The Goal: Facilitate Growth
A Chief Marketing Officer develops and executes an effective organizational marketing strategy. Despite the many challenges they face, a CMO must be able to facilitate the growth their organization needs. Here are the top three things to consider when hiring your next Chief Marketing Officer:
1. Vision: Align organizational needs with CMO responsibilities.
Your new CMO must have a vision that aligns with your organization’s needs. Two main organizational needs require a Chief Marketing Officer. First, determine whether your CMO will maintain your organization’s established pattern of growth or initiate new growth. Will your CMO have to build novel growth mechanisms?
If CEO expectations are not aligned with CMO responsibilities, then critical organizational goals will not be met. The CMO role is one of near-constant change. For this reason, it’s important to align early and realign very often. Ultimately, organizational needs determine the technical skills your CMO needs in order to be successful in the role. When searching for your next Chief Marketing Officer, ensure they have the specific experience your organization needs. Determine if that experience is maintaining growth or initiating growth.
2. Agility: Manage and readjust strategy based on incoming data.
Your new Chief Marketing Officer must be agile in addressing the constantly-changing market conditions. Strategic thinking and operational execution are baseline requirements for a CMO. However, these alone do not guarantee success in the role. A Chief Marketing Officer has to take action. To ensure continued success, your new CMO must be able to utilize the vast data provided by digital marketing. They must continually re-examine their strategy in light of new information.
Unlike traditional marketing, the vast amount of immediately-available feedback means there’s no guessing in digital marketing. Your new Chief Marketing Officer must quickly readjust their strategy when faced with new information. Consequently, this may often require your new CMO to get the right people involved at the right times. When searching for a CMO, ensure they have experience in developing internal teams and/or working with outside experts.
3. Versatility: Manage categorically different tasks day-to-day.
A Chief Marketing Officer requires versatility, which is observable in their skills and daily tasks. A CMO needs to be both analytical and creative in order to successfully develop and execute your organization’s marketing strategy. Thus, their typical day-to-day functions also reflect this versatility.
On a daily basis, your Chief Marketing Officer will complete analytical tasks pertaining to data and strategy. They’ll complete creative tasks pertaining to marketing and design. Additionally, they’ll complete interpersonal tasks pertaining to the coordination of other people. Your CMO needs to be versatile in order to manage the day-to-day tasks required of them. When searching for your next Chief Marketing Officer, ensure they are analytical, creative, and interpersonal.
In Conclusion
Given organizations’ drive for digital transformation, few C-suite roles will be subject to as much change in the coming days as the Chief Marketing Officer. CMOs provide understanding of customers and make critical contributions to organizations’ strategy development. Most importantly, consider vision, agility, and versatility when searching for a CMO. When hiring your next CMO, align their responsibilities with the organization’s needs. Qualify their ability to continually reassess their strategy. Finally, determine their capability to manage categorically varied tasks. Contact us to learn more.
