With the rise of dig­i­tal media, the role of the chief mar­ket­ing offi­cer has evolved and changed to encom­pass a wider array of roles and respon­si­bil­i­ties. The mar­ket­ing land­scape has changed in leaps and bounds since the first Chief Mar­ket­ing Offi­cers appeared on the busi­ness scene.
But before we delve into what has changed and how it has effect­ed this impor­tant role, it is nec­es­sary to take a moment and ask the question:

What is a Chief Marketing Officer?

A Chief Mar­ket­ing Offi­cer (CMO) typ­i­cal­ly over­sees mar­ket­ing ini­tia­tives which extends to include sales man­age­ment, prod­uct devel­op­ment, mar­ket­ing com­mu­ni­ca­tions, mar­ket research, and cus­tomer ser­vice, just to men­tion a few. Their pri­ma­ry goal is to assist in com­pa­ny growth through a blend of sales and mar­ket­ing strate­gies.

This posi­tion usu­al­ly reports to the com­pa­ny’s CEO direct­ly and is respon­si­ble for uni­fy­ing a vari­ety of per­spec­tives, mes­sages, and data into a cohe­sive rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the com­pa­ny and a strong strat­e­gy for growth and development.

What Has Changed This Role?

The key change that has effect­ed the CMO’s role is the shift in con­sumer’s buy­ing habits. Gone are the days where radio or tele­vi­sion ads are enough, yet find­ing the right media to con­nect with spe­cif­ic buy­er per­sonas can be a strug­gle. Uncov­er­ing the right chan­nels for com­mu­ni­ca­tion requires a deep­er knowl­edge of con­sumer habits and a wider array of under­stand­ing when it comes to media options.

How Has This Changed This Role?

CMO’s are forced to adapt to these changes in the con­sumer land­scape very rapid­ly. The scope of the work has expand­ed and changed. CMO’s are now man­ag­ing more mes­sages, more audi­ences, and more chan­nels than ever before. This requires a larg­er mar­ket­ing team and more inter­ac­tion with oth­er depart­ments like sales and infor­ma­tion technology.

Keep­ing up with the chang­ing role of the Chief Mar­ket­ing Offi­cer requires a focus on the every chang­ing land­scape of mar­ket­ing and the skills to adapt quick­ly to what those changes entail for business.

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