In today’s fast-evolving technology and ever demanding consumer behaviours, the CMO role has evolved substantially, increasing the CMO’s visibility and potential for leadership and influence. The Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) have a great time to be a marketer. The role of marketing and of the CMO has arguably never been bigger. In the digital driven world, access to comprehensive and real-time information is reshaping how marketing is linked to growth, as 77% of CEOs reported that the pandemic sped up their companies.
There’s an increasing pressure on the CMOs in transforming Digital transformation into business transformation and simultaneously engaging customers while delivering growth initiatives. A report says, CEOs and CMOs work together to better identify, understand and serve the customer —the highest priority for any business. CEOs want marketers to be customer champions, brand evangelists, growth drivers and upholders of organizational values. Indeed, 83% of global CEOs consider marketing a potential major growth driver.
In the context of the pandemic, the expectations are higher as organizations navigate on economic slowdown, changing consumer patterns, potential employee turnover and the onslaught of digital, all in the midst of flat marketing budgets.
CMOs are often the only ones with an external-facing role, while CFOs, CHROs and CTOs remain internally focused. Hence, they are natural partners to the CEOs on strategy and growth — provided they realize the full potential of the impact they can have. Both at the board level and in the C-suite, the customer-centric leaders are in greater demand.
It is important for the CMOs to articulate and demonstrate their strengths clearly — including brand positioning, growth, customer advocacy, research and storytelling. They should build trust with the CEOs to redefine their own role and discuss the skills that they might not have and need to hire for.
There is no better time to be a CMO. CMOs should be aligned with organizational objectives, keep the board informed about strategic shifts, collaborate with internal teams to devise strong marketing campaigns and understand customer behaviours to successfully impact growth. In this section, let’s look at the Most Influential CMOs in the technology industries who have made a difference.