The best Chief Marketing Officers know their market, know their offerings, and know how to connect the two…very simple. CMOs understand who they are trying to reach, what they are offering them and why it matters.
Understanding WHAT and WHY requires a strategic mind and makes a great marketing leader—and the need for strategy hasn’t changed.
What has changed (so much!) is HOW we reach our audience, and WHERE. These questions need to be answered by lower-level managers within the organization—people with titles like Content Marketing Manager, Social Marketing Manager, etc. So, here’s the thing. The thing that trips up many CMOs is that they try to dictate the HOW and WHERE instead of letting the people closest to the channels think creatively about those tactics.
A good CMO asks good questions of their team members, and pushes them to stay on the cutting edge. Too many CMOs lack the confidence in their strategic skills to admit to their team members that they don't know everything. In fact, they could learn from their subordinates' depth and familiarity with specific channels and tactics. The best CMOs continue to be willing to learn. They are interested in new channels, new approaches and what new (young) team members think.
The advice I would give to a young marketer who wants to be a great CMO tomorrow
1. Master your channel. Know the “where” and the “how” better than anyone. Doing your job well is table stakes.
2. Understand the strategic hierarchy of your organization. Your “strategy” is your boss’s “tactics”. So, for the CEO, what the CMO does is tactical. For the CMO, what the VPs do is tactical. Understand your boss’s big picture, so you can better understand how you fit in and how they are being measured.
3. Stay in touch with the wider world. What are your peers doing at other companies? What are the best CMOs talking about?
4. Build relationships outside of marketing. Marketing is only one piece of the puzzle. You will be a better marketer if you understand what the product, engineering, finance, or HR teams are doing.
