What Is A Chief Marketing Officer? CMO Role Explained

The chief marketing officer (CMO) role is a study in contrasts. On the one hand, the CMO is responsible for driving company revenue, for building brands and customer loyalty that will support future revenue, and often for managing vast amounts of data and IT infrastructure. On the other hand, its the C-level job with the shortest tenure. For years, the CMO job had low confidence and trust from CEOs, though recent data shows improvement. The importance of this role and its often sweeping responsibilities are at odds with some of the bleak statistics about those who serve as CMO. Let’s take a deeper look at the CMO position, its responsibilities, its requirements, and more.

What Is A CMO?

A CMO is the top marketing leader in an organization. This executive is responsible for overseeing the planning, development and execution of all marketing and advertising initiatives. Digital marketing has greatly expanded the role of the CMO. Today, the CMO must be data-driven, comfortable with technology, and have a deep understanding of customer behavior.

What Does A CMO Do?

How CMOs spend their time depends on the size of organization, the type and range of products or services, and so on. One certainty, though, is that any CMO will spend a lot of time in meetings, both in-person and virtual.

Surprisingly, perhaps, a Deloitte report reveals that CMOs spend less than a third of the time working with people in the marketing function — just 28%. Time spent with Sales and Operations clock in at 16% each, for a combined 32%. IT, Human Resources, Research and Development, and Finance were among the other functions mentioned. Beyond cross-functional cooperation, fully half the CMOs cited the CEO as their most important strategic partner in the organization outside marketing. It’s no surprise that being “communicative” and “collaborative” were the top two traits most important for senior marketers, according to Deloitte.

The CMO role can be demanding. CMOs weighing in on a forum discussion of how many hours they work gave varied estimates. One guessed his workweek averaged 55 hours. Another said workweeks could be 30 hours or 65 to 80 hours, with the latter being more common. Another offered 45 hours as typical but with surges of 65 to 70 hours during budget preparation time. Most emphasized the need to set boundaries. Even if achieving work-life “balance” was impossible, preserving time for family and personal pursuits was essential.

Cyclical and seasonal demands can shape a big part of the CMO’s activity. Monthly reporting, annual budgeting, quarterly reviews, and any number of weekly meetings can all determine what the CMO must focus on at any given time.

What Are The Necessary Skills And Qualifications Of A CMO?

A CMO must be a strategic thinker who can understand market trends, the competition, and the firm’s customers to create marketing strategies that align with company goals. CMOs must be proficient in analyzing consumer insights, market research and other data. The CMO must understand all aspects of digital marketing, including social media, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, email, etc.

Beyond the skills in various marketing disciplines, the CMO must be an effective leader, manager and communicator. Inspiring the marketing team and explaining marketing strategies and their rationale to the executive team are equally important. At the same time, the CMO must be able to understand and manage more granular details like campaign performance, budgets, etc.

A critical but harder to quantify skill is the ability to foster innovation and creativity. To keep pace with market changes and to fend off competitors, new marketing approaches, new products and new technology adoption are essential. The CMO must be able not only be personally creative but also create a team and an environment where innovation thrives.

CMO Qualifications

While there are no official education requirements for CMOs, most commonly candidates have a business degree or an MBA, often with a concentration in marketing.

More important than a specific degree is a depth of experience in marketing and related disciplines. Companies look for a progressive track record of success and leadership in previous roles. Industry experience is often necessary, although in some cases a company seeking to change their marketing might look to another industry for a candidate capable of bringing new approaches and innovative tactics.

Today, marketing technology is a key driver of marketing success. A CMO must have a working knowledge of all the technologies relevant to the firm’s markets. That doesn’t mean CMOs must be expert users of every type of software, but rather that they must understand how the pieces fit together. They must also understand the broader set of technology options available in the market and know when changing part of the firm’s technology stack will lead to better performance.

Why Is It Important To Have A CMO?

Today, the CMO’s value extends far beyond mere marketing tactics or brand management. The CMO plays a pivotal role in driving the company’s growth and adapting to the rapidly evolving business landscape, influenced by technological advances and changing customer behaviors, is essential.

