The role of Chief Marketing Officer, CMO to me and you — has undergone a massive amount of change over the past few years. To be successful today’s CMOs need to be more than just marketers.
A lot more.
Recently NGDATA released a guide entitled Anatomy of a CMO: Education, Experience, Salary Data, and More Insights on What Makes a Successful CMO.
The guides takes a “deep dive into the role of the Chief Marketing Officer to find out what sets a great CMO apart from the average, what paths today’s most successful CMOs tend to take to the top, what today’s CMOs are earning, and other insights to create a portrait of an exceptional CMO.”
Here’s some highlights:
- The digital shift both elevated and complicated the role of the Chief Marketing Officer, with an increasing focus on aspects such as differentiating the customer experience and fostering stronger, more loyal customer relationships, much of which is built on the underlying foundation of connecting marketing with the organization as a whole, rather than maintaining marketing as a stand-alone, isolated function.
- The role of the CMO today is situational and multidimensional, resulting in a large, varied swath of educational paths and background experiences that have the potential to advance a professional to this coveted C-suite position.
- The most common educational background suggested for anyone with CMO aspirations is an undergraduate degree in marketing coupled with an MBA with a marketing specialization.
- Common background requirements for CMOs include
- Bachelor’s degree in marketing (minimum requirement)
- MBA, often required or at least strongly preferred
- 10 or more years’ experience in advertising or marketing
- Exceptional communication skills
- And more…
- The most common fields of study pursued by today’s top CMOs include
- Marketing
- Advertising
- Business Administration and Economics
- And more…
- According to LinkedIn the top companies for CMOs based on where members work include:
- Microsoft
- IBM
- Amazon
- Oracle
The above is just a random sampling from the guide.
CMOs and CX
Customer Experience (CX) is at or near the top of the priority list for every CMO today. As customer expectations continue to rise, businesses need to appoint a senior executive like the Chief Marketing Officer to deliver exceptional, end-to-end customer experiences.
It’s a tall order, but if done right, enhanced customer experiences translate into loyalty, repeat business, and revenue.
Download Should the Chief Marketing Officer Oversee the Whole Customer Experience? to learn how businesses can set CMOs up for success.
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