor’s degree in marketing (although an MBA is commonly choosered, if not additionally required). They typically have at least a decade of expertise in marketing and/or advertising and multiple years of expertise in a managerial role.
They’re anticipated to have strong leadership skills, experience in project development, excellent communication skills and a high level of enterprise acumen.
In addition, the CMO function at the moment requires a high level of technical aptitude to maximise the tools and leverage the social media platforms that are essential to marketing efforts.
For instance, CMOs are expected to supervise the company’s use of analytics platforms to understand customer preferences, priorities and patterns particularly via person-generated media and the way that insight can drive sales.
They’re also anticipated to direct marketing campaigns and buyer outreach by way of current — and emerging — social media sites, as well as by traditional channels.
To that end, CMOs should be highly inquisitive and modern, able to determine emerging applied sciences that might disrupt their business or business and also then able to respond to that by directing his or her C-suite colleagues on find out how to reposition the corporate in light of that change.