What you’ll read:
- CMOs will have roles to fulfill in 2022 and beyond
- We came up with a few ways they can address these discrepancies head on
A chief marketing officer’s responsibilities in 2022 will look quite different from just a decade ago. The industry is shifting from a largely creative field to a data-driven practice, and marketing leaders must reinvent themselves in response. Unfortunately, not everyone can keep up, which is why CMOs have the highest turnover of C-suite executives, averaging 40 months in a given role.
The new responsibilities for CMOs aren’t going away, but some techniques can make the transition a little easier. In fact, marketers already have several tools to meet this challenge — they just have to apply them in new ways.
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Why are CMO responsibilities expanding?
Not long ago, CMO responsibilities were largely at the top of the funnel — they needed to position their brand, establish thought leadership, and generate high-level interest. Today, however, CMOs are responsible for much more of the customer’s journey — up to 75%, by some estimates. Modern marketers are nurturing and qualifying leads, driving revenue, reducing churn, reactivating lapsed customers, promoting customer advocacy, and leading other tasks traditionally held by sales and customer support teams.
This transition is expanding the scope of CMO responsibilities, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. For example, marketing teams for large companies might delegate the load by hiring new team members or investing in new digital tools, while CMOs at startups rarely have this kind of support, so they must develop an organizational agility to help them pivot as new priorities emerge. Regardless of size, these strategies will vary by industry, market, and any other number of factors.
While I cannot recommend a strategy for every company, I can recommend that every CMO make the customer journey their North Star. Reframing new responsibilities around the customer experience makes it easier to see how your actions contribute to long-term growth and success.
Analyzing data
The marketing dream is to understand customers so well that you can communicate the exactly right message to the right prospect at the right time. The good news is this dream is almost a reality. The bad news is we can only achieve it through in-depth data analysis — a completely separate skillset from the more familiar creative design.
Naturally, CMOs are usually the ones picking up the slack when it comes to data analytics. Depending on the organization’s size, they can train themselves in reporting, hire data experts, choose the right analytical tools, or do all of the above! But there’s no way around the fact that analytics expertise is now a core marketing strategy. It’s the only way to navigate audience trends at scale, and CEOs expect these answers quickly.
Thankfully, there are a few techniques that can lighten this burden:
- Delegate data science tasks: CMOs don’t have to manage all the data reporting themselves. As a team grows, they can hire a data expert who conducts experiments, runs A/B tests, and produces reports examining customer data from multiple angles.
- Combine data expertise with other skills: As the CMO, you’re not just trying to understand data; you’re trying to understand customers. Remember to apply human lessons to your findings. Other fields, like behavioral psychology, can reveal customer details you’d never considered.
- Make use of digital tools: Many data-driven software platforms can streamline your reporting efforts. Tools like Hubspot, Marketo, and Optimove are incredibly effective at analyzing data points to find hidden insights you’d never considered.
Just remember not to get so deep into the weeds with data analysis that you forget to tie it back to the customer journey. At the end of the day, CMOs use data to prove or disprove market assumptions so the team can find the most effective strategy. If you let the data inform those perspectives, marketers will be better equipped to reach and engage their audience.
Attributing revenue
One of the biggest changes to CMO responsibilities lies in revenue. When advertising focused on print or television mediums, we could predict impressions but not returns. Now, thanks to advances in digital technology, we know more about audiences, lifetime value, and creative effectiveness than ever before — not to mention how each campaign contributes to our company’s bottom line.
A decade or two ago, marketers didn’t have customer information even close to the scale that we do now. Today, businesses expect us to maximize the returns of every advertising dollar. That means CMOs are often producing detailed financial models on the efficacy of their ad campaigns. In addition, instead of managing the marketing funnel, some teams follow pipeline management strategies more in line with sales teams. Between all these factors, we are currently in the early days of revenue-driven marketing.
Much like data expertise, CMOs need a deeper understanding of finances. The marketing solution, however, is to present the customer stories these numbers tell. For example, how many customers did you gain or lose, and why? What is the persona of someone who completes high-value orders? Can you describe the difference between a one-time customer and a lifetime fan? After all, financial data can lend authenticity to your marketing efforts, but customer stories also make your financial data easier to comprehend.
Collaborating with other departments
At its core, marketing is all about communication. Of course, we expect this when it comes to customers, but marketers increasingly rely on these skills within the organization, from managing sales handoffs to coordinating with customer support. Now that CMOs control a higher percentage of the marketing funnel, it’s even more important to collaborate with departments to achieve their goals.
We can see this dynamic unfolding on two levels:
- Internal collaboration: CMOs need to be on the same page as other departments to ensure that marketing assets present a consistent message. For example, a sales representative can tell marketers about common customer pain points. Product teams can share details about upcoming releases. Customer support might need to know which customers have churned or are likely to churn.
- Internal messaging: Marketers don’t just create assets for customers — they create interdepartmental assets as well. Common examples include internal newsletters, playbooks, employee training slideshows, meeting minutes, and even annual reports.
In a sense, CMOs must now understand and communicate with co-workers just as effectively as they do with customers. The good news is this doesn’t necessarily require any new skills — we build positive relationships all the time! Before going into a meeting, you can tailor your message to the intended audience, whether a CEO or a department head. Listen to other departments about their needs and pain points so you can find creative solutions. Marketers already have excellent communication skills; they just need to adjust them within the workplace.
CMOs have more responsibilities than ever before, but that’s because we’ve proven our value and more is being asked of us. Meeting these expectations in today’s digital ecosystem isn’t easy, but the tools and strategies we used to reach this point can still help us plot a course forward. If you’re dedicated enough to adapt to new responsibilities and achieve your goals, you won’t merely survive as a CMO — you’ll be more valuable to your team than ever before.