Why nobody wants a CMO

A few weeks ago I did a post about what all those marketing people do all day long (a handy guide to roles and titles) and then got knee-deep in a series on stuff you can do that costs $0 and has huge upside. I got some interesting feedback.

Perhaps this one isn’t the best example because aside from having previously hired me as CMO, Ari also is currently part of a 3-person founding team that happens to also include a CMO. But it’s a common sentiment among tech founders especially: what if we don’t need a CMO? 

From never hiring one to firing one and not replacing them, tech has run the gamut of ways to not have a CMO. Here are usually the reasons why:

Reason 1: Too early

You wouldn’t hire a Chief People Officer, CISO, CFO, and any number of other C-level roles either as a small startup. 

Reason 2: Too expensive

Kind of the same reason as above- C-level titles carry high comp expectations that may not match the current stage

Reason 3: They don’t do anything

Unfortunately, this is the main reason why most companies don’t hire a CMO. Having recently been one at a company (a public one! with a billion in revenue!) that waited 17 years to hire one, I can say we have a perception issue. A…marketing problem, if you will.

And it’s this: they think we come in and do a rebrand and talk about fluffy stuff while the growth people actually drive revenue. Or that all we know how to do is spend money on parties, which we somehow personally benefit from. Or that we’re some kind of glorified spokesperson for the company. In fact, if you’re ever up for a CMO role with a company that’s never had one, the single most important thing you should ask them is “what do you want this role to do?”

So what DO we do?

Let’s separate the question of “what does marketing do more generally?” which is not the point of this post, to “what does the CMO of a marketing team do and why do I need marketing to be a role that senior?” For this, a helpful breakdown of what all these managerial titles mean, in reverse order of seniority/comp:

That’s all a CMO is. Really good marketing executive who in the past has proved themselves impactful on a company level hopefully a few times in a market relevant to the current company. But functionally, the CMO is the executive who has the best sense of what customers want from the company, the creative and strategic ability to convince them they’re getting it, and the ability to persuade others internally of both.

That last bit is the real difference between VP and C level in marketing. That somehow you’ve gained the trust of the other people who make decisions about the company and what it does. Because you’re going to be sitting in a lot of executive team meetings doing this:

More often than not, when I see a company that has “bad marketing,” it’s actually not the marketing team’s fault at all. It’s “this company is doing dumb things that make them look bad.” As an obnoxious Kellogg grad, I’ve long believed in the David Packard principle that “marketing is far too important to be left to the marketing department.” And ho boy is this most of you people’s problem. How many of these do you find familiar?

• We’re going to release a new product that nobody uses yet, and in order to get people to use it, we want to do a press release

• We came up with a new acronym

• This [new thing CEO is jealous of] is getting a lot of attention. Let’s make it seem like we’re that.

• Investors like it when we say [this].

• “The customer is wrong!”

I could go on but most bad marketing decisions fall under one of these. And these decisions are rarely made anywhere but the executive team level. They arrive at your poor VP or Director of Marketing’s door as directives. In fact, in those cases they basically are input-driven KPIs “marketing did the thing they were told to do.” Not ideal. 

How the CMO impacts the whole company’s strategy and execution

As the CMO, you have the ability to shape how these decisions get made. You can explain why going into a certain market is better than another market, or why our customers thinking “X” of us doesn’t make them stupid or wrong. Done well, this will not look like you “stopping” anyone from making a bad decision, you’ll be guiding your company toward a good decision, just one they wouldn’t have seen if they didn’t have your marketing lens. This is why it makes sense that the examples I notice the most are from companies who clearly do not have a CMO (or who have lost trust in theirs). Like maybe don’t make blue check marks mean the opposite of what they used to such that Shaquille O’Neill is publicly posting that he doesn’t want one. 

It’d be nice if most executive leaders had the voice of the customer in their mind at all times, but they have a lot of other priorities, some of which are at odds with the customer. So you are that voice. And you can have a huge impact on the direction of the company with that voice. 

Ok finally:

When not to hire a CMO

1. When you can’t afford one

This is a real concern! We’re expensive, like any C-level exec. But you may be able to get one as a consultant, get 80% of their value but pay them 25% their cost.

2. When things are going so well for you and you personally are a marketing genius

I concede there are founders and CEOs who themselves are such good tastemakers and customer advocates that they really don’t need a CMO for the first few stages of the company. And they’re usually on fire, so who cares. Marc Benioff is one such example. But he also eventually hired a CMO! The CEO shouldn’t be doing the CMO’s job for them when the company can afford a good one.