How to evaluate your CMO (or what does it take to be a CMO in today’s marketing landscape)

The role of a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is indeed a difficult one.  You are expected to know how to be a psychologist, a data analyst, a designer, an artist, a writer, and an HR manager all at the same time.  What’s more, you are supposed to be an A+ star at all of these in an environment that runs at 3x speed and where you are surrounded by people who think they can do what you do as well or better than you.  By that, I mean the fact that everyone in the organization thinks they are a marketer, except when the tires hit the road and they need to be held accountable for their ideas.  A CMO is a relatively thankless job with a short tenure in most organizations, but we all keep taking the role, or aspiring to be in the role, regardless of the pressure.  

I’ve been a CMO a number of times for small to medium sized businesses, and I’ve worked with and alongside a number of CMOs in small, medium and enterprise sized businesses.  I’ve spoken to recruiters, built relationships with CXOs across all organizations, and I can clearly state what I think it takes to be a successful CMO in the marketing landscape today.  Unfortunately, I can also tell you that most CMOs simply do not meet the criteria required to be a success, and the folks around them now it.

To be clear, I’m not saying I’m the ideal.  I”m not perfect.  I have my faults and my areas to work on, so I put myself in this bucket, as well.  Nobody is perfect.  However, some people are indeed perfectly suited for the role if the role has the right requirements that align with their personal skills.  

“What are the criteria”, you might ask?  

I believe a CMO has to excel at 4 areas of the business in order to succeed.  These 4 areas are:

Synergy, Think, Manage, and Do.

Too often you run into a CMO who can operate with 1, 2, or 3 of these, but rarely do you find someone who can accomplish all 4.  In some cases, that’s ok if they surround themselves with the right people who can supplement their weaker areas, but doing so requires a measure of self-awareness and humility that not too many C-level execs can say they have.  Even more importantly, most CMOs these days are probably able to index high on Think and Manage, maybe even Synergy, but they rarely are able to “Do” and that can be their downfall.

Let’s quickly touch on each of these requirements…

Synergy refers to the ability to build relationships across the organization.  For a CMO, that means establishing a deep, strong rapport with Sales and also with Product.  This is the “holy trinity” for a marketer.  Marketing, Product and Sales need to be aligned if the company is going to innovate and grow.  Too often, Sales and Marketing are at odds because they battle over the numbers and who was responsible for what.  This is an immature business reaction.  Sales and Marketing work hand in hand and neither is successful without the other.  The same can be said for Marketing and Product.  Marketing is the voice of the customer, and Product creates what those customers need.  If these two are not working closely together, they are doomed to fail.

Think refers to the ability to be strategic, and generate new ideas.  I refer to it as “think different, think original”.  Good thinkers will come up with new ways to do what needs to be done, and they will never rely on “that is how we did it before”.  A great CMO can think on his or her two feet.  They should be able to go and sell at the drop of a hat.  They should be able to hold a conversation with anyone in the organization about any aspect of said organization, and be engaging.  Many CMOs are good thinkers.  This is probably a historical strong point for the role.

Manage refers to the ability to manage, organize and inspire people.  This is typically a hallmark of a good CMO.  These folks have typically risen through the ranks and bring teams with them at each stop.  They are well-liked (hopefully) and they are successful because of their ability to motivate people and keep them focused on a common goal.

Do.  This is the one area where too often a CMO will fall down.  To be effective as a CMO, you need to be capable of doing many things.  To do that, you need to be in the systems, doing the work, at least some of the time.  I personally believe in not asking others to do something unless I myself know how to do it, at least cursory.  I spend time playing with the martech stack, watching videos and making campaigns.  I play with AI tools.  I read and write thought leadership to formulate opinions and ideas.  I meet with people solely to learn.  I spend time designing in tools like Canva, or diving into SEMRush to better understand websites.  I believe you have to be able to “Do” in order to succeed.  

That last one is probably the most important.  It is the tipping point consideration when people are hiring the CMO of the now and future.  There are too many CMOs who could “do” in the past, but are too far removed from the doing these days, and companies recognize this.  They are preferring to hire people who do all 4, and not just strategize, manage and delegate.  So if you want to be a success in marketing, you need to cultivate all 4 of these characteristics.  You need to be able to build relationships (Synergy).  You need to be able to strategize (Think).  You must be able to Manage and you absolutely must be able to Do.  If you can’t Do, you risk being passed by in today’s market.