Maybe The CMO Acronym Should Stand For Chief Measurement Officer

The average tenure of a CMO is slowly improving. Back in 2006, it was under two years. Now, according to the latest Stuart Spencer report, tenure has improved to over 28 months. At least it is heading in the right direction, but it certainly doesn’t provide much job security for a high-paid position in a low- or no-growth economy.

Why are tenures for CMOs so appallingly short? The average CEO tenure in this country is 8.3 years – almost four times as long as a CMO.

The sad fact is that while CEOs are associated with performance and the revenue side of the P&L, CMOs are too often associated with the expense side of the P&L. This shouldn’t be the case. Marketing should be seen as an investment that builds revenue and company worth through increased sales, improved brand equity and by improving share of wallet for a company’s products and/or services. Unfortunately, it is quite easy to see the costs of marketing as a line item in monthly, quarterly and annual reports. However, in most companies, it is much more difficult to plainly see the return on these marketing expenses that accrue to the revenue side of the business.

If CMOs want to increase their tenure, they need to get better at showing the positive impact of their expenditures, or their jobs will be in peril. That is why in today’s marketing environment, part of a CMO’s job is to think like a Chief Measurement Officer. In tough times, companies don’t cut revenue; they cut expenses! The only way for a CMO to show they are on the “+” side of the revenue/expense equation is to have ample data and clear, comprehensible visualization tools that measure and prove the correlation between money spent and benefit gained.

Fortunately, just when it is needed most, there are tools available to demonstrate this return. They include:

• Digital media that is more easily trackable to measure and prove results.
• CRM tools that allow companies to understand the buying process and success of their marketing efforts from the beginning of the sales funnel through the final sale.
• Dashboards and other visualization tools that provide at-a-glance review of marketing campaign performance.

However, before these tools can be implemented, many CMOs may need a substantial reorganization of their departments and their marketing priorities to ensure measurement is a consistent and persistent part of their responsibilities. Ultimately, it is the job of the CMO to marry marketing, technology, creativity and measurement, so that the C-suite position becomes strongly associated with building vital revenues, and not as a source of dubious expenses.