By Melea McRae

“The business enterprise has two–and only two–basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs.”

That Peter Drucker was really on to something. Innovation and marketing are necessary for generating revenue and continued growth. The development of a new product, service or process creates a competitive advantage, and the way you communicate that innovation is vital to your profitability and long-term sustainability.

Marketing is much more than conference swag and Mad Men-style ads for the latest product design—and I would know; I did just that in a past life. Philip Kotler’s definition of marketing has evolved from “satisfying needs and wants through an exchange process” in 1980 to “the process by which companies engage customers, build strong customer relationships, and create customer value in order to capture value from customers in return” in 2018.

Source: Tyler Neill, LinkedIn

Tyler Neill, Senior Marketing and Commercial Strategy Manager at Disney, recently shared a new definition for marketing on LinkedIn, which he says is about the “fulfillment of consumer needs, business growth and brand purpose through products, services and communications.” He adds:

“It’s no longer just about promoting, selling and distributing. It’s about improving lives and growing businesses through a relentless focus on brand purpose… the best marketing strategies check all three boxes.”

The CMO challenge

Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are expected to drive growth amid a volatile environment in the face of decreasing budgets, the rise of AI, and at a time when capturing and holding consumers’ attention seems near impossible. What’s more, CMOs must now work more closely with IT, HR and sales departments to navigate data privacy and ethics laws, promote the employer brand, and develop authentic storytelling through content-driven marketing that both informs and converts.

It’s a tall task, and it takes someone with business acumen and real-world experience to think like an owner and align with growth plans. According to ZipRecruiter, the average base salary for a CMO is around $160k per year, extending upwards of $200k before bonus, commission or profit-sharing. It’s a hefty fee for companies to incur, particularly for startups, nonprofits and SMBs—and the cost of a bad hire is even more expensive. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the “true cost” of a bad hire can be up to 30% of an employee’s first-year salary, encompassing direct costs like salary and benefits and indirect costs like lost productivity, decreased morale and, of course, the cost of hiring a replacement.
Marketers are great at marketing themselves, making it all the more challenging for a CEO or COO without a marketing background to hire for the position. I often hear from business leaders who’ve hired an internal resource—whether that’s a marketing director or CMO—only to find the individual either doesn’t have the skillsets promised during the hiring process, doesn’t know how to build a strategy, and struggles to be effective in the role.

Where employers get it wrong

The average tenure of the CMO ranges anywhere from 18 months to two years. CareerBuilder reports 75% of businesses have reported making the “wrong hire” for a marketing position, and unlike other roles, a poor CMO hire can have lasting impact for your internal culture, brand and revenue generation, which can take months—or even years—to recover from. Oftentimes, the revolving door of marketing professionals can be traced back to a few underlying factors:

1. Lack of Clear Objectives: Without well-defined goals, CMOs are unable to align marketing strategies with overall business objectives.
2. Inability to Adapt: The marketing landscape changes rapidly, and CMOs who resist new technologies or trends will almost certainly fall behind.
3. Poor Communication: Failing to effectively communicate with other departments or stakeholders (like IT or sales) can lead to misalignment and missed opportunities.
4. Overemphasis on Tactics: We hear all too often from our clients that they’ve hired someone who focuses too much on short-term tactics rather than long-term strategy, which ultimately undermines overall brand growth.
5. Inadequate Data Utilization: All marketing should be data-driven and performance-based. Not leveraging data for decision-making results in ineffective campaigns and missed insights into customer behavior.
6. Lack of Leadership Skills: CMOs need to inspire and lead their teams. Those who struggle with leadership inhibit the creative, innovative environment needed to make marketing magic.
7. Ignoring Customer Insights: The most successful businesses are customer-centric, so not prioritizing customer feedback or insights will inevitably lead to marketing strategies that miss the mark.
8. High Expectations with Limited Resources: Sometimes CMO’s struggle to get the internal support they need to be most successful. When CMOs are expected to deliver rapid results with limited resources (read: without a team to back them up), it can lead to stress and burnout, which impacts performance.

The fractional advantage

Even in boardrooms that value marketing, Joseph astutely points out, “CMOs struggle to prove their worth.” The truth is, your CMO is only the tip of the spear. An individual can only accomplish so much in a day, and they often come with limited skillsets, whether they’re a creative who has little experience in the digital landscape or a social media marketer who doesn’t know the first thing about building a holistic marketing strategy.

Data shows that collaboration and diversity of thought leads to more innovative marketing strategies, and having a full marketing department amplifies a marketing leader’s vision, allowing for greater creativity, efficiency and effectiveness in achieving marketing goals. It’s about more than just one or two tactics—you need a comprehensive approach, utilizing a variety of strategies and tactics across different channels to stand out in today’s marketplace.

Should you be lucky enough to find the right marketing hire for your organization, that person needs support to bring their vision to life. That’s where Crux comes in.

How it works

Crux takes the risk out of the equation. For the cost of a mid-level marketing hire, we provide fractional CMOs to partner with your team to build the strategy and a shared services team behind them to execute. Think of us as your marketing-department-as-a-service.

We vet seasoned marketing experts who’ve successfully worn the hat of CMO, and then play matchmaker with our clients, ensuring they’re assigned a fractional leader with the right expertise and communication style to be most effective within your organization. A true CMO is a strategic thinker, in the trenches with you, who develops a roadmap that aligns with the goals of your business to fuel growth at each inflection point, whether you’re entering new markets, introducing new products or services, pivoting through M&A, navigating economic shifts, or entering a new chapter under new leadership.

The fractional model provides a low-risk option for companies who want to outsource the marketing function fully or support an existing in-house marketing leader with the added bench-strength needed to win. Our fractional CMOs:

• Build trust with key internal stakeholders so we can “drive” your strategy forward. Sometimes that means challenging your thinking (in a professional way) to drive results.
• Understand your business, category, growth goals and what success looks like in a marketing engagement.
• Develop quarterly KPIs in collaboration with you, and then track to/report on those metrics, sharing key insights.
• Facilitate regular meetings that are meaningful to you, listening and learning how your business is performing, and investing the time to bond with your team and ideate.
• Pride themselves on clear, consistent communication. We want it to feel like your CMO is right down the hall, so we’re responsive as soon as possible, even if it’s just a quick “we’re on it.”
• Serve as good stewards of your time and dollars, acting and recommending strategies that meet—and exceed—your expectations.

Don’t short-change your growth with ineffective marketing. If you’re ready to supercharge your bottom line at a fraction of the cost, invest in a team built to help you move the needle. Growth, simplified.