Why You Need a Chief Marketing Officer

When I look at businesses quite often the skill set I find missing in the executive management team is marketing.  Most organizations are well staffed with seasoned employees who understand Finance and Accounting, Engineering, and Operations, but when it comes to the discipline of marketing they are lacking.  In the past, when I have asked about this knowledge gap at the management level, the usual response I get is “Oh, we have so-and-so who handles creating brochures.”  That is not marketing. And that missing skill set could be the difference between success and failure in your business.

So what is marketing and why does a company need a high-level marketing asset at the executive level?  In a nutshell, marketing is strategy.  It is looking at the internal strengths and weaknesses of the organization and the marketplace as a whole and plotting a course for the company that will lead to financial reward.  A good Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) has his/her attention focused on making sure every aspect of the organization is in alignment and focused on meeting the needs of the company’s target audience – that includes everything from the product itself to the customer service experience to the promotional campaigns.  The CMO is also responsible for researching and discovering new markets for existing products as well as working with engineering and product management on product line extensions and new product development to keep the organization thriving.  A good CMO understands market research, product and campaign development, and is an expert in strategic development and execution.  
When clients ask me what to look for in a CMO, I recommend the following:

1. Ask them about their approach to planning and development. Are they inclusive and work with other departments as well as talk with customers or do they tend to develop their plans and strategies on their own?  I find the best marketing executives spend a lot of time in the field working with sales, talking to customers, and keeping abreast of market developments and customer perceptions.  I recommend avoiding “Ivory Tower” marketing types.  That works for analysts who are sifting through data to create reports, but you want a CMO who is actively engaged with your staff and customers.
2. Look for someone who has worked on a number of campaigns and has taken them from initial concept through execution. You are going to want someone who has been through the full process - versus just understanding some components. Moreover, no campaign is perfect and it is always interesting see how he/she has handled campaigns that were off the mark (or the market shifted) and how they addressed it.
3. While your CMO does not need to be a “Tech Guru” a good marketing executive has an understanding of current and new technology and how they work or don’t work with your company’s go-to-market strategy (which they should have written). In general, good marketing people are constant learners who are out there seeing what is new and determining if it is relevant for their business.
4. Sales is not marketing. There are a lot of talented sales people who understand strategic campaigns and market planning, but the two are separate disciplines and you want a skilled, disciplined marketing executive. Sales is responsible for immediate, short-term revenue while marketing is focused on the long game.  The two work together, they need each other, but they are different.  Don’t put your marketing strategy in the hands of sales management, I have seen this fail more times than I care to mention.

While a chief marketing officer can be the difference between a successful or unsuccessful business, they are not inexpensive and finding a good one may take time. In lieu of bringing on a full-time CMO, I have recommended to clients that they add a marketing executive to their board of directors.  While it may not offer the same level of interaction as a full-time employee, it does give the company the benefit of having a disciplined marketing perspective on their business and can keep the organization from making a costly mistake.  If your company does not have a board of directors you can accomplish much the same thing by forming an advisory committee that can fill in these missing skill sets and provide the organization with C-Level expertise at a lower cost than trying to hire full-time employees.

As the saying goes “You don’t know what you don’t know” but as you look around your company if you find you are missing a skill set from your executive team, such as marketing, take steps to fill in that missing knowledge.  Rest assured, what you are lacking is mission-critical to your business success.