How the CMO’s agency can lengthen their shelf life
December 6th, 2007 by Hugh Kennedy
No getting around the fact that the Chief Marketing Officer has been on the endangered species list almost since its creation. Recent data from Spencer Stuart points out that the average CMO now lasts only 26 months in their position before deciding to spend more time with family. That’s compared to 44 months for the average CEO and 39 months for the average CFO.
A recent piece from BusinessWeek captures the new challenges any CMO faces. In fact, the best part of the article lays out what one CMO, from Geico, faced in just 72 hours:
- a review of visitors to his Web site
- a review of banner ad clickthrough and follow-on buying behavior
- a review of Web marketing spend
- a meeting with his ad agency to review three separate campaigns
- a strategy session to evolve the current Web site, how to use social networking, and what to do about WebTV marketing
That’s a lot of thinking to get you from Monday’s first latté to COB Wednesday. Map that against the quarter-to-quarter drive for results, the CFO/CEO demand for measurement, and the time required to change perception and buying behavior in the real world, and it’s a nearly impossible set of expectations. In fact, Advertising Age in its October 29 issue called for the end of the CMO position altogether.
The natural sales cycle in BtoB being so much longer for so many products, it’s safe to say that CMOs in our space have a bit more time to spread some roots before having to show spectacular results (writing this, of course, I remember that one of our clients has had 3 CMOs in as many years). Still, as the CMO’s agency and advocate, we should be – and try to – do several things to keep the stock of the CMO as high as the company’s:
- Make something happen quickly. Like a good systems integrator, we want to show some results as soon as possible. At a pitch last week, Phil Johnson said to some of the prospect’s marketing leadership, “You don’t even need us to get going. If your audience is as well-defined and referral-driven as you say, you can get a product demo up on YouTube this week, get an advocate or two to endorse it and do an email blast to it.”
- Measure everything. Everyone is more accountable these days, and most CMOs tend to expire based on the inability to show results quickly. We enjoy showing case studies for clients like Novell that point out how every digital touchpoint has a measurement attached to it. In short, dashboards aren’t (and shouldn’t be) just for the CFO anymore.
- Mentor where needed. Not every CMO has mastered the art of SEO or knows how to calculate a Net Promoter Score. When possible, we try to schedule client meetings once a quarter to bring them up to speed on what we’re seeing, what we’re doing, and what might make sense for them.
The work might exist for the target audience, but the agency is also there to make the CMO (legitimately) shine.
