If you are weighing whether someone can really run marketing at the CMO level, here is what the job demands. It is a wide role.
Own the brand
You do not have to be the creative director, but you protect the brand. Sometimes that means choosing consistency over a short-term metric.
Both sides of the brain
Creative enough to know what will land, analytical enough to build forecasts and proformas and read the numbers channel by channel. You have to do both, not pick one.
Know every channel enough to lead it
You are directing these, not running them all yourself, but you need a working grasp of each:
- Conversion optimization and site/dev
- PPC and Google Ads
- YouTube and video
- SEO
- Paid social
- Organic social
- Affiliate
- Email and SMS
Financial acumen and communication
Forecasting, proformas, and putting budget where it returns. Then the ability to speak each channel's language to your specialists and translate all of it into money for the CEO.
If you want that senior marketing thinking without a full-time hire, that is exactly what I do as a fractional CMO. If you would rather just talk it through, book a quick call.
