A CMO’s role is not just limited to marketing – it is a substantial multi-dimensional role that is evolving with each passing day.
The role of a CMO is ever-evolving as it thrives on being cross-functional. It is a complex as
well as a confusing role that indicates a market leadership face of an organization in the
time when human and digital communications are changing faster than ever. Besides, there
are many misconceptions around this multi-dimensional with the constant evolution.
A significant misconception could be – CMOs are becoming obsolete for businesses. This
was fueled by the idea of introducing new C-suite titles. Indeed, the above fact only
highlights its broader reach and aspects of a company.
The collective delusion among professionals is the belief that a CMO solely looks after the
brand’s marketing strategies and initiatives. However, as per Deloitte’s C-Suite Study, a
majority of CEOs believe that CMOs are responsible for introducing cross-functional
collaborative efforts. This is because a CMO’s responsibilities can go beyond marketing –
from sales to product. It varies according to the organization’s size, growth stage, and
resources.
As market leaders face a wide array of challenges and business needs, they need to be in full transparency with the CEOs. According to a recent study by Fortune 100 CEOs, most CEOs have educational backgrounds related to engineering. This is not to say that CEOs can’t align with marketing thinking, but their strengths and skills are better at handling other aspects. Certainly, having CMOs and CEOs operating in collaboration sets a path for the success of an organization.
As customers today have become more demanding and sophisticated, the selling and
marketing mix is also becoming challenging. Digitization has impacted the connection
between buyers and sellers. Beyond demand generation and brand building, CMOs today
manage a lot – enterprise-wide business planning, sales enablement, analytics, customer
strategy, product or service pricing, and more.
To succeed in the new business order, CMOs today must be ready to address the modern,
evolving buying landscape and operating much beyond just ‘marketing’. With the new
market behavior and marketing landscape, misconceptions around CMOs will be dispelled.
Hence, by dedicating more time to define the role of a CMO in business, CEOs and CMOs
can position themselves better to drive unrivaled business growth.
Unsurprisingly, marketing is a blend of both art and science. In this modern era, market
leaders deeply rely on data for decision-making, and again, there are many instances they decide on gut feeling. Marketing as a process is much more than it is learned. It requires
regular testing, benchmarking, and learning to find concrete resolutions.
