Contrary to popular belief, all Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are not created equal.
CMOs have different skills that can be leveraged to benefit your company’s current stage and position you for future growth. Understanding the differences is critical to making a good hire. But how do you know if you’re hiring the right one?
In this article, we discuss the 5 common types of CMOs, so you can choose the right one for your business stage and needs.
1: Doer – Start-Up CMO
Stage: Early-stage or startups.
Focus: Rapid growth, product-market fit, and brand foundation.
Skills: Experimentation, digital marketing, and growth hacking.
There is no room for titles at start-ups. This person must be willing to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. Be wary of big egos and people used to working with big teams where they don’t have to do much work.
You want someone scrappy who can work with a limited budget. Look for a CMO willing to build the marketing function from the ground up. Someone not afraid to validate product-market fit and test your messaging with early adopters. This CMO will also lay the foundation for your brand identity, voice, and online presence.
2: Builder – Scale-Up CMO
Stage: Preparing for major growth.
Focus: Streamlining operations while hitting sustainable growth targets.
Skills: Growth-motivated, data analytics, and team building.
At this stage, you need someone who can build the plane while flying it. This is usually a process person. This CMO thrives on mapping processes and onboarding new tools. Be wary of someone who tries to grow the team too quickly. You’ll want sustainable growth that your budget can support.
This CMO will balance short-term revenue with brand building. They will lead demand gen and focus on customer retention.
3: Visionary – Enterprise CMO
Stage: Large, well-established businesses.
Focus: Brand management, strategic thinking, and cross-functional alignment.
Skills: Long-term brand strategy, customer loyalty, and innovation.
This CMO will be your brand champion. They will foster an enterprise-wide understanding of your brand values, and their impact on customer service delivery, internal operations, product design, and communication. Give them wide room to work up, down, and across the organization for best results. They will be your fiercest customer advocate.
This CMO will build long-term partnerships, align marketing strategies to your broader business goals, and set your business up for sustainable long-term growth.
4: Fixer – Turnaround CMO
Stage: Businesses facing challenges, declining growth, or reputation issues.
Focus: Rebuilding brand trust, re-positioning products, and reigniting growth.
Skills: Diagnostics, crisis management, and change leadership.
The Fixer is a special kind of a CMO that can be helpful at any stage of business. They are a diagnostician, a blend of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. House. They will turn every stone, uncover every problem, and develop a bespoke turnaround strategy for your business.
They will re-position your brand and rewrite your messaging to rebuild broken trust, engage customers to repair reputation damage, or implement performance improvements across marketing channels depending on your specific problem. For optimal results, give this CMO easy access inside your organization and get out of their way.
5: Innovator – Transformation CMO
Stage: Businesses experiencing significant shifts in the competitive landscape.
Focus: Infusing new technology into the business to stay competitive.
Skills: Digital transformation, change management, and technology integration.
Innovators are common in highly regulated industries like banking or healthcare, where digital transformation may require specialized knowledge or skills, but you’ll see them everywhere. An Innovator will work collaboratively with other business units to drive enterprise-wide changes to streamline the customer journey and foster a culture of innovation.
For best results, look for an Innovator with experience in an industry similar to yours, but different enough to infuse new ideas into your business. If you hire someone from a competitor, you may end up looking too much like your competition and lose your innovative edge.
There you have it. CMOs have different skills that can be leveraged to benefit your company at its various business stages.
What CMO does your business need right now?
At Belle Bear Marketing, our Founder Kathy Guillory’s skills are best suited for the Builder, Visionary, or Fixer categories. If you’re in need of marketing help, let’s talk and discuss your CMO needs to see if we can help.