Hiring a CMO – The Set of Skills You Need to Look For

Being a chief marketing officer or CMO of a company entails many responsibilities assigned to one person. The CMO has to lead a company’s marketing activities, but they also have to manage many members of a team. Furthermore, a CMO must create marketing strategies to increase company revenue and gain an advantage over competitors. For these reasons, CMOs are handsomely compensated for their significant role in a company. So when it comes to this chief position, you can’t hire just anyone. If you do, you’ll likely end up wasting time and money.

If you are looking to hire a CMO, what experience should a promising candidate have? What attributes should you focus on while you are browsing resumes or LinkedIn profiles? In no particular order, here are the skills that you should look for when hiring a CMO from a well-put-out marketing resume.

Creativity

As this article said, being creative is absolutely essential in marketing. Why? Well, it’s necessary to stand out from your competitors. Creativity is key. An excellent way to spot a successful marketing campaign is when a brand is memorable to consumers. And brands become memorable because their ads are imaginative and inventive. Any candidate you consider for the chief marketing officer position has to be very creative.

Brand understanding

At the same time, a CMO candidate must fully understand the brand, its mission, and what it represents. Anyone can be creative and make striking marketing materials. However, if the materials they propose don’t fit the brand, the marketing plan will fail. Your target audience might not recognize the label they know and trust. Or worse, your audience might find that the marketing materials seem inappropriate or give offensive ideas. Brand misunderstanding will likely drive away customers from your brand, and you don’t want that.

Organizational skills

If someone is the head of a department, organizational skills are necessary. Your company can’t afford for the CMO to be disorganized or confused. For example, they should follow scheduled appointments and team meetings. They should know the progress of any project and be up-to-date on campaign launches. Being organized and structured is very important for someone who wants to be a CMO. An officer who doesn’t have a firm grasp or think clearly about the work is dangerous to your company.

Data analysis ability

Martech calls data analysis one of the most critical skills for a CMO. This point is supported by findings that excessive data collection isn’t actually helpful to businesses. For example, separate departments collect the data through different channels for various reasons. And even experienced analysts don’t know what to do with it. But having that data is essential. Why? From that data, a skilled CMO can strategize the next step for marketing campaigns. So your candidate must be able to analyze and interpret your consumer data.

The desire to stay updated with best marketing practices

Do you know of an instance where two companies have virtually the same product, but one is more preferred? That’s the power of marketing. The article “How to Up Your Digital Marketing Game” talks about best practices for an effective marketing game. Among those mentioned are the use of videos, social networks, and email marketing. CMO candidates need experience with those, along with copywriting, branding, and more. Applicants who fail to stay updated on marketing trends and practices are not viable candidates for a chief marketing officer.

Budget-conscious

No one in any company wants any officer who spends needlessly and can’t account for where the money goes. The CMO must confirm the marketing campaign’s success and whether or not it made the company revenue. Otherwise, they will have a hard time asking for an increased budget for future marketing campaigns. The article “5 Ways a CMO Gains the CEO’s Trust” talks about how a CMO can gain the trust of a CEO, which is crucial. Part of this is knowing where the marketing budget is spent and communicating with the chief financial officer. If your candidate shows a history of caring about company funds, they’ll likely care about yours, and that’s a good sign.

People skills

As the head of your company’s marketing division, a CMO must have people skills. Building a Career Marketing posted how it’s important to be a people person. Marketing is more than just coming up with campaigns to get brands in front of the consumer. It’s about understanding and relating to people. A CMO especially must be good at connecting with and managing different kinds of people. After all, a marketing department is composed of diverse personalities. Each one has a role to play. A CMO cannot play favorites with only a particular group of people. They must have the ability to bring people together to form a team despite their differences.

Delegation skills

A CMO is in charge of all marketing campaigns, and they must act like it. However, being the head of the department does not mean that they do all the work. A CMO has better things to do than oversee every single detail of a campaign. That’s why they have a team. The person must recognize the strengths of each member and assign appropriate marketing tasks accordingly. If a CMO candidate prefers to do everything themselves and not trust their team, that is a problem.

Conclusion

These are the skills to focus on when seeking to hire a chief marketing officer. You can often pinpoint these talents on a resume through both experience and previous projects. During the interview, ask for input on theoretical marketing situations. The answers will help you gauge if a candidate does indeed have your required competencies. Take notice if the applicant did any prior research on your company. A person may have all the skills, but they should also genuinely want to be part of your organization.

One last tip to remember: be patient with your search. As said before, hiring a good CMO is necessary for success. It will take time but stick with the process. You’ll eventually find the best CMO for your company.