A CMO (chief marketing officer) is a C-level corporate executive responsible for activities in a corporation that should do with creating, communicating and delivering offerings that have worth for customers, shoppers or business partners.
A CMO’s primary mission is to facilitate growth and enhance sales by creating a comprehensive marketing plan that will promote brand recognition and assist the organization gain a competitive advantage. In order to achieve their own goals and successfully shape their firms‘ public profile, CMOs should be exceptional leaders and assume the voice of the customer across the company.
Chief marketing officers typically report to the CEO or chief working officer (COO) and hold advanced degrees in both business and marketing. A CMO who has a strong background in information technology may also hold the job title chief marketing technologist (CMT). In some bigger organizations, however, those positions are separate and the CMT reports to the CMO.
Chief marketing officer job description
More specifically, the CMO is the executive in control of developing the strategy for corporate advertising and branding, as well as customer outreach. Because the senior most marketing position within the organization, he or she oversees these features throughout all firm product lines and geographies.
It is the CMO’s job to:
understand the corporate’s position in the marketplace, utilizing traditional strategies, as well as newer applied sciences reminiscent of data analytics;
decide how and the place the company ought to be positioned sooner or later;
develop the strategy to drive the group to that future market position; and
execute on that strategy.
The CMO’s work is anticipated to produce top-line outcomes, with marketing efforts elevating the brand awareness, recognition and loyalty that will finally lead to increased sales.
As such, the CMO is anticipated to work carefully (or in some organizations even lead) the sales unit.
Wage and pay structure
In keeping with PayScale, total compensation for a U.S.-primarily based CMO ranges from almost $85,000 to about $315,000.
The CMO’s expertise level and the geographic location of the position affect the pay, as does the size of the organization.
PayScale places the median compensation for a CMO within the United States at $a hundred and seventy,000.
CMOs make that cash through an annual wage, particular person bonuses, profit sharing and commission.
Chief marketing officer roles and responsibilities
The CMO has a breadth of roles and responsibilities to help its total 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 corporate’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 internal and external public relations groups to create a coordinated message.
Why the CMO role has gained prominence
The technology advancements of the twenty first century have elevated the significance of the CMO position in lots of 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 achieve prospects and understand their ideas on products, providers and brands.
Additionally they have given a new, a lot more prominent voice to consumers who can instantaneously broadforged their opinions to doubtlessly 1000’s, if not millions, of people.
On the identical time, CMOs and their teams are able to faucet those technologies to achieve and affect prospects, position their products and challenge competitors at the same speed and scale as the customers.
As it has been with other C-suite executives in this new technology-driven enterprise paradigm, the CMO should collaborate much more extensively with his or her executive peers with a view to keep pace. CMOs additionally must be capable of adaptation and innovation, as applied sciences evolve and markets shift in response.
Qualifications
CMOs, who may additionally have the title of vice president of sales and marketing, typically have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in marketing (though an MBA is often preferred, if not also required). They often have no less than a decade of expertise in marketing and/or advertising and a number of years of experience in a managerial role.
They’re expected to have strong leadership skills, expertise in project development, excellent communication skills and a high level of business acumen.
In addition, the CMO role at this time requires a high level of technical aptitude to maximize the tools and leverage the social media platforms which might be essential to marketing efforts.
As an example, CMOs are expected to supervise the company’s use of analytics platforms to understand customer preferences, priorities and patterns particularly by means of person-generated media and how that insight can drive sales.
They’re also expected to direct marketing campaigns and customer outreach via existing — and rising — social media sites, as well as via traditional channels.
To that end, CMOs should be highly inquisitive and innovative, able to determine rising technologies that could disrupt their enterprise or industry and also then able to respond to that by directing his or her C-suite colleagues on how one can reposition the company in light of that change.