The role of the CMO continues to evolve in ways that make it even more complex and integral to the success of a business. Here are key ways the CMO impacts the company’s results:

1. Strategic Vision and Leadership: The best CMOs are not just about marketing; they are strategic visionaries who can spot market opportunities and align marketing strategies with the company’s broader objectives.
2. Customer Centricity and Insight: At the heart of a CMO’s role is understanding the customer. They delve into human psychology, preferences and behaviors, employing tools and methodologies ranging from traditional focus groups to newer approaches like neuromarketing to understand what drives customer decisions and loyalty. This enables the CMO to lead the creation of products, services and experiences that meet and exceed customer expectations.
3. Brand Building and Reputation Management: A strong brand is invaluable — think of Apple, Coca Cola, or BMW — and CMOs are at the center of building and managing the company’s brand equity.
4. Driving Revenue and Growth: CMOs have a direct impact on the company’s bottom line. They design and implement marketing strategies that drive sales, increase market share and achieve sustainable growth. By understanding consumer trends, CMOs identify new market opportunities and channels to grow the firm.
5. Adapting to Technological Changes: Technology and the way customers use it is continuously evolving. CMOs play a critical role in keeping the company ahead of technological trends. They leverage digital marketing tools, social media and data analytics to engage customers, personalize marketing efforts and maximize the impact of their marketing. Often, the CMO is a key driver of digital transformation within a company.

What Is The Average Salary Of A CMO?

The median salary for CMOs in the U.S. is currently $358,000 according to Salary.com. Bonuses lift that number to $528,000. Ten percent of CMOs earn over $486,000 from salary alone, or $792,000 including bonuses. Compensation varies with the size of the company, the location, individual experience and education, and other factors. For example, in New York City the median CMO salary is $620,000 or $930,000 with bonus.

Internationally, CMO salaries tend to be lower than in the U.S. Another dataset from Salary Expert shows median base CMO salary is $285,000 in the U.S. Compare that to the median base CMO salary in a few other locations with large economies (all data is in USD):

• Australia: $207,000
• Brazil: $134,000
• France: $151,000
• Hong Kong SAR: $205,000
• United Kingdom: $208,000

Top marketing executives at large firms can earn far more than these averages would suggest. According to Equilar, a corporate leadership data firm, AT&T’s top marketer, Lori Lee, took home $9.7 million in 2022. Uber’s SVP for Marketing, Jill Hazelbaker, was paid $8.2 million, while Coca Cola’s CMO, Manuel Arroyo, earned $7.4 million.

The same report showed that top CMO pay is rising compared to other high-level corporate roles. From 2018 to 2022, the number of marketing executives listed among the top five earners at public companies rose from 48 to 122. Notably, more than half of the increase came in the final year. Equilar attibutes this to “a significant shift in the recognition and compensation of marketing leadership.”

How Can You Become a CMO?

To become a CMO, a person should focus on developing a strong foundation in marketing, technology, strategic thinking and leadership. Here are a few steps that will help:

1. Get The Right Education: A bachelor’s degree in marketing, business administration or a related field is the most obvious educational path. Other undergrad degrees could also work. For instance, a psychology degree with a focus on consumer behavior could be helpful, particularly in B2C companies. Related areas like behavioral science and behavioral economics are also relevant. Communications degrees often include topics like media strategy, public relations, storytelling and other areas important to the marketing function. Liberal arts degrees can help with writing and the communication of ideas, while STEM degrees prepare one for data analysis and technology topics. Whatever one’s undergraduate degree is, a master’s degree like an MBA with a specialization in marketing can provide a quicker path into a marketing role.
2. Build Marketing Expertise: A common starting point on the path to CMO is an entry-level marketing role, such as a marketing coordinator or a digital marketing analyst. Gaining hands-on experience in different aspects of marketing, including digital marketing, market research, brand building, advertising, etc. will qualify one for increasingly important roles.
3. Develop a Diverse Skill Set: Beyond marketing, it’s important to cultivate skills in strategic planning, data analysis, customer insights and, of course, digital technology.
4. Look for Leadership Opportunities: Seeking out leadership roles is important to building a track record of quantifiable success. Managing projects, leading teams or heading marketing campaigns can provide valuable experience in decision-making, team management and getting things done in a corporate environment. Quantified results make resume claims credible.
5. Keep Up to Date: Marketing is constantly changing. New technologies alter both customer behavior and how marketing works. Anyone on the CMO track must stay up to date with the latest trends, tools and strategies in marketing. Understanding these changes is important, but actually putting them to use on the job is even more critical.
6. Build Your Network: The path to a CMO role will almost certainly involve changing companies one or more times. Building a strong professional network both within and outside the marketing industry can lead to unexpected opportunities. Industry conferences and professional associations are obvious ways to strengthen your network. Being visible by writing, speaking and simply sharing useful information all help. While a marketer might dream about going viral on Tik Tok or Instagram, LinkedIn is the obvious social property to actively and passively build one’s network.
7. Demonstrate Results: For C-level positions, candidates must be able to show tangible results achieved in previous positions. CMO hopefuls need to demonstrate not only positions of increasing responsibility, but quantified outcomes. These could include increased market share, higher brand awareness, improved Net Promoter Scores or, best of all, revenue growth. A CMO hopeful should focus on achieving and documenting significant accomplishments in their marketing roles.
8. Find a Mentor: Rarely does one become a CMO without help from others. Finding one or more mentors, ideally a CMO mentor, can be a key career development step. Business books and seminars can provide useful knowledge, but only an insider can offer insight into the inner workings of a company. Beyond the learning aspect of having a mentor, that mentor can provide advance knowledge of opportunities for advancement and testify to the candidate’s skill and motivation.

