Effective CMOs Need to Get in the Trenches, Advocate for Customers

With an average tenure of only 42 months, chief marketing officers need to make their mark quickly. A new blog post from PwC’s strategy+business discusses the traits that can help CMOs find success and maintain their hard-won spot in the C-suite.

• The power of perspective. A successful digital marketing strategy requires input from colleagues as diverse as the chief information officer, chief financial officer and chief security officer, so CMOs must be able to speak the language of multiple disciplines.
• Time in the trenches. Respect has to be earned. CMOs need to get in the trenches to work in strategy construction, testing new technologies and working to design user experiences that will increase marketing reach. Showing a willingness to do the hard work will help CMOs attract teams willing to do the same.
• A discerning eye. Marketing is part skill, part intuition, and has to be informed by good taste. Successful CMOs must instinctively understand what is impactful, what is trending and what the customer wants.
• Willingness to act as a customer advocate. The CMO’s role is to protect and improve the customer experience. This requires a future-forward viewpoint, an understanding of the fundamentals of design thinking and a willingness to represent the customer in the C-suite.

See the full blog post: “The Nine Traits of Highly Effective CMOs.”