Of all the C-suite executives, CMOs are said to have the shortest tenure at many organizations. Still, they deliver significant value to their organizations in that short span of time.
According to Spencer Stuart, a leadership advisory firm, in 2019 the average tenure of CMOs stood at about 3.5 years. Though the time span is much lesser than their counterparts, CMOs can still accomplish a lot. Furthermore, experts say that there are strategic reasons for a CMO leaving their present organization.
In the wake of the pandemic, the responsibilities of most C-Suite executives have immensely changed. Though some c-suite executives such as CIOs and CISOs expect an increase in their monetary investment, other executives such as CMOs are struggling to make a strong case for the marketing budget. Also, they have been forced to stretch their responsibilities with limited resources. However, they still have the potential to deliver great value to their enterprise.
Owning the customer experience (CX)
CMOs should always strive to drive a greater impact with every decision they make. One of the best ways to start this is by owning the customer experience of their buyer’s journey. Instead of leaving the customer’s journey to the sales department after the prospects are converted and sales hands it over to the customer support, CMOs should develop strategies to have greater control over the entire customer journey. They should build a process for speeding up the deals in the commitment stage or engagement programs after the sales process is done, such as onboarding and customer success. This will not only help the CMOs to enhance the customer experience but also increasing the collaboration and integrated processes between various departments.
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Leveraging data with the right tools
Today, CMOs have more data than ever before to measure their marketing success and failures. Yet, many still fail to get their points across the board members in strategic meetings. Experts believe that many CMOs don’t take active efforts to choose the right tools that will provide them with the required actionable insights.
Instead of relying on a single tool for solving all of their potential problems, they should use several tools for a particular part of their process and then integrate them for consistent data and insights across the business operations. CMOs should also collaborate with IT to get the required access and visibility into the data to make informed decisions.
Preparing for short and long term
CMOs should have discussions with their board members and set expectations depending on the current budget and deadlines. They should be transparent about the short-term and long-term goals. This will help the board to get the full picture and also what actions need to be taken to become a successful brand.
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CMOs should always strive to be their authentic self and be a leader on whom others can rely on. Even though their mindset and leadership style may not be a suitable fit for some enterprises, they can be a perfect match for others.