On top of these steps, the usual advice for anyone trying to advance their career applies. Developing interpersonal skills, learning to present effectively and speak in public, working on cross-functional teams, striving to see the big picture and think strategically will all speed progress toward the ultimate goal.

CMOs And Customer Experience

Another area that will only grow in importance for CMOs is creating a seamless customer experience that builds brand loyalty. This can include such diverse areas as customer service, packaging, retail design, sales and more. The CMO will have to maintain and improve customer experience even as technology advances and customer behavior patterns change.

When CMOs don’t directly control functions that affect customer experience, they must interact with and influence those who do in order to keep that experience consistent and seamless.

One overarching trend is that customers will increasingly demand a transparent omnichannel approach. In-store retail, curbside pickup, delivery and ecommerce must all blend seamlessly to minimize effort and maximize satisfaction.

While a small factor at the moment, virtual reality and augmented reality will alter traditional customer touchpoints. The innovations could range from enhanced in-store navigation and product search to a full-blown VR shopping experience.

What Is The Future Of CMO Roles?

The CMO role is comparatively new. According to Harvard Business Review, the title didn’t appear until the 1990s. The 2000s changed the CMO position dramatically as the digital revolution took hold and forever altered how companies and customers relate. This evolution continued with the advent of big data and a new emphasis on personalization.

Today, we are on the cusp of another major change in the CMO role. While marketers have used artificial intelligence tools for years, the explosive growth of generative AI promises to disrupt every marketing function. The CMO will be responsible for navigating through a period of rapid and at times confusing change. New tools from both startups and established providers will offer new capabilities but also entail risks to customer and employee relationships.

The first changes are already beginning. Low level jobs performed by humans are the first to be changed or even eliminated. Customer contact centers are undergoing sweeping change as AI augments, or, in many cases, replaces contact center representatives. CMOs will have to manage this change to take advantage of the opportunity to create a better customer experience by eliminating wait times and resolving issues with greater speed and accuracy. At the same time, implementing technology before it is fully ready could lead to customer frustration and employee disengagement.

Other roles already being helped or replaced by generative AI are simple content creation and social media interaction.

An even bigger threat to the status quo will occur as AI takes on higher level jobs that have been the exclusive domain of humans — data analysis, report generation, brainstorming and ideation, developing applications, designing websites, creating graphics and making policy recommendations. Throughout the marketing function, there will be a need for fewer people, but those who remain will need to be skilled in leveraging AI to get the necessary results.

CMOs will have to steer through this transition — maintaining organizational productivity and results while dealing with a host of human resource issues — upskilling some and terminating others.

Will The CMO Role Be A Good Career Goal In The Future?

Whether the CMO job or other senior marketing leadership role is a desirable career goal depends on the individual. Aspirants who aren’t comfortable with massive change and continuous learning should seek a less demanding role.

“May you live in interesting times,” is said, perhaps incorrectly, to be a Chinese curse. The negative interpretation of the phrase implies that “interesting” times are times of great trouble, upheaval and danger.

If you are the kind of person who can put a positive spin on the phrase and view interesting times as representing great change and great opportunity, you might have what it takes to be a CMO.